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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN PCIA 2024/02/06 (2022-2024) Policy Committee on Infrastructure and Assets 8th Session Hawai`i County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawai`i February 6, 2024 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Policy Committee on Infrastructure and Assets ORDER: was called to order at 9:01 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Chair Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Vice Chair Ms. Cindy Evans, Member Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Member Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member Absent& Excused: Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Member Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member STATEMENTS The Acting 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.) BILLS FOR The Acting Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, ORDINANCES: Bills for Ordinances. Bill 130: AMENDS CHAPTER 24, ARTICLE 10, DIVISION 5, SECTION 24-279, SCHEDULE 27 OF THE HAWAII COUNTY CODE 1983 (2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED), RELATING TO PARKING ON PAVEMENT PROHIBITED AT ALL TIMES Adds parking restrictions for two segments of Kilohana Street that intersect with Ailina Street and Sunset Drive. Reference: Comm. 704 Intr. by: Ms. Lee Loy (B/R) Motion to Approve: Mr. Inaba moved to recommend passage of Bill 130 on first reading. Seconded by Ms. Kimball. PCIA-8 February 6,2024 CHR. LEE LOY: Mr. Inaba, is this your district? Ms. Villegas,your district? MS. VILLEGAS: Yes, I believe it is. CHR. LEE LOY: If you don't mind leading the discussion. Thank you. MS. VILLEGAS: No worries. I just—actually, I'd ask, is somebody here from DPW(Department of Public Works), being this came through a"by request." I actually—while it's in my district, I was not provided with a lot of background information. CHR. LEE LOY: Yeah, I believe— MS. VILLEGAS: Fantastic. Mr. Pause. CHR. LEE LOY: Is that us over in Kona? Members, if you don't mind, I'll get a quick recess and check on Mr. Pause. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you. CHR. LEE LOY: This meeting is in recess. Recess: At 9:04 a.m.,the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 9:06 a.m. CHR. LEE LOY: Alright, thanks Members, I'm taking this meeting out of recess. The time now is 9:06. Ms. Villegas, any direction? MS. VILLEGAS: Yes, thank you, Chair Lee Loy. On further inspection, thankfully, I spent part of my high school years living in this neighborhood, so, I recognize the roundhouse and by that, I can tell which roads these are, and I am in support of this moving forward to Council with a positive recommendation. Ideally, next time, we could just have somebody from DPW here with some finer details on the impetus and kind of what caused the initiative for these different signs to be installed. However, in my experience and knowledge of these roadways, especially through this part of the neighborhood, this is a much older portion of our neighborhood with much narrower streets that do not really have the capacity for parking if it at all encroaches on the pavement. So, I see the wisdom in this, and I'll be supporting this moving to Council with a positive recommendation. CHR. LEE LOY: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Ms. Evans. Page 2 PCIA-8 February 6,2024 MS. EVANS: Thank you, Chair. I'm hoping that DPW at some point will, when they do these types of recommendations will tell us what will happen with the displaced vehicles, because if in fact people are parking, there's a reason. So, when they look at doing this do they walk around the neighborhood and look at the roads that are—like the street over, the street to the right, to the left? Do they do a complete survey around within maybe two or three blocks of it and determine where those vehicles will end up parking? Because it could be a displacement because it could end up being a lot of renters. I mean the other thing that's the makeup of the neighborhood, right? Maybe you have more renters now than they used to have, maybe people are renting out their rooms. I mean I don't know the makeup at all of who's currently living there, but I think there might be an impact. I think it's a good idea, not that I'm not supporting this, it's just I think maybe sometimes when we do it, it'd be nice to hear if DPW has physically gone out,physically walked it and then walked on the other streets to determine what would happen when this in fact takes place. I'd really like to hear from them if they do that. So, anyway, if they're listening— there he is, Mr. Pause. CHR. LEE LOY: Thank you for joining us, Mr. Pause. (Note: At this time, Public Works Director Stephen Pause came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. PAUSE: Sorry I'm late, I got detained in the Mayor's office, I apologize. CHR. LEE LOY: So, we have a question from Ms. Evans about, and Ms. Villegas about the impetus on how the business decision for this particular ordinance was driven and what other areas you folks have explored around setting this speed limit in this area. Mr. Pause. MR. PAUSE: Hi again, Steve Pause, Director of Public Works. So, Traffic typically does these things on a request. I will confess that I don't know the complete background behind this request that came in, but they do typically go out and I think somebody was asking me if they walk the street or if they drive the street. They typically would go out and do that and I believe take into consideration what the request is and apply their professional judgement as well as the standards. There's a number of them out there to evaluate situations like this, so again, I apologize, I don't have the specifics for this particular request in how it came in, but I could research it. CHR. LEE LOY: Great, Mr. Pause, thank you. I have a follow-up question from Ms. Evans. Page 3 PCIA-8 February 6,2024 MS. EVANS: Yes, I'm sure there are many standards in going out and reviewing it, they determined that it was unsafe to have the parking possibly because there's not enough shoulder, but having said that, when you make these types of decisions, do you—if not, I'd like to get a report, do they look at the other streets that are adjacent and surrounding like one block in each direction? Because you may be displacing cars that are parking there and maybe they're parking there because owners are renting out rooms, maybe there's more renters. The question being where are those displaced cars going to park? MR. PAUSE: I'm not quite sure that necessarily comes onto the calculus. Typically, when you have situations like this, you have line of sight issues, you have been able to exit driveways and having line of sight in concert with what that speed limit is as well. You know, there's certain amount of travel times associated with how fast the car's going and whether or not you can see it and whether they have enough time to reasonably slow down when you're attempting to get out of your driveway. So I think in this particular case, we run into this where in the interest of the safety of traffic, sometimes we have to remove parking spaces and you'll also find that when it comes to crosswalks as well. There has to be enough time to allow the vehicles to see somebody in the crosswalk as well. So, those are part of the—what goes into making these decisions, in making these recommendations I should say. MS. EVANS: I guess what I'm leaning at is the ripple effect of decisions, and in the analysis that's done, is there an analysis of what's going to happen to the displaced vehicles? You don't have to answer it now, but I think that it may be that they move to the next street and you get a complaint, and then the next street and you get a complaint, and the next street and what you know is that whole neighborhood, not just this one street, but you might have four, five, six streets now that you're going to have to have a traffic impact study and you get a whole neighborhood that's going to lose their parking. I sometimes think when we make decisions like this, it's good for that street but in the end, it could possibly be a ripple effect that affects other streets and then how do you manage that? Do you go back afterward after this decision and after we pass this, will you go back in one or two months and then look at the neighborhood around it and see what's happening with those cars? It's just a question. I just worry sometimes. I think the answers to make safety are obvious, we've got to do this, but the reality is it could have a huge impact on the other streets in the area. Thank you. MR. PAUSE: I think what you're bringing up is the whole concept of unintended consequences. We deal with this all the time, especially—and I know you and I've had conversations about folks up in Waikoloa as well with where—are we creating another parking problem somewhere else by removing parking spaces? And, you know, those are all good analyses that probably ought to be followed up Page 4 PCIA-8 February 6,2024 on. I think our Traffic folks try not to make these sorts of recommendations in a vacuum. But again, it's a fair question and I can definitely follow up on that. MS. EVANS: Yeah, because the other thing is it boils down to the Planning Department and the development, and now we've got a general plan coming up where, you know, this idea of not having adequate parking isn't going to go away. And, you know, it's systemic of more cars, more people renting possibly, maybe not having enough housing so, I just—this whole thing is kind of, I think, it's just an example of kind of showing where we're at today based on possibly other decisions made in the past, but how do we move forward? Again, I would hate to move all these vehicles off that street and then they go to the next street over and then all of a sudden people are complaining. So, I do hope that there's follow up and I would like to continue the discussion again about Waikoloa and see where we're at on that. Thank you, I yield. CHR. LEE LOY: Thank you, Ms. Evans. Ms. Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah,just as a quick follow up. Thank you, Council Member Evans, for pointing out these unintended consequences. District 7 has a variety of issues when it comes to parking, but I am grateful to be able to report as it relates to this neighborhood having been built long before curb, gutter, sidewalk was a requirement. This, in my experience, I mean there are no curb, gutter, sidewalks, and according to this piece of legislation, it is very specific to no parking on the pavement. So, the requirement is that the car be completely off of the pavement and there are areas on that street where that is completely possible, kind of, you know, your little grass landing strip. The other thing in knowing this neighborhood pretty well and the percentage of vacation rentals that exists there and so, the propensity for a number of rental cars being potentially part of what might have brought up this issue, I'm not sure, but just some kind of some historical in there, experiences. And I also just want to commend Director Pause and the Traffic Division. Boy, have I tried to get traffic signs in other places and the amount of due diligence that they do before they bring anything forward is very extensive, much to the chagrin of other people who've asked for other street signs. But I just want to commend you, Mr. Pause and your team, they really do a lot of due diligence. However, I also I really see the wisdom in asking those questions that you're asking, Council Member Evans. So, once again, I'll be supporting this moving forward to Council with a positive recommendation. I yield. CHR. LEE LOY: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Any other members? Thank you, Members. To my staff who's going to be preparing the background report that forwards to Council, make sure that all of this conversation is reflected in that report up to Council. This will be my second renewal to the Director of Public Works. Mr. Pause, this is the second time that our dais is asking questions about Page 5 PCIA-8 February 6,2024 bills being advanced by the department, and we just want good information. So, if I could continue to renew the request. When we are in Committee, we're looking for information to make good decisions and I look forward to having this conversation in Council and the follow-up that Ms. Evans and Ms. Villegas asked for. Members, all those in favor of forwarding Bill 130 to Council with a favorable recommendation please say "aye." Vote on Bill 130: The motion to recommend passage of Bill 130, on first (Approved) reading was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Evans, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Villegas, and Chair Lee Loy—7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Galimba and Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—2. Excused: None. ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 9:18 a.m., Mr. Inaba moved to adjourn the MENT: meeting. Seconded by Ms. Kimball and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Evans, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Villegas, and Chair Lee Loy—7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Galimba and Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—2. Excused: None. CHR. LEE LOY: This meeting is adjourned at 9:18 (a.m.). Thank you, Members. Approved: atm ...."411PPP-Akik al\ITA/A2A\r. u Sus. oy .ir (Date) Policy o` 'i ittee on frastr =ture an' �ssets SL/jm Page 6