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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0796.010 2022-2024 p/c o6Ac Dill ly5 COMNl.7% Sent: Sunday, May 12, 2024 1:38 PM To: Council Testimony ac Subject: BILL 145 - Cindy Evans Bill re Leeward and Windward Planning Commissions - PLANNING COMMISIONS, COMMISSIONERS, PLANNING DIRECTORS - � _:r Testimony from Mark Van Pernis re: BILL 145 -PLANNING COMMISIONS, COMMISSIO1RSz..- PLANNING DIRECTORS Please accept this as written testimony concerning the Hawaii County Council proposals as to the planning commissions and commissioners. The current Planning Director(PD) does not represent the County of Hawaii public,nor engage in any planning for their future. He is not trained, educated,nor engaged in community planning nor as a futurist. It is important ttnowouncil to require that the PD have qualifications of education and experience in community planning, the environment and the future .or that is the most imp[ortant aspect of the future for Hawaii County, and that representing applicants for development and/ or for delays in approved development without such education and experience not be a substitute for such education and experience. And the PD should be prevented from representing an applicant or lobbying for it for 2 years after leaving office. A separate Planning Director for West Hawall, as the seperate Leeward Planning Commission, should also be consid The PD is currently merely a facilitator for all development, good or bad, and tits numerous lengthy delays, without investigation as to public needs in the future. The Leeward Planning Cmmission (LPC) has also become a developer-applicant facilitator/promoter to the detriment off good planning for the future, I,e, there is no planning for the future bt this Commission. The LPC relies upon and accepts the PD's recommendations in favor of what appears to be every proposal and delay, to fascinate sales of approved projects, without isunset provisions, I and without ndependent investigation or providing public benefits and reasonable affordable housing requirements without delay, "No" or"Not until public infrastructure is in place" is not in the current vocabulary of the PD or LPC. Is it in the vocabulary of the County Council? Is the public and future ever considered? A couple of examples of"no": Palamanui, approved 20+years ago with promised public parks, streets and signage, traffic lights, residential and commercial units, affordable housing, a bypass road from Mamalahoa to Queen Kahumanu. Nothing done, except recent profitable private sale to NAN, Inc. Except requests for further delays from NAN. The results include ever increasing traffic jams on Mamalahoa, Kai'imi'nani, Palani and Queen Kaahumanu, including fatalities. Special permit on Ag land adjoining Queen Kaahumanu near the intersection with Hualalai Road mauka for a residence and private preschool: no sidewalks required on access public road from Hualalai Road, no turn lane, lights signage or other improvements to substandard intersections access road with Hualalai.,no swales or sidewalk required on substandard Hualalai, intersection of access road is on a blind curve on clogged Hualalai, 1 Comm.tV4 1 1,(4 Ref.To: Ref.Date 4 LUL4 with other public ccommercial special use permits and their accesses nearby on Hualalai. Expect traffic jams and accidents, many involving keike, on Hualalai,particularly during school drop off and pickup times if the school ever built I(hasn't>t beeb, for years now since approval). Other examples are myriad, and can be given, The right thing to do is, on the initiative of the PD and/or the LPC, and or the Council, to rezone all the land adjoining Queen Kaahumanu on the mauka side from the car dealerships south past Hualalai and get the infrastructure determined and in - it's all classified"alternate urban expansion" anyway„ instead of piecemealling out special permits without infrastructure requirements, as has been going on. Plan for the future. The LPC commissioners do not have any knowledge or expertise in community planning or the future. They depend on the PD who is equally ignorant or disdainful of Kona. Do they consult with the police or traffic committees? Do they talk with neighbors and adjoining land owners? Are the applicants asked to contribute to affordable housing? Are questions asked about when and whether they're really going to do the project or just getting in a position to sell? The answers are "no"! In fact, doing that work and asking such questions, can get you thrown off the LPC by Mayor Roth and his PD as "discourteous"to applicants. If it's politeness versus truth, politeness wins,. The LPC commissioners are too often bowled over by the applicants,their representatives, and/or the PD. For example, representative Mr. Fuke presented a traffic study for a commercial and residential subdivision that would add 1000 cars to the Lako Street/Queen Kaahumanu traffic jam that did not even include the traffic from jammed Henry Street mauka and makai, saying this busiest of intersections does not contribute significant traffic to Queen Kaahumanu going south, and and presenting that the sure to occur problems would be quickly solved by the State constructing a widening of Queen Kaahumanu and constructing the Alii Drive realignment soon, What knowledgeable Kona would believe that? Even the Council accepted that serious misrepresentation. The proposal is that at least one Commissioner be expert in land planning and the future. The argument against this proposal is made that there may be inadequate candidates available. This is an admission that the Commission as a whole presently is ignorant of land planning and the future and is merely reactive to the application. And other uninformed Commissioners may vote against such a lonely but informed single commissioner. This is compounded by a PD with a political agenda instead of good land planning. The argument against is no reason to continue incompetency and disservice to the public.. ALL COMMISSIONERS SHOULD HAVE SUCH EXPERTISE! Everything gets dumped into the Council,which also is uninformed of good future land use practices. The Council is burdened with sorting out the good projects from the bad, dealing.with merely facilitating real estate sales, endless delays, appropriate conditions, affordable housing; with uninformed recommendations of the LPC, and the sometimes inaccurate "spin" of the applicants -developers; a nearly impossible task. Mistakes are inevitable. THE ANSWERS ARE: 1. REQUIRE THE QUALIFICATIONS OF THE PD REFERRED TO ABOVE;. 2. REQUIRE APPLICANTS TO STA I'F WHEN THE PROPOSED PROJECT WILL BE COMPLETED, WITHOUT DELAYS OTHER THAN AS GRANTED BY THE COUNCIL; 3. REQUIRE SUNSET PROVISIONS FOR ALL APPROVALS, ABSENT COUNCIL EXTENSIONS; 4. REQUIRE ALL;COMMISSIONERS UPON APPOINTMENT TO BE EDUCATED BY INDEPENDENT TEXT, SEMINAR AND/OR OTHERWISE IN LAND PLANNING. THE ENVIRONMENT, AND THE FUTURE. These measures are used in many jurisdictions and are conventional. Hawaii is a special and environmentally sensitive place, desirable, and will 2 continue to grow and develop. It deserves better than the incompetent, destructive, developer controlled, obsolete current system. The best thing you could do for the future of our Big Island and its children would be to overhaul this system!! MARK VAN PERNIS 45 year Kona resident Former Leeward Planning Commissioner Former Kailua Vill lage Design Commissioner 3