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couldn’t have a change of zone to Commercial or High Density, Multi-Family use because it was
<br />Low Density Urban. And that was basically at the request of the neighborhood. But it got
<br />changed in 2005; and since then we regularly get, you know, on Manono Street and all the other
<br />different parts of House Lots change of zones to basically Mixed Commercial, Commercial
<br />Neighborhood, all those kinds of changes. Right? And it’s going through. And as far as I’m
<br />concerned, it’s not a, you know, it’s being done. But we’re basically, you know, if we keep
<br />going down that road House Lots is going to become like Kakaako was, you know, is, or
<br />however, you know, it’s basically going to be. And what we’re doing is we’re taking existing
<br />housing out of the market. You know, essentially, in fact we’ve said this is not going to be
<br />housing anymore. And what are we replacing it with? There’s no coherent plan. Right?
<br />So community development plan is necessary, in my mind, in order to avoid these problems and
<br />to make it, give the community an opportunity to try and address solving their problems, a way
<br />to solve the problems. And so that is my concern about community development plan and our
<br />going forward with all of these zoning changes without having one. And in my mind I’m saying
<br />if we start denying these things -. I like developers. We want development money, we want to
<br />build affordable housing, we want to do these things. And I would like to have it done faster.
<br />And in my mind if we had a community development plan in place we could get it done faster,
<br />hopefully because developers would be able to see, especially in Hilo, they would be able to see,
<br />well, if I’m in this area and the community development plan says I get to do this housing,
<br />multiple unit house, and it’s basically going to be a clear path as far as financing and the lenders
<br />approving it and getting the money. So I really think it’s the preferred way to go. It’s not getting
<br />done. I understand the budgetary concerns. But as a community I think we need to make some
<br />hard choices about where to best spend our money; and in the long term to me the money is best
<br />spent on getting the community development plan done. It’s going to take a couple million
<br />dollars, at least. But that’s my concern about that.
<br />On the other hand I have concerns about housing I raised earlier, and obviously if we have -.
<br />Well, I guess my concern is, you know, we’ve approved other housing changes based on the
<br />proposition that housing will be done, and it’s not done yet. You know, so, you know, in my
<br />mind it’s clear that part of what we do on this Commission or actually what the Council does
<br />when it approves this is that, you know, it creates what’s called entitlements. Right? And the
<br />entitlement, once this is approved this property value jumps, just by changing the law and what’s
<br />allowed. So, and, you know, whether or not Mr. Boschetti actually develops it himself, you
<br />know, which it appears he’s able to do and does it that way, or he decides to sell the right to do
<br />it, that’s another thing. But hopefully it gets done. So I am really conflicted about whether this
<br />should be approved because I don’t think we should be doing this as an ordinary course. I think
<br />it, you know, we really have to look at this carefully. On the other hand this is really, in my
<br />mind, in the core of our city; and so, you know, I understand the thing about buying in a Single-
<br />Family Residential Neighborhood. The reality is that, you know, I grew up in a Single-Family
<br />Residential Neighborhood on Lower Mohouli Street.It ain’t that any more. And it’s not going
<br />to be, right? I mean it’s going to expand. So I am really conflicted about the process, really.
<br />And so those are the comments I wanted to make on the record. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
<br />WOODWARD: Thank you, Commissioner Iwashita. Any other comments?
<br />Commissioner Domingo.
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