2012-12-06 Windward Transcript Connections

Home

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