2009-09-04 TCOHfire - Laserfiche WebLink

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The third component of the project, which is in design and targeted for construction, is a training complex, strictly for classroom use. This is not a live burn or hands-on training site. This is only classroom facilities and, again, to keep up with the required increase in demands for us to hire, train and maintain the training requirements of our staff, and just keep up with the continued growth of our department. Right now our training center consists of one classroom located at Central Fire Station, which the maximum capacity we have there is no more than 20 students, which limits our hiring capabilities as well as the on-going training requirements for constantly searching for facilities within the community to either rent or use and must share with other organizations. In considering the design and building of this training center, we are committed to making it available to all of the County and other government agencies, so it’s not just for our use. It will get maximum utilization by making it available to all government agencies. So, and we see this as being a good project to have. As Mr. Brilhante pointed out, you know, we really want to be transparent to the community and see this as an opportunity to get their input, hear their concerns. I did hear concerns when I went door to door as part of trying to make sure that we want to be good neighbors, and that message was communicated to the residents. I found the experience going door to door very rewarding, very educational, in hearing some of the concerns, as well as even addressing some of the questions about our project and the other projects in the area. So I see this morning as an opportunity to hear more of the concerns that the community has, maybe address them and consider that in the design, cause we still are in the design phase and may have the opportunity to modify our plans or consider accommodations that would provide the community with assurances that, again, we want to be good neighbors. We want to maintain a buffer, which is keep as much of the vegetation as possible. We want this facility to be aesthetically pleasing. We are limiting it as far as its height. With the exception of the tower, all of the other buildings are single story. So we want to maintain a low profile, low impact presence in the community, but still meet our needs. And, again, I just look forward to hearing the questions, concerns and, again, considering some of the suggestions that the community or this Commission may have. So thank you. WOODWARD: Thank you, Chief Oliveira. Do we have any questions for the Chief? Commissioner Ogata. OGATA: I’m interested in what other sites were considered, my first question. And my second question is if you could share with us what some of the major concerns were from the community. OLIVEIRA: Sure. On the first issue, we did initially under Mayor Kim’s administration look at multiple different sites in the Hilo area. And part of the drive with that was to see if we could find a site that we would be able to accommodate relocating our central fire station, which we found an alternative site for that, and also locating a parcel that was centrally located close to the government center and community center in Hilo, would have the access to the public, as well as the size, that could accommodate all of our needs. We also looked at the most affordable options, which were state-owned parcels or county, currently county-owned parcels, which had infrastructure already. That limited our options greatly. 5 EXHIBIT A