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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN PC 2021/11/17 2020-2022 Committee on Planning 15th Session West Hawaii Civic Center 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Building A Kailua-Kona, Hawai i November 17, 2021 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Planning was called to ORDER: order at 1:02 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Kailua-Kona, by Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Chair Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Vice Chair Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member (via videoconference from Hilo) (came in later) Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, 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: (There were none.) CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Seeing no public testifiers, I am closing public testimony at this time and moving on to business of the day. Mr. Clerk, if you could please start with Bill 89. COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. (There were none.) Change Order As directed by the Chair and with no objection from the Council Members, the of Business: following item was taken out of order: PC-15 November 17,2021 BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, ORDINANCES: Bills for Ordinances. Bill 89: AMENDS SECTION 25-8-33 (CITY OF HILO ZONE MAP), ARTICLE 8, CHAPTER 25 (ZONING) OF THE HAWAII COUNTY CODE 1983 (2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED), BY CHANGING THE DISTRICT CLASSIFICATION FROM SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENTAL— 10,000 SQUARE FEET (RS-10) TO INDUSTRIAL COMMERCIAL MIXED — 20,000 SQUARE FEET (MCX-20) AT WAIAKEA HOUSELOTS, WAIAKEA, SOUTH HILO, HAWAII, COVERED BY TAX MAP KEYS: 2-2-035:049 AND 096 (Applicant: Leila Shimizu) (Area: 22,300 Square Feet) The Windward Planning Commission forwards its favorable recommendation for this amendment, which would allow the applicant to convert an existing single- family dwelling into an office building to rent for private use and to develop a parking lot and related improvements. The properties are located and intersecting at the northeast corner of the Kekuana6`a Street-Kalanikoa Street intersection. Reference: Comm. 473 Intr. by: Ms. Kierkiewicz (B/R) and Comm. 473.1: From Planning Director Zendo Kern, dated November 3, 2021,transmitting the draft transcript from the Windward Planning Commission's October 7, 2021, meeting. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. May I have a motion to forward Bill 89 to the Council with a positive recommendation? Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to recommend passage of Bill 89 on first reading. Seconded by Mr. Inaba. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: We have Planning Director Zendo Kern here in Council Chambers. Director, if you could come forward? And also, aloha, Mr. Fuke. Great to see you. Thank you. I know you are here to represent the applicants. So, if you don't mind, we've read all the background materials, but for folks that are tuning in, if you could just please provide an overview of the project request. And if we have any questions, we'll voice them. Thank you. (Note: At this time, Planning Director Zendo Kern, and Planning Consultant Sidney Fuke came forward to address the members of the Committee.) Page 2 PC-15 November 17,2021 MR. FUKE: Sure, I'd be more than happy to, Madam Chair and members of this committee. Again, for the record, my name is Sidney Fuke, I'm a Planning Consultant here assisting the landowner-applicants. And they're also viewing in, Ms. Leila Shimizu. But the property is a 22,300 square-foot property located on the corner of KekuanaWa and Kalanikoa Streets. It's right next to the gas station near the airport, which the property is zoned Light Industrial. The site was the home of their parents, who recently passed away. So now the siblings are just kind of deciding what to do. So their best plan is like, they're not going to be living in there. So the thought was to have it rezoned Commercial or Light Commercial-Industrial, such that the house could be made available for those who might be interested in using it for an office or whatever uses that would be allowed by the MCL (Mixed Commercial-Light) zone. Access would be from KekuanaWa Street, but it would be limited to right-in, right-out. It's connected to the County sewer system. The staff and the commission had recommended curb, gutter, sidewalks, you know, fronting the entire property. And that was deemed to be acceptable by the applicant. Fortunately, as we went through the hearing process, there were no objections raised by the surrounding property owners. And again, we respectfully request the Committee and ultimately, the Council's favorable consideration of this rezoning application. Thank you very much. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Mr. Fuke. Director Kern, anything to add? MR. KERN: Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the committee. Zendo Kern, Planning Director. No, not really much to add. It's a very straight forward zoning application. It meets all the criteria, and proper settlement pattern. And Mr. Fuke did a good overview, but I'm happy to answer any questions that may come up. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Director. Any questions or comments from my colleagues? Also want to acknowledge Council Chair David has joined us. Thank you. Okay, there are no questions or comments here in Kona from my colleagues. I just have one clarifying question for the Director. Condition "C"this relates to final consolidation. I know that there are several properties that are going to be consolidated. Am I correct in my understanding that this is something that this is something that's going to come before the Council, a request to consolidate the properties? Or is that something that's just handled by your department? Page 3 PC-15 November 17,2021 MR. KERN: That's an Administerial function so it won't come before this Council. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Administerial. Okay, thank you for the clarity. Appreciate that. And I also just want to call out, really great background reports. And just really appreciate the hard work that's happening by your staff with the various applicants to move these projects forward. I will call out page five, in particular, where there was a request from the applicant. And Director, you folks have really taken the time to explain why you're not going to be moving forward with those particular requests. This is related to road improvements. And just wanted to be really equitable in what we are asking folks. And also there being flexibility here. I noted that you wanted to make sure that there were consistency and cohesion among all of the road improvements. So while there are certain things written in code,just getting really flexible about how we administer to ensure that we are keeping in character of the area. MR. KERN: Yeah, thanks for that acknowledgement. I am very grateful for the staff. They're doing an amazing job. And again, yeah, trying to have more of a dialogue conversation and making it work for the community and all parties involved. But yeah, I give my staff all the credit. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Director. And mahalo nui, Ms. Shimizu for tuning in and for bringing this measure forward to the Council. We have a motion on the floor to forward this bill to the Council with a favorable recommendation. All in favor please say "aye." Vote on Bill 89: The motion to recommend passage of Bill 89, on first (Approved) reading was carried by the following voice vote. Ayes: Committee Members David, Inaba, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kierkiewicz—7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Chung and Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—2. Excused: None. MR. FUKE: Thank you very much, Madam Chair and Committee Members. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Mr. Clerk, if we could please move on to the next measure, Bill 90. Page 4 PC-15 November 17,2021 Bill 90: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 12-33 WHICH RECLASSIFIED LANDS FROM SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL— 10,000 SQUARE FEET (RS-10) TO RESIDENTIAL-COMMERCIAL MIXED —20,000 SQUARE FEET (RCX-20) AT WAIAKEA, SOUTH HILO, HAWAII, COVERED BY TAX MAP KEY: 2-2-038:028 (Applicant: Takata Dental Health Center, Inc.) (Area: One Acre) The Windward Planning Commission forwards its favorable recommendation for this amendment, which would allow the applicant a five-year time extension to comply with Condition B (Time to Complete Construction) and a 180-day extension to comply with Condition C (Water Commitment). The applicant wishes to relocate its existing dental practice to the subject property, which is located at 1732 Kilauea Avenue. Reference: Comm. 474 Intr. by: Ms. Kierkiewicz (B/R) and Comm. 474.1: From Planning Director Zendo Kern, dated November 3, 2021,transmitting the draft transcript from the Windward Planning Commission's October 7, 2021, meeting. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. May I have a motion to forward Bill 90 to the Council with a positive recommendation? Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to recommend passage of Bill 90 on first reading. Seconded by Ms. Kimball. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Mr. Fuke, if you could kindly provide some background information on this particular request. Just noting that this is a time extension on an existing ordinance. (Note: At this time, Planning Consultant Sidney Fuke came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. FUKE: Yes it is, Madam Chair. Again for the record, my name is Sidney Fuke. I'm a Planning Consultant assisting the applicant, who just happens to be my neighbor, Dr. Takata. The property is located just on the Puna side of Kilauea Avenue. There's a Union 76 gas station on Kilauea Avenue right beyond on the south side of Kawili Street. The property is proximate to that area. It used to be the family's residence. However, it's currently vacant. A number of years ago, Dr. Takata, the applicant, his father has a dental clinic on Waianuenue Avenue. And the older Dr. Takata and his classmate, who's an Page 5 PC-15 November 17,2021 architect had this plan about relocating the dental clinic over to, you know,the family's property. So that was done. Plans were prepared by Dr. Ellsworth Takata and his architect friend. We secured final plan approval in May of 2015. And shortly thereafter, the project lost steam because the architect passed away. And in the meantime, Dr. Takata who was really like the prime mover behind the project, he fell ill. So everything was left to his son. So you know, things kind of like stagnated along the way because he was busy with his own dental practice. Nevertheless, the vision still remains and they still need some time to kind of complete this vision. So with that, Madam Chair and members of the Committee, we respectfully request your favorable consideration of this extension request. Thank you. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Mr. Fuke. Director Kern, anything to add. MR. KERN: Not much to add. It is a rezoning time extension request. And I just want to highlight again, for the record,that when we do a time extension request, we actually look at the entire application again. We don't just look at the request for the time extension. We look at does it still meet the criteria? Has anything changed? We need to look at different conditions; do we need to add a condition, etcetera. On this one, it's relatively straight forward, but I just wanted to you know,that's our process. So again, wonderful job to my staff. They did great. And happy to answer any questions. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Director. Questions, comments from this body? Okay. Noting for the record Mr. Chung has joined us here in Kona chambers. Director, I have a couple of questions. The first is related to Condition "C" and the water commitment. So right now, the intended use is a dental office. I read through the background materials on this. I think there was some confusion on the applicant's side. Water Department provided a little bit more clarity. But if I'm reading this correctly, if the applicant intends to do anything other than a dental office, then it would trigger kind of reassessing the water commitment? MR. KERN: Yeah, that's right. So if they choose to do something different, they would have to submit an anticipated water calculation by the civil engineer to make sure that's the water availability in the area. They might have to secure additional water commitments. If there wasn't water there, they might have to do either off-site improvements or maybe not do that use. Page 6 PC-15 November 17,2021 CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. So the calculation is for water, but just recognizing that this particular zoning allows a myriad of uses. And so, if there's a deviation from a dental office, then Water Supply will work with the applicant. So review that and assess the situation. MR. KERN: That's right. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. The other question I had is related to time extensions. We haven't had this many of these requests this particular term. I think last Council term. I think last Council term, it was almost every committee meeting. We were going through one or two of these. And so, what I wanted to flag was, how are we tracking this? And that was I think a question that we had generally as a body. We say that with the EPIC (Electronic Processing and Information Center) system comes this ability to track permits. But here at Council level, as these requests for, you know, zoning changes, time extensions, come through, is there like a master spreadsheet that your staff is taking a look at and ensuring that, you know what,this particular ordinance, the time extension has kind of maxed out? How is that or is it being tracked? MR. KERN: It's not really being tracked. It's a bit passive that way. I guess it's more incumbent upon the applicant to be aware of that. Not necessarily for the department to be so much aware of that. That being said, I want to bring that together. I want to be tracking and understanding, because when we're looking at potential densities that were there, we need to know, are those still actually on the books or are they about to expire when we're looking at, you know, whether it's housing needs, infrastructure needs. And so through the EPIC system, I think we have an opportunity to do that in there. It won't be an EPIC 1.5, like I'm working on right now. It'll be more on the 2.0 component. But that is something that we're actually in conversation about in how to bring that in. And instead of it being passive as it has been, not necessarily active engaging them, but be mindful and aware of it as we're trying to understand the metrics on what we're working with. Like I'm doing some studies right now on areas that, what is zone? What density is available there versus what would be LUPAG (Land Use Pattern Allocation Guide) Map allowed, for example. And that makes the difference of maybe a home being built in a year versus three, four, or five years, right? And so really trying to understand those areas. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: I appreciate the philosophy and the fact that you folks are taking a look at this. You know, other things that kind of come to mind, are Page 7 PC-15 November 17,2021 certain ordinances require a developer to submit an annual report. And you know, we've requested prior to you coming on board as Director that Planning submit, transmit a copy of those annual reports to the Council, because we're really curious. Particular projects have received numerous time extensions. And so, have reports been filed or not? You know, how do we know that things are actually moving forward? And where is the ball? Like whose court is it in? County's side, developer's side? So this is all very helpful contextual information that allows us to keep in mind as we make decisions on these types of ordinances that come before us. So,thank you for tracking that. MR. KERN: For sure. We're looking forward to getting a good system in place. I think we'll have to get it going, test, adjust; test, adjust; and hopefully come up with something that's good. For the most part, we see the annual reports come in. Sometimes they're not and it comes back up and we got to go back and say, "Where's your annual reports. Give us an update on it." And then they will update it. And I'm taking it, you folks requested that, the last Administration to receive those. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Yes, and just for a few projects that we saw had very there were more than one time extension, for instance. And so, certainly want to help folks out but also recognizing at what point are we like, going to stop here? You know, and wanting to make sure that people are accountable. And when they say they're going to do something that they can do it in the time period that they requested. Five to ten years rather than 20 to 40. MR. KERN: Sure. Let me know if there's any currently on the books that you're wanting. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Council Member Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. And thank you for sparking that part of the conversation. And Director,thank you for being here. Just around those time extensions, what we've measured is oftentimes the ball is actually in the County's court, specifically as it relates to preliminary subdivision approval, plan approval. And those things tick down the clock. And I know, I hinted at or maybe even suggested that as part of the conditions of approval with the time extension, that the clock actually stops ticking for the applicant as they begin to turn in their subdivision plans or a CLOMAR (Conditional Letter of Map Revision) or a LOMAR (Letter of Map Revision). Page 8 PC-15 November 17,2021 Some things that take a long time. Maybe within the subdivision piece or the flooding piece over at DPW (Department of Public Works). Just, you know, lean in on your department and your staff and see if there's ways that maybe through a condition of approval, that it is fair and equitable. But also holding each side of the court accountable to getting a project done. MR. KERN: I fully agree with you. And my staff that's listening right now, let's have that conversation when I get back to the office. Because I agree. In certain cases it's a fast process, but in other cases, if you're waiting for a letter for three years, that used up three years of your time. Should the person be dinged for that? So I agree. Finding that balance and perhaps on one of the next ones that come through, we'll work on some language and test it out. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, and definitely some of that is even out of the department's control. Especially when it comes to like our flood maps, right? MR. KERN: Oh, absolutely. MS. LEE LOY: Way outside of everybody's control. MR. KERN: And many things are outside of Planning. It's whether, you know, DPW or SHPD (State Historic Preservation Division) or the other agencies. MS. LEE LOY: Right. Thank you. Thank you, Chair for allowing me that. I yield. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, thanks for that, Ms. Lee Loy. There's a lot of things that are out of County's control. Thinking about State Historic Preservation, for instance. Where we wait one, maybe seven years sometimes for a Letter of Recognition. MR. KERN: I will say that I've been having really productive conversations with Sean Helemai of SHPD. He's been very responsive. I think they've made massive improvements from what we were seeing last year. Not to say it's perfection. I just want to say that it's really moving in the right direction as far as that responsiveness. So, I want to give kudos where it's due. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, Sean is doing excellent. Mr. Fuke, I apologize. I don't mean for this conversation to sort of digress, but there's an opening here to kind of address an issue that has been kind of plaguing these matters that come before us. So just appreciate your grace and patience with us as we kind of walk through it. Page 9 PC-15 November 17,2021 MR. FUKE: I appreciate it. And just hearing the conversation, you know, one suggestion is like perhaps having a toll. You know, on a certain time, for example, once you submit the plans. And then, you know, it takes you six to eight months to get out. Well, you know, you basically have six to eight months of additional time. Something along those lines could be considered because, you know, you're waiting for agency response. And it's not really necessarily the applicant's fault in terms of not being able to deliver as quickly as, you know, he or she wants to. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Aloha, I don't know if you can hear me, Mr. Fuke. Can you hear me? MR. FUKE: I can hear you, but I couldn't hear the Chair or anybody else. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah, we just had a power glitch on our end here. And then we lost Kona at the same time. And so for everyone, if we wouldn't mind, we'll take a five-minute recess while we try and get Kona back up since it sounds like Hilo may be the only participating party in the meeting right now. We are in recess. Okay, thank you Mr. Fuke. Thank you for your patience. Recess: At 1:22 p.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 1:28 p.m. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, we are going to take this meeting out of recess. We're back in session. Mr. Fuke, we kind of loss connection as we were talking about taking up the motion on the floor, which is to move Bill 90 to the Council with a positive recommendation. I'm ready to take the vote now. All in favor please say "aye." Vote on Bill 90: The motion to recommend passage of Bill 90, on first (Approved) reading was carried by the following voice vote. Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kierkiewicz—9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Fuke. MR. FUKE: Thank you very much. Page 10 PC-15 November 17,2021 Return to Order The Chair directed the Committee to return to the order of business. of Business: ORDER OF The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Order RESOLUTIONS: of Resolutions. Res. 262-21: URGES THE DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING TO ASSESS THE FEASIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING A METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATION FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII Requests the Planning Department to determine the necessary resources for the administration of the Metropolitan Planning Organization, which would leverage federal funding and collaborate with private and government sectors to increase access to multimodal pedestrian, bicycle, and transit options. Reference: Comm. 492 Intr. by: Ms. Kierkiewicz CHR KIERKIEWICZ: May I have a motion to forward Resolution 262-21 to the Council with a positive recommendation. Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to recommend adoption of Res. 262-21. Seconded by Mr. Richards. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: This is something that I'm putting forward. I worked on it in partnership with the Planning Department. Specifically, Jeff Darrow, April Suprenant. This was triggered by a resolution that was adopted by our State Legislature this past session calling for the activation of an MPO or a Metropolitan Planning Organization. And this is based on population. And what this would allow us, if we are deemed eligible, is access to additional Federal and State dollars, and better coordination with those partners, multi-jurisdictional, as it relates to transportation pieces. So just so folks know, this resolution is about having the department be trigger-ready. What we're waiting for right now is information from the Federal Government as it relates to census and what tracks are going to be evaluated so we know if we qualify. And so, the Census Department is going to be taking a look at which particular tracks qualify as Urban. That could be Hilo; that could be Kona; that could be our entire island. We don't know yet. And from there, there's a baseline population metric of 50,000, that we have to comply. This is Federal Law for us to start moving on if we qualify. Page 11 PC-15 November 17,2021 And so, the first step is, let's look at the data. Do we qualify? If we don't, all of the prescriptions here in the `Be it Resolved,"they don't move anywhere. Again, this is tied to census data. If we do qualify, this provides the Planning Department with a template, a process for moving forward on how we ascertain the feasibility of implementation, pulling all the partners together, making this happen, hopefully getting Legislative support, funding wise to do that feasibility assessment. So happy to answer any questions, but before that, I do want to ask Director if there are any comments that you want to make on this particular topic. MR. KERN: You laid it out really well. First, I'd like to thank, you know, Jeff and April for working on this with you. I'm hoping that the census data shows that we have this. We're right there on the cusp, you know. Or it's either going to come in or it's going to come out. But I think it'll be very helpful to have this organization. We'll be able to track a lot more funding, you know, put us on a different stage, too, with the Feds and the State. So I support the reso. I'm hoping that we can move into the next phases of it. But like you said, we'll be ready when that information comes and we'll react accordingly. And keep doing our very best regardless what way it goes. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Director. Any questions or comments from folks? Ms. Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Yes, Chair. Just, thank you for putting this together and having us be prepared for this. Let's cross our fingers that we're going to hit those thresholds and be able to form this planning organization. So,thank you for putting this forward. That's all. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, thank you. Appreciate that. And just to highlight. There's $25 million available to Hawai`i's Metropolitan Planning Organization. So right now, Oahu and Maui are able to grab those funds. We would be able to have access to that pot as well. And I just see this as a way for us to better program in how we utilize the GET (General Excise Tax) money, which is all dedicated to transportation. And then also dip into other funding available at the State and Federal level. So it's all about coordination and working more effectively and efficiently together. So thank you. Alright we have a motion on the floor to forward this to Council with a positive recommendation. All in favor please say "aye." Page 12 PC-15 November 17,2021 Vote on Res. 262-21: The motion to recommend adoption of Res. 262-21 was (Approved) carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kierkiewicz—9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Motion carries. Mahalo nui. Announcement: (Note: At this time, Mr. Chung presented Ms. David with a lei and certificate, in recognition of her 15 years of dedicated service to the public. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Council Chair David and Council Member Chung for your exemplary years of service. I think we all hold you up high in our hearts and in our minds as just really incredible examples of the kinds of Council Members we want to be. So mahalo nui for your service and dedication to our community. We really appreciate you. MS. DAVID: Thank you so much you guys. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Alright, may I have a motion to adjourn? ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 1:37 p.m., Ms. Lee Loy moved to adjourn the MENT: meeting. Seconded by Mr. Inaba and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kierkiewicz—9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: We're adjourned. Mahalo. Approve Ms. Ashley . Kierkiewicz, Chair (Date) Planning Committee AK/dt Page 13