2010-10-22 THANNEKEN - Laserfiche WebLink

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TER MEER: I am one of these trouble maker people that complain when I see things that aren’t right, what I consider to be not right. The Souzas have lived at the corner of Kawaihae Road and Kahinu Place for longer than I have, but they consider an ag business to be a truck repair business; they have a large steel business that they have repaired vehicles on, and I have complained about them. And we’ve curtailed a lot of the parking problems they had with junk vehicles and huge 18- wheel trucks being parked there and road grading equipment, whatever, anyway, we’ve cut down a lot on that. There’s the people across the street from my home named Takushi, at least the owners are named Takushi, and they used that as a dumping ground for all of their equipment that they use for road equipment, improvements, whatever. HOUSEL: Could I please ask you to limit your testimony to this particular application? TER MEER: Yes, I will. I’m just telling you that. I’m also one of the complainers of this particular piece of property – I was getting to that, I’m sorry. I have a photograph that was taken back in 2008 of the property when it looked like a junkyard. Anyone who would like to look at that, you may. It’s a very non-effective photograph that my wife took from the street of what it used to look like. It was just terrible. It did look like worse than a junkyard. But anyway, I went by this morning. It looks great right now; they’ve graded things, they’ve put up a new fencing area, and it looks wonderful. But there is no effective business on it right now. What is it going to look like when they start bringing in all of the fencing material and all of the cinder blocks and everything else that needs to be done? It looks fine now, but what is it going to look like when it’s finished? Also, I kind of question the size, the scale size of the, what they call, the garage – the area that they have, that’s a building that has pre-formed walls. But it’s been without a roof for years. And it’s giant. It’s not a garage; it’s a warehouse waiting for a finishing roof. And I seriously wish that you would deny this request. I would like to finish Jay’s, has one little final thing that she wanted to say. She says, “In summary I ask that you do the right thing and deny this special use application. My hope would be that your denial would send a message to all the other businesses that are conducting unpermitted activities on agricultural land that the County and its representatives will enforce the zoning and land use codes. I beg of you to keep Ag land Ag and not subject the land to commercial activities that could degrade the land to a point where is not able to be used for its intended uses.” And that’s it for me. HOUSEL: Thank you, sir. Would you state your name and address, please? GARDNER: Murray Gardner, 62-2088 Kawaihae Road, which is directly across from the property for which the Special Permit is requested. And I emphasize the fact that they are looking for something special; they didn’t look for it for eleven years, but they are looking for it now. Notwithstanding that I’m not here to support or oppose a Special Permit being granted, but it is special, and I think that this Commission should ask for special accommodations from the owners in order to grant them this Special Permit. The parcel itself has a rather sordid history. It had been owned by a couple who were unable to sell it after the first Gulf War, gave it to a church. The church then proposed to build a church. This went before the then Planning Department and Planning Commission and Council, and all granted; however, the Third Circuit Court said thumbs-down, and so no Special Permit was granted for a church on this property. The church then sold it to the present owners, my good neighbors, Hannekens. (Inaudible) was in 1995 and 1996, 7. 7 EXHIBIT A