2006-09-07 TTAKASE - Laserfiche WebLink

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SIRACUSA:Yes, I was wondering if Mr. Torigoe could give us some guidance about wording for that particular concern about keeping it in student housing? ALAMEDA:Mr. Torigoe? TORIGOE:Let’s see, well, I need a couple of minutes to consult with staff and see, you know, how that might be done. ALAMEDA:Okay. Any other questions? Commissioner McCall? MCCALL:Maybe just a point of discussion here. I’m not sure I would support having something put on here to make it exclusively for student housing. I mean, I think it would be desirable as student housing simply based upon its location next to the University. But anything that improves, that gives multiple housing, I mean, improves the housing situation in Hilo is going to improve the situation for student housing. I don’t see that we should be tying these guys down to being only for student housing. I’m also not, this would be something from Mr. Torigoe, but I’m also not sure that legally we can do that, whether that would be discrimination or, you know, that type of thing. ALAMEDA:I think, I have a contrary opinion but I want to save it for our discussion. I think probably Commissioner Salavea also would like to chip in on that, too. SALAVEA:I’ll save it for discussion. ALAMEDA:All right. Thank you. You have anything else? SIRACUSA:Yeah. Well, there was something in this morning’s paper about the County Council is going to be considering creating a new zoning designation, “University area” or something like that; and that zoning in that area surrounding the University would have, be for all sorts of subsidiary uses that would pertain to the University situation. And, so, it seems to me that if that sort of thing passes, then Mr. McCall’s concern about it being discriminatory would not hold. If the idea of building it there, it’s my impression, is because of its relative proximity to the University, other affordable multi-family housing could be elsewhere. But students, a lot of them don’t have cars, they have to walk or bicycle, so you look for spaces that are close to the University to fill that need. ALAMEDA:We can talk more in discussion, thank you, about that issue. How about questions for our Applicant’s representative or Applicant directly? Mr. Fuke, would you like to add anything before we see if there’s any testimony? FUKE:Well, I think that, you know, the affordable housing requirement -. You know, I think that some of the Commissioners may recall the Puaa-Suffolk project, which was like a 200-unit rental housing project. And what happened there is ultimately the County Council had required that the area be set aside for rental, you know, for a minimum of 20 years; and that was made part and parcel of the condition. And whether you can, you know, maybe that might be a little bit more appropriate rather than saying that you can, you know, you should be EXHIBIT A 5