2009-06-05 THOOTA - Laserfiche WebLink

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around Edith Kanakaole Tennis Stadium and all of that that you see, the community got up in arms. They actually were effective in going to the Council and got the Medium Density Urban designation changed back to Low Density Urban. So for many, many years you never saw any more commercial developments, because it was impossible to do. In 2005, four years ago, on the General Plan review and amendment, in that process the Director at the time, Mr. Yuen, basically put the change in for Medium Density, changed it from Low Density Urban to Medium Density Urban; and it went through the whole process, and that’s how it got approved. So since 2005 we’ve been getting these applications. Okay? So, you know, it’s not an old kind of a thing. It’s a very recent development in our seeing these zoning change applications, because up until 2005 you couldn’t do it. In 2005 it also was put in the General Plan to have the Community Development Plans done. All right? So that’s four years ago, and they haven’t been done for Hilo. Puna has done it, Kohala has done it, Kona has done it. They’re starting in Kau, hopefully Hamakua in the next fiscal cycle. But we haven’t done it for Hilo. And in my mind it’s most important to do it for Hilo. This is an Urban area, you know; and this is the Urban area that we have on the island. And I know fiscal constraints are there but we really need to do it. I don’t see a real immediate need to do these changes now. There is a surplus right now of Commercial-Industrial areas. You can look around. We do need to plan other things out. But in my mind if the Community Development Plan is done properly and the community agrees on where the Commercial-Industrial places will be in the Community Development Plan, then when those projects come here for zoning changes if necessary and to the Council, it will be pretty much atiqua because the community has already dealt with it and there will be an agreement. That CDP change is going to be law under the General Plan. It will be law so we would have to follow it. You know, that’s my perspective. To say that there have been a lot of changes down there, yes, there have been changes down there. A lot of it has been recent. The rest of it was done many years go before the change to Low Density Urban. So that is the history. You know, you drive through House Lots now, and actually most of it is still residential, old residential use. And that in my mind needs to be changed. But how it’s changed, this process to me is not going to work. So I have to vote against it, just on that basis. Thank you. WOODWARD: All right. Commissioner Domingo, did you have something to say? DOMINGO: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would speak for the motion. And although, I appreciate the comments made by Mr. Iwashita and his planning philosophy, I really admire him for that. But by the same token, as I look at the House Lots and the need for perhaps a Community Development Plan for the entire town of Hilo, you know, I feel that we can do that as the time goes by and the appropriate funding be made available. But in the meantime, we have the General Plan. And I think if there’s strong opposition as to what changes we’re making in House Lots, there is still a means of putting some restrictions to what’s already happening, and that can be done by an individual Councilman perhaps representing that particular area coming up with a General Plan amendment and further make changes to the General Plan. Now, as you all probably know, any development that takes place must coincide with the General Plan. You know, there’s no other way that -. You have the LUPAG Map, and you have to meet that allocation guide map to make any developments. EXHIBIT A 6