2006-04-07 TTripp - Laserfiche WebLink

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ALAMEDA:Seeing no further questions for the applicant, you may be seated. Hold on, we dont have any testimony, right? NOMURA:No one signed up. ALAMEDA:Actually, you still can be seated. Were going to have a discussion, so you can be seated right behind and then well call you up shortly. Yes, Mr. Director? YUEN:I would like to make a statement on behalf of the Department as far as what the Department sees as the relationship between the existing 1975 Hilo Community Development Plan and the General Plans that have been passed since then. Since the 1975 Hilo Community Development Plan was passed by resolution, there have been twocomprehensiveupdatestotheGeneralPlan,aswellasacoupleofinterimamendmentsto the General Plan, that are not consistent with the Community Development Plan. Both the 1989 and 2005 General Plan made changes to areas in Hilo. There are also two very significant Interim General Plan Amendments in the area covered by the Development Plan including, the ones Im thinking of are Prince Kuhio Plaza which is not consistent with the Hilo Community Development Plan and the Big Island Candies itself. So it has been, given that the General Plan is passed by Ordinance, it has been the position of the Department that when not consistent the General Plan supersedes the 1975 Community Development Plan. So in this case the General Plan is Medium Density Urban which provides for a number of different kinds of uses. Now it does not, as I said many times before, I think that the General Plan designation does not mandate a particular decision on the rezoning application. It does mean though that it can be considered under the umbrella of that General Plan designation. ALAMEDA:Other discussion items or comments now is the time, or we can entertain a motion and then have discussion. Commissioner Siracusa? SIRACUSA:Yeah, once again, I mean it seems like every Hilo meeting we have an application in the Waiakea area and inevitably its to take out another residence from our already limited and rapidly depleting stock of affordable homes. And I have a lot of problems with that; and Ive mentioned that before, and Im being consistent. Thank you. ALAMEDA:Thank you, Commissioner Siracusa. Commissioner Watanabe? WATANABE:Yeah, weve crossed this bridge many a times. And I guess from my point of view, I came from Hilo and I can remember as a young boy running my bike through Manono Street, and everything else. And way back then there were mixed commercial uses within that district. So it has been there for a long time. The pace of change has accelerated possibly over the last 20 or so years, but certainly not something that has come about only recently. And in my mind I think what Ms. Tripp said is very true, we all know that eventually all of that is going to change. Where we seem to run into the issues -- and Im a little surprised that this time were not having any testimony and people crying about, you know, this was my dads home and Im living here, etc. -- is that particular area that shes in, I guess, we dont have the original residents any more. Thats the only reason. And, you know, when were looking at the proposed 10EXHIBIT A