2005-09-02 TFIRE - Laserfiche WebLink

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SAFARIK:Thank you very much and good morning, Mr. Chairman and Members of the Planning Commission. Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to voice my support for docket SPP 05-014 regarding the asset that the County of Hawaii has. And what I would like to do is just basically identify for this body a little bit of background; and I wont bore you with a lot of the details. But some of the funding for this project, the reason why its moving ahead as rapidly as it is, we just were awarded the property last year through executive order, I believe, from the Governor, is that we had some monies that were available through a bond issuance for us to buy some property in the Pahoa region, namely the Akebono 4-acre parcel, and that parcel became unavailable to us because we had placed a cap on the purchase price; and, therefore, the 1.25 million that we had appropriated to purchase that property fell through; and we had this funding available. So that funding was shifted after several in-house meetings with the Mayor, his staff and my staff to proceed with this fire station. And primarily your support today will solidify the Countys commitment to upgrade and provide new facilities for our public safety officialsinthePunaregion,aswellastheCountyscontinuedcommitmenttoimproveuponthe recreational facilities that are needed in the Puna region and, primarily, the linkage between this particular project and a project that were working with, to also develop the Countys assets to the highest and best use in the urban core of Pahoa, of which we have 56 acres that we acquired from the Catholic Diocese. Also the swimming pool facility, and the neighborhood facility, plus this old fire station and the property thats under it accounts for about 76 acres in the urban core of Pahoa. Once this fire station is built, hopefully that you will approve this special permit, once this particular fire station is built, the old fire station property could be utilized. And weve been in discussions with several nonprofits here on the Big Island, one of them being the Boys and Girls Club of America and the other being the YMCA. Theres continued interest in utilizing this County facility for a youth program which would be a partnering with these, with, it could be with some other agency, it doesnt have to be the Boys and Girls Club or the YMCA. But, nevertheless, I wanted to identify for this body the potential that we would have to utilize this facility once the new fire station is built. And then in the long view, this 19.464 acres is a perfect location for what we had planned in the future as a recreational park facility. But I think in the longer view what were hoping to do is site a County gymnasium on that particular site. And that would be probably when Im in the Life Care Center but, nevertheless, its our long view of the project. So with that Mr. Chairman and ladies and gentlemen of the Commission, I appreciate this opportunity, and hopefully you will grant a favorable recommendation. GALDONES:Thank you, Councilman Safarik. Any questions, Commissioners? Commissioner Siracusa. SIRACUSA:Yes. When I first moved to Pahoa in 75, I could walk from one end of town to the other in the middle of the day down the middle of the street and not see a single car in either direction. Now you have to wait quite a while sometimes just to cross the street; and thats in a crosswalk. So I would like you to comment on the ease with which the fire engines 7EXHIBIT B