2010-07-08 THNMP - Laserfiche WebLink

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th KERN: Excuse me, January 11 deadline, yeah. Born and raised Big Island, grew up most of my life in Puna, IÓve been watching that intersection grow for many years. I know who Paul is since I was a little kid, my father used to know him as well. I got great respect for Paul and him doing that development there. I think that needs to be done. Honestly, the whole situation of Puna and development makes me a little bit sad because people want to do things there and itÓs hard to do it because of lack of infrastructure, primarily due to the State Highway. ItÓs a big challenge there. And to think that itÓs going to take another four years for that to occur is disheartening. I have, I mean, IÓm pro development. IÓve been involved in development. Any good developer knows that the, itÓs crucial to know your details, to have a greater understanding on where you stand with the ordinances, with your conditions, with your timetables and with your time frames. I also know that the tenants of most developments would love to get in there prior to the Christmas season. And then you put human life in there, and how that affects their -. And I had a great friend, lose their life at that intersection. And the problem existed there prior to this development going. the problem there. And personally I have a hard time putting off the improvements until, excuse me, allowing certificate of occupancy to occur prior to having the improvements in place. ThatÓs a challenging one for me, and I have a hard time going against t timeframe what happens if some people make or what happens if it gets pushed out? I mean th whatÓs the recourse of that January 11 deadline not occurring? Not a lot. WhatÓs the recourse of people dying there? More so. And I just think thereÓs, you know, thereÓs the cart and the horse and you want to get the horse in front of the cart. And itÓs a challenging one, cause I totally support it. I think itÓs a great thing. I drive in that intersection. It scares the crap out of me. ItÓs a very, very scary intersection; and we need those improvements there. So I have a hard time supporting the measure with allowing occupancy prior to those conditions being met. Thank you. WOODWARD: Okay, thank you. Anybody else? Commissioner Au? AU: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have to agree with Commissioner Kern. I believe the developer is trying, from the very start they have been trying. And, you know, just a little bit of history for the Commissioners on this particular project. TheyÓve gone through a lot from the very start of this project with the Department, with the DOT. And back in January they actually had a death on the job at LongÓs Drugs. So, you know, this developer has gone through a lot and they are trying to work with the community, with the State and the County. So I just want to remind the Commissioners before we take a vote. WOODWARD: Okay, anybody else? All right, IÓll throw in my two cents worth here. One thing IÓm certainly, I certainly understand where Commissioner Kern and Commissioner Au are coming from. And the only thing is that this has been a problem that has been there for years; and itÓs a problem thatÓs going to continue. And itÓs a matter of probably minor degrees that itÓs going to change between now and the time that that the remediation is done between 2012 and 2018. The one thing, as I said, I was very impressed that Mr. Sumada had actually gotten involved actively in this and has been using some innovative thinking and has actually adopted problem solving rather than just passing the buck around. And I think the compromise that theyÓve come up with is imminently reasonable. And I think the only thing thatÓs going to make 19 EXHIBIT A