2008-05-08 TPUNAcdp - Laserfiche WebLink

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WATANABE: Okay, thank you. FUKUMOTO: And so I tried real hard. You’ll notice that I gave you six pages and I revised it, and my total is less than one. WATANABE: Okay. FUKUMOTO: The Planning Department really designed this plan and they managed it; and the professional consultant was primarily an advisor. And, really, the crux of this whole thing is that it was done by the Steering Committee. Because no matter how much input you get from thousands and thousands of people in the end a half a dozen people or so put this thing together. It had a few individuals but it did not include large landowners or business leaders. The last time the community made a significant input was in February of 2007 when we handed in all of our reports. And this tonight is one of a few opportunities that we have to comment on that final plan. I think that there’s a need for this to be a master plan for the community and that there should be an adequate basic road system. You know, there’s only single road from Hilo to Keaau, a single road from Keaau to Pahoa, a single road from Keaau to Volcano. If any of those roads are blocked, this community is in very deep trouble. And so basic infrastructure of a large district like Puna requires that we have alternate roads in every opportunity. And when I looked at the PC, the Community Development Plan, there’s no alternative, any amount of alternate roads. I think we need to have a full alignment so that we know where the road is going to go so we can begin acquiring it, because it’s going to be a very, very contentious issue.I think that this plan lacks an economic development plan. You know, if we’re the fastest growing industry in the state and we’re going to have a larger population than Hilo, you have to understand that Puna only has 587 acres, total, of commercial/industrial land. And in comparison Puna (sic) has 3,277 acres. They’ve got almost six times as much as us and our population is going to be larger. And that’s why we have a traffic problem, because all of the Puna are heading toward Hilo to go to work, for their services, and for shopping. And so it seems to me, like the previous testifier said that the shopping areas are small, I’m saying that they’re grossly small and we need larger -. WATANABE: Okay, Mr. Fukumoto, earlier I did indicate that, you know, if the testimony is going to be kind of repetitive, yeah, please refrain from that; and the reason I’m trying to do that is not because I necessarily agree or disagree with your position but I also need to be fair with everyone else. Because as time starts running short then other people will start telling me, yeah, but you allowed so and so more time. So let me ask, I think I know where you’re headed, and I think the rest of the Commissioners know where you’re headed. Let me ask you to wrap up, okay, in all fairness to everyone. FUKUMOTO: I think that the major problem with Puna Community Development Plan is that it tried to establish policy; and it tries to establish a policy that I think is very, very unwise economically. We have a huge number of private subdivisions in Puna, and this Puna Community Development Plan runs the Puna Makai Alternate Road right through Paradise Park. Puna Makai Alternate Road is going to be an alternative to 23