2004-07-02 Planning Commission Minutes

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Wendy Haun read and submitted into the record a letter on behalf of herself, her husband, and 10 landowners in the area opposing the application for various reasons. She pointed out that their subdivision directly across the road has 16 lots, and only 5 of the lot owners were notified of todays hearing. In response to the Chairs request for comments regarding page 4 of the Departments recommendation that The lands upon which the proposed use is sought is unsuited for the uses permitted in the district, Mr. Yuen said theDepartment should probably not have said it as the land is suited for farming. He said the applicant did not meet this criteria, but it was not necessary that all the criteria be met in granting the permit. He said, however, that the Department would still say that the request meets the overall criteria of being an usual and reasonable use in the agricultural district. Mr.WalterWagnerexplainedthatthefacilitywasopenedtothepubliconJuly4,1995 and plans for the visitors center were in place but no funding was available until recently, noting they advised everybody who came to the property of the plans. He said approximately 3 to 4 years ago across from the Highway a 70-acre agriculture parcel of land was rezoned for a subdivision where many, not all, of the signatures that were submitted were from individuals who purchased these lots in the last few years. Commissioner Graham questioned the comment on page 3 of the recommendation that increase in traffic is expected to be minimal as it is estimated that visitors to the site will be the same visitors to Akaka Falls, as Akaka Falls is in a different location. Mr. Wagner explained that approximately half of the tourist traffic that flows down the Belt Highway towards Volcano turns off to the Honomu turnoff to Akaka Falls, and a very small percentage of those same persons also go to the Botanical Gardens; therefore, they do not anticipate increasing the tourist traffic going down the highway as a tourist would just make two stops instead of one stop on the way to the Volcano. Mr. Wagner said currently 3 percent (40 cars) of the tourist flow that is going down the highway turns off to visit their botanical garden, they anticipate that will jump to 6 percent (80 cars) upon completion of the visitors center, and eventually perhaps 20 years from now it might go to the 1200 per day, which is currently how many people turn off to go to Akaka Falls. Director Yuen clarified for the record that there never was a rezoning across the street but that they were existing lots and the County did approve a change in how those lots were reconfigured. Mr. Wagner apologized for his error in his comment but noted he was offered to purchase the entire 70 acres if he had the money, which he did not have. Ms. Haun noted that the signatures in the petition were not only from a few people in the subdivision but from people on the old Mamalahoa Highway that are even a mile away up to Ninole who feel there are already too many tourists driving on a very narrow dangerous road. She added she did not have had time to contact other lot owners in the area, noting some of them do not live in Hawaii. 4