Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-12-06 Windward Transcript Connections WINDWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I HEARING TRANSCRIPT DECEMBER 6, 2012 CONNECTIONS NEW CENTURY PUBLIC A regularly advertised hearing on the application of CHARTER SCHOOL/CBESS (SPP 12-138) was called to order at 12:44 p.m. in the County of Hawai‘i, Aupuni Center Conference Room, 101 Pauahi Street, Hilo, Hawai‘i, with Chairman Pro Tem Dean Au presiding. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Dean Au, Ronald Gonzales, Wallace Ishibashi, and Stephen Ono STAFF PRESENT: Ryan Kanakaole (Deputy Corporation Counsel), B. J. Leithead Todd (Planning Director), Daryn Arai (Planning Program Manager), Phyllis Fujimoto (Staff Planner), Maija Cottle (Staff Planner), Jeff Darrow (Staff Planner), and Sharon Nomura (Secretary) ABSENT AND EXCUSED: Raylene Moses And approximately 36 people from the public in attendance. APPLICANT: CONNECTIONS NEW CENTURY PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL/CBESS (SPP 12-138) Continued hearing on an application for a Special Permit to develop a K to 12 charter school campus with dorm facilities and related uses on approximately 70 acres of land situated in the State Land Use Agricultural District. The property is located on both the southwest and northeast sides of Edita Street near its intersection with Kaūmana Drive and adjoining the Pacific Plantation Subdivision in Kaūmana, South Hilo, Hawai‘i, TMK: 2-5-006:141. AU: Okay, we’re on Item No. 5. Applicant: Connections New Century Public Charter School (SPP 12-138). Continued hearing on an application for a Special Permit to develop a K to 12 charter school campus with dorm facilities and related uses on approximately 70 acres of land situated in the State Land Use Agricultural District. The property is located on both the southwest and northeast sides of Edita Street near its intersection with Kaūmana Drive and adjoining the Pacific Plantation Subdivision in Kaūmana, South Hilo, Hawai‘i, TMK: 2-5-006:141. Staff presentation, please. DARROW: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We’re not going to do a long presentation as we did at our first meeting. Our last meeting was November 9, 2012 at which time the Planning Commission voted to continue the hearing to allow an opportunity to pursue an alternate access route from Puainako Street and also to submit water consumption estimate addressing the concern of an inadequate water supply by its next meeting, which is today. Additionally, we sent out another letter asking, encouraging the applicant to meet with the adjoining and surrounding community in hopes of addressing the concerns that were expressed at the last meeting. So, again, this is a continued hearing. I wanted to bring to your attention some submittals that have been submitted to the Planning st Department since our last meeting. We have a letter dated November 21, this was submitted by the 1 EXHIBIT D applicant. It was addressed to the Department of Water Supply and it actually has the preliminary estimate of potable water consumption. So that is one of the items requested from the Planning Commission that has been submitted to the Department of Water supply. Additionally, there was a request to work on an alternate access through the south adjoining property. A meeting was held between Mr. Bill Brilhante, Sr., the Planning Director, as well as the applicant, on th December 5 in regards to that issue. And if I could ask the Panning Director to just speak briefly about the meeting results. AU: Madam Director? LEITHEAD TODD: I’m sorry, I -? DARROW: I was just asking if you could just briefly summarize our meeting that we had with the applicant and Mr. Brilhante regarding the alternate access. LEITHEAD TODD: Mr. Brilhante is in the process of applying for a subdivision which would lie between the applicant’s property and the Puainako Extension. We don’t have a final map yet. We’re kind of in negotiations. But the reality is, is that there’s no specific timeline on any subdivision that Mr. Brilhante would put in. And if anyone is familiar with subdivisions in, on this island, between the time that somebody applies for a map to designate how many lots they’re going to put in and where the roads are going to be, it can be years before something is actually built. I live off of Wilder in a subdivision where there have been plans for, I think, the 900 acres makai of me going back to probably the 1970s or ‘80s. But I know that I first saw it on the Council agenda back in like 1993 when Brian De Lima was a Council Member, and we’ve been waiting. And I’ve been there since ‘89 and nothing has happened next door. So the reality is although the potential for connection to Puainako that could be accessed by Connections could be there in the future, the likelihood that it would be there in the near future or could be used as a primary access is highly speculative and probably cannot be a basis for a recommendation in terms of the actual application. If the application is going to proceed and be considered it has to be considered on the basis of access coming off of Edita and Kaumana as the primary. You know, and if in the future there’s an opportunity to connect to Puainako that would be great. But it would be speculative because there’s no timeline on when or if Mr. Brilhante would actually build his subdivision. AU: Okay, any questions for staff? DARROW: Mr. Chairman, I’m sorry, I still need to -. AU: Oh, okay. You’re still doing your presentation? DARROW: Yeah. Sorry about that, yeah. Okay. So in regards to the request from the Planning Commission, we’ve received the water calculations that have been submitted to the Department of Water Supply. The applicant and the Planning Director and Mr. Brilhante have had a meeting. Additionally, the Planning Commission asked the applicant to make an effort to meet with the community. At this time, 2 EXHIBIT D they haven’t met with them. But if you could look at this packet that has been submitted to you, these larger colored packets, this is information regarding the previous public community meetings, I’m sorry, the previous community meetings, as well as one that they are scheduling on December 17, 2012. And so that information is right at the beginning of this packet. So that’s the third item that was requested by the Planning Commission. Along with these items the Planning Department has received letters of support, as well as this morning we’ve received additional letters. I haven’t had a chance to go through them, but they have been passed out to the Planning Commission. Lastly, we’ve received two letters from the applicant, th one dated November 16, and the second one dated December 5, 2012. The applicant is requesting a th continuance of this hearing matter. He has the reasons for their continuance on the December 5 letter. It goes into the matter that the Planning Director spoke about earlier regarding representation from the Attorney General’s Office. And with that, that concludes our presentation. Are there any questions? AU: Any questions for staff? ONO: I’m not very good at geo -. AU: Microphone, Commissioner Ono, ONO: Oh, I’m sorry. Would you kind of orient me on the map again. DARROW: Sure. Okay, our subject property is identified with two black outlines. The property is actually cut in half by Edita Street. Just for reference going through the middle of the map, we have Kaumana Drive, the white line. As well as on the lower portion of the map, we have Puainako Street. So this property falls in between these two main streets. Again, we have Edita, which would be considered the primary access for the Kaumana, the Connections School. At this time, it appears that the majority of structures would be located on the, what we consider the lower portion of the school. The only thing that is proposed on the upper parcel is an elevated walkway that would be at least 100 feet away from Kaumana Cave, which runs underneath a portion of the subject property. The different colors on the map represents zonings. The subject property is zoned Agriculture 1-acre. The darker yellow and the lighter yellow represent Residential zoning. The blue and the darker green represent Agricultural zoning as well. ONO: Excuse me. And the light green, is that the -? I’m really poor at judging. DARROW: No problem. This area here, the subject property is light green, which is Agriculture 1-acre. ONO: And that’s what they’re using -? DARROW: Correct. AU: Okay, Thank you. DARROW: Thank you. 3 EXHIBIT D AU: Okay, now we’ll go into a brief applicant presentation. So I think you guys are all sworn in. Maybe just you two -? HONG: No, just the last -. AU: Yeah, could you raise your hand. Do you affirm to tell the truth in front of the Windward Planning Commission today? TESTIFIERS: Yes. AU: Okay, thank you. So, Mr. Hong, go ahead. HONG: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just so for everybody’s introduction, the gentleman wearing the blue shirt, aloha shirt, is John Thatcher, principal of Connections Charter School. Celia Shen is the far right, right. So I’m going to start again, you know, consistent with my theme this morning of starting with a song, I’m going to quote Jimmy Hendrick’s version of “All Along The Watch Tower,” “So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late.” We are here this morning asking for a continuance for two reasons. One are, the three conditions that were previously asked of us: We’ve provided the water calculations, consumption calculations. Two, we’ve actually had two meetings with Mr. Brilhante; one with the Planning Director, one with Sue Lee Loy who met with Mr. Brilhante personally prior to that meeting. And the third meeting with the community we have scheduled it, we had problems trying to get Kaumana Elementary School cafeteria because it was not available. We scheduled it for th the 17 . One of the things that we wanted to bring to the Commission’s attention is that we are willing to hire a facilitator, and actually trying to hire a facilitator to conduct the meeting instead of us doing it ourselves at our own cost. And unfortunately we just couldn't schedule that before today's meeting. The second major reason and the reason we are asking for the courtesy of continuing this particular hearing is after today the Atty. Gen.'s office will be representing Connections Charter School. They're concerned about the issues of land use and the appropriate uses for agricultural zoned areas. They’ve consulted with Mr. John Thatcher and are concerned about some of the issues that were brought up. So at that point, after today fortunately you don't have to hear me quoting corny songs. But you will be addressing, and the Attorney General will be representing Connections Charter School. I will have no further participation with Connections, unfortunately. But it is a great project. I anticipate testifying on my own. But we would ask for the courtesy of an extension or continuance to allow the Attorney General to appear personally on behalf of Connections Charter School. I would note that the Deputy Attorney General Monica Morris could not be here this afternoon because she had a previously scheduled deposition on another issue, in another litigation matter, that she could not break away from. Thank you AU: Okay, so would anybody else like to speak for the applicant? Can you state your name, where you reside, and you may begin. 4 EXHIBIT D THATCHER: My name is John Thatcher. I reside in Kaumana. I just want to touch on a couple of things on my testimony, my three page of testimony. I don't want to go through the whole thing. But earlier today Mr. Hirakami talked about the issue of charter school facilities. So we have been a charter school since 2000. And we do not receive any money from the state to build facilities. This is despite an Article X of the Hawaii State Constitution that says “The State shall provide for the establishment, support and control of a statewide system of public schools free from sectarian control, a state university, public libraries and such other educational institutions as may be deemed desirable, including physical facilities therefor.” So this is an issue for all charter schools. That is why you're seeing charter schools having to come to you with facility issues. Our school has been working since 2007 to try to secure this land and get the permits needed, do all the studies. We have informed the community since 2008, when we were first granted the provisional lease of the land by the Board of Land and Natural Resources. And this came about, our ability to work with the Board of Land and Natural Resources, because a law was passed in 2006, I believe it could have been 2007, that allowed for the Board of Land and Natural Resources to take State land and give it to charter schools to use for their facilities. So this was the State’s way of trying to help the charter schools without really spending a lot of money on facilities. We understand the position of the state. We are not opposed to not having facilities built for us like our, are built for other public schools. When we first decided on, when we were first looking at the lots that were given to us in 2007 we looked at the educational specifications for school documents that were put out by the State Department of Education. One of the findings there, one of the suggestions there is if the school had a high school campus that it should be 50 acres or less, or 50 acres or more. It also had other specifications. They had three documents actually - one for elementary, one for middle schools, one for secondary schools. We looked at the properties that were sent to us by the Department of Land and Natural Resources; and of the seven properties that they gave us to look at, two were in residential areas and five were in Kaumana, and they were zoned Agriculture. Now in 2007 when we started looking at this, we also looked at County regulations. And we looked at the County plan and the General Plan because there was no CDP, or there it is no CDP that I believe is current now. The last one for Hilo proper was developed in 1975. There is a CDP for a Downtown Hilo, but there is not one since 1975; and I don’t believe that that one actually applies nowadays. But in the General Plan it did say that, it mentioned charter schools. And it said that charter schools are responsible for selecting their own sites. We also looked at a memo that came from, I think it came from Planning. The memo defined the applicability of State laws; and it said “Charter schools are exempt from state laws, except those relating to health and safety and a few other exceptions (i.e. building, fire, and sanitation codes). The major effect of this exemption is that charter schools located in State Land Use Agricultural districts do not have to obtain a Special Permit.” Now I understand that there have been changes, there have been court cases that have dealt with this. We did not intend to proceed with that guidance after the court cases. We had no intention of trying to bypass the County special use permit. Another issue that I think is relevant here, and when we looked at the properties, we did look for agriculturally zoned properties. So the five that were in Kaumana, the only one that was bigger than 50 acres is the one that we have obtained the long-term lease on. The others were smaller, they were more landlocked. One had utility lines running through it, and they would have been much more 5 EXHIBIT D difficult to develop. So we chose that one. And I think part of the reason we chose it was because our school has always had a focus on sustainable industries. We want our students to be able to get an education that will allow them, if they choose, to find a job on the Big Island, or at least in the State of Hawai‘i. So this is important to us because the Constitution again makes a point for agriculture land and the preservation of agricultural land. Article XI says “The State shall conserve and protect agricultural lands, promote diversified agriculture, increase agricultural self-sufficiency and assure the availability of agriculturally suitable lands.” For us, it was very important that we are able to do something that we wanted to do from the beginning. We’ve only be able to do it on a limited basis; and that’s to develop a strong agricultural program at our school. So this site was, looked like a good site when we looked at it. All of the surrounding, or most of the surrounding neighbors were in agriculturally zoned houses. So when people in Pacific Plantations first bought their houses, they knew that they were buying homes on 1-acre agriculturally zoned lots. In looking at the map for the area, you’ll see that there are a lot of agricultural lands in the area. In fact, as you go up Kaumana Drive, or out the new Puainako Extension, there are over 2,000 acres of land that is zoned Agriculture. And the land is also, if you look at County documents, you’ll see that the majority of that area is also deemed for future urban expansion. And so as a school, we saw two things. We saw that there’s a lot of agriculture land, we saw that the majority of the neighbors were on agricultural lots; and we did not feel that that would be a problem. If you look at the zoning issues between the State and the County, over the years, I would reference Nathan Pohakea Roehrig’s article in 2002 in the University of Hawai‘i Law Review; and I’m not going to read all of that. But he did make a case for preserving agriculture land and not taking large agricultural lots, subdividing them out into smaller lots which are not even used for agriculture. So I think this is an important document to look at and I reference it in here. I also want to point out that the General Plan that was updated in 2005, and I’m not sure if it has been updated since then, but it does -. With no CDP to look at to give you guidance, I think you have to fall back to the General Plan. If you look in the General Plan in Section 14.9.2, the goals, two of the goals that are talking about State land say “Utilize publicly owned lands in the best public interest and to the maximum benefit for the greatest number of people, acquire lands for public use to implement policies and programs contained in the General Plan.” And one of the policies, 14.9.3 says “Encourage uses of public lands that will satisfy specific public needs, such as housing, recreation, open space and education.” In our mind, this makes it clear that this Planning Commission needs to look at the use of this land that will impact the greatest number of people. Now I understand that there are neighbors that have done petitions in Kaumana and I’ve heard a number of 500 signatures mentioned. Okay, so if we say here’s 500 opposed to the school, our population at our school is 360 students, about 60 staff members, and probably at least 200 other family members that are impacted by our school directly. If you look at the area that we service, charter schools are not defined by a single geographic location. Our school draws students from as far away as Pahoa in that direction, to Keaau, from Keaau up through Volcano. And we have two families now that live in Naalehu that are actually coming into Hilo and renting a house in Hilo so their children can attend our school. We have students from throughout the Hilo area, including Kaumana; and we have students as far away up to the north as Laupahoehoe. So I’m asking you to consider that 6 EXHIBIT D this is a large area and a large population that is potentially impacted by our school and the programs that we’re trying to provide. And I believe that a number of these people appreciate the choice on the Big Island of what programs they can go to, whether it be a traditional public school or a public charter school. And I believe that their voices perhaps are being overlooked when we look at the voices of a few. Thank you. HONG: Mr. Chair, just in conclusion, I know Mr. Thatcher felt strongly about making sure that the record was clear; and I agreed with him. But, again, the only decision that we’re asking before the Commission this afternoon is to continue this to allow the Attorney General the opportunity to represent Connections. And I would note that it’s a welcomed opportunity because I think this is actually unprecedented where now the Attorney General is going to step into this issue of potential land use. So I would urge the Commission to allow them the opportunity to adequately represent Connections Schools, hopefully at the next hearing. Thank you. AU: Thank you, Mr. Hong. Would you like to say a few words, would you like to say something? S. LEE LOY: No. AU: Okay, very good. Okay, well, that concludes the presentation by the applicant. We have, we currently have 12 people signed up to testify. I’ll bring you guys up in groups of five. Okay, so it’s a reminder now, you know, we may have heard a lot of you testify the last time and, you know, Just please keep it brief and get the point. You have three minutes to testify. So I have Eden Patino, Allen Novak, Melvin Yoko -. YOKOTA: Yokota. AU: Yokota, Layne Novak, and Dr. Henry Lee Loy. So five of you can come up and I’ll swear you in. Okay, can you please raise your right hand. Do you swear to tell the truth in front of the Planning Commission today? TESTIFIERS: I do. Yes. AU: Thank you. We’ll start off with Eden Patino. Please your state your name, and where you reside, and you have three minutes. PATINO: My name is Eden Patino. I live in the Kaumana area. I wanted to say good afternoon, and thank you for giving us an opportunity to come and listen to us. On behalf of the Connections Parents/Teachers/Students Ohana, our PTSO, I am their president, and I wanted to ask you to approve the special permit in consideration to build our school at the Kaumana area, mainly because the students are our leaders and they deserve to have one school. It is difficult right now to have the Kress Building and the Nani Mau campuses in two different areas for the school. We just ask that we be in one location and that be the Kaumana area. Pretty much it’s just look at the whole picture, look at the keikis. They’re the ones that are the most important part of this process. It’s not, I mean I know everyone has their opinions and there are the traffic concerns and the water concerns; but this is manageable. 7 EXHIBIT D For us, my biggest concern as a parent is having a tsunami hit the Kress Building and not having my keiki out in time. It’s one of my biggest concerns. That has always been my concern since Day 1. So I just ask that you look at the consideration of the Kaumana area and just make it a safe place for our children. And pretty much that’s all I have to say - It’s a simple request for the Holidays, “Dear Santa, all I want to Christmas is our school to be built.” Thank you. AU: Thank you. Any questions for the testifier? Okay, we’ll move on to Allen Novak. A. NOVAK: Yes, thank you. I’m Allen Novak. I have lived on Mele Manu Street going on 19 years now. And today I would just like to request that the Commission deny the special use permit request today. I feel that the issue I wish to address isn’t the program of the charter public school, I have no qualms about what they’re doing for the students. And I think a lot of the testimony they have given you about the quality of their program is valid. However, I feel that the location that they have chosen is inappropriate; and I feel that for a number of reasons. One is that in selection of the location that’s before you, they had mentioned that they looked at seven different sites. They have also in the public meetings mentioned that the majority of their students come from the Puna area. The sites that they considered for building the school were not in the Puna area. Those were not a consideration. Makes one wonder if the fact that the principal John Thatcher’s home is within walking distance of the current proposed location was a factor in selecting that over a location that would be more convenient to the community where the majority of students reside. Another factor continues to be the infrastructure. We know that water supply is questionable. The 8” main that supplies the entire neighborhood, there’s a question about whether or not that’s going to be adequate and still hasn’t been addressed. Sewage disposal, there is no piped sewage. It would be cesspool or leach field for this fairly large quantity of staffs, students and faculty; and we do have the Kaumana Cave extensions directly in this area. So how well the sewage affects those factors -. DARROW: One minute. A. NOVAK: But the biggest concern probably continues to be the traffic. We’ve learned today that access from Puainako Extension is not feasible. That means that the access for all 385 students, faculty, staff and visitors is going to be going up Kaumana Drive, down that little narrow two-lane Edita Street, and entering that school from that one area in a very short period of time in the morning and exiting in the evening. That has not been mitigated. On the requirement of meeting with the community, I’m here to testify that I have received no notification of any planned meeting with Connections as of today. In fact, Ted Hong’s mentioning earlier, today is the first that I heard of any meeting. AU: Okay, thank you very much. Any questions for the testifier? ONO: Yes. AU: Okay, Mr. Ono, Commissioner Ono. 8 EXHIBIT D ONO: You mentioned a great portion of the student population will be coming from Pahoa or that area. And yet the, I guess my concern here is do you know if there were any properties offered to them in terms of developing a campus in that area? A. NOVAK: No. I’m not familiar with what they requested, what they provided, and what they considered. All that I know is what they’re told us at the public meetings. ONO: Yes. So, but your comment about moving the campus to an area that’s more suitable to the student population is a suggestion. You don’t have any facts to move the campus to the Puna area? A. NOVAK: I think in the environmental impact study they did mention sites that were considered. ONO: Not Puna? A. NOVAK: Yeah, and they were not in the Puna area. So what I’m saying is they didn’t look to see if there was a suitable location closer to where the majority of their students reside. ONO: Okay, thank you. AU: Any more questions for the testifier? Okay, moving on to Melvin Yokota, Yokota. YOKOTA: Yeah, I’ve been a resident of Pacific Plantations for 21 years. And my concern continues to be the increased traffic on Kaumana Drive. In a recent letter to parents Mr. Thatcher pointed out an example of the skilled-nursing facility that is scheduled to be built on the lower end of Kaumana, and he points out that that facility will have approximately 50 full time employees coming to that facility per shift. From the numbers that they have given us as to the population of their campus, they envision a staff of about 30 to 60 employees, plus approximately 400 students. Now in talking about the skilled-nursing facility, Mr. Thatcher stated that that facility “Will negatively impact the traffic on Kaumana Drive!” So by comparison, just his school staff without the students will also negatively impact traffic on Kaumana Drive. Unfortunately their staff and student traffic will affect a greater amount of Kaumana Drive than the skilled-nursing facility. Since he says that it will negatively impact traffic, it appears to be in contradiction to what’s stated in their special permit application where they previously said that there will be no significant impacts from traffic. And -. DARROW: One minute. YOKOTA: Yeah. I’m not sure how you resolve that discrepancy between what he’s saying now and what’s in the special permit application. Thank you. AU: Any questions for the application, I mean, sorry, for the testifier? I have a question. Have you been notified about this upcoming meeting? YOKOTA: No. 9 EXHIBIT D AU: Okay. Have you attended any meetings? YOKOTA: I have attended meetings in the past. AU: Okay, okay. Any more questions? LEITHEAD TODD: Mr. Chair, I just want to make a note that the date of the letter that is going out to thth the community is dated December 5. So since today is the 6, I suspect that the reason that they haven’t gotten it, it is in the mail. Cause I have checked, and you are on the mailing list. But, so it will probably be in your mailbox today, tomorrow, or the next day. LEITHEAD TODD: Thank you very much. Next testifier, Layne Novak. Okay, please state your name and where you reside. L. NOVAK: Layne Novak, I live on Mele Manu Street. I apologize. AU: Microphone, please. L. NOVAK: I apologize, I didn’t pass this out to you earlier. But I’m testifying on behalf of Terence Yoshioka. I’m sorry. Applicant has attempted to create the illusion that the 70 acre property is the only suitable property for its school. It has done so by making the following representations: [1] that it will develop an agricultural program for its students: [2] that its agricultural program will require 20 acres of land; and [3] that the subject 70 acres is “uniquely suitable” for its program. But nowhere in its application has Applicant provided proof that an agricultural program is needed or wanted by its students. There is no basis, therefore, to assume that applicant will actually develop such a program. And any conclusion based upon the presumption that the program will materialize is unsupportable. You folks can read the rest. What he does say is that the Commission can, also, find, and I urge that it do so, that the property is not “uniquely suited” for applicant’s program. To be “unique”, the property must “exist as the only one”, or “have no like or equal”. This would mean that if the property’s “D” or poor rated soil is “uniquely suited” for the program, then all other properties with better-rated “C”, “B”, and “A” soils would not be “uniquely suited” for the program. It goes without saying that this is illogical, incomprehensible and unbelievable. What I want to add to this is that Mr. Thatcher talked about the entire green section as 1-acre ag land. When we moved there, we had no idea that the, a school was going to be built. Everything was going to be 1-acre properties; and that’s what we had agreed upon; and that’s why we bought in there. If you look at the soil, there is no soil. It’s built on lava, it’s built on a 1980 lava field. How they proposed to have agriculture on this type of land, I can’t even grow citrus fruits on my land. That’s how bad it is. I have to bring in soil. In fact, when Mr. Bill Brilhante, Sr. developed that property -. DARROW: One minute. 10 EXHIBIT D L. NOVAK: Thank you. He had to bring in soil for, just to make our lawn. That’s how bad the property is. No. 2, in our subdivision covenants, we cannot have any farm animals. We’re not allowed to have “agricultural type of industry” within our 1-acre lot. So for them to come in and decide that they want to have this large agricultural property is, I think, a little overwhelming, and that’s an understatement, it’s quite overwhelming for our neighborhood. Thank you. AU: Thank you. Madam Director? LEITHEAD TODD: Yeah, I just wanted to make a comment. Those types of restrictive covenants on agricultural land are now illegal under State law. They were done commonly by people who were taking agricultural land to try and create basically residential subdivisions. Since then because of the concern of agricultural land being taken out of agriculture or potential agriculture and turned into residential high-end subdivisions, the State Legislature -. It doesn’t change your restrictive covenants cause they’re grandfathered. But the fact that you have restrictive covenants is not necessarily something that prevents somebody else from actually taking agricultural lands surrounding you and doing agricultural production. And that’s a mandate of, under State law. L. NOVAK: I just want to add that our covenant is, was just recently extended to 70 years. So it’s essentially our life time. AU: Okay, any questions for the testifier? Okay, next one, Dr. Henry Lee Loy. Please state your name, where you reside, and your three minutes. H. LEE LOY: Good morning, Members of the, good afternoon, Members of the Windward Planning Commission. I live on Mele Manu Street. My name is Dr. Henry Lee Loy. Together with my wife Pauline Kealoha Lee Loy, we continue to object to the location of the proposed Connection Charter School in Kaumana. My wife remains hospitalized in Honolulu and once again is unable to attend the public hearing. Let me recapitulate, as educators ourselves we strongly believe in the public school system. As graduates of Hilo High School and Honokaa High School we know the system works. Let me make this clear, we are not against the students of Connections Public Charter School. We object to the proposed location. At the last Planning Commission meeting Chairman Dean Au asked the applicant to reach out to the community. We have had no such communication from the applicant. Instead, I’m greatly concerned about the recent newspaper articles regarding the ethical conduct of the Vice Principal. We question the actions of the administration, of their administration and leadership. We ask the Windward Planning Commission to reject the special permit application for Connections Public Charter School. The intersection of Kaumana Drive and Edita Street is dangerous. Once again I’m going to show you the photograph of a recent accident right at the very intersection of Kaumana Street and Edita. There’s only one entrance and exit to the proposed school. This is dangerous. There is not enough water for 11 EXHIBIT D 381 students and 50 faculty members. The proposed septic system will find its way into the caves, and sewage will flow into the groundwater and down into Hilo bay. Development will irreparably damage the fragile ecosystem of the caves and the ‘Ōhi‘a forest watershed which presently protects Hilo. Kaumana Elementary School is half a mile away. Ernest B. deSilva is less than 2 miles away from the proposed project. The traffic impact analysis is obsolete. It was done over three and a half years ago. It did not account for increases in traffic as a result of future build outs and other developments around the area, that is Pacific Plantation II, the new Hokulani Street Subdivision and the addition of the Hawaiian Home Subdivision in upper Kaumana. There is not enough room for the applicant to provide a full width 50-foot right-of-way on Edita Street with concrete curbs, and sidewalks on both sides. There is a concrete channel that cannot be moved. No. 10, problems will occur when two separate school properties are bifurcated by Edita Street. Here’s your lower section and here’s the upper section. Cross vehicular traffic and pedestrian traffic will occur. A crosswalk in the middle of the block will be dangerous. Lastly, over 500 residents in Kaumana have signed the petition against the proposed project. There is no community support. Thank you for listening. AU: Thank you. Any questions for the testifier? Okay, thank you. You all may be seated. We’ll bring on the next five people. Okay, Norine Okuhara, Jan Yokoyama, Ming Peng, Arnold Fergerstrom, and Jeff Gomes. (Ms. Leithead Todd at this time announced that the 1:30 Item 6 on the geothermal asset fund and guidelines for impact mitigation projects will not be taken up as there is not quorum on that item.) AU: Okay, can you all raise your right hand. And do you swear and affirm to tell the truth on this matter in front of the windward Planning Commission? TESTIFIERS: Yes. AU: Okay. We’ll start with Norine. And please state your name, where you reside, and your three minutes will begin. OKUHARA: Okay. Thank you very much. My name is Norine Okuhara. I live at 1209-B Kaumana Drive. My husband and I have lived there for 40 plus years. And so I’ll reiterate it, at last month’s meeting, you know, I’m very concerned about the water rights. Because I live, I will live right below the school. And cherish the thought - what if a fire should happen in my home and I don’t have enough water to put the fire out? What’s going to happen to me? We’ve never been on welfare or anything; and I don’t expect to do it at this point in time either. And, you know, as a retired teacher I am not against education. I am very pro education. But the way Connections has handled things, that goes against my grain. Because we had, I had no prior notices of their meetings. I have yet to receive th the letter dated December 5. And from my understanding, they were mandated by you to have a meeting with the constituents around that area. Why do they have to wait so long? They had over a month to plan this meeting. Why is the meeting on Connections? As far as I’m concerned the meeting should be on a neutral ground. If Kaumana School was busy, they couldn’t use it, we’ve got deSilva School, we’ve got Hilo Union School, we’ve got Hilo Inter, Hilo High School. So what’s the big deal? Not all schools will be busy. And why that timeframe, 12 to 2? DARROW: One minute. 12 EXHIBIT D OKUHARA: You know, people are working. Not everybody is a retired person or everybody is, you know, a teacher who will be on vacation. People would have to take off from work. When we’ve had our meetings, our meetings were always during the evening time. So this did not interfere with people’s working status, that they have to take off from work to attend the meeting, or they have to do this or that. You know, as far as I’m concerned, it’s not fair. Thank you very much. AU: Thank you. Any questions for the testifier? Okay, moving on to Jane Yokoyama. YOKOYAMA: Jan, it’s Jan. AU: Jan Yokoyama representing Kaumana Drive Neighborhood Watch. YOKOYAMA: Yes. AU: Okay, please state your name, where you reside, and your three minutes. YOKOYAMA: My name is Jan Yokoyama. I live at 1300 Kaumana Drive. I did receive the letter right before I came here. My concern, like Norine said, it’s between 12 and 2 when most of our community members are working. It’s also scheduled at Connections School which I do not consider a neutral ground. However, if so be it, I will attend. But I want to address my quality of life. I’m a lifelong resident of Kaumana Drive. I will probably die there also. This school is proposed to be a 24/7, 365 days a year school. They’re going to have dorms, they’re going to have a horse barn. You know, most regular public schools close at a certain time. They’re closed on weekends and holidays. So we’re going to be subject to smells, noises, of course increased traffic. And I just want to live the rest of my life in peace. Thank you. AU: Thank you. Any questions for the testifier? Okay, next testifier, Ming Peng. You can go ahead. L. NOVAK: My name is Layne Novak. I’m testifying on behalf of Ming Peng. Ming Peng has lived on Mele Manu Street -. Sorry, this is his written testimony that I didn’t pass out. This is what he says: I live on Mele Manu St. I am still opposed to the proposed construction of Connections Charter School on Edita Street and would like to follow up on testimony since the last meeting on November 9. As you have heard and read from testimony, there is overwhelming opposition within the community, with no community support for this project. By Connections administrator’s own admission, this project has been planned for at least seven years. Therefore, they have had years to consider and develop plans that would not impact the community, including access roads and water usage. They have had attorneys and other professionals to help them along the way. For example, as Commissioner Gonzales astutely realized during the last meeting, the increase in traffic along Edita Street of up to 200 additional cars per day will be significant, such that alternatives should have been considered. Yet, this was not done. Connections administrators have had years to garner community support. I realize that the Land Use Commission suggested that the community and Connections administrators continue to meet. 13 EXHIBIT D However, there is a pattern of behavior (as testified by neighbors in the last meeting) that has resulted in a broken trust. This is a trust that is unlikely to be mended. There has been no testimony, no specifics given, from Connections administration as to how their use of the land will, in fact, elevate and improve the surrounding neighborhood. There has only been deflections and obfuscations from the administration. If approved, there will be no oversight during the construction of this school. Because the pattern of behavior has been lacking from the Connections administration, neighbors will be forced to wonder if regulations are being followed in an ethical and appropriate manner. Neighbors will feel forced in being the permit, land use, and ethics police. As the Windward Planning Commission, please hear the Kaumana community, who will be most impacted and the ones condemned to endure increase in traffic and utilization of resources by this project. Connections have had years to get “all the ducks in a row”. They have not. Please deny the continuance and deny this project. The Kaumana Community should not have to make allowances for the Connections administrators poor planning. Thank you. Dr. Ming Pen. AU: Thank you. Any questions for the testifier? Okay, moving on to Arnold Fergerstrom. Please state your name, where you reside, and you have three minutes. FERGERSTROM: My name is Arnold Fergerstrom. I live in the Kaumana Area, 1065 Kaumana Drive. I’ve lived in the Kaumana area, as well as with my family, from when we were about four years old running around. And this development again is something I’m against because when I was growing up in the area about 12 years old, 11 years old, my mom used to take us to school. And she always used to say Wing Kong Chong, you vote for Wing Kong Chong. And what happened is somebody was taking care of things besides Wing Kong Chong. She said Wing Kong Chong is going to make everything better for us because they’re going to build a complex for basketball, and baseball, and all for the subdivisions. They make all these promises about development and they’re going to take care of the public first. But never came through yet. The roads up there have not been improved. We called it a skinny trail when we were small. And I’ve worked throughout the island; and I feel that the best service that can be done for this school is to do it in the area of Keaau. Because Keaau, the value of land is not real high. You have Fire Department, you have Police Department, you have all these things right in the area of Keaau. I work in Keaau, they have lot of land, all that land on top. That little land that you’re talking about 70 acres is a little scratch besides, of the land we do have. So we have, already we have the Fire Department, Police Department, all situated where they’re working out of, and we have room over there. And I think that’s where it should be made and done, and it would service the community. And I never heard anything about our value of our land after they make this thing. You know, they have, when you pay your taxes, they tell you pay so much or you lose your land, yeah? I haven’t heard, maybe I missed a meeting, but I never heard anything about who cares about the people that -. Me, I get land in Kaumana. I buy, I bust my okoloe, take care. And I like my kids get place to come. That’s my prerogative I think as one citizen to go buy the land and say, you know, I going buy this land for my kids because I like them, when I old, they can take me, do things, this and that and what have you. No such thing now because it’s, you never can count on keeping the land. You might as 14 EXHIBIT D well sell them because I don’t know what they going catch you on the low on how much you going sell the land. So I have land in Kaumana. I have several different lands. And now I sit down in the evening and I wonder what’s going happen now? I get the kids, I get everything set up, my retirement, everything. Now going happen, now go get one school. Keaau get plenty room for schools. I don’t know why they have to come here, but -. I guess that’s all have to say. What happens is, in reality, I’m very not prepared. And that’s because I was doing some work and my truck tire cut, and I get my boy down there putting four new tires on for 800 something dollars, and I left the tablet in the car. Thank you for your time. AU: Thank you. Any questions for the testifier? Okay, last testifier for this group, Jeff Gomes. Please state your name, where you reside. GOMES: Before I start, would you mind looking at the handouts I gave you. I spent a lot of time and money making them and preparing them for you. And I want to summarize and not have to read them all. May I show you which ones I have. AU: You can just go ahead and begin your testimony. GOMES: Okay, my name is Jeff Gomes. AU: Do you want to be specific and talk about certain ones? GOMES: I want to touch on all of them. AU: Okay, well, okay, go ahead. You have three minutes. GOMES: My name is Jeff Gomes. I live in Kaumana. I’m right next door to the side of the property. I reached out to the school in April. I went down to the school cause I was invited by the principal. I met with Bill Thorpe. He does great work at the school. He does the Makery Project. He works with lasers, I work with lasers. I offered him help. This is the emailed he sent me. He asked me for help. I wrote back, said no problem. I offered him thousands and thousands of dollars in time and equipment and supplies. I offered him to bring the kids, I’ll show you how to do it. And no response after that. I believe I was labeled the bad guy. th October 8, Eric Boyd, the, whatever he is at the school, stands outside my home and takes pictures of my home terrorizing my wife and daughter. I called the police, they tell me what he’s doing is legal, th he’s on County property, he can take pictures. All right, it’s done. On the 10 Ted Hong comes to my home for the cave inspection. Jeff Darrow was there. A bunch of my neighbors were there. And Ted Hong tries to pick a fight with me in front of everybody -- Any of my neighbors that were there, raise your hands -- for no reason. Ted knew I was upset about Eric Boyd taking pictures of my home, and so he brings it up again. And we’re not there to take pictures of signs, we’re there to take a look at the cave. But since then Ted has been picking on me and trying to get me to do something negative in public, I don’t know why. And then recently I get this message from John Thatcher. If you don’t have it, should I read it? 15 EXHIBIT D PUBLIC: Read it. GOMES: He messages to me on Facebook. We’re not friends on Facebook. This is what he writes, “Just wanted to let you know that yesterday one of our high schools students committed suicide. I am in no way blaming any of you, I just wanted to let you know. Emotions are running… high…. Your signs are not helping. Please share our sad news with your friends and family.” This is the kind of sick behavior I’ve got to deal with from the school. They take a picture of my home to make a video. I was told the video was made by a pastor to put it on the Internet. And now my home is a target. They steal signs, trash my yard. I’ve got to put up with this. I need intervention and relief. You need to tell them stop it, knock it off, act like adults, become a responsible school. Tell me now how am I supposed to go to that meeting at the school? I know they’re going to try and hit my home again while I’m gone. It doesn’t make sense. This is their behavior. DARROW: Time. AU: Okay, thank you, Mr. Gomes. Any questions for the testifier? Okay, thank you guys very much. You may be seated. We’ll bring up the next, we have four more testifiers. We have Jeff Gomes representing Matt Medeiros, Carol Zimmerman and Tom Raffipiy. So please be seated. Okay. So can you guys raise your right hand, the two of you I did swear you in already. Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth in front of the windward Planning Commission today? TESTIFIERS: Yes. AU: Okay, thank you. Jeff Gomes, you go ahead. You’ve already stated your name so you go ahead. You’ve got three minutes. GOMES: This is a letter from Matthew J. Medeiros, Ph.D., Department of Integrative Biology, University of California and Department of Entomology, Smithsonian Institute, and Francis G. Howarth, Ph.D., Department of Entomology, B.P. Bishop Museum. Kaumana Cave is one of the longest known caves, at over 1500 meters long. As Stone wrote, “Kaumana Cave has been colonized by at least 15 species of endemic cave invertebrates over a 110-year history. Survival of these species is dependent on the native ‘ōhi‘a/uluhe successional forest overlying it. Sections of the cave which do not have Metrosideros [‘ōhi‘a] roos, due to surface clearing, are virtually devoid of cave species.” Several cave invertebrate species rely on live ‘ōhi‘a roots growing through the surface of the cave to provide food and would quickly perish upon removal of the trees from the surface. These include species native to Hawai‘i caves, such as Oliarus planthoppers, Schrankia moths, and a few others, I can’t pronounce it. Additionally, although some of these species might also be able to subsist off the roots of other tree species, planthoppers are host specific and can only eat ‘ōhi‘a roots. Basically what the letter is saying is the world is watching and your decision on what you allow to happen on top of the caves is going to be noted. So please deny this project. AU: Any questions of the testifier? I’ve got a question. Matthew J. Medeiros, does he live here? 16 EXHIBIT D GOMES: No, he lives in Oakland, California. AU: Okay, moving on Carol Zimmerman, and please state your name and where you reside; and you have three minutes. ZIMMERMAN: Is this thing turned on? AU: Yeah. ZIMMERMAN: My name is Carol Zimmerman. I live at 94 Laimana Street in Hilo. And I’m asking, thank you by the way for allowing us to testify. And I’m asking the Commission to consider a continuance of this request for the Kaumana Connections site. I would like, request that, so that all voices and other voices can be heard, the voice of our children. And the voices of our children of Hawai‘i, if they can be heard too. I would like all voices to be heard, including the children. I am a parent of a child that attends Connections High School, I mean Connections School; and I’m one of three, not two as Mr. Thatcher said, one of three families that has chosen to leave my home every week to travel to Hilo on Sunday and come to this school at great expense to my family. All three, all three of these families, we rent homes here in Hilo in order to do that, to go to this school in Hilo. And then on the weekends, I travel back, we all three travel back to our, to the rest of our family that lives in Kau because we don’t have an alternative, a good alternative to education in Kau. We’ve chosen to come here at that expense, our out-of-pocket expense, because an education is very important to our children. And I can list off the top of my head dozens, maybe dozens more families that would like to do the same thing if they had an opportunity to better their educational chances for their children. I have written something that, it was in an email. You probably have it now. I’ll just read this to you now. I understand that there are concerns about having a school in the Kaumana neighborhood. Fear is concomitant with change. But, we cannot make decisions for the future of our children, the future leaders of this community, this country, based on fear. I want what every parent wants for her child, the best education possible, an education where my child, he, is challenged at all levels, from creativity to critical thinking. I want a school that is willing to go beyond just teaching to the “Test”, for that is not an education. I want a school that he looks forward to attending every day, because his innate desire for the love of learning, and his love of learning is supported, and not snuffed out. And, finally, it is very important that the school provides a safe environment so that learning can occur. I believe, based on my personal experiences with Connections School, that the Kaumana site will allow all of these aspects of education to be addressed, from Environmental, Energy Design, Agriculture, Business and Marketing hands-on experiences. The school can impact not but a few, but thousands of Hawaii's children. And all of the children of Hawai‘i deserve this kind of education. 17 EXHIBIT D Maybe someday, with this school as a model, we, as parents, aunties, uncles, grandpops and grandmoms, can give all of our children what they deserve - the best education possible, the brightest future. AU: Thank you very much. ZIMMERMAN: Please support the Kaumana campus site. Thank you. AU: Thank you, thank you very much. Okay, any questions for the testifier? ONO: Yes. AU: Commissioner Ono. ONO: Thank you. You mentioned that there were several parents from Kau that were interested in this program. If they could afford to, they would like to participate in the Connections program? ZIMMERMAN: I, I, is this on? AU: Yes. ZIMMERMAN: I believe there’s at least a dozen or more of the concerned parents that would want alternative education for their children in the Kau area and that would, if financially possible, would consider, would do this, would move to Hilo and participate in the school. ONO: If I may suggest to you to add credibility your testimony, I’d be interested in having their names on the list saying that they openly support your position. ZIMMERMAN: Yes, that’ll be fine. I can do that, sure. AU: Thank you. Any more questions to the testifier? Okay, we’re adding in one more testifier. Is there anybody else from the public would like to testify? BOTELHO: Sure. AU: Okay, one more. Okay, so how about before I hit Tom Raffipiy, how about I swear you in first. Can you raise your right hand. Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth on this matter before the Hawai‘i County Planning Commission? TESTIFIERS: I do. AU: Okay, so now Mr. Tom Raffipiy, state your name, where you reside, and your three minutes. RAFFIPIY: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Commissioners. Tom Raffipiy, I live in the Puna, Ainaloa area. And I have two children that are attending the public charter school, Connections Public Charter School. I’m going to kind of, I’m going to speak on traffic and community-based school and 18 EXHIBIT D transportation that is very, that it is of a concern to the community. And I appreciate these kinds of open dialogues, because I believe that it is through open dialogues that we are able to resolve issues. We’ll come up with creative ideas that we can all resolve issues and be able to work together and live together and, and do things together. On the issue of traffic, I know, I’ve seen a lot myself when I used to travel to Kona to go work and the traffic accidents on that road before they came up with the new road. But I think putting, having a school over there and installing signs that that is a school zoned area, I think it will actually alleviate or reduce the risk of having traffic accidents in that area, because now we’ll have a school zoned area. Transportation, we have a bus system. Although we may have 384, whatever the population of the school is, we do have a bus system that, you know, they meet up, they meet up in certain areas. For example, like in Keaau by the intersection of Keaau-Pahoa Road and the Volcano Road, they meet out there. And they are carpooling in to alleviate traffic coming into town, and I think that will be continued. A community-based school, Mr. Thatcher talked about Connections or charter school being not community based. So no matter where you take this school or any school, public charter school, you will never have that kind of support because it’s not community based. It’s not, you know, it is for, opened to all communities, as opposed to these schools that we have here that are community based where they serve the community that they’re in. Charter schools they serve the whole island, it’s open to the whole island. So with that, I urge you to consider all that, you know, when you make your decisions. And I really urge you to see if you can continue these hearings, the hearing process of the special use permit for the school. And I just really want to see those kids have a better place other than what they have right now than two, two separate areas. So please consider that in your thinking. Thank you very much for our time. AU: Okay, any questions for the testifier? Okay, would Lee Botelho, please state your name, where you reside, and your three minutes. BOTELHO: My name is Lee Botelho; and I live on Mele Manu Street. I apologize for being a last- minute person to sign up to speak. But I’ve been, I was here at the last month’s meeting. And listening to the testimony today, a lot of people are talking about whether or not charter schools are good. They’re testifying on behalf of the program of the Connections Charter School. That’s not what the issue is here. The issue should be whether or not the application for a school to use this property is the appropriate use of the property, and considering the amount of County water is insufficient to build a school or to support school, much less the additional water required for a caretaker’s residence which they plan to build and for agricultural use. So that’s one of the main concerns, is the amount of water that they will have access to. Is it part, you know, so is the school an appropriate use for this parcel of land -- I’m very nervous, sorry – when there’s not enough water to support it? In addition, the access to the property, to the school, will it adversely impact the surrounding properties? Yes, it will. We talk about Kaumana Drive. But Edita Street is the only access for this subdivision. When you add 200 cars every day, twice a day, to everyone who also has to go to work 19 EXHIBIT D and take our kids to school at the same times that these people will be coming in, turning around, and needing to get back out on Kaumana Drive, it will severely impact the traffic, and the access and egress for the residents of the subdivision. That’s really all I have to say, is to remind you folks just whether or not this is an appropriate use of the property. Thank you. AU: Okay, thank you. Any questions for the testifier? Okay, we have three more people signed up. Thank you, guys. Three more people signed up. And anybody else? Last call. Okay, we have three more. TORIGOE: One more. AU: Oh, and there’s one more signed in. Okay, we have four. We have Alan McNarie, Steve Hirakami, and Wayne Kanemoto. And I understand we have somebody else. Okay, I’ll just take you three right now. Why don’t you raise your right hands. Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth on this matter in front of the Windward Planning Commission? TESTIFIERS: I do AU: Okay, thank you. Okay, we’ll start off with the first guy, Alan McNarie. MCNARIE: Hello. This is an odd position for me. Normally when I’m at these hearings I’m covering it as a reporter, so -. But in this case, I have a direct interest. My son is a student at Connections. My son is very bright but e has ADHD. I can’t address a lot of the issues about the exact site, but I do know that he needs the school. He works much better in small classrooms. There are only two, as far as I know, charter high schools on this side of the island. And, I mean, I would love it if it was a -. He started out here at the Volcano School; but there’s not enough high school kids up there to have a high school there. And to get critical mass even for a small charter school, you’ve got to have a huge area. And I’m very, very glad that I got him into Connections. And just a couple of things. I’m not going to cover the stuff like the access, although people are coming in on buses. It’s not as high an impact as say a small shopping center. And I know that this Commission has approved such things in agricultural communities. Usually a neighborhood school is a talking point for a neighborhood. If someone is coming in to look at a house they ask is there a school within bicycling distance or even walking distance? So it’s not necessarily a bad thing for, to be in a community. And only one other small point. I’ve written a lot of articles about ecology. As many of you know, I’ve written articles about Kaumana Cave. This is not, the welfare of Kaumana Cave has not necessarily been a strong concern of this neighborhood. When people were exploring that, mapping that cave out a few years ago, they were flushed on. People were using that cave, they found reefs of toilet paper and diapers in there. If you’re going to address that cave, there’s a lot of things you’d fix besides -. I mean, the high school should, of course, have a proper septic system. A lot of these houses don’t. That’s something to think about. And that’s about all I have to say. 20 EXHIBIT D AU: Thank you. Any questions for the testifier? Okay, we have Steve Hirakami. You’re already sworn yourself, you’ve already stated your name. So go ahead, three minutes. HIRAKAMI: Thank you. I’d like to just mention that I wanted to address the fact that there are a lot of students here this morning that are eager to testify. I know that our Shady Grove went first so the students didn’t have time. But, you know, this is a great educational experience for them to see government in action. You know, this is more of a global issue. You know, Connections have been involved in a lot of projects that have contributed to the community. I know for sure that they’ve received some BEWED (phonetic) grants, they’ve studied the stream, they’ve studied the ecosystem out there in Hilo Bay. They are absolutely adding to the community now. There’s never going to be a perfect location for any kind of development. As you know, geothermal is an issues. And what’s the perfect location? There is always going to be setbacks, there’s always going to be things that get in the way. But I think that you have to really weigh the benefits over the disadvantages and see if those can be mitigated through working cooperatively with each other. Not like taking a, drawing a line in the center and saying you can’t do that. Because you know what, things can be mitigated – traffic, bussing, all of those issues. But the greater issue is that is Connections School properly located now in the old store building, right in the downtown in Urban, with homeless people right here? Or will they be able to really contribute to solving problems that haven’t even been created yet about sustainability, about our food project? We’re lucky enough to be on 25 acres out in Pahoa; and we have fishponds, we have taro gardens, we have, we’re raising animals. We’ve got a macadamia nut orchard. These kinds of activities are so valuable to the life and breath of a student in our society, especially on Hawai‘i island. Come on, we depend so much oil, we depend so much on importing food. These kids are answers to some of our problems. These are the future engineers that are going to design the kind of renewable energy sources and contribute to the food industry in our sustainability of our island. These schools, we’re -. We’re not takers. Our school is all about giving. We teach our kids first to give, volunteer and to give community service. And I think that you have to weigh the benefits of creating community givers right in front of you. So on behalf of the children that were here today, I would like you to consider them, consider their voices that you haven’t heard and you probably will hear at a later meeting, you know, consider the children of Hawai‘i, of this island. Thank you. AU: Thank you. Any questions for the testifier? Okay, can Kerri Marks -? Please sit. But we’re going to hear Wayne Kanemoto first. So, Wayne, can you state your name, where you reside and your three minutes. KANEMOTO: My name is Wayne Kanemoto, and I live on Mele Manu Street. The point I haven’t heard is, and I’m not sure if it’s appropriate for this Planning Commission or not, but my biggest concern is the financial commitment the charter school has for this project. I’ve been a school principal; I’ve run Laupahoehoe School; and I’ve been an administrator at different school. And as you already know, the schools have faced tremendous pressure because of money. I taught at Laupahoehoe School. I was there when it was the, they had the Centennial Celebration. And look, it has become a charter school; and I frankly don’t think that they’ll be able to survive because of the financial condition. You have to have revenues coming in. And I haven’t seen a financial commitment base for Connections. They’re undertaking a very large project because they’re doing construction. And even the operational cost really needs to be addressed; and I don’t see that. So I 21 EXHIBIT D don’t see the appropriateness. Yes, they are going to be built and they’re trying to build in our community, but I don’t see it as being appropriate. They haven’t been a good neighbor as far as I’m concerned. But my biggest point is that if they start and they don’t finish and they can’t continue, what’s going to happen then? Who’s going to be responsible for whatever they put in? That’s all, you know, that would be one big question that I have, is -. And I don’t whether it’s under your purview to consider those things, but financially times are hard. I don’t know how they’re going to do this. For a lot of charter schools I don’t think they’re going to exist. They’re going to have to change the way they do business. Thank you. AU: Any questions for the testifier? Okay, Kerri Marks. You’ve already stated your name, so go ahead, three minutes. MARKS: Aloha. Back to the traffic, last time we were here we spoke about the traffic study that was done; and you mentioned about the light down by the gas station. I didn’t hear, or maybe there was, but I didn’t hear that there was any study done on that traffic coming up Puainako Road to Wright (sic) Road, and then down. Cause as I stated last time, that’s how you get from upper Kaumana to Puna and back. So you have to take that into account. And if you’ve only studied that traffic light and how the cars are going to stack up at that hill, then you have not done Kaumana any service at all. Because I guarantee you people are not going to drive all the across town to get to Waianuenue or Kaumana and turn up there. They’re going to filter up as they can as they get across town. And if you live off of Wright Road you will know that, I come down Kaumana to bring my kids to school in the morning. As I’m coming down Kaumana, almost every day there is a car that comes up to the stop sign, blows right on through it, and takes a right down the road. That’s how they do. It’s a roll through. Nobody stops there. So please take that into account. Please reassess the traffic situation. Don’t delude yourself into thinking that everybody is going to come through that stoplight. They’re not. I also take exception to the fact that everybody thinks that this traffic situation only affects Edita Street and the neighbors that live immediately around it. It affects everybody that lives above Edita Street. That’s how I get to my house and back. So that’s what I wanted to say. I just wanted to make sure that you take that into account. Like I said it’s already kind of a problem with the roll through stop. It will get worse, especially as you add - I don’t care if it’s 50 cars, not 200 - if you add cars to that situation, it’s going to be a problem. That’s all. Mahalo. AU: Okay. Thank you. Any questions for the testifier? Okay, we have our last testifier, Jeff Gomes for his wife Wendy Gomes. GOMES: Hawaii Administrative Rules, Title 11, Department of Health, Chapter 200, 11-200-9, Chapter 6, Distribute, concurrently with the filing in paragraph (5), the draft environmental assessment to other agencies having jurisdiction or expertise as well as citizen groups and individuals, like myself and my neighbors, which the proposing agency reasonably believes to be affected. Now if they didn’t think we’d be affected living in Pacific Plantation, they’ve got to be crazy. Everybody living in there is going to be affected. And none of us were notified, none of us. 22 EXHIBIT D Please look at my handout that I made for you. Turn to the second page on the bottom, this is the school minutes, local school board minutes, July 2, 2009. Mr. Thatcher reported “…our Environmental Assessment has been made available to relevant government agencies. If it is not questioned or contested, we would be doing a ‘No Significant Impact Statement’ rather than an Environmental Impact Statement.” He had no intention of notifying us. The School had no intention of letting us know they were going to sneak this EA by. It’s right there. AU: Okay, any questions for the testifier? No? Okay, well, with that, the public testimony is done. So I’d like to entertain a motion for discussion. So what we have on the table now is Planning Department is recommending we continue this special permit. Any questions, Commissioners? Would you like to ask the applicant questions? Would you like to ask staff questions? If not, we’ll be ready to entertain a motion. ONO: I have a question for the Director. AU: Go ahead. ONO: I wasn’t quite clear on this, the announcement about the Attorney General’s office in the paper, what’s the rationale behind that? LEITHEAD TODD: The Attorney General’s office has indicated that they wish to take over representation for Connections School. So they will be replacing Mr. Hong. ONO: I’m assuming we’re talking about the State Attorney General? LEITHEAD TODD: The State Attorney General’s office is going to be, Connections is a State School. ONO: So in terms of being a party representing a group, in this case Connections – this is what I’m concerned about. Does that mean that they’re siding with one party over the other? LEITHEAD TODD: Connections is a State public school. The Attorney General’s Office represents the State and its agencies. And so this would be like an agency or department, or just as if a State employee had an action, in certain circumstances the AG’s office would represent the State employee. So this is no different. And this is somewhat, I mean we don’t have this issue come up very often in our meetings, but this is very analogous to Court proceedings where you start off with one attorney, another attorney is going to come in so the first one withdraws. And typically the courts routinely grant the continuance in the interest of, in fairness to the applicant. Because it’s basically, you know, no one is really disadvantaged in the sense of a continuance. You know, it’s a little inconvenient for people who have to come back out again. But the disadvantage to the applicant if you deny them the opportunity to have their new attorney represent them and have time to come in, as Mr. Hong indicated the reason the AG couldn’t come today is that they had another deposition which was also scheduled, there’s a tremendous disadvantage to the applicant if you don’t allow the continuance. And, you know, it’s my recommendation that you allow the continuance. Because, frankly, let me be blunt, if you deny the continuance, that’s appealable. That would go to court, a judge would look at this and say we have been unreasonable in denying the continuance, and they would send it right back down to 23 EXHIBIT D us, except everybody would have to write legal briefs on the issue. So I think it’s, the wiser course of action is to grant the continuance and allow the AG. Cause we don’t know what the AG is going to say, but we should have that opportunity to hear from them and give the applicant that benefit. ONO: I also have one more question -. AU: Go ahead, Commissioner Ono. ONO: Cause it’s bothering me. Whatever the decision of this Commission is, let’s say for the Charter or recommend that we do not, the very position of the Attorney General representing the Charter School, does that mean that he would have to side with the Charter School at the next level? LEITHEAD TODD: Well, if he is representing the Charter School, he is taking their side because he is advocating for them. He is their attorney. ONO: Oh, that’s right. LEITHEAD TODD: You don’t have a client and advocate against your client. But you have to understand this is, we have a situation here where the State Land Board has already approved the lease. So you have the State having taken that position. The State Office of Planning has already submitted testimony supporting this saying that this is consistent with special use permits and that they support this application. So now you just have one more State agency, which in this case is the AG’s office, coming in. But the way that the special use permit process works is that the, if the County Planning Commission recommends approval, it then goes to the State Land Use Commission, because this is more than 15 acres of land. The State Land Use Commission is the body that then determines whether the special use permit is granted or not. However, if the Windward Planning Commission says that they want to deny the application, then the application dies. Because under the process set up under State Law, you have to have a favorable recommendation from the local planning commission, which would be this one, before it can proceed to the State Land Use Commission. ONO: That’s where I have a question. Assuming that we deny, the representative of the AG’s office would appeal? LEITHEAD TODD: They would then represent Connections in appeal to Circuit Court. ONO: Okay, thank you. LEITHEAD TODD: And then Mr. Kanakaole would represent the Commission; and I guess Mr. Brilhante, not the property owner, or possibly Ms. Self would represent the Planning Department and the Planning Director. ONO: Thank you. That’s it. Thank you. AU: Okay, any more questions for staff? GONZALES: I -. 24 EXHIBIT D AU: Commissioner Gonzales. GONZALES: Excuse me. Yes, I have a question. Actually I just want to make this clear. So if we say yes, this gets kicked up to the State Land Use Committee or Commission? LEITHEAD TODD: Yes. GONZALES: If we say no, if we say no, the application dies, they’re going to appeal it -? LEITHEAD TODD: Well, we don’t know that they will appeal it. But I would assume that there’s a likely appeal which would go to Circuit Court. And they would look at whether we had been arbitrary, capricious, whether, you know, we have valid reasons. They would look at all of that in terms of looking at our decision. There are a set of rules that they would look at. But you shouldn’t base your decision on whether there’s going to be an appeal or whether it’s going to the Land Use Commission. You should be exercising independent judgment on whether you believe that this qualifies for a special use permit; and then, you know, vote appropriately. GONZALES: Thank you. AU: Okay, so just to clarify, we are voting, what’s agendized is the continuance to a future meeting with us. Is that correct? DARROW: Correct. AU: Okay, yeah, I thought I heard the conversation it’s a continued meeting to the Land Use Commission. DARROW: Mr. Chairman, the -. AU: It’s a continued meeting to the Windward Planning Commission, right? DARROW: Correct. And the next Windward Planning Commission meeting would be January 10, 2013. AU: Okay. With that said, anybody interested in making a motion? GONZALES: Mr. Chairman, I would like to put forth a motion to continue the application SPP 12- 138 for Connections New Century Public Charter School until the next Windward Planning Commission meeting on January 10, 2013. AU: Thank you. Commissioners, can I have a second? ONO: Second. 25 EXHIBIT D AU: Okay, into discussion, I’d like to see what happens with this at our next meeting, that the applicant has with the community. I want to see the results, the water credits. I guess we have it in written documents. You know the applicant is doing what they’re asked of from us, so I think I would support this continuance. So I just wanted to share that with my Fellow Commissioners. Anybody want to make a comment, so, for discussion? Okay, if not, ready to take a vote. DARROW: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The motion before us is to continue this application until our next Windward Planning Commission meeting to be held on January 10, 2013. With that I’ll take the roll. Commissioner Gonzales? GONZALES: Aye. DARROW: Commissioner Ono? ONO: Aye. DARROW: Commissioner Ishibashi? ISHIBASHI: Aye. DARROW: And Mr. Chairman? AU: Aye. DARROW: The motion passes four to zero. AU: You’ll be notified in writing; and so will all the neighbors; and we’ll see you guys at the next meeting. The discussion ended at 12:44 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Sharon M. Nomura, Secretary Windward Planning Commission 26 EXHIBIT D