2000-04-12 Charter Commission Minutes

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minutes 04-12-00Page 1 of 26 Back To: Home Page | Table of Contents | Charter main page HAWAII COUNTY CHARTER COMMISSION Transcript of Meeting of April 12, 2000 Hawaii County Liquor Commission Conference Room, Hilo Lagoon Center Attendance: J. Ray, M. Herkes, R. Higashi, S. Irvine, D. Kurozawa (from 5:20 p.m.), G. Martin, G. Yoshiyama, Counsel C. Yuen Absent: E. Alonzo, K. Balog, S. Bess, J. Santangelo And 6 members of the public in attendance. The meeting was called to order at 5:09 p.m. RAY: I’d like to call the April 12th meeting of the 1999-2000 Hawaii County Charter Commission to order. We’re at the Hilo Lagoon Centre. Attendance. Presently, myself John Ray; Chair; Roland Higashi, Vice Chair; Marni Herkes; Sue Irvine; George Martin; and Gary Yoshiyama. Statements from the Public. We have several people signed up. I’m going to do this a little bit out of order. I’d like Mr. Wurdeman to come up first because we’re dealing with this Hawaii Redevelopment Agency issue, and Mr. Wurdeman’s testimony, actually, is what triggered bringing this issue before us. So, we’ve all got Mr. Wurdeman’s testimony in front of us. Could you just briefly describe - WURDEMAN: Okay. This is in regard to the HRA, and as some of you may recall, several years ago, before I came into this job, there was an attempt to abolish it - Feeling was that it had served its purpose - by the Council, by resolution. I believe it was by resolution. And subsequently Mr. Ross brought to everyone’s attention that the law requires that the only way to get rid of it is by Charter change, such as Honolulu has done in regard to their Redevelopment Agency. So, we were forced to reconstitute it and it meets about every two or three months, and doesn’t really have a whole lot of business to do. And in my humble opinion, is an unneeded bit of bureaucracy and so I recommended that it be placed on the ballot so that the public can get rid of it, and get rid of it legally. RAY: Okay, thank you. Any questions for Mr. Wurdeman? We have our Planning Director here. Since she is here, Ms. Goldstein, do you have anything to add to that? GOLDSTEIN: Not really. I think, though, that there is a duplication and maybe overlap in jurisdiction, although it’s clear that HRA is the one that needs to grant, at this point, the approvals on the uses within the area. The Kaiko’o Plan has an end date built in, which is both July and August of this year. And given that, I’m not sure then what the ramifications would be if we had an HRA that continues on and the plan itself is no longer in effect, whether they then have to reevaluate the situation if they’re still in existence and have to then adopt a new plan or what the effect would be. RAY: So, that might be another argument to do away with it? GOLDSTEIN: Yes. I think our position is that it’s no longer necessary. RAY: Okay. Any questions for Ms. Goldstein? And now, David Reed, and David, could you state your position in regard to HRA, please? file://\\coh01\cohweb\council\charter_commission\minutes\minutes 04-12-00.htm7/1/2011