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the proposed changes after being told what they were about and then have a chance to vote on,
<br />and I think we were denied the opportunity.
<br />CLARKSON: Well, this, this brings up two questions that I'd like to just ask: Was the kind of
<br />the method of operation of the Steering Committee one that included votes or was that more of a
<br />consensus deliberation, and, two, was there, and I'll ask the Planning Director this, were there
<br />statutory time limits and requirements that made it important to get this before the Planning
<br />Commission as fast as it was without letting the Steering Committee digest it?
<br />YEE: Sorry, I'm getting over a cold. I prefer that April Surprenant from staff come up and
<br />provide testimony on specific questions.
<br />SURPRENANT: Aloha, April Surprenant with the Planning Department. So, we did send it out
<br />to the Steering Committee for their review, and then we had a meeting where we went over it in
<br />detail, in this room actually, with them. The, there are a couple of ways to answer this question,
<br />so I'll do it in a number of different ways. One is that the General Plan, the way the process is
<br />outlined in the General Plan on how CDPs are adopted is if there are changes, that we present
<br />them back to the Steering Committee and give them an opportunity to comment. So, at that
<br />point the Steering Committee had already made their recommendation based on all of the hard
<br />work that's been done over the, over the many, many years. And, the Department, of course, is
<br />committed to honoring all of that work that has been put into that. And so, that was definitely
<br />considered, but we also needed to consider additional comments that had come in from our
<br />Corporation Counsel, from a recent legal case that had come through, which is the Missler case.
<br />You may have heard about that. I might let Malia get into Missler if that becomes a question,
<br />because I'm not an attorney, and then there was an opportunity to have additional meetings, but
<br />that did not go to a motion and a vote at the last Steering Committee meeting. So, we could, we
<br />made it clear that if we did go to an additional meeting for the Steering Committee, that it would
<br />postpone this whole process and we would have to start over in terms of scheduling with the
<br />Planning Commission. As you know, it's difficult to schedule these things not only for us as
<br />staff, for our Steering Committee members, for our Commissioners, and then to get it going
<br />forward on the Council, Council docket. So, those were all part of the considerations that we had
<br />to go through. But, there was an opportunity, but there was not a motion for an additional
<br />meeting at the last Steering Committee meeting, and so that was not, so it didn't go to a vote.
<br />CARVALHO: Can I respond to that? I made, I made, I refused, I said it was ridiculous and
<br />outrageous that we did not have an opportunity to vote on this. I stressed of having time to
<br />digest and come back and to take a vote on it. The impression, general impression, and I can't
<br />speak for the Committee but for myself, it was a take it or leave it. This is the way it's going to
<br />be, and that's it. That's the end of the discussion. They didn't, they didn't, the Planning
<br />Department's spokesperson did not ask if I'm making a motion to have another meeting, you
<br />know, what I would like to see happen. I was under the impression that this was a take it or
<br />leave it. And, again, this meeting was scheduled before we met as a Steering Committee to go
<br />over the proposed changes by the Planning Department and Corp. Counsel. And, again, I can't
<br />stress it enough, nine -plus years. I don't know, somebody mentioned how many meetings there
<br />were over the period of time that we attended, the amount of miles driven, you know, how far it
<br />is from Hilo to Honoka`a, and we don't get to, we don't get the final say if we want to accept it
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