2016-05-19 Leeward Exh D (SPP 16-188)

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subdivision. And frankly, I think that’s probably a little low as far as estimates go, because we are for the most part pretty blue collar subdivision. I want to give you a little bit of my own credentials, because I’ve sat on your side, so I try to look at these things objectively. My credentials are at this hearing is that before moving to this island I was a member of the City of Santa Cruz’s planning commission, that’s in California, for 17 years. I served both its chairman, vice chairperson and a member of the commission all those times. The area I came from is very similar in many respects, except for the water temperature. We dealt with water temperature of 65 degrees, so I stayed out of the water a little bit; your water temperature is much better. But Santa Cruz is located on the Central Coast of California. Like this area here, we had the Pacific to the west, mountains to the east, we were heavily dependent on agriculture and tourism, we had a population of 52,000, and a university that brought an additional 21,000 students to our university along with the support staff. The area I came from, just as we are here, was a very environmentally conscious community, very much aware of our natural resources, constantly aware of back growth and a need to manage the growth, looking very closely at providing housing and a viable transportation system while accommodating an economy that could support the residents of our community. Projects were brought before us, our Santa Cruz City Council, or Santa Cruz City Planning Commission, and condition many times taken into account sacred Ohlone Indian burial sites. We were also very conscious of the need to reconcile industrial and residential zoning. We were always balancing those out, looking at the effects of one upon the other. We were very careful to take into consideration these effects and what it might have on the residential zoning. In my first years as a planning commissioner a long time ago I often wondered how qualified was I really to make judgements about projects before me. The language of planning was a bit overwhelming to me, because I’m sure Members of this Planning Commission especially in their first year or two can understand, and I would ask myself how qualified was I really to challenge the recommendations of the professional planning staff. And I’m bringing that up in the context of the recommendation that was made by the Planning staff. This is where public hearings and the observations and needs of the public are so, so, so very important. Reconciling the state and needs of the public with the logic and rule followed by planning staff really needs to trump everything else. We had, and you have, guidelines to follow. But common sense was a big part of the decisions we made, and a big part of your decision-making, I’m sure. At Pualani Estates we walked our neighborhoods when we saw the special use permit coming up. We asked homeowners and tenants what they thought of the proposed special use permit application before you. There were many who did not understand the technicalities to the applied-for permit, but what the overwhelming majority of the residents did understand was the following, and I’m not exaggerating. You already heard about the noise; I won’t say more about that. Residents were also concerned about the increase of dust in the air. This is what residents kept repeating: Dust in the air from the quarry that existed before the stop order the end of February has continued on even subsequent to that stop order. Residents don’t understand — and I haven’t heard a whole lot of people talk about this part of it — how our current road system can handle the truck traffic. Staff’s report states there could be ten to twenty truck loads per day. I looked a little closer at that the way I used to look at things when I had things come before me on the planning commission; ten to twenty truck loads, double that because the truck loads will become empty trucks at the end of the day or earlier, so let’s imagine maybe 35 to 40 trucks 12 EXHIBIT D