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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN LAAC 2026/03/17 (2024-2026)Committee on Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions 22°1 Session West Hawaii Civic Center 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Building A Kailua-Kona, Hawaii March 17, 2026 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions ORDER: was called to order at 1:31 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Kailua-Kona, by Mr. Dennis "Fresh" Onishi, Acting Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Chair (via videoconference from Hilo) Mr. Dennis "Fresh" Onishi, Vice Chair Mr. James E. Hustace, Member Mr. Holeka Gore Inaba, Member Ms. Jean Kagiwada, Member (via videoconference from Hilo) Mr. Kdneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member (via videoconference from Hilo) Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member Absent & Excused: Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Member STATEMENTS The Acting Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of FROM THE business, 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 ORDINANCES: business, Bills for Ordinances. LAAC-22 March 17, 2026 Bill 137: AMENDS SECTION 25-8-22 (PUNA DISTRICT ZONE MAP), ARTICLE 8, CHAPTER 25 (ZONING CODE) OF THE HAWAI`I COUNTY CODE (2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED), BY CHANGING THE DISTRICT CLASSIFICATION FROM AGRICULTURAL — 20 ACRES (A-20a) TO FAMILY AGRICULTURAL —, 1 ACRE (FA-1a)AT `OLA`A, PUNA, HAWAI`I, COVERED BY TAX MAP KEY: 1-7-016:010 (Applicant: Benjamin and Olimpia Love) (Area: 5.79 Acres) The Windward Planning Commission forwards its favorable recommendation for this requested change of zone, which would allow the applicant to subdivide the property into five lots. The property is located at 17-4050 Kua`aina Road. I Reference: Comm.760 Imr. by: Council Member Kimball (B/R) and Comm. 760.1: From Planning Director Jeffrey W. Darrow, dated February 24, 2026, transmitting a PowerPoint presentation for Bill 137. i Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to recommend passage of Bill 137 on first reading. Seconded by Mr. Inaba. ACTING CHR. ONISHI: Go ahead, Planning Director. (Note: At this time, Planning Director Jeffrey W. Darrow came forward to address the membersiof the Committee.) MR. DARROW: Thank you, Chair and Members of the Committee. Jeff Darrow with the Planning Department. If I could direct your attention to our presentation. The applicants in this case are Benjaman and Olimpia Love. They're requesting a change ofizone. i (Note: At this time, Planning Director Jeffrey W. Darrow provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, see the DVD copy of the proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office, or online at http://hawaiicopILty.granicus.com. A copy of the presentation is made part of the record, see Comm. 760.1.) ACTING CHR. ONISHI: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Mr. Darrow, thank you for the overview. The applicants are here in Kona. Thank you for being here as well. So, when they subdivide the water provided to each lot, they have water credits to each lot or they're going to do a variance to allow for individual rainwater collection systems. Page 2 LAAC-22 March 17. 2026 MR. DARROW: Chapter 25-2-76 within our Code having to do with concurrency. Subsection M specifically states you cannot do a change of zone without County water. So, we definitely don't want to consider that option, the ability to rezone on catchment. It would open the door to overwhelming amounts. Again, we're trying to allow density in areas where there's appropriate infrastructure. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Good. So, there's enough water supply. We'll confirm, but in our understanding, there's enough water for each individual lot it will be creating for the subdivision. Okay. My other question for you. This really is a bigger question, Jeff. I live in the area, and every morning I watch people trying to get from Kua' aina onto the highway, and it's brutal. The State interplays here because it's State Highway 11. Kua`aina, `Ola`a Road; all these roads that we're allowing increased density on have to extend to the State highways. At what point do we review the density and the traffic coming off of the side roads on to Highway 11, and who's going to pay for that? MR. DARROW: Typically, it's when a Traffic Impact Analysis report is triggered. And that's typically, AM/PM (peak hours). For something small like this, it won't come near tripping that requirement. You know, with that in mind obviously, there's the accumulation of cumulative impacts from multiple change of zones or subdivisions. When we start seeing that happen, typically we will consider the cumulative impact and request comments based on that. We still send our comments out and request comments from these agencies. I know that we were trying to work out on this particular application, it is unique in the sense that it borders Kua'aina Road, North Road. And then on the east side of the property what appears to be a County right-of-way. But you know, doing due diligence through this application, we found out that both North Road and that road to the west are not County. So, we were going to try to have them utilize that, improve it and then increase the right-of-way with our North Road. We do have a condition in there having a future road widening on the last lot along North Road to be able to give that, I think it was a 60-foot right-of-way. If you look at the map —I don't know if you have that in front of you, but a portion of the property goes into North Road, and it kind of goes around. The road itself is in that small portion that isn't touching the property. But at some point in the future, they may want to use that as a means of access going more mauka. And so, it would be good to have that extra right-of-way. But right now, the issue is it's a private road. Page 3 LAAC-22 March 17, 2026 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Understood. I know that road well and that entire area. So, all road access for this subdivision will be on Kua'aina? MR. DARROW: Correct. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Then, as part of my concern here, this is a relatively small subdivision, five acres FA -I (Family Agricultural), so it's four new lots. Right below that is a number of lots zoned at RS-20 (Single -Family - Residential). And they all use Kua'aina Road to access the State Highway 11, which is the only access to Hilo and/or Kona. So, understanding this is a five -lot total subdivision, but that cumulation of all the RS-20's right below it and the subdivisions directly above it, that old sugarcane plantation little subdivision back in there, I'm concerned of what's going to happen in the future, and we need to look at that. That's not something you need to answer today. I'm pointing that out to the department, because I'm pointing this out on all of our separate connectors, all the way up to district. So, maybe we can meet and discuss that at a later time. For this subdivision, I'll be supporting this today. Can a FA -I property be rezoned in the RS-20, or are these outside of the RS-20 area? MR. DARROW: As we reviewed the PowerPoint presentation, we saw that the property was adjoining State Land Use Urban lands, as well as being within the Low -Density Urban General Plan Land Use Guideline map. So in the future, there could be the potential of further subdividing. But again, water is one of the keys. And to have that much water to create RS-20 or RS-15 lots in this area would hopefully be most likely, they wouldn't have the ability to get that much water. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, something we need to keep our eye on as far as what we see in the future and what we allow now. But I'll be supporting this today. Thank you very much. Thank you for being here this afternoon. I yield, Chair. ACTING CHR. ONISHI: Okay. Any comments from Hilo? In Kona? Hearing or seeing none, all those in favor of approving Bill 137 and forwarding it to Council with a positive recommendation, please say "aye." Those opposed? Page 4 LAAC-22 Vote on Bill 137: (Approved) ADJOURN- MENT: Approved: March 17, 2026 The motion to recommend passage of Bill 137 on first reading was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Hustace, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Villegas, and Acting Chair Onishi — 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Galimba —1. Excused: None. ACTING CHR. ONISHI: This concludes our meeting. We're adjourning at 1:45 p.m. Thank you. There being no further business, Acting Chair Onishi adjourned the meeting at 1:45 p.m. of Heather L. Kimball, Yhair Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions Committee HK/dt (Date) Page 5