2004-09-16 TSPECTRASITE - Laserfiche WebLink

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DARROW:Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As mentioned, we had received the letter from the Petitioners in the contested case informing us that they will not be able to make the hearing. As discussed earlier on the previous application, this would be a good opportunity to be able to minimize costs and be able to have the Commission hear this particular contested case hearing and be able to take care of the issues in-house. GALDONES:Commissioners, what you will be acting upon today is the request that we hear this, put this on the agenda at the next Hilo meeting and the Planning Commission become the hearing officer for this because theres not going to be a hearing officer. So thats the action that you will be acting upon. Commissioner McCall? MCCALL:Just to be clear, the contested case hearing still needs to proceed, cause they have not withdrawn their contested case. Theyre just saying that theyre not going to participate in it. Is that correct? GALDONES:That is correct. MCCALL:Okay. Thank you. GALDONES:Further discussion? Commissioner Siracusa? SIRACUSA:Well, Im trying to understand how it can go on if theyre not participating. Because a contested case involves some give-and-take, you know, cross- examination of witnesses, isnt that correct? GALDONES:Mr. Yuen. SIRACUSA:Then its only one-sided and its not a contested case. YUEN:Well, we tend to use the word, the term contested case only when theres an Intervenor; but, actually, to be technical about it, all of these permit applications are contested cases. Its just that without an Intervenor, we do it informally; and the only parties are the, the County is actually a party, the Planning Director is a party, and the Applicant then is a party. And so the County, the Applicant has witnesses, the County has witnesses and exhibits, people from the public can come up and testify. The County, the Commissioners and the Applicant can cross-examine. The Applicant, for example, has a right to question our staff or myself about things that we may say. So thats cross-examination. And then when you come out with your decision, if its adverse to the Applicant, the Applicant actually has the right to appeal that to court because this is a contested case. If it wasnt, they wouldnt have a right to appeal. And if the Department was opposed to the permit and the Commission granted it, then the Department would have the right to appeal to court. So, in this case, you have a party that has requested intervention; and, so, normally, then we go into this more formal mode. We could actually, and weve talked about this, have the contested case hearing, formal contested case hearing, right there at the same day and 2