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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-11-06 Testimony - N. and J. Lesourd DeVera, Ashley From: nick lesourd < Sent: Thursday, November 6, 2025 8:29 AM To: Planning Board of Appeals Subject: November 14 2024 BOA meeting impacted neighbor written testimony Attachments: Lesourd Written Objection to Appeal WILLIAM FRAZIER (PL-BOA-2025- 000123) esigned 11-6-25.pdf Aloha, Please find attached our written testimony for the upcoming Board of Appeals meeting concerning William Frazier's unpermitted driveway approach. Can you please confirm receipt of this submission? Mahalo, Nick and Jaime Lesourd Owners Huila Farm From: DeVera, Ashley<Ashley.DeVera@hawaiicounty.gov>on behalf of Planning Board of Appeals <boardofappeals@ hawaiicounty.gov> Sent:Tuesday, October 28, 2025 8:41 AM To: nick lesourd < Cc: Planning Board of Appeals<boardofappeals@hawaiicounty.gov> Subject: RE: November 14 2024 BOA meeting and impacted neighbor/plaintiff testimony inquiry Aloha Nick, Please see attached November 14th Board of Appeals agenda. If you would like to provide written testimony,you may email boardofappeals@hawaiicounty.gov. If you would like to provide verbal testimony at the hearing, linked here is the Zoom registration link: https://www.zoomgov.com/meeting/register/tsG4RWiJROgw4YvWNTYWfw Mahal , Board of Appeals Staff Main Line: 808-961-8288 Email: boardofappeals@hawaiicounty.gov From: nick lesourd < Sent: Monday, October 27, 2025 11:48 PM 1 To: Planning Board of Appeals<boardofappeals@hawaiicounty.gov> Subject: November 14 2024 BOA meeting and impacted neighbor/plaintiff testimony inquiry Aloha, I received a letter(enclosed below) from my neighbor of whom I am currently engaged in a civil lawsuit stemming from their unpermitted lot clearing and grading activities occurring over the last 2 years. These activities have caused major flooding impacts on my lot to include threatening 2 structures (e.g. home/workshop) and have caused continuous major damages to my driveway. I want to provide my written testimony against the boards reversing of the Planning Directors decision pertaining to the Building Divisions NOV for my neighbors unpermitted driveway approach. My neighbor was also issued an NOV for unpermitted grading activities. How should I provide this feedback and what is the preferred format? Can I get a zoom invite for this meeting as well? Mahalo, Nick Lesourd ) Owner Huila Farm Sent from my iPhone 2 Nicola and Jaime Lesourd County of Hawai'i BOARD OF APPEALS Aupuni Center 101 Pauahi Street,Suite 3 Hilo, Hawai'i 96720 November 6, 2025 Aloha BOA Members, Please find enclosed our objections to William Frazier's, owner of TMK (3) 1-9-003: 018, attempts to appeal Hawaii County Notice of Violation (NOV) PL-BOA-2025-000123. As the adjacent impacted property owners,we find this attempt at an appeal deceitful and failing to disclose the entire extent of the massive problems the lot owner and his representative/contractor have created impacting our property for over 2 years while they were conducting unpermitted grubbing and grading actions. We hope to provide amplifying information throughout this document so the board can ensure Hawaii County Code (HCC) is upheld and prevent other residents from going through what we have gone through. Respectfully, Le:ZI., � � Nick and Jaime Lesourd Owners Huila Farm USCG Senior Chief Petty Officer(ret.) Lesourd 1 Re: WILLIAM FRAZIER (PL-BOA-2025-000123) Appeal of Decision by the Director of Public Works Dated July 23, 2025, Regarding Notice of Unpermitted Driveway in the County Right-of-Way. Location: Wright Road,Volcano, HI 96785 TMK: (3) 1-9-003: 018 We are neighbors adjoining parcel TMK(3) 1-9-003: 018 owned by William Frazier. We are providing this written testimony regarding the appeal for an unauthorized driveway approach. We have serious concerns regarding this attempt at an appeal, especially in light of the owner's patterns of failure to adhere to HCC resulting in continuous flooding of our lot causing extensive and repeated damages to our property. The following is a summary of the key points, clarifying facts, flooding conditions, and a context of text message conversations between us and William Frazier as submitted in his appeal. Please also note that due to the extent of damages received, owner's failure to correct issues, and evasiveness of the owner we have had no choice but to pursue legal actions to resolve a substantial number of problems the owner and his representative/contractor have created on TMK(3) 1-9-003: 018 impacting our property. In addition,we request any current or future permitting actions on TMK (3) 1-9-003: 018 be reviewed by the Director of Public Works or other senior official(s)to ensure the property owner is abiding by HCC Section 10-9 provisions as to not further impact adjacent property owners. We appreciate your review of this document and taking our facts into consideration when making your decisions. Lesourd 2 1. Background We purchased our home in April 2020 and at that time our lot had a preexisting driveway and berm along the west side lot line; adjacent to parcel TMK(3) 1-9-003: 018 owned by William Frazier.A photo of this driveway and berm can be located within the enclosures section of this letter. Our lot would weather storms and extensive/large rainfall events with no major issues, and never had rivers of flowing water that could carve out our driveway. William Frazier purchased his lot in January 2023 and subsequently conducted unpermitted clearing and grading actions. On January 9, 2024 we encountered the first occurrence of a river flowing from William Frazier's lot onto ours. We attempted to resolve the flooding issues with William but he quickly blamed us asserting our prior resolved area of encroachment on his lot as being the source of the problem. On August 25, 2024 we encountered additional,and more intense flooding issues after further unpermitted clearing and grading actions occurred on William Frazier's lot. We again attempted to reach out and come up with some solutions. Unfortunately,those efforts failed as we now can see in William's complaint against us dated August 29, 2024,that he had no intentions of resolving issues he created and intended to continue to blame our preexisting driveway as the issue. In addition, after our second notice of flooding to William Frazier he then applied for a grubbing permit on August 29, 2024 further demonstrating he was fully aware that his unpermitted actions were causing flooding issues on our lot. On December 20, 2024 we received a Hawaii County NOV for our driveway approach that, as demonstrated within the enclosures of this letter,was preexistent in nature. Nevertheless, we complied with the notice and on January 17, 2025 our contractor began work to bring our approach into compliance as demonstrated within the subsequent enclosures. All work was completed within the deadline set by the county with no excuses. Bottom line, William Frazier has made mistakes and failed to properly plan for and execute clearing and grading of his lot as alluded to in his August 8, 2025 petition; "I ask that this requirement for a paved driveway be deferred until a more appropriate time when I have determined the best placement for the driveway or driveways." At the present,William Frazier is refusing to abide by the very same codes as we had to with our preexisting driveway approach.As investigated and reported in July 23, 2025 Hawaii County NOV, William Frazier was found to be in violation of HCC pertaining to both his driveway approach and grading. It appears that William Frazier is refusing to accept that his actions are causing flooding and other damages to our property. As previously noted, William Frazier backtracked his unpermitted activities by applying for a grubbing permit long after conducting clearing and grading activities.These actions are not pono and demonstrate deceit, willful negligence, a lack of concern, compassion, neighborliness, aloha, nor accountability thereby putting our property, safety, and wellbeing at risk. As exhibited in William Frazier's appeal document labeled Access Photos with Captions his unpermitted driveway approach was indeed one of the issues causing flooding in the front of our lot. Because of this omission coming to light, we can now confirm our suspicions that the lack of a proper driveway approach on William Frazier's lot in addition to unpermitted grading, lack of plans, and his denial all have contributed to flooding conditions in this area of our lot. Furthermore, we suspected that William Frazier was utilizing the Hawaii County Building Division complaint system to continually harass us with baseless complaints and avoid resolving the serious HCC violations present on his lot. Lesourd 3 In closing, we do not have the luxury of time for William Frazier to conduct further experiments on his lot so he can determine the best location for his driveway(s). NOAA forecasts that we're likely to see "above normal rainfall through early spring 2026". As such, we have to constantly respond to flood events emanating from William Frazier's lot that flow into our lot threatening our structures and small farming operation. Lastly, I ask the board to take a long look at the following picture because this is what we will be doing if Hawaii County doesn't hold William Frazier accountable to fixing his driveway approach and holding him accountable to HCC. November 4,2024 fighting a river of water flowing from William Frazier's lot into ours threatening our structures. n Al l ''` - 'C .lk yy f k We trust that the Board of Appeals will make the right and just decision to follow the Director of Public Works recommendation to keep the NOV in place against William Frazier's unpermitted driveway approach. We request any current or future permitting actions on TMK(3) 1-9-003: 018 be reviewed by the Director of Public Works or other senior official(s)to ensure the owner of TMK(3) 1-9-003: 018 is abiding by HCC Section 10-9 provisions as to not further impact adjacent property owners. Respectfully, Nicola and Jaime Lesourd Lesourd 4 2. Enclosures Photos of our preexisting driveway and berm July 27, 2020 photo of preexisting driveway, driveway approach, and berm alongside our driveway between both lots ju,; e\ t, M , �I 1 '�d � � " x F ry 7 �1t, r 4 aY ari A'k „f l �J Nf �, yray �,y :r fd rr ' .--' •Y .y r >. f , L - - ',Ak A*, , ,. —:.:-.:;.'tAL-'„,'.fe.,,,„— ...4-v,,,wk-4 k ' r 491' '4e • 1" =r`- " r Y 8 -: .! R - r c 7 � is s t , �1p,/ k Y ; a- 'II - a yY /1// \r 4:". w .,'., '�j ii." ;». ,\r . .fir. _ - .. . Lesourd 5 August 4, 2020 photo of our preexisting driveway and approach over county right Hof way circled in red r : +n4 fix ' +o ' n • • Y'J! s �n '- r4 � :. g i $ r tn CT /fi�4 4r ,y. P C { i, 3AE ' " 'w,Y y ,5ll I - . ; •• 1 • r � • .,a �� F s° ! w Sr`f (6 _. i >� ir. h ,. _ {t'1• CC77,,}:E7 .EATS alt, vrh cl !� es r kp,... ' t 4', 0, fir` _Qs T ` J I. py i , -. • '..•r .:-ii __ 'y--r.. - _ a w P. M` • % r 1 r r L C ' , Lesourd 6 Photos of William Frazier's complaint against our preexisting driveway approach and our actions to correct it January 21, 2025 photo of our approved driveway approach installation i4 ,stir' � '� 4;t �i ♦ .5 - }, =Y 44;: I}? ' 3d k4_ ! t''k -- -,,,,Pit % ,,,f. �`` ✓ ", a i 1,Y` 1,,, " e era! i •',, ppS ,i�y�y�iA,���'�_ s fh' Y , ,. ., ; lk w, " . ry .-? iriy„,,tv"..,-/,;_...:,.. :- , 474, H x _ y .ai'v m fm ma's v x a _ } ' r ' Fy , ... y� - -1 �. II r mod a r.. , s , 'fiat°,,,, Lesourd 7 January 29, 2025 photo of our approved and completed driveway approach installation .w'. vile •\• -, 1 d y ''' mil' ". ,i, }� -,..-y,., i 1• •-, 1 ,..,s ,r �8 _� V � : l PPP $t. . >f ' f ^ { • .I sua�ne�e111n1Y119' 4 �ti :'yq _. S `y -'.' k 4`''-, .` - I Ili 1 f6x '° "�1 " '.t .. „ 1� 4. �..y. � �. • p a m: -� � .may, f lip oatoal i : p h �� �� �I � dlBi�. .. III � ' » r t ' .�' - j t �ti11 . 1, I ' j 14 `., ' • • • • { - f - . • i gti- • L�y r ii• it • ` R « 14111 : . : ' • ,`P _ :�.. ' _, a p,. • i » Lesourd 8 Photos of William Frazier's unpermitted grading actions impacting our lot August 7, 2023 photo of William Frazier's contractor M&L Tree Service grading/moving dirt and thereby altering the preexisting berm near the front portion of our lot. (submitted to HI County Building Division as evidence of unpermitted grading actions) 4 3tl �F :�aa- tle, i , +. Art F is.`_ ..- ,S .. • h - ,- _ 'fie, 44: , .7 ear. 4 s . s Su 4 ' fig.+ P. _'fi4. +:. ,1 G�, i ,,"7, 1 +YS r'�t+ d �T",�@�M" • _ PO r Y r yta.i, _'. y - a.k iea �, s Ilrri�} 1 I- vGp h ,;1 'a..�yC^F- } 4� �c � y3.,, a r �9TMrr`� 1• xK�t i„Spe to P, ,i _ f r vi. ,,,.,,,, ° ;• ., 3� id ar'L 1' ar b - .v.�t'r w M ' C ',.i I hr,, ,,, f „ i � ' V k C 61 + i, r , Y � R� a E.o ; ..s � sl, liy , 1 .,:4 % ij,"1,t—,, t. t rt.C 'AV • ", if -1,014 A-6:2' .,4,,* , .` , -4 - .-f.,_,-„r, IT ...,,t, -r,, itictive011--4 t i 4 zt n /' . ' T , ' 11 0 f �J - '.+ i gyp; „fir.r •'* .�' 'YnA 1, p, ' f ;. � � � +� r�.5}y �"�4R� i` � iG‘j�� y ,' r i. dS E f A A': '� .`�. ,.�1el 101„ i I' - I t 44 1 4 k; i y r , y,yr'r i t �"&.��il-. -kc ,agw `-74*•- I sc t r'` i ,i ' ,d' ..�x. 1 i Lesourd 9 August 7, 2023 photo of M&L Tree Service grading/moving materials to raise level of lot in front and stockpiling materials in front of William Frazier's lot creating a levy that prevent water from flowing into county drainage along Old Volcano Road. (Submitted to HI County Building Division as evidence of unpermitted grading actions) a..arl , so }�y,�- 4 it # "+'€Q, r, ra zt t ri I, '� { * �4 -r fig 4#0' fig'' , -� ;�.. ' � �'� ����. v °J R r ti: a ilti( �aa� 6' x • + - r� ,;,r-,,, i" ' i Y , Lesourd 10 October 25, 2024 photo of William Frazier's contractor, M&L Tree Service, continuing to stockpile materials in front of his lot creating a levy that prevents water from flowing into county drainage along Old Volcano Road, contradicting his assertions that our driveway is impacting the flow of water. (submitted to HI County Building Division as evidence of unpermitted grading actions) z. _ Ai;iz:. r kir il, ' . C"' , - Nis Aft,t,\,,..:K- .1 e,r n-1 i ar` . ' ,..'"1 !,,, "%„.4.A4. If ." N: . " '‘,.. 4, . .,,,141104,' e 11:7.C...; 41,ilril‘ 11.4. 1... .:' t \L.,-, re NV ,`.x. `^mod+ -. '„1 4 pOC. 'ti. ; - , . _, r y ,` , e 7 - :41.4?„,°Z.: � a4:,-, ' uia "' ' ' � r k s off " „ kk6 } ' Al I ® I i 1 ! , ; '.,- ki` . i 1, p:k ,4i 0 , , , , I i ' , ,i . ,11 , tIlii ,-*, , y° " !P 1i r 11 r , ' A;,w •!7 ICI i, i,,, 1 ill ,_. _ 1 0 i _ j i I 1,, g , , ..c Jo 1 i i : '1 1 . ., 1 '1.'4 , II rif 1111' ,t; , 4' . ' i: ''.1.— ''' '4 ' 11 iiv 1, 1, 0 i . Ili f' ' !: l', 1 [ 1. :: i i, i. 1 a , I , . I, . , , ..• ' Id I Areas below depicted in red is where our preexisting berm was impacted by unpermitted grading actions and creation of a levy made of stockpiled materials placed by William Frazier and his contractor preventing his surface runoff water from flowing into roadside drainage along Old Volcano Road. This is one of several entry points we experience on our lot of severe water runoff from his lot. LOT 2 n .102 ACRES ± a;": ZO (3) 1-9-003: 019 i , N n O GP , N. 4'_ D ZD le f— (R)149'31'C Y. 400.00' {i ' " ROAD �� 0 271 tT LOT 1 1 0 0 Lesourd 11 Photos of William Frazier's unpermitted actions resulting in the flooding of our lot November 4,2024 Photo taken at 1512 from in front of our workshop facing west side lot line in our driveway(Note water flowing from William Frazier's lot where he/representative/contractor removed section of preexisting berm and graded/added a massive levy that prevents water from escaping) Ate'.Eh F. ��„ � n �.; r ^t, 9 8 S 0004 Y.r • , ' .. '" i M F it r rr �: r - p G +� i r . tea- Lesourd 12 November 4,2024 Photo taken at 1201 from our driveway entrance over our fence into William Frazier's lot and as can be observed water has nowhere to go but into our lot contradicting his assertions that our driveway approach is the root of flooding issues we have experienced 1 °' .....X''', r z,..,.„ , ,,,,.s14)14e.L-. -7 „,„w '*q rw gq, w, tiani LL., a Y 4fq li 1 Ipilliy @ w,/ a ti s r r• ` i. r Lesourd 13 November 4,2024 Photo taken at 1535 from Old Volcano Road in front of William Frazier's lot and no water is flowing within county drainage contradicting his assertions that our driveway approach is the root of flooding issues we have experienced t • ti qwy r r,. S5' lt +s 1 ,... + t a m }r. - � � ry , irk74yr r y , �`' -,.. 'k a x. d". Aiti It 1 ii, *... , - 4 am 6 pill. i . . . Lesourd 14 November 4,2024 Photo taken at 1536 from our driveway entrance and no water can be observed in county drainage, rather water is flowing from inside William Frazier's lot, is flowing into our lot and then back out to Old Volcano Road drainage due to our flood mitigation efforts;again, contradicting William Frazier's ascertains that our driveway approach is the issue. lb it. ` r., .f._ k e fir.. ,,, we rii '*' #:',,i : '" r' ri ', t':-... :f 1/ V., '-' - .,,•;111'V TI.'i....z,.-*,.2:-,t*.tge",:',-' ice, may` R. 4 .-' iiii k' i "� r , 1 x, .. 1, 1 : , 'I, 4010 ' 'c' 'tn.' . Lesourd 15 November 4,2024 Photo taken at 1512 in front of our workshop facing the west side of our lot towards William Frazier's lot with continuous flow occurring(water is flowing from William Frazier's lot where they removed section of preexisting berm and graded/added a levy that prevents water from escaping). j :; x � � - -: k-yi i-'• 4 �� �i� � ; 4 It"' II . i# I S '11';''' 't Trw4 'qx ail �}�, •.. f m ` j r 111 I I • ,• :" f�s r' y y N' 1 , RL .T ' �A!A.-. C ` y 1, ,., . . ,_ - , , . , . .., a — . _ ., i .. a,„... . ...,,,,,.-, ....,-z .-, . . ,. , . _ ,..,.. , .„... , ..-__,-.,_. . .. - — � ''^iw .� ._.��. .. t�a.,s+*" ., ._. _ .i'. '_. .,..i; ,�..,A7;Z''`: Lesourd 16 November 4,2024 Photo taken at 1256 in front of our workshop entrance as a large river of surface water runoff flowed freely from William Frazier's lot nearly flooding the inside of our workshop(note our emergency placement of sandbags to protect our structure). .. 1 " C ry A 410111 V 1\-*** A N M 4 7. i'. 1,"4 w , 11u P 0 y-v of 11I w^ ,}e v 1111 1 ti. , „ ~ a . ,' of aff, � 240.�k u 1 ,I I r imr a " ' .. '� �10 , !, m w P fi fI �# . rya I�I�II 4rT • t� � Y u 104440., �f tl 11 }}}}1}}}}�}�1.111 I00,,l�� Lesourd 17 November 4,2024 Photo taken at 1512 in front of our workshop facing north east side driveway with continuous flow(Note water flowing around workshop). oigg y - - a R.JIWLruuvW t a^.w r s 1 •F q r -1 $* ` - Y0 E ,. r l' a n ... Fib :i 3 p. o •'. ..q lA 's M y n M ,,.,. • e c d .' I. • k t ' • ' y ig"M , r +tia Lesourd 18 November 4,2024 Photo taken from at 1533 of our driveway entrance with our efforts to mitigate flooding from William Frazier's lot area where preexisting berm was removed behind our fence during unpermitted clearing and grading activities on William Frazier's lot(emergency berm created to force water to flow out to Old Volcano Road and stop flowing towards our workshop). p q in iin el i , nth 0 :I, _ , i �a "*11 _ d.a,. i,q' I f '�y_ m ii, r ♦ � ,�w� .,t j *wi� "wry. �'�*'°�.Ii,raq'�a�.1�i.����'�55 3�'�, 'F —„ 0 y a Lesourd 19 November 4,2024 Photo taken at 1534 from our driveway entrance showing our efforts to mitigate flooding from William Frazier's lot. The emergency berm we created forced water flowing from inside William Frazier's lot out of our driveway towards our gate and out to Old Volcano Road. Yet again, contradicting William Frazier's ascertains that our driveway approach is the issue. The real issue for flooding in this location is the unpermitted driveway approach, unpermitted grading, and massive levy of stockpiled materials placed in front of William Frazier's lot alongside Old Volcano Road. . .4. 1 ‘1 ' ' 1 fi ..gyp �v. r, t f 'a{ s ; d 4,77-, krc , ^ e. -410, �Y m F tl 1 -, � . T. ti ® 4 „u v "' IN Y �r � r Id# Y M ddd4., y .;..1 " n,� ,w.e ! 1''.4 pi' . " 4c'. tr F% • Y FeS.t � G i Yfl hl� 'Mvw� k .Mim , l Lesourd 20 William Frazier's appeal document Access Photos with Captions Page 2 :1%r r liks + y'b✓' .r a;„'•.•'+fin ;'t`* t 4 :1. L '} i•,,.,� ^ :;(;. a 4 a'.. j Y 'i t 5/• t:ri WebCam View of access during November 4, 2024 flash flood •V .f `� der ..r •4.1.< e:441 y h ,;,d e� . v. �j ,ti • . • ram for 113924 Volcano Rd Dec 2024 c- Oct 2019 Sep 2 Google Maps Street View of property dated December 2024, showing my immediate mitigation to the flooding (Cinder burn placed near the drainage ditch) • Note the timestamp on William Frazier's driveway camera as November 4, 2024 1337 HST.We experienced prolonged period of rivers of runoff flowing towards our workshop for many hours during this timeframe and as can be seen by our photos/William's photo,water alongside Old Volcano Road was flowing into and through William Frazier's lot into ours thereby bypassing county drainage.This event was one of the many winter weather systems that we encounter annually and demonstrates the impacts we can have any time there is a substantial rain event. Lesourd 21 William Frazier's appeal document Access Photos with Captions Page 3 1 M gr fi y ? „e.. , "q..- t. • Jf � - I, j 1 r s t i .. pt it40 i 1/ ,�, xis. - ,' ,1 . ,a_f/ K ,, y.., I' '�" �"�.'' .4`$ k �. i. 1• '.i� - may.^J�:,: . r{.',` ,.•,"t 's ' ,r 7 S .• ifx , fly • _Y , Photo taken 23 February 2025, showing my final mitigation moving the temporary berm back 20ft and raising the ground level at the gate 6 to 8 inches, to prevent further flooding • Note this fix will not prevent future flooding on our lot and is indicative of the lack of planning efforts made by William Frazier to abide by HCC Section 10-9 provisions. Furthermore,this unpermitted driveway approach is frequently accessed by vehicle traffic to include large commercial deliveries of materials and if not properly corrected/installed per HCC,this unpermitted driveway approach will fail from repeated vehicle traffic present on this lot. Lesourd 22 August 27, 2024 view taken from our workshop showing a river beginning to form from William Frazier's front lot where he removed preexisting berm and erected a large levy W ,- ° • k t 1a,'� • - "rti o w " ° pg• "a.' —,„„,,,,,, , '' li . { • ,4a' .r 'll 0- I "a i # .,a yes r a 5� x.s• ";i. l„4 ar: ,,i: c _.,.. . . -. ,-,., , . Lesourd 23 August 25, 2024 view taken from our workshop entrance with sandbag protection (second river flowing from William Frtazier's lot into ours). - o _ r....- ,,S,‘ '.. ll l''n • ..q.1., n - L II . " : ,_ ;!".. I3/4. I.,. , __ _., _ 1 .__ _- -41, 4,t- I i , , - iv* lip, +� rr r* I "P r ' dtlP! w ; ppP rD i 0, — ' ' .II 9 4,, .,,,,,...,4 11 . _.„, .....14etto,,L. 11 :• 9 .., : . :di Lesourd 24