2005-03-04 Planning Commission Minutes

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PUBLIC:Yes. SAVIO:This is not a developer-based type project. My development history is one of doing affordable housing, providing below market opportunities for people to get into home ownership, etc. We basically had probably close to 15 to 20 community meetings, inviting the farmers that are on the land as well as all of the community of Pahala. We also sent memos out to Kau, everyone that lived here, inviting them to come to the meetings and things. So we had a pretty broad-based support for this. Its important to remember its a cost plus subdivision. So as you require additional improvements, it increases the costs; and, of course, the cost gets passed on to the buyer. Its an unusual project because normally the developer benefits from these types of exemptions. In this case, the community benefits. The developer actually earns less money. The more requirements you have, the more it costs, the more I make. The less it costs, the less I make. So its sort of a reversed developer-type situation. I think the important thing here is this is a project that I believe will benefit the community. Its a project that started withtheideaofsavingthe40to50farmersthatwerethereandgivingthemarighttoown.We were actually approached by a representative of C. Brewer and asked if we would come out and take our program from Oahu and bring it to the Big Island and see if we could do a cost plus development. I am the only developer in Hawaii who does cost plus developments. I earn a very small fee, I get a lot of satisfaction, but I dont make a lot of money doing this. I make my money on my market projects, again, mostly on Oahu and from my real estate company. But I support this project, I think the community supports this project. And Im hoping this Board will also agree that there is a benefit to the people of Pahala and Kau. Thank you. PUBLIC:You better believe it. LEONARD:Id like to add to that, that the proposal that was presented with the application is really trying to find that balance of meeting the needs in terms of providing adequate and safe access to these lots and addressing the critical infrastructure needs without putting an undue burden to the potential owners. And the size and configuration of this project is really relative to the distribution of those farm lots and having the number of lots that are part of this project helps in distributing that cost out to a greater number of potential buyers. And so it helps make it more feasible to those, especially those original 40 to 50 people who have licenses to farm on the land right now. So the configuration that you have right there, and the size of the lots, the number of lots, all of that is integral to the overall proposal. Were open to any questions that you might have. ALAMEDA:Commissioners, any questions for the applicant? Commissioner Graham? GRAHAM:Question for Mr. Savio. Excuse me if theres a sort of skeptical undertone to my question here, but just to let you know what Im thinking -. You all speak of this as a cost plus project; and I know Mr. Yuen was saying that Condition S which relates to the cost of the project was a big factor in his decision. My sense is that if we look at three parties, you the developer, and the County, and the eventual purchasers, my sense is that youre the one whos going to be making the cost decisions. In other words, is it not you who decides where the money needs to be spent as long as it adheres to these basic things? Is it not you who decides who it gets paid to, like who you chose to do the 10