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YUEN:Yes. The proposed course of action would say within the Waiakea
<br />Houselots Medium Density area commercial development shall be focused on the major streets,
<br />Kekuanaoa, Piilani, Manono and Lanikaula -.
<br />SIRACUSA:Okay, so, Manono.
<br />YUEN:While the interior block should be zoned primarily for Single and Multi-
<br />Family Residential use. So this is consistent with what we are proposing as a more specific
<br />amendment to the General Plan to guide where -. Within the Medium Density area you can have
<br />Multi-Family zoning, you can have Single Family zoning, you can have Neighborhood zoning.
<br />But as an overall guide, the idea is that the Commercial zoning would go to the busier streets;
<br />and the interior streets like Laukapu Street or Hinano Street would be more, if people wanted to
<br />change from a Single Family zoning, we would encourage them more to look at Multi-Family
<br />zoning rather than Commercial. So thats, but the reason, Manono is a major collector on the
<br />CountyRoadPlan.OfthestreetsthatparallelKekuanaoa,itsamajorcrossstreet.Sothatsthe
<br />reason for making that proposal within the General Plan.
<br />SIRACUSA:Thank you for clarifying that.
<br />ALAMEDA:Thank you for the observation, Commissioner Siracusa. Commissioner
<br />Iwashita and then Commissioner Galdones.
<br />IWASHITA:Again, Id just like to restate for the record that my concern really is that I
<br />dont see a real shortage of available for lease or purchase Commercial space. We do have a
<br />crisis in our housing requirements for this island as a whole and, in particular, in Hilo. And, you
<br />know, as Commissioner Siracusa has mentioned, and as a matter of fact, we keep getting this
<br />serial requests to take residential properties like this with houses on them that can be used for
<br />dwellings and were being asked to take those out and replace them with businesses. And we
<br />dont have, the County doesnt have any kind of plan, any kind of notion, really, that I can see
<br />how to address our housing crisis. And if we keep taking residences out of the pool of whats
<br />available for residential use, then we keep aggravating that situation. You know, as a community
<br />we really have to be concerned about that, you know, people who cannot afford to live in a
<br />house. One, in particular, the problem we have in Hilo is because of the way real estate prices
<br />have gone. You know, we have people who work in Hilo but cannot afford to live in Hilo, either
<br />renting or buying in Hilo; and by doing, if we keep what were doing here, you know, we just
<br />aggravate -. If we close our eyes to that fact, all were doing, as a matter of fact, is aggravating
<br />the housing problem. Not just the homeless people, were talking about people who earn
<br />incomes, work two jobs, three jobs, still cant afford to live in Hilo. And that is something that
<br />really needs to be looked at.
<br />You know, I think the fact that the County has some money now to use, we really should be
<br />using it for what I believe is probably one of the most important functions, and that is to plan for
<br />the infrastructure and redo the community development plan for Hilo so that it does include
<br />affordable housing. The Director mentioned that, you know, were going to look at General Plan
<br />Amendments. Thatll be the directive in terms of, well, we should have more, you know, denser
<br />housing in the houselots area, within the internal parts of the houselots area, and have
<br />commercial activity along these major roads through the neighborhood. I dont have any basic
<br />problem with that. But the reality is that that doesnt give the development community, the
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