2008-05-22 TPUNACDP - Laserfiche WebLink

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WATANABE: I believe most of the Commissioners that are present went through the presentation. But is there any Commissioner that will object to dispensing with a presentation? Hearing none, then I hope, though – because we did not have a chance, as I indicated earlier, to discuss any concerns we may have with the Development Plan draft as presented – I hope that you all will be willing to stick around till after the public testimony; then maybe we can have some deliberation. As you recall on that May meeting it went into 4 hours of just simply testimony, yeah. BROWN: That would be fine, yes. I -. WATANABE: I appreciate that. BROWN: Okay. I did have just some brief remarks to address one of the primary concerns that was repeated at the last hearing. And then Jon and I, like Mr. Hayashi mentioned, we are here to respond to any questions that the Commissioners might have, and of course to hear the public testimony from any citizens from West Hawaii or those that came over from Puna today. WATANABE: Thank you. Would you like to then continue with -, you had some brief remarks, you said. BROWN: Thank you. One repeated concern expressed at the last meeting had to do with a perceived lack of detail or local planning sufficient to prescribe the -, or to implement the village center concepts that are described in the Puna Community Development Plan. One of the things that we have to recognize or remember is that the Puna CDP would need to address really huge obstacles and shortcomings that are a result of over a half century of unguided subdivision and development in over nearly 500 square miles of the Big Island. And this is -, a significant amount of the development that has occurred and the subdivisions that have been created in this half century are in really high hazard zones, whether they be tsunami, lava, inundation, etc. Most of the actions in the CDP that are called from the CDP do require subsequent planning activities and legislative actions. It would be the responsibility of lead agencies and partners working in collaboration with the proposed community implementation committees, which are now being identified as action committees, and the local communities, the stakeholders within those communities to carry out these actions. This will require coordination and prioritization for each CDP project area as well as between the various CDP project areas for CIP funding and the utilization of County and State resources. At some point it will be necessary to initiate amendments to the GP and the County Code to allow implementation of some of the CDP actions. I’m sure this will be true for Kohala, North and South, as well as the Kona CDPs. The CDP provides suggested guidelines and locations for village centers, but it does not establish village center boundaries; it does not establish village center permitted uses, setbacks, building size limitations or design guidelines. The CDP does define three types of village centers with different size and range of uses according to their intended function or suggested guidelines – key words being “suggested guidelines” for scale, uses and general design characteristics. Typically all village or town centers in the Puna CDP will require a local community planning effort to create a master plan that will identify such things as a village or town center boundary, design standards or permitted uses. So it is something that maybe was not clearly articulated in the language of the CDP as it has been submitted. And we are working with John Whalen, the EXHIBIT C 2