2016-05-05 Hearing Transcript - James Ishii REZ 16-204

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HEAUKULANL All right, we have three members of the public who have signed up to testify on this matter, so I would ask a Lou Rhoades, Gail Rhoades, and Buel McCoy to please come forward. Is there anyone else who wants to be heard on this matter this morning? Good morning. I would ask the three of you to please raise your right hand, and do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter now before the Planning Commission? TESTIFIERS: Yes. HEAUKULANL Very well. It doesn't matter to us in what order you go, but we would ask that you speak—you're doing a good job speaking clearly into the microphone, and limit your testimony to three minutes, please. RHOADES, L.: Hello all. HEAUKULANL And, please please state your name and where you're from right as you begin. RHOADES, L.: Thank you for hearing us. I am Lou Rhoades and live in Hilo on Manono Street, and we, Manono Street was residential when we bought our property, and it has stayed residential with one exception. It was on the map that was shown, and we testified at that hearing. Actually, we testified at the County Council, and in spite of our objection, they went ahead and changed the zoning, and the reason for the change they said was there was a pressing need for additional office space in Hilo. And, as they said in the presentation, that zoning was changed in 2005, and that house has not had any additional—has not had anything but residential tenants in it since that. It's changed hands but it's still just residential tenants. They haven't had—there hasn't appeared to be any need for that change in zoning because there hasn't been anybody in that house across the street from us that has, had anything other than residential tenants. I'm kind of getting off my script here, and I'm gonna back to it and read through it because otherwise I'll leave out things and forget things I meant to say. But, that's basically the point. I feel that the issue is really trust. When you buy in a neighborhood and it's zoned residential, you should be able to trust that it's going to stay residential unless there's a really compelling need to change the zoning, and in this case, as I just said, there really isn't a compelling need because they haven't been able to use that property for that purpose—either the people who originally asked for the zoning change or the second owner that has it now—they haven't found a tenant that's a commercial or any other kind other than a residential tenant in that building. So, my, my opinion, the important reason for zoning is that you can trust when you buy into a residential neighborhood, it will stay residential, unless there's a real compelling need for a change. If the zoning is changed without a compelling reason, the zoning doesn't mean anything. The zoning in the house across as you know has changed several years ago—okay, I already went over that part of it. 4 EXHIBIT C