|
HAWAII COUNTY CHARTER COMMISSIONPage 2 of 51
<br />Testimony on items on the agenda: Mr. Don Nitsche on permitting. Can you come forward and just
<br />introduce yourself and speak into the microphone, please.
<br />NITSCHE: My name is Don Nitsche. I am a businessman and have a couple of small businesses in
<br />Oceanview, and I’m very concerned about permitting, as most of our neighbors in Oceanview are, and
<br />all I can speak about is the need for change in our permitting system. It’s not being followed very
<br />closely, from our experience, and I think some changes should be made. Maybe this isn’t the place to
<br />say about the changes. This is more changing the method of what department handles it? Maybe you can
<br />correct me. What should I be addressing?
<br />RAY: Yes, the proposal we’re discussing is to create a Division of Permitting to consolidate all
<br />permitting functions under the Public Works Department and to remove some of those functions from
<br />the Planning Department, so more of a one-stop shopping which, hopefully, will be more efficient and
<br />better organized.
<br />NITSCHE: Well, I think I personally would be, and I think I can speak for most people in Oceanview,
<br />that we would like to have it more efficient, and tighten up the laws. We have a lot of structures going in
<br />in Oceanview that don’t even have permits. And there’s another big area that is a real problem. It was, at
<br />one time, before you could get a temporary power pole put in by the electric company, you had to have a
<br />permit, and now you do not. You can get a temporary power put in and live in a tent, off of temporary
<br />power, without a building permit, and I think this is atrocious. We have a lot of very sub, substandard
<br />dwellings going in in our area and just recently, a group of people in Oceanview got together and got
<br />some stopped, and they did ‘red tag’ some very substandard buildings going in, and so I would think that
<br />this would be a good move to consolidate and make it more efficient, any way we can, and possibly this
<br />group that would be taking it over could look at modifying some of the laws to correct some of the
<br />deficiencies that we have. I’m not well versed, I’m sorry to say, I’m very busy running my businesses,
<br />and I can’t really speak on a lot of facts, but I know we need a lot of change in this area.
<br />RAY: Okay, thank you. Any questions? All right, thank you, sir.
<br />NITSCHE: Thank you.
<br />RAY: Janet Fujioka, representing the Board of Appeals, speaking on holdover terms on Boards and
<br />Commissions. This is an area we discussed and actually have some proposed language that our attorney,
<br />Mr. Yuen, furnished us with. You folks should all have that. Okay, Janet.
<br />FUJIOKA: Thank you. May I refer you to the letter that was sent on July 16, 1999. In this letter, and it
<br />was based on a consensus decision of all of the Board Members on the Board of Appeals. As all of you
<br />know, we’ve had great difficulty in conducting our meetings because we have had a vacancy since
<br />January of this year. We have been after the Administration to have that vacancy filled but it hasn’t
<br />happened, so the Members on the Board all feel that instead of allowing Members who are now serving
<br />to have an extended term of 30, 60 or 90 days, that for sake of continuity, that if a person is appointed to
<br />fill an unexpired term, say of one or two years, that either that person is given an additional five-year
<br />term or, in my case, I would like to see that person receive a five-year term from day one. That way we
<br />do not fall into this cycle of having vacancies, or in the case of Mr. William Green and Mr. Patrick Edie,
<br />each one filled only a one-year term, and after their terms expire, they’re out, and it really takes more
<br />than a year to learn all of the codes, and to learn what we are about, and so I would ask you to seriously
<br />consider our request.
<br />May I ask a question, though, of your counsel? In the current Charter, ARTICLE XIII, Section 13-4(c),
<br />it reads "No member shall be eligible for a second appointment to the same board or commission prior to
<br />file://\\coh01\cohweb\council\charter_commission\minutes\minutes 9-29-99.html7/1/2011
<br />
<br />
|