2019-03-07 Hearing Transcript - Wailani Development, LLC Amend REZ 10-117

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CLARKSON: Okay, thank you. So let'sis it okay JACKSON: Mr. Chair, before you do that, may I suggest you take public testimony? CLARKSON: Well, but the, the question with doing that is that all of the substantive discussion would—well, that's fine with me, but I would think people would want to hear the arguments pro and con for each amendment before they testified, but we canI'm not talking about taking any action now. I'm just talking about discussing the amendments, but all right. At this time, we'll take public testimony. And, thank you, sir. We will be asking you to return to that chair later. At this time, I'd like to call the first four of six testifiers, Dwight Vicente, Cathy Palama, Harold Wallace, and Bobby Dugar. And, I'm assuming, Mr. Vicente, that your testimony will be unsworn. VICENTE: Yes. CLARKSON: Would the rest of you please raise your right hands? Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter before the Planning Commission today? PALAMA/WALLACE/DUGAR: Yes. CLARKSON: Thank you. Please speak directly into the microphone, introduce yourself, and then proceed with your testimony. WALLACE: Yes, aloha and not good morning, but good afternoon to you guys and to all the rest of you guys on the Commission. I'm Harold Wallace. I'm the CEO of Bay Clinic, and I'm here to speak in favor of the Wailani project, the Wailani Development. Bay Clinic strongly supports Wailani Development and its application to develop the 171.5 -acre property in central Hilo; specifically, the master plan for the development of a medical campus which would provide the needed infrastructure to support the growth of East Hawai`i's health care industry. As you may or may not be aware that one of the greatest barriers for care for a lot of the residents here in Hilo is transportation. Transportation is one of the number one social determinants of all individuals here on the island. The establishment of a medical campus would give Bay Clinic and also other providers the opportunity to potentially develop one health center facility in Hilo that would house all, all of our foresights here in Hilo, which would facilitate a one-stop shop medical home for our patients, directly address the lack of transportation as a major barrier to care, and also further align Bay Clinic's operation to CMS's patient center medical home model. And, I think what that means is that currently, Bay Clinic is fragmented, okay. We have a dental site here, and we have a medical site, we have a women's site, an administration office inside of Hilo. They're all fragmented in separate locations. Typically, in most cities, those are in one building. We don't have the land to do that here. So, that's what's needed. And, the Wailani Development would give us an opportunity to have a large amount of land to be able to do that. We need approximately an 80,000 -square foot building to be sufficient for our needs to combine all the, our sites together, and it would be the perfect development to do that. EXHIBIT C 19