Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN PC 2021/02/16 2020-2022 Committee on Planning 4th Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawai i February 16, 2021 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Planning was called to order at ORDER: 3:00 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Chair Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Vice Chair (via videoconference from Kona) Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member (via videoconference from Kona) Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member (via videoconference from Kona) Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Member (via videoconference from Kona) Absent& Excused: Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: The following individuals registered to speak and came forward when called by the Chair: Charles Flaherty: Bill 11 (Comm. 51), in opposition. Dwight Vicente: Bill 11 (Comm. 51), comment. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, seeing as there are no other testifiers, I'll be closing public testimony at this time and moving on to business of the day. Mr. Clerk, Bill 11, please? COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. (There were none.) ORDER OF The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Order RESOLUTIONS: of Resolutions. (There were none.) PC-4 February 16,2021 BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, ORDINANCES: Bills for Ordinances. Bill 11: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 09-132 WHICH RECLASSIFIED LANDS FROM AGRICULTURAL—3 ACRES (A-3a) AND OPEN (0) TO PROJECT DISTRICT (PD) AT KAT, NORTH KONA, HAWAII, COVERED BY TAX MAP KEY: 7-2-005:001 (Applicant: Palamanui Global Holding, LLQ (Area: 695.284 Acres) The Leeward Planning Commission forwards its favorable recommendation to amend conditions of approval. The Palamanui Development project includes 1,116 residential units, a 70-acre business park, 230 acres of open space, a 74-acre dry forest preserve, and a 30-acre university village town center with a 120-room hotel, retail shopping, commercial amenities, and a 20-acre regional public park. Reference: Comm. 51 Intr. by: Ms. Kierkiewicz (B/R) Postponed: February 2, 2021 (Note: There is a motion by Ms. Lee Loy, seconded by Mr. Richards, to recommend passage of Bill 11 on first reading.) (Note: Comm. 51.10, from Council Member Holeka Goro Inaba dated February 16, 2021, transmitting proposed amendments to Bill 11, was circulated.) ; and Comm. 51.1: From Planning Director Zendo Kern, dated December 16, 2020,transmitting the draft transcript from the Leeward Planning Commission's November 19, 2020, meeting. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. I understand that the applicant is joining us in the Kona Council Chambers. Gentlemen, if you could please come forward, introduce yourselves for the record and provide us an update on where we are? I believe that Planning Director Zendo Kern is joining us via Zoom. Here in Hilo Council Chambers, we have Deputy Director Jeff Darrow and Planner Maija Jackson also available to contribute to the discussion. Gentlemen if you could provide us an update on progress made with Council Member Holeka Inaba over the last couple of weeks regarding this bill, and then I'll entertain a motion from Mr. Inaba to talk about the communication that he's transmitted. (Note: At this time, Representatives for Palamanui Global Holdings, LLC Steve Colon and Roger Harris came forward to address the members of the Committee.) Page 2 PC-4 February 16,2021 MR. COLON: Aloha, my name is Steve Colon, and I'm the Hawaii Division President for the Hunt Companies. Thank you Chair Kierkiewicz. Thank you Members of the County Council. Chair David, good to see you. And Council Member Holeka, thank you for the time that you've given us over the last couple of weeks. Since the initial hearing that we had on this matter about a month ago, we have had a few Zoom meetings with the Council Member in order to arrive at what I believe is a mutually agreeable resolution regarding the application. And with that, I guess Council Member, would you like to be the one who actually describes that, or would you like us to continue? MR. INABA: Continue, Mr. Colon. MR. COLON: Did you say, go ahead? MR. INABA: Yes, you folks can continue to explain. Well, Chair Kierkiewicz, should I make the motion at this time? CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, if you could make a motion Mr. Inaba, to amend Bill 11 with the contents of Comm. 51.10, that would be helpful. Motion to Amend: Mr. Inaba moved to amend Bill 11 with the contents of Comm. 51.10. Seconded by Mr. Richards. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Now we can speak very definitively about the amendment before us. Go ahead Mr. Inaba, Mr. Colon. MR. COLON: Thank you, Chair. There were four specific areas that Council Member Inaba asked us to go take a look at. And we addressed each one of those areas, and again, I believe we've come to a favorable or mutually agreeable resolution on those. So I'm going to just go one at a time. By the way, we have Roger Harris here with us. My apologies, forgot to introduce you. Let's start with affordable housing. The affordable housing request to us was that we would see what we could do to go above and beyond the affordable housing requirements which were in our initial application. And so in terms of the high points of the discussion that we had with Council Member Inaba is, we felt that—well, first off, we explained that, we already are going above and beyond the requirements that are normally imposed on developers with regards to the obligation to provide affordable housing in the County of Hawaii. Page 3 PC-4 February 16,2021 Specifically, our ordinance requires us to do all of the affordable housing on site. So we can't go ahead and buy we call it in our trade—we call it, you buy the credits, somebody who has affordable housing credits that satisfies your affordable housing obligation. You see that happen quite frequently throughout the islands. Our obligation requires us to build the affordable housing within Palamanui and that will remain an obligation and a commitment that we will abide by. What we did to take another step towards coming up with an additional enhancement to the affordable housing obligation was we agreed to build the housing at no more than 100 percent of Area Median Income (AMI). As you all know, the affordable housing guidelines basically go from under 60 percent to 140 percent of AMI, which is called Area Median Income. And the commitment that we made, and I believe should be as codified in the contents of the application, is that the affordable housing on Palamanui will be done in accordance with the County and State affordable housing requirements. It will be done on site, and the Area Median Income that it will serve will be up to 100 percent of AMI. Roger, anything else on that? MR. HARRIS: Excuse me, Roger Harris. Yeah, it'll be lower than 100 percent, down to 80 or 60 percent. And it will be built incrementally as the project is built. And I think the language has been amended to show that. MR. COLON: Okay. Second, in no particular order, let's talk about the hotel. So,there was a robust back and forth with Council Member Inaba on the hotel. And I don't want to put words in his mouth, so I'll let him kind of describe how he feels about that. We felt strongly that the initial concept of the Master Plan, the initial idea that this all started almost 20 years ago with the Land Use Commission, we felt that the benefits of leaving a University Theme hotel outweighed the Council Member's concerns. So I believe that the Council Member is okay with us leaving that in the application, so that is in the application. Anything else on that? Okay, the third one is the park. As you know from the discussion we had last month, there was a lot of—we certainly had a lot of concerns over the park obligations that were imposed on us. And of course, I gave the lengthy history, which I'll spare you doing that again, I promise. And the resolution that I believe we came to was the thought of—we've already committed to a 10-acre park. And for those of you who live here, you know, a good comparable to that is the D.R. (Don R.) Horton project down in Kailua-Kona. That's a six-and-a-half acre park. And a pretty good size park. So this will be a 10-acre park. And the obligations that are included in that 10-acre park are codified. They're the same obligations that were in our, you know, previous conditions. Page 4 PC-4 February 16,2021 What we've added to that is a requirement, an obligation, to build up to a two-acre, what we're going to call a performing arts facility. And the thought there is the park area that we have defined right now, it butts right up against the town center. So the town center would just be above the park area. So the thought was that we could use the sloping land, which actually was in an initial Master Plan of ours, only a little higher up. To use the natural slope that would then come down and connect into the park. And so, what we've agreed to, and I believe is written in the bill, is the requirement to do, again for the lack of better words or description, a performing arts center. And again I think the thought is we know we're going to be doing ten acres, so we're already going to have restrooms. You're going to have ballfields, soccer fields; you know, grass, irrigation. So the idea is to see if we could, you know, have our park plan utilizing that existing infrastructure I just described include this performing arts area, for lack of better words. Roger, what else on that? MR. HARRIS: Yeah, I think the commitment is for up to another two or three acres to accommodate this, and it's basically a lawn amphitheater type of thing, but a grassy knoll. And it blends—it's just if you've been out there, it sort of physically set up to be usable that way. But it will take a significant amount of grading to make it actually usable, and grassing. But we think that'll be a nice addition to the initial parks of the town center. MR. COLON: Thank you, Roger. And then finally, the Road One obligation, which again, we had quite of bit of discussion on a month ago. What we have committed to Council Member Inaba is that rather than the existing language, which was presented in the application, that the language that would be acceptable to us would be that the road would actually be built by the nine hundred first unit. And so, I believe—anything else on that Roger? MR. HARRIS: No. Excuse me, the prior language said bond or built. And talking to Councilman Inaba, he said he'd like to have it completed by that time, and so we agreed, "Yes, okay, we'll agree that it'll be completed." MR. COLON: I think that's it. So that's it for us. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you gentlemen for that very thorough overview. I did want to invite the Planning Department to make comments about the amendments before us. Although I know you have been part of discussions with the applicant and Council Member Inaba on this. Anything to add Director Kern? Page 5 PC-4 February 16,2021 (Note: At this time, Planning Director Zendo Kern came forward to address the members of the Committee via Zoom). MR. KERN: Thank you Madam Chair. Can you hear me okay? CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Yes, perfect. MR. KERN: Great. Nothing to add other than I think all parties worked really hard to find mutually agreeable solutions. And it was great to see everybody working on that. The Planning Department has no objections to the amendments at all, and hope everybody can continue to move forward. Thank you. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Mr. Inaba? MR. INABA: Mahalo and thank you Palamanui for being here today. I think you folks did a good job of explaining our discussions and the additions that you folks are making. I just want to clarify for the record that the outdoor performing arts center is a minimum of two acres, as it's written in the amendment. Not approximate; not max, it's minimum. So, looking forward to having that for our community. I'll say this, we had good discussion, and I really hope that you folks get this done, in what I believe is the 20-years' timeline for this. I don't think any of us will be on the Council at that time, some of us might not even be in this realm anymore. But I hope that this doesn't come back before the Council in 20 years, because these kinds of projects that are always coming back, I think are really a burden and a—you know, it taxes our County resources, time, energy, for the Council, for the Department. And I want to mahalo Maija (Jackson), Director Kern, and Deputy Director Jeff Darrow for their assistance. So, I guess I'll leave it at that. And I think we have something workable before us. Chair, I yield. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you Mr. Inaba. Any questions or comments on the amendments to Bill 11, which are before us and on the floor? MS. DAVID: Chair? CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Ms. David? MS. DAVID: Yes, thank you. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Go ahead. Page 6 PC-4 February 16,2021 MS. DAVID: Can you hear us okay over there? CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Yes. MS. DAVID: Okay, thank you. Well first of all, I think a big mahalo to Council Member Inaba, and then also to the developers, and for really taking the time and opening your thought process on how to do something that is greatly going to benefit this community and your project as well. And I'm just so glad that you folks came to this agreement because I think it shows your willingness to support the community that you have already spent a lot of money and resources in. So I think in the long run, everyone will be very happy with how this turned out for the people in Palamanui and actually Kona Community as a whole. We have a lot of students that attend Palamanui from around the Island. So I think you folks have done a wonderful job in sitting down and seriously considering what can be done for this Island. So, I praise you folks and I thank you folks with the Planning Department and their staff for actually taking the time to commit to this. And I'm very happy and pleased. And on a final note, Mr. Inaba had a good point that a lot of us will not be here in 20 years when your project is come to be completed. However, in the last 30 years, I just wanted to make a note that we have come a long way in how County Government approves and grants applications for development on this island, because I believe in the past applicants would basically agree to whatever was being asked at the time with the thought in mind that later on they can come in and ask for amendments. So for me in going through in the community aspect participation, that was the norm. So I'm looking at you guys, you know, your development is setting a really positive precedent that you are definitely doing something that will benefit the community and that you want to be a part of this Island. So I respect you for that, and I really thank you for all your hard work in doing what you've done with these amendments. So gentlemen, mahalo nui to you guys okay, and thank you. MR. KERN: Thank you, Madam Chair. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Anyone else in Kona? MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, Chair? CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Mr. Richards, go ahead. Page 7 PC-4 February 16,2021 MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, thanks. Ditto on all the working forward and finding a way forward through all this stuff. The only thing,just wanted to touch on, Holeka, in a conversation we had the talk about an outdoor performing arts type of deal. And what I'm sensing it that it's something like the Maui Arts and Cultural Center serving outdoor venue for music, etcetera. Is that your thought process? MR. INABA: My understanding is that on the map, is that an outdoor center? It's an indoor center, I thought. MR. HARRIS: I think Maui Community Arts Center is both an indoor, like the Kahilu Theater, and an outdoor; I think there's an outdoor area. We're not talking about Kahilu Theater. We're talking about an outdoor—more the like Waikoloa Bowl. MR. RICHARDS: Okay, excellent, because I've always thought that that'll be a great venue in Waimea, except its Waimea, and there's no way we can use an outdoor venue most of the time. So, I think this is great and a great way forward, Holeka. Well done. So, definitely going to be supporting this and thanks to the developers for seeing a way forward to get this thing done. I think this is excellent. So thanks Chair, I'll yield. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Anyone else in Kona? MS. VILLEGAS: Yes, please, Ms. Kierkiewicz? CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Ms. Villegas, go ahead. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you. Yeah, I want to commend you gentlemen for putting in that extra effort and taking the time with Mr. Inaba and really dialing down on what the needs are of the community. I have a lot of experience working with Maui Arts and Cultural Center. That is a really big facility, so I can see the design and the vision of this one being a little different. But something as an outdoor amphitheater would be just incredible for our community, as we don't have any spaces like that. And I think the alignment with the college campus; and the students and that demographic is really, really a great idea. I want to commend Mr. Inaba for his diligence, and his vision, and determination in working together with you guys to make sure that the best possible outcome that could come out of this would be found. And you know, as they both mentioned, while we may not be sitting up here in 20 years, the Page 8 PC-4 February 16,2021 likelihood of us being here and members of this community in 20 years, is pretty much guaranteed. So that's the beauty of working with aloha and recognizing our kuleana and our connections, your generations here; and the things that we commit to. I thank you for continuing to stand beside the commitments that have been made by this developer to benefit our community through thick and through thin. Having seen that happen with the Kohanaiki project, I've seen that project blossom and grow and be very blessed, even though the impact fees and many of the things they paid for upfront cost them more. It has brought bountiful blessings to them and good will within the community. And so I encourage you to continue to manage your project. And thank you for your graciousness. With that I yield. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Anyone else? Ms. Kimball? MS. KIMBALL: Thank you Chair. I just want to reiterate or echo the comments of Chair David, who I think summed it up really nicely. It's very pleasing to see work in this collaborative way between developer and the Council. I particularly want to highlight the suggestion that you're going to go to 100 percent AMI for the affordableI think that's a really great move. I'm pleased to see that commitment to truly affordable housing. So thank you for that concession. And I'll say, I'm looking forward to seeing a concert in that outdoor performing arts facility. So thank you, both developers and Council Member Inaba for seeing this through. Well done. I yield. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Mr. Inaba, any final mana`o on the amendments before us before we go to vote? MR. INABA: Yeah, I just want to say one more thing, and that is, you know, being new, sometimes you're just trying to gather your thoughts, make sure we don't forget anything, and then you do. But, I have to give credit where credit is due. And for this performing arts center, it was an idea that was mentioned by former Council Member (Karen) Eoff, so, my big mahalo to you. And you know, your legacy and your contributions to this community continue even after you're no longer on the Council. So mahalo, and with that, I yield. Page 9 PC-4 February 16,2021 CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you Mr. Inaba. Well done everyone. I know that the Planning Department has worked incredibly hard in partnership with Mr. Inaba, as well as the applicant; Mr. Colon, Mr. Harris, Mr. Fuke, to make some forward progress. It was a pleasure to keep in touch with all of you over the last couple weeks to make sure that we come to an amenable resolution here at Committee. So job well done. There is a motion on the floor to amend Bill 11 with the contents of Comm. 51.10. Seeing as there's no discussion, going for the vote, all in favor please say "aye." Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Bill 11 with the contents of Amend: Comm. 5 1.10 was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Inaba, Kimball, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kierkiewicz—7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and Lee Loy—2. Excused: None. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: And we are back to the main motion. Vote on Bill 11 The motion to recommend passage of Bill 11, as amended Draft 2): to Draft 2, on first reading was carried by the following (Approved) voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Inaba, Kimball, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kierkiewicz—7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and Lee Loy—2. Excused: None. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you everyone. Can I have a motion to adjourn? Page 10 PC-4 February 16,2021 ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 3:32 p.m., Ms. Kimball moved to adjourn the MENT: meeting. Seconded by Mr. Chung and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Inaba, Kimball, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kierkiewicz—7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and Lee Loy—2. Excused: None. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you and take care. Approve . 4 IIMACOA: 12-021 Ms. Ashley L. Kierkie cz, Chair (Date) Planning Committee AK/dt Page 11