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HomeMy WebLinkAboutREP PC 049 2020/07/21 2018-2020REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON PLANNING DATE: July 21, 2020 Re: Comm. No. 798/Bill No. 150 PLACE: Council Chambers Hilo, Hawaii TIME: 10:11 a.m. Council Chair and Members Hawaii County Council Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Your Committee on Planning, to which was referred Bill No. 150, reports as follows: Bill No. 150, introduced by Committee Chair Ashley L. Kierkiewicz at the request of the Administration via Communication No. 798 dated February 25, 2020, from Mayor Harry Kim, amends Section 25-8-33 (City of Hilo Zone Map), Article 8, Chapter 25 (Zoning Code) of the Hawaii County Code 1983 (2016 Edition, as amended), by changing the district classification from Multiple Family Residential — 1,500 square feet (RM -1.5) to Single Family Residential — 7,500 square feet (RS -7.5) at Waiakea, South Hilo, Hawaii, covered by Tax Map Key: 2-4-028:009. This bill was initiated by the Planning Director due to noncompliance with Condition B 1 and Condition R2 of Ordinance No. 14-056. The subject parcel is 3.292 acres. Ordinance No. 14-056 states that "(s)hould any of the conditions not be met or substantially complied with in a timely fashion, the Planning Director may initiate rezoning of the area to its original or more appropriate designation." Communication No. 798 provides extensive additional information about the reasoning behind the Planning Director's recommendation and the County's correspondence with landowner Vincent Tai. The Windward Planning Commission, at its duly noticed meeting on February 6, 2020, concurred with the Planning Director's recommendation of approval. The commission's transcript was introduced to the record as Communication No. 798.1. Your Committee scheduled a hearing on this bill for July 7, 2020, and postponed it without discussion to the next available date at Mr. Tai's request so that he could participate in person. Director Michael Yee addressed Your Committee on July 21, 2020, stating that the major reasons for this action are 1) the amount of unsafe flora on the subject property, and 2) there has been Condition B: "The applicant shall submit the anticipated maximum daily water usage calculations, as recommended by a registered engineer, to the Department of Water Supply, and secure water commitments in accordance with the `Water Commitment Guidelines Policy', within one hundred and eighty (180) days from the effective date of this ordinance." 2 Condition R: "The applicant shall comply with all applicable County, State and Federal laws, rules, regulations and requirements." PC Report No.: 49 PC -49 Page 2 July 21, 2020 enough time for the landowner to create an affordable housing development. Director Yee also noted the property was bought at $800,000 and listed for sale at $3 million. At the time of the Windward Planning Commission meeting the director noted that Mr. Tai still intended to go forward with his plan, but his listing of the property for sale resulted in "some real inconsistency as to his real plans for this." He was unaware of any grading, building, or plan approval submittals from Mr. Tai. Mr. Tai in his address to Your Committee agreed with his neighbor's concerns about the trees and denied harassing them. He has a property management company taking care of the parcel, as he is not a resident of the County. He has always asked neighbors to file a complaint with his insurance company to resolve issues. He is in the first year of an annual maintenance contract with tree management company Backyard Monkey, LLC to address the tree problem. By the time the Windward Planning Commission meeting notice came out, the issues had been resolved and he was in compliance, Mr. Tai said. Mr. Tai said he did not know that a downzoning was being recommended until about three days before the Windward Planning Commission met on February 6, 2020. He had been relying on his insurance company to resolve complaints and was not aware of any issues in the last few years. He denied being a speculative land investor. He said he wasn't sure how much the land was worth and believed that listing it for sale for a certain amount was one way to find out. He did submit site drawings, but not to the Planning Director. Adjoining parcels are permanently zoned at RM -1.5. He spoke of the challenges of providing affordable housing. He asked instead of a zoning reversion that your Committee allow a four-year extension to comply with the terms. Your Committee agreed with the challenges in creating affordable housing but noted that the noncompliance with the agreed-upon terms and conditions was the overriding concern. Chair Kierkiewicz reminded Your Committee that a testifier had expressed serious concern in 2013 about the state of the property, and that an arborist was not engaged until 2019. In six years there was no movement on Mr. Tai's part, she said. Backyard Monkey was engaged in maintaining the property from about 2019, but the property had been rezoned around 2010 and 2015; had a Planning Committee discussion in 2014, and the trees were a problem back then, the Chair said. No action was taken until last year after receipt of a communication from the County around potential downzoning the property, she said. The Chair had a hard time taking the landowner's assertions in good faith. Committee Member Valerie Poindexter spoke in favor of the Planning Director's decision, citing concerns of neighbors who provided public testimony. She believed those community members who spoke out. It took years for Mr. Tai to do something. He only did something when he was notified, and only when Director Yee acted in what Ms. Poindexter called a good decision for the health and safety of the community. Director Yee said Mr. Tai has been working on clearing up the trees, and although it was not in a timely fashion, he has addressed it. He also added that Mr. Tai has made his water commitment payment. PC Report No.: 49 PC -49 Page 3 July 21, 2020 Committee Member Aaron Chung, in whose council district the subject parcel is located, spoke in support of the bill. The Council is lenient in allowing for time extensions, because members know how difficult it is to get projects off the ground. Downzoning of a property is unusual, but in this case it is warranted because "based on what we have seen here, you really haven't been a good neighbor," he said. Rezoning requests should only be granted with reasonable expectations from the Council to the public. On another point, the contract with Backyard Monkey was only executed this year, but the pleas of neighbors to abate their concerns about unsafe flora have been ongoing for a lot longer time than that. Much of this could have been avoided if Mr. Tai had done what he was supposed to do, Mr. Chung said. With regard to the water commitment, the deposit was made in 2019, but the rezoning ordinance required it within 180 days of the effective date of the 2014 Ordinance. Further, not knowing about that requirement is not an excuse. Many of Mr. Tai's actions are coming on the back end to ward off the Director's downzoning, Mr. Chung said. Mr. Tai was not being a good neighbor to tell someone to "work with my insurance company," and it sounds very impersonal. All we have are broken promises to the neighbors, he said. Mr. Tai then promised he would keep Backyard Monkey on the maintenance contract for as long as he owned the property. He promised the company would take care of whatever needed to be cut, and the property management company needs to tell him what is going on. If neighbors objected to anything, Mr. Tai would tell Backyard Monkey to take care of it, and he would pay for it. Committee Member Maile David spoke in support of Mr. Chung's comments. She noted that Mr. Tai would not be prevented from reapplying to rezone or subdivide the property, should Bill 150 be approved. Committee Vice Chair Susan L. K. Lee Loy said the conditions of approval are added as guardrails to ensure the County is getting what is being promised. The decision was "very simple" to her in that it is based on not complying with the conditions of approval. She does not see the current action as a downzoning of the property, but rather a return to the original zoning. Other rezoned properties nearby may be in compliance with their conditions but this one is not. Ms. Lee Loy said she would be supporting the bill because the failure of compliance with the original conditions of approval. Ms. Lee Loy asks every rezoning application that comes before the Council whether the applicant has read and agreed to the conditions of approval. This bill is a result of a failure or a noncompliance of those conditions. Committee Member Karen Eoff, also speaking in support, said the Council wants to support good faith proposals and opportunities for affordable housing, but the Council also needs to make sure that a proposal being presented is actually the plan that is taken forward. There have been enough instances with this particular property have shown examples to the contrary, with no good faith and no movement; also, nonresponsive to neighbors. She was willing to move forward with a supportive recommendation. Chair Kierkiewicz closed by saying the lack of timely action when these ordinances were approved is at the crux of Bill No. 150. The landowner may be asking for another chance, but the existing Ordinance No. 14-056 is that promise. It is binding, and there was failure to act until the PC Report No.: 49 PC-49 Page 4 July 21,2020 Planning Department threatened to revert the zoning. There will be opportunities to take votes to adopt the Committee's recommendation in coming Council meetings, she said. One good faith step on Mr. Tai's part is to continue to engage Backyard Monkey and to ensure that the flora situation on the property is deemed safe for neighboring properties so as to build friendly neighborhood relations, she said. Your Committee on Planning is in accord with the purpose and intent of Bill No. 150, and recommends its passage on first reading, ps AYES NOES ABS EX Respectfully submitted, CHUNG x DAVID X COMMITTEE ON PLANNING EOFF X KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER X KIERKIEWICZ X LEE LOY X POINDEXTER X ASHLEY L. KIERKIEWICZ, CHAIR RICHARDSx PC REPORT NO. 49 VILLEGAS X ADOPTED: AUG055i 2020