2019-03-07 Hearing Transcript - William Quinn Pahoa Farm & Garden

Home

zoomed in. Again, the subject parcel on the right-hand side, and the driveway in this area. And, this is a looking directly across Pahoa Bypass Road showing the existing driveway area. And, here are some photos of the Pahoa Bypass Road. In this, both left-hand photos are looking north toward Hilo. As you can see, the subject parcel in this case is on the left. The driveway is located generally in this area. This small, white image here is the top of the County vehicle that was parked in the driveway, and so this is again kind of showing that the subject access along a curve, and then this, on the right-hand side is looking toward Pahoa High School, the subject parcel being generally on the right-hand side here. Again, the driveway access being generally along this curb, pardon me, curve. These bottom two images are from the current driveway. This bottom left is looking toward Hilo, and then I just turned around and took a picture looking toward Pahoa High School to show an idea of sight lines for oncoming traffic. The Applicant, pardon me, the Planning Director is recommending denial of the application for several reasons. I won't read them here because I'll cover them a little bit more in depth. Here, the first is the proposed use will not promote the effectiveness and objectives of Chapter 205, Hawaii Revised Statutes, as amended. The request fails to establish an effective land use pattern in the area. Pahoa Town has been established as the central commercial area for such services for this particular section of Puna. The proposed retail commercial use will be located outside of the Pahoa commercial area and along the Pahoa Bypass Road which functions to quickly move Bypass traffic around Pahoa Town, and was not meant to provide access to a secondary commercial corridor. Thus, the proposed retail commercial use is an inappropriate land use for this particular area. The second reason the Director is recommending denial is the proposed use is inconsistent with the objectives to be sought to be accomplished by the land use law and regulations, and the proposed use could unreasonably burden public agencies to provide further infrastructure. The Planning Department has sought to concentrate retail commercial and similar types of uses within the Pahoa Town to focus traffic and related infrastructure improvements within that localized area. There is the potential for encouraging strip commercial development that may attract the infilling of lands along the Pahoa Bypass by other commercial developments, and the Director is concerned about setting a precedence in this case. Such strip development would create rapid growth increase and adverse impacts to traffic as multiple access points would be required for such developments along the Pahoa Bypass Road. The County and State have no plans to provide infrastructure to accommodate commercial uses along the Pahoa Bypass Road; therefore, it would not be prudent to sanction the spread of such traffic generating commercial uses. There are also traffic safety concerns. Both the Planning Department and members of the public have serious public safety concerns over the potential traffic hazards caused by locating a retail commercial use along the Pahoa Bypass Road. The frontage of the subject parcel is located on the inside of a blind curve of the Bypass Road on a hill with limited sight distance, potentially making turning movements in and out of the proposed business hazardous to impending traffic, pardon me, and impeding traffic functions on the Bypass Road. To determine that the access is safe and appropriate for commercial uses, the State Department of Transportation is recommending that prior to the Planning Commission granting a Special Permit, the Applicant EXHIBIT D 3