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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN PCPLUED 2025/08/05 (2024-2026) Policy Committee on Planning, Land Use, and Economic Development 15t' Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii August 5, 2025 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Policy Committee on Planning, Land Use, and ORDER: Economic Development was called to order at 11:00 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Chair Mr. James E. Hustace, Member Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Member Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member Mr. Dennis "Fresh" Onishi, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member (came in later) Absent & Excused: Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Vice Chair 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: Okay, thank you very much. Well, Mr. Clerk, you know what to do. BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business. ORDINANCES: Bills for Ordinances. PCPLUED-15 August 5,2025 Bill 60: AMENDS CHAPTER 25, ARTICLE 1, ARTICLE 2, ARTICLE 4, (Draft 2) ARTICLE 5, AND ARTICLE 7, OF THE HAWAPI COUNTY CODE 1983 (2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED), RELATING TO ZONING DISTRICT REGULATIONS FOR MEETING FACILITIES, CHURCHES, TEMPLES, SYNAGOGUES, AND COMMUNITY BUILDINGS (Planning Director Initiated) Removes existing zoning regulations for community buildings, churches, temples, and synagogues and creates new regulations for"meeting facilities." Reference: Comm. 313.3 Intr. by: Council Member Kierkiewicz (B/R) Postponed: June 3 and 17; and July 9, 2025 (Note: There is a motion by Council Member Inaba, seconded by Council Member Galimba, to recommend passage of Bill 60 on first reading.) and Comm. 313.4: From Council Member Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, dated June 27, 2025, transmitting proposed amendments to Bill 60, Draft 2. (Note: Comm. 313.29 from Council Member Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, dated dated August 5, 2025, transmitting proposed amendments to Bill 60, Draft 2, was circulated.) CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. I have an amendment that is in process, and so, I'm going to recess the meeting until we have the printed materials in front of us, which will be here in just a couple of minutes. So, I'll put us in recess. We will be in recess until 11:15 a.m. Thank you for your patience. Recess: At 11:02 a.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 11:17 a.m. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: We are back. It is 11:17 a.m. Director Darrow, if you could please be seated so we get started with the amendment. Okay, I just want to take a moment to acknowledge the Planning Department, Corporation Counsel and members of the faith community. We have worked very diligently over the last month, but more so, over the last week, meeting multiple times a day; all week, even while some people are on summer vacation. But there was a major commitment to getting concerns addressed by community members. And that is what we have done here with the amendment. So, I need a motion to amend Bill 60, Draft 2 with the contents of Communication 313.29. Page 2 PCPLUED-15 August 5,2025 Motion to Amend: Mr. Inaba moved to amend Bill 60, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 313.29. Seconded by Mr. Onishi. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Walking everyone through this amendment: Number 1, providing more clarity around what the Planning Department was identifying as, what was once called an event, is being now termed a Special Event. This, again,just provides a bit more clarity on what that means. For Number 2, with the definition regarding Meeting Facility, please note that we added the words public commercial in front of transient accommodations. The reason being, in speaking with members of the faith community, you have a lot of pastors or visiting pastors that do happen to stay overnight or live within the church. But what we wanted to make abundantly clear was, we didn't want the Meeting Facility definition to be used as a loophole for someone to start a transient accommodation. In the subsequent Sections of the bill, Three, Four, and I won't get into Five yet, But anywhere an event was noted, we made sure to match the new term, Special Event. So, you'll notice that the word "Special" has been added. I want to bring your attention to Page 3, Number 5. This is Section 25-4-17, relating to Meeting Facilities. This is kind of the heart of the conversation that we were having with the faith community about what folks are allowed to do in their homes and what is going to be a trigger for what is considered a meeting facility. So, you'll notice that for Zoning Districts RS (Residential Single-Family), RD (Double-Family Residential), and RM (Residential Medium Density), we are proposing that, "Gatherings within a dwelling for social charitable, religious, political, fundraising, cultural, or civic purposes." That these are incidental accessory uses to the residential use of the property. These are permitted, and they are considered a home-based assembly provided they occur no more than three times a week, and that each of these gatherings include no more than 25 individuals, exclusive of family members of a person residing in the dwelling. Anything that exceeds these limits will be deemed a meeting facility and will trigger plan approval and compliance with all of the requirements that are articulated in plan approval such as parking. We also note that a meeting facility can be used for special events, but a use permit must be obtained in order to host the special event. The following Section 9,because of the definition related to Special Events, we wanted to make sure that there was a clear formula in place for how Planning Department was going to be calculating parking. Page 3 PCPLUED-15 August 5,2025 Then again, subsequently,just on this bill, we're amending the various sections to include the word, "Special" in front of events where appropriate. Director Darrow, anything else you want to add before I open it up for questions and comments from my colleagues. (Note: At this time, Planning Director Jeff Darrow came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. DARROW: Thank you, Chair Kierkiewicz and members of the County Council, Jeff Darrow with the Planning Department. I just want to say thank you for all of the hard work that was done through your office and with your staff. All the time that was spent collaborating with individuals in the public as well as the faith community, to be able to come to this draft. It wasn't easy, but I think we're very, very close, if not there. So,just really want to say thank you for all the hard work. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you very much. Any questions or comments from my colleagues on the amendment that has been transmitted in Communication 313.29? Council Member Inaba. MR. INABA: Yes, can you just reiterate for us on Page 5 regarding the square footage and what it looks like. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Sorry, Page 5 for Special Events, the parking? MR. INABA: Okay, so that, could you just say that on the record for us. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Sure, for Page 5, because we have the new definition for Special Events,because Planning Department is requiring things like a use permit,they needed a very clear calculation for they would determine what is appropriate parking. So, this was based off of what is already based off what is already listed in Number (16),Meeting Facilities. So, that calculation was used as a springboard to identify what would be appropriate for Special Events. But please note that there also is this caveat of, "or/as otherwise approved by the Director just because sometimes you can't apply this formula across the board. Properties vary in terms of sizes and shared parking agreements around the island. So, we just wanted to make sure that something was out there publicly,but that there was the ability for the Director to exercise discretion as appropriately. Hope that's helpful. MR. INABA: That was helpful, I yield. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Great. Council Member Kimball, you had your light on. Page 4 PCPLUED-15 August 5,2025 MS. KE\JBALL: I just wanted to make a comment that, we worked on the definition of Event versus a Gathering for the TVR (Transient Vacation Rental) bill, and it's like, you know it when you see it. But it's really difficult to really describe it in a way that captures in the way you want it to. And it excludes the things that you wanted. So,just want to mahalo you and the department for this language. I appreciate the clarity of it, and I can see it applying obviously to other areas. But appreciate the challenge that is presented by describing an event versus other sorts of activities. So, thank you for your work. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you for that. Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: This has come before us a few times. So,just to reiterate for the public, what is the problem? This is both on the amendment and the main bill. But what is the problem we're solving for with this bill? MR. DARROW: Thank you, Council Member Kagiwada. So, for many years, in a Residential Zone, a church would require a use permit in a Residential Zone, whether it's RS, RD, or RM. A meeting facility was a permitted use. And so was a community building, which are typically similar as far as, you have a building that people meet in. So, in a particular area of the island, we had received a complaint. This was in Kona, and we did what we typically do when we receive a complaint. We did an investigation, and issued a notice of violation. In trying to resolve that and work through to get a Special Permit, it ended up where there was a question whether or not, the Zoning Code was being discriminatory, in regards to churches, based on the stricter requirement to get a use permit versus allowing it as a permitted use for such as a meeting facility or plan approval for a community building. So, in reviewing that, it was true, that is actually the situation. We're trying to resolve that by taking all these particular types of uses and identifying it as a use in a meeting facility. And that meeting facility is defined to be able to incorporate many different types of uses including social events, or places of worship, or whatever that may be. I believe this bill is very close to resolving that, and at the same time, we also wanted to address the issue of events or special events that occur many times in a meeting facility. But also, have been occurring more frequently at this time outside. Like outdoor concerts and outdoor commercial weddings and things. Page 5 PCPLUED-15 August 5, 2025 Again, they do happen in these types of facilities as well. So, it wasn't easy, but I think we're close to where we're addressing both of those issues. And the concern with some of the comments that we got is, some of these places of worship, they do have weddings; they do have events there. But we try to define where that limit is, where that's accessory to that particular use, and where it goes beyond that. I think we've come to a place where it seems like people are satisfied with that definition. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay, you said, we're almost there earlier. Is there something that's still outstanding, you feel like. MR. DARROW: Approval. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. But it's being addressed with this amendment, you feel like? MR. DARROW: Yeah. And again, after today's discussion, we may find we need a little tweak. But there's been a lot of man-hours, women-hours, people-hours put into this, and it wasn't easy. I mean, as Council Member Kimball mentioned,just that one definition. But even defining the limitations of when a building becomes a meeting facility versus a residential-type use, not easy. But, I think we're almost there. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay, thank you. That's all I needed. Thank you, I yield. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Council Member. Council Member Kdneali'i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI'l-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. Mr. Darrow, thank you for being here. My question is,just thinking about the term, Special Event. I think of that as one time; I think of that as a planned commercial facility that is going to this again, and again, and again. Necessitating then a permit from the County. But in the case of an organization or a home doing a one-time event, do they need to worry about having to have for being outside of the boundaries of law at that point, or how does that work for just someone who's doing a one-time event? Is that listed out in this Code somewhere? MR. DARROW: Yeah, so that was addressed under Section 25-4-17, and Council Member Kierkiewicz can assist me on that. But it differentiates the amount of people for an event, or the amount of times per week where it has that threshold of extending beyond a Residential type use or use outside of a meeting facility. Page 6 PCPLUED-15 August 5, 2025 CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: I don't think you're answering his question, Council Member. So, you're wondering is around, would someone be subject for plan approval or have to get a use permit for a singular special event. MR. KANEALI'l-KLEINFELDER: Yes, that's what I'm concerned about, is if you have someone who has one event. Do they need to be concerned to have to get a Special Event permit, or go through this process, or be out of bounds of law? CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: So, perhaps Director, we may want to have a discussion about a concert that occurred in Waikoloa, because there was no permitting process in place. So, sorry, Council Member. I think there was, I think a UB40 concert—big fan of UB40 by the way But I did not go. MR. KANEALI'l-KLEINFELDER: All of their songs? CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Well, I think their top ten list, but I'll send you my Spotify list. But the concern was that this concert happened in this open venue. No plan approval, no use permit, and not all of the proper infrastructure was in place; such as parking. So, in that situation, Director, do you just quickly opine on whether or not a use permit would have been necessary for just that one-time event, or a use permit would be granted for that event and subsequent events? MR. DARROW: Sure, I apologize. Again, this is where we were running into some difficulty. The area that we're most focused as far as impacts is in the Residential Zones. In the Commercial Zones, Industrial Zones, Resorts Zones, normally or typically, a particular use already has plan approval. Whether it be a shopping center or a particular structure. As mentioned, this outdoor concert that happened was what triggered our direction to try and implement events or special events into this particular code as well. Because sometimes they are associated in a building, sometimes their not. What we're trying to do as far as part of this bill is be able to incorporate. The biggest concern we have is impacts, right. And the biggest impact that we find outside of noise, because we can't really do anything about, is parking. So, typically, when someone comes in for a plan approval in a Commercial Zone, we look at their uses in the structure, and be able to say, you know, you need this much parking. But if they do an outdoor concert as part of their venue, we have to retook at parking. Page 7 PCPLUED-15 August 5,2025 So, we ask them to come back in and provide us with evidence that, either they have sufficient on-site parking relative to the standards we put in the parking area, which is one parking space per three people. And if they don't have it, then we ask them to seek a shared parking agreement with parking around. Even in Commercial, Industrial, Resort Zonings, they don't need a use permit for outdoor events, one or many. They just need to make sure that they come in and show us they have enough parking to accommodate the event. As far as the other areas, noise, fighting that kind of stuff will be taken care of by other departments. In a Residential Zone, if they want to hold a Special Event, it does trigger the need for a use permit. MR. KANEALI'l-KLEINFELDER: Then a Special Event is defined by more than three per week? MR. DARROW: That would be a meeting facility. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: I think what you're trying to understand is how many events, right? The number of events that can occur before a permit is triggered. MR. KANEALI'l-KLEINFELDER: I think in this case, then, the residential area. So, any number? MR. DARROW: One. MR. KANEALI'l-KLEINFELDER: So, one would trigger. So, one event outside the bounds of your normal house party kind of thing. MR. DARROW: Again, there is a definition of what a Special Event is, right? If somebody has a wedding for their family member, and it happens to have a number of people there. That's not going to trigger a Special Event. But if they're holding a UB40 concert in their back yard? CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: I think a really helpful distinction is this notation that the Special Events have a commercial component to it. There's like a revenue- generating component that helps to distinguish a commercial wedding versus, you know, backyard wedding. MR. DARROW: Typically, that will repeat,right? We'll have constant activity, and we'll get complaints. And then we'll find a website and all that kind of stuff. MR. KANEALI'l-KLEINFELDER: One follow-up, Mr. Darrow. If these places are in existence now, and Code goes into effect, are the existing facility then may make these new definitions, a need to come in to apply for a use permit or are they grandfathered in as they are? Page 8 PCPLUED-15 August 5,2025 MR. DARROW: So, what triggered this whole thing again was the concert that Council Member Kierkiewicz alluded to. So, what happened after that was, we worked closely with Department of Liquor Control,because they have to issue a liquor permit for these events. And all of a sudden now, this issue of zoning came in. So, we had worked with them and created a memo and a letter that they send to people that are asking for a permit for these events. And they will come to us and work with us right now on providing that parkin plan in addition to their plan approval. All of them that have come in so far have had approvals previously. So, we just ask them to update their parking plan in relation to this new ratio of one to three people. MR. KANEALI'l-KLEINFELDER: My question is more, if we have, I think what we're calling now or we're amending is the meeting facility in a Residential area. Are they affected, or is there a change for them that will occur? MR. DARROW: No, typically, we haven't had many come in, Meeting Facilities. But if they're existing already, this bill wouldn't affect them. It would affect them. It would affect them if they were going to start holding special events, at that point. MR. KANEALI'l-KLEIN-FELDER: Okay, thank you, I yield. CHR. KEERKIEWICZ: Council Member Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. Just a question Director, on Section 9, regarding the parking; is there a potential conflict between now item 23, with the Special Meeting parking requirements and item 15 for Major Outdoor Amusement? MR. DARROW: I don't think so. I mean that's kind of where we originated in regards to our Memorandum that we did because of the fact that Major Outdoor Amusement and Recreation Facility includes outdoor events or outdoor entertainment. But when you think of an outdoor Major Amusement Facility, you're thinking more like Disneyland, a parade or a fair. What we've been coming across is just these concerts being held in parking lots, right? It's not really a facility. So, this again, is addressing—what happens is that we found, which was unfortunate how we found that out. But when they held the concert in the area with their parking, they had no parking. And that was not good. MR. HUSTACE: Trying to find off-site parking. Page 9 PCPLUED-15 August 5,2025 MR. DARROW: It really wreaked havoc on the area. MR. HUSTACE: Yes, I'm familiar with that. MR. DARROW: So, our goal is to make sure that if they're going to utilize that area, that they have sufficient off-site parking. Like to a Shared Parking agreement. MR. HUSTACE: So, Item 23 gives the Director the approval for that consideration for the parking spaces beyond those minimum requirements. But I guess I have some concern if.there's similarities between items 15 and 23. They may come in and say, "No, we consider ourselves some Major Outdoor Amusement." But you could consider them a Special Event. So, the numbers of different in terms of calculation for parking? You don't see that as an issue. MR. DARROW: Gosh as long as I remember, I don't even remember anybody coming requesting to be a Major Outdoor Amusement Facility. We've had indoor ones, health clinics, health facilities; indoor shooting range, those kinds of things. But outdoor we haven't had. And typically, in a number of districts, you'll see that that triggers the need for a use permit. MR. HUSTACE: Sure, and this is a higher threshold too, a Special Event. Okay. MR. DARROW: In the definition, it gives examples too. If I could just mention one thing, that originally, like right now in the Code under this section for parking. "Meeting facility required a parking space for every 75 square feet." So, in working with the attorneys and everything, they felt that was pretty high standard to meet when it was in regards to their facilities. So, a typical office or retail is 300 square feet. The meeting facility was 75. We agreed to kind of do a middle ground at 150, and that seems to be okay. But we also have this, if you have so many people; it triggered, I think, it was one for every seven people. So, whichever one is greater is going to be the one. But again, if they include Special Events, then it's going to even go to a higher threshold of one per three people. And that will be their standard. If there's going to be a facility that's going to hold regular events, they have to meet that higher standard of parking. And we'll review that through plan approval. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Director. Thank you, Chair. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Council Member Onishi. Page 10 PCPLUED-15 August 5,2025 MR. ONISHI: Thank you, Chair. So, in Section 25-4-17, (c), I like that, I mean the gatherings and so forth. But to me, I look at the parking. So, we go back to Section 9, Parking, right? For gatherings? Where would the requirements for that Section be in Parking area? The number of parking stalls that would be required. MR. DARROW: Thank you for the question, Council Member Onishi. Typically, in a Residential Zone,because this is referring to Residential Zones. If you have a large gathering, like it's Superbowl Sunday, and your favorite teams are playing, and you're going to have quite a few people there. And even a lot of family members and stuff. You have a requirement for your dwelling, right? It's typically two. So, a lot of people park on the street,right? That's the same way it is now. We haven't changed that. So, if in the Residential Zone,people are doing their typical residential gatherings, that's not going to change. We're not going to be reviewing parking requirements for that. MR. ONISHI: Okay, but in Section 25-4-17, in (c), it says, "Gatherings within a dwelling for social, charitable, religious, political. . ." with the property permitted and considered a home-based; no more than three times per week; each gathering not more than 25 individuals, except for relatives, right, or family members. So, now we're talking about like Superbowl parties are like once a year, right? Maybe a baby luau might be once a year kind of thing, right? But this is what we're talking about is that it's going to happen three times a week in that certain residential area. So, now to be it's a burden upon the residents that's going to have to deal with this, right? Then it's 25 non-family members. So, you could have another 25 members and 25 non-members. So, you'll have 50 people there. That's the only thing I'm worried about, is that parking is one. Because I relate this back to like vacation rentals or Airbnb's where the requirement for parking is one thing that I always wanted to push from when I was back on—because sometimes it's kind of like intruding into the community, right, or intrude into the County right-of-ways and so forth. So, the neighbors would get upset, especially, their personal cars. What they would do is put their personal cars on the roadway and let their guests park in the required areas, right? And now, their personal cars would stay on the roadway for over 24 hours. So, now, whoever's car is fronting the property, do I have all the police. The police has to come and put a sticker, saying you have to move this car, right, and so forth. So, that to me the parking in residential areas. So, any comments on how we can maybe work it. Page 11 PCPLUED-15 August 5,2025 MR. DARROW: Well, even without this bill we still have the same problem. I mean, we're not trying to solve that problem in this bill. I think this is the most difficult issue we have to address in this was that threshold of when residential is residential and when it becomes a meeting facility. And this is where we're at right now. This more than three-times-per-week with no more than 25 people exclusive of family. We come through several iterations of this in particular. We have one where, well, I won't even go into it. We've had several trying to figure out that place where people are okay with that. And this is where we came to. So, I mean at this point I can speak on behalf of the Planning Department, because we typically would get complaints. We don't have a lot of complaints about what appeared to be family-type or residential-type gatherings. Again, when it starts becoming repetitive and overwhelming to the community, that's when we'll get calls. But normally the people know their residents, their neighbors, and they know what's going on. And they know when things go beyond residential, we'll get calls. MR. ONISHI: Well, another thing that's I'm concerned within my district on the homesteads. You know Parks and Rec, they have a facility, like a three-court covered court; they have a football field,but not enough parking. And so, now, within that whole community, you have guys parking all over the place. Now, for example, you have in Kona, up in Kealakekua. Kona Scenic, right? But thank God with Mayor Alameda, they made the parking in the back,but they used to park all over that whole place, right? And it was considered a Special Event, right? MR. DARROW: He likes helping out Parks. I would give him a call, bet you he'd fix that. MR. ONISHI: Then we did a blessing for Waidkea Uka. And part of the problem was, my brother had gotten the money because when they have basketball or volleyball events at the Waidkea Uka Gym or at the park, it was about parking. Because they would be parking all on the sides of the roads. And the thing was that we were worried about children running across the road and getting run over. So, to me, parking is a key element to all evils to me, right. And so, I think that's what we've got to really work on. You know, allowing the use of all that is okay. But they need to provide the amount of parking that's necessary. Because I think even like, for Waimea, the Page 12 PCPLUED-15 August 5,2025 County park over there. They have a field, they have a rec center, they have three covered courts. But what I understand back then when they built it, they only could use one event,because they didn't have enough parking. So, if somebody wanted to do a baseball game, but then there was a basketball game already going in the covered courts, whoever came first would have that whole facility. So, now, the rest of the facilities are being wasted, right, where people cannot utilize that. So, it comes back down to parking. So, I guess later on we can talk with you guys about that. But any suggestions? MR. DARROW: Well, I think as far as parking for parks, the Mayor has been extraordinarily effective on seeing those issues and trying to resolve them. As mentioned, one of the greatest impacts that we see in regards to meeting facilities and events is parking. You would think people would think noise and other things. But we don't address those issues. We do address parking. So, we are focusing on that with this. I don't know in this bill if we can address parking on a residential type where they have just typical residential events every so often that are larger, you know. But we did, as you mentioned, that one bill that I believed you introduced. The one that fixed the parking for people that rent rooms; they have to provide that. We do that with BnB's (Bed and Breakfasts). Those kinds of things, hosted rentals and stuff. MR. ONISHI: Okay, I'll contact you later on. Thanks, Director. I yield. CHR. KIJERKEEWICZ: Thank you, Council Member. And thank you for engaging in the dialogue around parking. That was quite a long discussion that we had over many days on, you know, what are good to live with, right? Because it goes beyond just gathering for faith purposes. When you look at all these different ways in which people can gather. Supper Club, Book Club, Lauhala Weaver Club, Kraft Club. There's all these different times in which people can gather. And when folks reached out to us just with concerns, we wanted to make sure that we understood the frequency that folks were gathering, and kind of the size. Then also taking into consideration some of the complaints that were being sent to the Planning Department and using all of that information to set this baseline of what we will consider a home-based system. And anything beyond that would trigger the plan approval for meeting facilities. Because we don't want to take away what I think is a fundamental and constitutional right for people to assemble in their homes. So, I think we're Page 13 PCPLUED-15 August 5,2025 striking up a nice balance. But time will tell,right? Okay, Council Member Villegas, go ahead. MS. VILLEGAS: Just want to add in really quickly, you know,just some things that are popping into my head as they relate to District 7. You know, I think of the carnival that used to come to the Old Airport Park. Obviously, had lots of parking there. In my years of working with the Kona Brewing Company and helping to put together the concerts that were held there in the parking lot, it was part of the responsibility and thankfully it was managed that way to find other parking. The Honda parking lot. And there was just an event in the Brewery Block this weekend, and they were required to find the parking across the street to provide. So, I'm grateful that in my experiences personally, there has been responsible management of those events. It's unfortunate that, you know, the concept of being cool and throwing a big concert and utilizing public or private spaces seems like a cool way to make money, but this is taking into consideration all of those nuances that you aren't creating accidentally, a perfect storm for tragedy. And we have seen that happen in other places. So, thanks for the work being done on this. It sounds like to me, there's a balance now in finding that sweet spot somewhere in the middle where the number of parking stalls required used to be based on the square footage size of the venue itself, and now it's taking into consideration the number of people anticipated to participate because they would be the ones driving there, right? Not necessarily the square footage of the venue,but the number of people expected to attend is going to be more directly related to the number of cars that may be coming. You know, I'd love to see us have a more user-friendly venue for concerts and things like that, like kind of amphitheater, especially, in District 7. We're not quite there yet. So, I also want to give credit to those that still move forward in creating gatherings, and musical celebrations, and experiences. And who are willing and able and responsible to their duty to insure that they navigate all of the rules and laws related to doing that. Because you really have to go through a lot of different divisions. I mean, it's Fire, it's Planning, it's Liquor. There's just a lot of different things that come in there. So, this looks like we're kind of circling back to incorporate parking as that relates to health and safety in a lot of ways. And for a lot of these events, booze are involved. And so, the fewer people driving, the better. And hopefully, designated drivers and with more people per car. Page 14 PCPLUED-t5 August 5,2025 So, thank you for this. I don't have any big red flags popping up for me night now. So, thanks again, Director Darrow. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Thanks for sharing that. I think in our discussion when we talked about the parking requirement for like plan approval and use permit, we considered and required the parking to be on-site. And then we thought about excellent models, like Kona Town Market where they have parking agreements that are off-site but still satisfy the requirement for parking. So, we took out that element, and we just wanted to be flexible to showcase that the County is willing to find a workable solution for community. And community has already demonstrated successfully in many instances like Kona Town Market, that you can pull off these events. You can find a way to make sure that everybody has ample access to parking. Okay, go ahead. MS. VILLEGAS: Just one more thing,because we're talking about parking. And I'm not sure if this is the proper place, and I do have some legislation coming. But it does bring up to my mind, paid parking. When people are putting on these concerts and they're paying for the Honda lot to be available to the people attending their event, I think it would be a travesty if then, they started charging the public for the parking. So, that's something I don't want to see this become a trend of, is this become another commercialized opportunity to force our community to pay more to attend and participate in experiences that uplift that feeling of village model and gathering in healthy spaces. So, if we need to put something in here about that, and if this is, you know, I'm told we can't go backwards in the prior—anyway being told that they can charge for parking in parking lots because it was never said they couldn't. So, I just see this tying into our long-term looking long-term while it would seem that it just wouldn't make sense to do that. That's what they thought of in the 70's to charge for parking. And now, here we are, navigating something that's really hurting our community. So, thank you again. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you for sharing that. I think with what we have proposed as far as amendments for this bill work within this particular bill title. And we have talked about wanting to further elaborate requirements, regulations, right? A framework for Special Events. I think tackling that in this bill kind of goes beyond the scope. And Planning has already indicated that they do want to address that but through a new bill, a different vehicle. And I think that what you raised would be very appropriate at that time. Thank you for sharing it. Okay, anyone else have questions or comments. No, seeing no red lights feels really good everyone. Thank you. This has been quite a lift. And again, my Page 15 PCPLUED-15 August 5, 2025 thanks go out to Planning Department, Corporation Counsel, Legislative Review Branch, our County Clerk, and members of the community who were willing to engage in robust dialogue; keeping an open mind, and then getting to a place where we can all agree that this is going to work for our community. Well done everyone. All those in favor of amending Bill 60 with the contents of Communication 313.29, please say, "aye." Any opposed? Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 60, Draft 2, with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 313.29 was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Committee Members Hustace, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Kierkiewicz—7. Noes: None, Absent: Committee Members Galimba and Kdneali'i-kleinfelder—2. Excused: None. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Back to the main motion. Any other comments? Seeing none, all those in favor of forwarding Bill 60, Draft 2, as amended to the Council with a favorable recommendation, please say', "aye." Any opposed? Vote on Bill 60: The motion to recommend passage of Bill 60, Draft 2, as (Draft 3) amended to Draft 3 on first reading was carried by the (Approved) following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Hustace, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Kierkiewicz—7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Galimba and Kdneali'i-Kleinfelder—2. Excused: None. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: That brings to the end of the agenda. We are adjourned at 12:01 p.m. Mahalo nui. MR. DARROW: Mahalo everyone. Thank you. Page 16 PCPLUED-15 August 5,2025 ADJOURN- There being no further business, Chair Kierkiewicz adjourned the meeting MENT: at 12:01 p.m. Approved: Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Chair ( ate) Policy Committee on Planning, Land Use, and Economic Development AKldt Page 17