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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN PCPWMT 2026/05/19 (2024-2026) Policy Committee on Public Works and Mass Transit 14th Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii May 19, 2026 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Policy Committee on Public Works and ORDER: Mass Transit was called to order at 3:00 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Mr. James E. Hustace, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. James E. Hustace, Chair Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Vice Chair Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Member Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Member Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member Mr. Dennis "Fresh" Onishi, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member Absent& Excused: Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, 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: The following individuals registered to speak on Bill 132 (Comm. 742), and came forward when called by the Chair: Manuel Martinez: Oppose. Bryan Mick: Support. CHR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Araceley. BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, ORDINANCES: Bills for Ordinances. PCPWMT-14 May 19, 2026 Bill 132: AMENDS CHAPTER 6 OF THE HAWAI`I COUNTY CODE 1983 (2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED) BY ADDING AN ARTICLE RELATING TO PAID PARKING FACILITIES IN KAILUA VILLAGE Adds a new article to regulate parking rates at private parking facilities in Kailua Village. Reference: Comm. 742 Intr. by: Council Member Villegas Postponed: March 3 and 17; and April 21, 2026 (Note: There is a motion by Council Member Villegas, seconded by Council Member Inaba, to recommend passage of Bill 132 on first reading.) CHR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Council Member, Villegas,you want to start us off this afternoon? MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah. Thank you, Council Member, Hustace. First off, I want to thank the second testifier for your comments about this legislation. Helping to resolve some of the issues related to unspecified requirements for parking spots for people with other abled people. Maybe we could follow up later on this, because one of the recommendations I received from Corporation Counsel was to remove that section because the state already covers the requirements of disabled parking requirements. So,just another in a long list of contradicting suggestions around this legislation that have made it very challenging to identify a sphere of influence and authority, what's already covered somewhere else, what needs to be covered here and what not. I would like to take this moment, I believe that Director Darrow is on Zoom, and something I really want to get to the bottom of, as it relates to Bill 132 is the status of the current parking lots in the Kailua Village Business Improvement District and the legality of the sign that have been posted in those parking lots. Hi Director Darrow. (Note: At this time, Planning Director Jeffrey W. Darrow came forward, via zoom, to address the members of the Committee.) MR. DARROW: Aloha. Sorry for the delay. I was MS. VILLEGAS: No worries. No worries. Did you catch that part that I mentioned about going over the report of the yeah, okay, great. If you could, go ahead and take it away with that and let us know what came of that. MR. DARROW: Sure, so we had received a number of complaints that there were possible signage in Kailua Village associated with commercial parking lots that may have not received both a sign permit from the Department of Public Works under Chapter 3; the Sign Code, as well as the possibility of going before Page 2 PCPWMT-14 May 19, 2026 the Kailua Village Design Commission for review and recommendation. Typically that happens when somebody is doing some sort of activity within the village that triggers the need for a review at the commission, including certain signs. So our inspectors went out and did investigations for the commercial parking lots. In speaking with them, as well as meeting with the Department of Public Works, a majority of the signs did not appear to trigger the need for a permit. Now these were the smaller,you know, signs that you would scan or that said, "No Parking," or just identified parking. Typically, certain parking signs don't trigger the need for a permit, but there were several signs in some of the businesses that Public Works said could trigger the need for a permit. So we're working with those individuals. The hard thing about that, and I apologize Council Member Villegas for not speaking to you about this before, but when you start focusing on signage in Kailua Village, there's quite a bit of it going on. But we were again focused on these parking facilities. There were certain signs that were along the roadway identifying the business of that parking, you know, whatever that Diamond Parking, or the other one, Parklinq. It would identify the name and identify that this was available for parking. Those signs along the roadways did appear to need a sign permit. So what we are going to do is instruct those individuals or businesses to be able to submit both a request to go before the Kailua Village Design Commission for a recommendation and to submit for a sign permit. In reviewing all of these businesses in Kailua Village are located within the Special Management Area (SMA). The ones that had the larger signs were associated with a SMA permit, not the signage itself, but the overall development which typically covers the entire development, including any accessory type use. So I just wanted to bring you up to speed. It appeared, if I recall correctly, there were about three or four businesses that had those larger signs. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. Thank you. I wanted to say Professor Darrow. But it's Director Darrow. It's that time of the afternoon. Thank you for following up on all that. I suppose it's a little disappointing because it, too often it feels like people do what they want and disregard the laws and special requirements in a business improvement district. And then if or when they get a complaint and get busted then they just go through the process and what they did just gets legalized and they get away with it for the whole time. So that's disappointing. I also am disheartened and disappointed too, and humbled. And I will apologize to my community and those who helped work on this for so long. I'm going to withdraw this legislation after much deliberation. It's become apparent that it could potentially jeopardize the county and taxpayer dollars and a lawsuit. And I Page 3 PCPWMT-14 May 19, 2026 don't want to do that. But I don't think it's been a waste of time because it's elevated this issue of paid parking to a level that,just about everybody's been talking about. My husband can't walk our dogs without having people stop him and thank him for at least us being able to have this conversation. It's not the first time, it probably won't be the last time in my last few months here in Council, that I won't be able to get something that I really had hoped to accomplish. But I hope community can recognize that their voices do matter. That stepping up, leaning in, holding businesses accountable and corporations accountable that enter our community and are not operating under a value system, that authentically aligns with the collective good. I really hope for some rebalance where that's concerned. I do have another piece of legislation coming forward that does abide by the legal authority of the county, and I will be reaching out to the state because there are some changes that can be made. Simple changes on the state side, that would directly then give us authority over what happens in paid parking lots, in the county. But I just want to encourage people to please stay engaged, also please don't leave the village. Please come back down to the village. It needs you. We need you. There are creative ways to work with the local businesses there that really need your support. And I hope for all the rest of my fellow council members, your communities don't get hit with this kind of, what I will remain to call, predatory parking, paid parking practices, gouging, surge pricing;just kind of exploitative of in a small community. So with that, I will make a motion to withdraw Bill 132. I withdraw Bill 132. CHR. HUSTACE: Any—Thank you, Council Member. I don't know if there might be some other discussions. MS. VILLEGAS: Sure. Go for it. CHR. HUSTACE: Thank you. I appreciate that. Council Member, Inaba. MR. INABA: Thank you, Chair. Just wanted to thank Council Member Villegas for bringing this forward, even though this exact version isn't something we can run with, we want to make sure that the public is aware of the additional measure that was co-introduced that will be heading to the planning commissions for review, that's Bill 154, that Director Darrow and his team are currently working on their recommendations to the commissions. So, I guess the effort to try and address this island-wide is not completely dead,just not via this Bill 132, anymore. So thank you for getting this started Council Member Villegas. With that, I yield. Page 4 PCPWMT-14 May 19, 2026 CHR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Council Member Inaba. Any other last thoughts? Thank you, Council Member Villegas. Appreciate your advocacy on this matter and with that, motion has been withdrawn. With no further discussion and the last item on our agenda,we are adjourned today at 3:16 p.m. Thank you, everyone. ADJOURN- There being no further business, Chair Hustace adjourned the meeting MENT: at 3:16 p.m. Approved: C1 z-12e &Q. Jv Committee E. Hustace, Chair (Date) 1c Orin icy Committee on Public Works, and Mass Transit JEH/rnp Page 5