2006-12-06 Planning Commission Minutes

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APPLICANT: SCOTT OLIN (REZ 06-000050) Change of Zone from an Agricultural 20-acre (A-20a) to an Agricultural 10-acre (A-10a) district for 20.913 acres of land. The property is located at the northwestern end of Haleamau Street within the Kaloko Mauka Subdivision, Kaloko, North Kona, Hawaii, TMK: 7-3-26:17. Mr. Hayashi oriented the Commission and public of the subject and surrounding properties on the location map and site plan, summarized the request, and noted the Planning Director recommended approval of the application with conditions. In response to Commissioner Siracusa’s query, Mr. Hayashi confirmed that the proposed conditions are the same as those of recently approved rezoning applications in the Kaloko Mauka Subdivision. The applicant’s representative, Gregory Mooers, was in attendance. Based on the comment letter from the Kona Traffice Safety Committee concerning the Kaloko Drive-Highway 190 intersection, Commissioner Siracusa asked Mr. Mooers for the applicant’s take on an additional condition that would not allow issuance of Building Permits for second dwellings until improvement of the intersection is done. Mr. Mooers stated that he is a little reluctant to accept a condition that the applicant has no control over, and inquired of the Planning Director about the status of the intersection improvement project. Director Yuen stated that the funds are there, and that the Department of Public Works received a basic approval from the State of doing the project as long as it is done as a County project. Commissioner Watanabe pointed out that the project should be able to go forward since the comment letter from the State Department of Transportation does not include a traffic light in the required improvements, in which case the $400,000 funds would not be sufficient. Director Yuen stated that the assignment was to engineer a job that would improve the safety of intersection within the funds available, and that the job primarily consists of shaving the banks back to improve the sight distance. In response to Commissioner Graham’s question regarding the delay in the project, Director Yuen offered his understanding that the Department of Public Works hasn’t been able to fill engineer’s vacant positions for quite some time, and mostly the recent earthquake has held them up in the last couple months. In response to Commissioner Rho’s question, Director Yuen confirmed that a traffic light is not included in the plan, and explained that there aren’t enough funds to do a signal, and to his knowledge the study that is required to warrant a signal hasn’t been done at the intersection. Commissioner Rho expressed his concern regarding the heavy traffic and unsafe condition of the intersection, and stated that it should be looked into to signalize the intersection. 3