2016-07-07 Hearing Transcript - Hilo Medical Center REZ 14-175

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And, this is a photo of the walkway and the gate from the medical office property down to the subject property. And, then this is a view—these photos were actually taken in 2011 when the Applicant previously applied for zoning of the property, and you can see, this is standing from the medical center properties looking down towards Punahele Street. So, Punahele Street's in the background here. You have the correctional facility beyond that. And, then this is the subject property, and then this is the house between the subject property and Hala`i Hill. That's the roof. This is the other direction. The subject property in the foreground. Correctional facility in the background, and then the adjacent house to the west. The Director is recommending that the Commission forward an unfavorable recommendation to the County Council for several reasons. This current application is the third attempt by the Landowner and Applicant to rezone the property for use as a parking lot. During these previous attempts, the Landowner/Applicant and neighboring property owners could not reach agreement about what measures could be taken to reduce the nuisances associated with a parking lot that would affect the neighbors. Due to the lack of agreement, the County Council did not approve the rezoning request in 2007, and the Planning Department and the Planning Commission did not recommend the approval of the rezone request in 2011. And, the main reason for recommending an unfavorable recommendation at this point in time is that there's been no substantial changes in the application or with agreement between the neighbors and the Applicant/Landowner since the previous rezone in 2011. The Hala`i Kumiai and its members and the immediately adjacent neighbors continue to oppose the rezone to—of the property for commercial zoning. And, you have a letter from the Kumiai and an agreement—it's a Memorandum of Agreement that the Applicant had submitted by letter dated May 31st, 2016. And, they transmitted a Memorandum of Agreement, but the Agreement was not signed by the neighbors. And, introducing commercial uses into this established residential neighborhood would break up the cohesiveness of the overall land use pattern and create nuisances such as noise, light, exhaust, odors, and traffic that cannot be completely eliminated through mitigation measures. Granting the commercial zoning would not result in an appropriate land use pattern at this time and would not conform to the General Plan policies and goals. So, those are the main reasons for the Director's unfavorable recommendation. Since we sent out your Background and Recommendation, we just received a—three pages of maps submitted 3 EXHIBIT C