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Regarding South Hilo District, B-1, Rural to Low Density Urban, Commissioner Siracusa <br />questioned whether the Department in changing the density of an area considers the green <br />belt areas to absorb some of the flooding waters. Mr. Yuen said this was a concept and <br />the LUPAG maps are meant to represent an overall land use pattern to develop an area. <br />Mr. Yuen said they will comply with Commissioner Springer€s request to produce a map <br />which shows the FEMA map floodways overlaid on a slide for this area at the public <br />hearing. <br />Regarding Page 2, B-6, the Big Island Candies area, Commissioner Siracusa expressed <br />her concern of having a General Plan amendment to benefit a private commercial <br />business, referring to spot zoning and showing favoritism. Mr. Yuen said it would be too <br />inflexible and not usable to the community to say the General Plan will not be amended <br />because it happened to be a landowner€s idea. Mr. Yuen noted the impetus for changing <br />the General Plan did come from Big Island Candies but the Department felt the request <br />wasappropriate,notingthereisaalsopropertyalongKekuanaoathat€scoveredbythis <br />Amendment that is not owned by Big Island Candies. Mr. Yuen said the better way to <br />deal with this might be to introduce more flexibility into the way the Zoning Code is <br />written as to terms of uses within different zoning districts, adding the Department would <br />not initiate an amendment if they did not feel it should be amended. Commissioner <br />Siracusa said she agreed with Commissioner Iwashita that there should be a community <br />development plan so that it is consistent with the will of the community. Commissioner <br />Springer said she did not think this was a matter of spot zoning since the lands contiguous <br />are already zoned high density urban, but that she concurred with Commissioner Siracusa <br />regarding the community sense of disenfranchisement and wondered if there was any <br />notification protocols similar to the ones discussed earlier that would be triggered by this <br />action. Commissioner Graham spoke in support of the Director€s proposal, noting if the <br />Big Island Candies facility was not in existence he would not support the Director. <br />Commissioner Watanabe had no problem with the Director€s proposal as this area has <br />been in mixed commercial uses for a long time, and he anticipated it will continue to be <br />so. Mr. Yuen said it was a question of do you make mixed use work and a lot has to do <br />with Mr. Yuen added that if the Department is going to say they want mixed use, then <br />they have to learn how to control mixed use so that it is compatible with people staying in <br />residential areas, noting he would need to work on this more himself. Commissioner <br />Siracusa felt what needed to be done was to relook at what is being allowed in each <br />zoning category to resolve the concerns. Commissioner Springer felt if a community <br />buys into the concept and the vision to the extent they are part of the planning process, it <br />will just be more successful than what appears to be dictated to them. <br />Regarding Page 3, D-1, Commissioner Graham said the proposal sounds reasonable as a <br />concept but questioned whether people in the Maliu Ridge Lots would want to subdivide <br />their 3-acre lot to Rural 1-acre where it would be difficult to do with Important Ag lands? <br />Mr. Yuen said the text description that talks about rural does not imply support for further <br />rezoning but is meant to recognize what exists there; and he agreed one could say as an <br />overall matter it would be easier to rezone the land if it was designated Rural. <br />3 <br /> <br />