2014-07-03 Hearing Transcript - Asia Pacific Group Amend SPP 09-095

Home

request. Again, for reference, the different zonings are colors on the map represent County zoning. The lighter blue represents Agricultural – 40 acres. The purple next door is Agricultural – 35 acres, and the lighter green, Agricultural – 1 acre. This is an aerial photo of the area. Again, for reference, Highway 19 running in an east-west direction, and we have the subject property outlined in a black outline. We have access directly from the highway, and we have the equestrian center that’s identified in the middle of the map. Again, for reference, we have this heavy trees that are lining Mud Lane. You might be familiar with Mud Lane as well. A lot of the area is used for pasture in this particular area. The applicant is requesting several amendments, and we’ll just go through each of these. They’re requesting a one-year time extension to comply with Condition No. 2 which is to secure Final Plan Approval. They had a particular deadline. They had come in previously for a, a time extension on this particular condition. The hold-up, unfortunately, has been trying to get a permitted access from the Department of Transportation. There—it goes without saying, they are a little difficult to work through. Number two, they’re asking to eliminate the weekly country market as a permitted use under Special Permit No. 09-95, and to delete all references to the weekly country market in Conditions 3, 4, and 8. Originally, that was actually what was requested for this Special Permit. It was a country, a weekly country market, and some special events. So, the Applicant, in trying to work out a resolution with Department of Transportation, has kind of minimized the uses that will be allowed under this Special Permit. He’s asking to reduce the number of special events annually from twenty to six which is in Condition 5, and lastly, to rewrite Condition No. 6 to state that a special event is a sporting, cultural, business, or other type of activity. The reason for the request as mentioned previously, the Applicant has been working with the Department of Transportation to comply with the access requirements under Condition 11. This has been for over four years at this point, and is unable to receive a final approval from DOT and, therefore, has held up the Final Plan Approval process required under Condition No. 2. The Applicant states that one possible cure is to construct an ingress/egress lanes fronting the subject property or to reduce the uses allowed in the Special Permit. The Applicant is choosing to reduce the uses by eliminating the weekly country market and reduce the amount of annual special events. For reference, this is the site plan that’s been on file. Again, on your left side of your map, you have Highway 19. You have access from Highway 19, and you have the actual permit area with the equestrian center. We do have some site photos. These were taken previously. This is from Highway 19 looking at the equestrian center that’s on site. Same thing. This is a little further back on Highway 19. You have the equestrian center in the background there and the access. My understanding that the name of this facility now is called the Rocking Chair Ranch. Okay. And this is a little further towards Waimea, and you can see that the Applicant has put a quite a number of trees to kind of eliminate the visual aspect of the equestrian center. So, this is on the Waimea side of the subject property. This is looking towards Hilo on Highway 19 with the access on your left side. This is looking towards Waimea with the access on your right side. 2 EXHIBIT C