2005-11-18 TPARKERSCHOOL - Laserfiche WebLink

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to address the hearings officers report. Also note that there has been exceptions and also the responses from the applicants and the county. So that also will be subject matters that we will be dealing with. I will allow Mr. Vitousek to address the Commissioners first. VITOUSEK:Thank you Mr. Chair. Im going to be very brief. This is an application for a used permit to allow Parker School to develop an elementary school campus adjacent to th their existing campus in Waimea. Parker School is a independent kindergarten through 12 grade school. It has been in Waimea since 1976. It is emerging as an excellent school at all levels. Because of changes in the demographics of Waimea, Parker School has decided to thth create-. You know up until recently Parker School was 6 through 12 grade. And because the change of demographics theyve decided to open an elementary school which will be th kindergarten through 5 grade. That school has been opened and is functioning on the Parker Schools existing campus. It opened this fall. There are 76 students enrolled and it is becoming a successful program. This application is to allow Parker School to develop a campus, which would be dedicated to elementary school use. Im sure all of you understand that there are some difficulties and potential conflicts associated with having elementary schools in contact with intermediate students and high school students. And thats why traditionally its better to have some physical separation between the campuses and generally its better to have any elementary school that is designed and created as an elementary school. Where things are sized right for kids of that age and where youre not asking kids to be in temporary classrooms or in improvised classrooms. But you can instead focus on having your facilities meet the quality of your educational programs. And so the property that is being identified as used for this elementary school is in the State Land Use Urban district. In other words its urban. Its in the General Plan as urban expansion area. It is in the county zoning as agriculture. And it is because the County zoning is agriculture that a use permit is required. And the, you know a school is a permitted use in the county Ag zoning if a use permit is obtained. So the matter was referred to a hearings officer. Sherry Broder is a very experienced hearings officer and did in my view an excellent job. And I say my view, I mean she ruled against the applicant in a lot of areas. And accepted a lot of evidence that we had made technical objections to including the traffic studies with all the various statements that were included as-, distributed to people who walked by. But what she said was you know because this is an administrative proceeding were going to accept the evidence and I will look at it and give it what weight I think its entitled to. And thats what she did. I think that if anything hearings officer Broder erred on the side of being over inclusive in evidence but thats her view. And what she found based on the evidence was that the proposed school meets the criteria set out for use permit under County reg-, under County Code. And specifically that it meets the intent and plan of the zoning code and the general plan and that it would not be materially detrimental to the public welfare or cause substantial adverse impact on the communitys character or on surrounding properties. She also found that the third criterion of whether the proposed use will not unreasonably burden public agencies to provide roads, streets, sewers, water drainage, schools, police and fire protection or other related infrastructure. In other words she found that, that allowing an elementary school to be built adjacent to an existing campus would be materially detrimental to the community because there had already been a school there for, since 1976. There had already been a school there since long before the intervenors or other people who testified in opposition to it acquired their homes. And so, you know basically the testimony against it was concern about traffic on Kapiolani Road. And it was concern about traffic generally in that area. And what the, there was testimony from Ki Emler EXHIBIT A 10