2017-10.1 DPR to AC re: Comm. No. 2017-10

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Puna Community Development Plan Action Committee— Farmers Markets June 20, 2017 Page 2 • Competition for Facilities DPR must ensure that the limited amount of parks sites and facilities in our inventory are being utilized for their highest and best purposes, as much as possible We also must consider historical uses and needs of DPR's various programs and activities so as not to inadvertently displace regular/recurring activities that have an established need and community benefit Further, shared use of a site by unrelated concurrent activities needs to be thoroughly scrutinized in order to avoid approving incompatible uses and/or direct competition for limited resources (such as restrooms, parking, etc ) • Compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and other accessibility laws Persons/entities that rent/reserve a County park site or facility for an event are not required to provide a detailed operational layout or use diagram in association with their proposed use and DPR clearly places the entire responsibility for accessibility compliance on said renter/user However, due to the presumed space requirements, function and programmatic needs of a farmers market, the County must ensure that, at minimum, the basic infrastructure exists at the sitelfacility such that accessibility compliance can reasonably be achieved • Increased Costs Revenues from permits go to the General Fund and not to the department to offset increased costs • Maintenance Expectations The addition of a farmers market at dust about any DPR site/facility is highly like to increase the expectations and demands placed on the department to enhance the upkeep of the area and implement new improvements to support farmers market operations Any such increase in maintenance or development expectations has not been budgeted for and must be considered • Wear on Parks—The anticipated increase in concentrated vehicle and foot traffic by vendors and patrons of a farmers market will have an enhanced adverse effect on existing park sites and facilities that will require a corresponding increase in maintenance services It could be the case that such effects may preclude other usersluses from being able to utilize that portion of the park during non-market hours ■ Enforcement & Oversight Farmers markets, which are presumed to operate on holidays, weekends and the late-afternoon to early evening hours of week days, will require a reasonable amount of administrative oversight to ensure compliance with terms of use and other factors However, these times of operation are generally not concurrent with DPR staff's hours and would require additional staffing, flexing of existing staff's work hours, and/or payment of overtime to staff that must then concede personal/family time to implement • Limited Resources —The increase in pressure on already limited resources will be required through an additional permitting process Please call me at 951-8561 if you have any further questions ,-5 Sin �eIy, r Charmaine L Kamaka Director Enclosures Copy Pianning Department, Director Planning Department, Puna Community Deveiopment Plan Representative County of Howai'i is an Equal opportunity Provider and Employer