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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0438.018 2002-2004 DAVID O. KISH CAROL NANI STONE 75-360 ALOHA KONA DRIVE KAILUA-KONA, HI 96740-1953 808-327-1199 RECewgyev February 2, 2004 CO11f~ ~O"'~~ Chair James Arakaki and County Council Members County of Hawaii 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, HI 96720 1tE: Nani Kona Aina (SLU 03-007/REZ 03-01 Deaz Chairman Arakaki and Members of the Council: We aze residents of the Kona Heights neighborhood and represent the views of many of our neighbors in Kona Heights and Kailua View Estates who could not be here today because this meeting was scheduled with short notice in Hilo. We request that the Planning Committee of the Council meet in Kona to discuss this rezoning request and hear the views ofthe citizens most affected by this land use change. If the Planning Committee does not meet in Kona, we at least request a public heazing before the entire Council and the Council's vote on this issue in Kona. You represent the whole island of Hawaii on important land use issues and West Hawaii residents deserve convenient access to your meetings. We aze not anti-growth. We understand the Nani Kona Aina property will eventually be zoned for residential development, as it is included in the urban expansion zone. However, this property is not ready for development now and therefore the rezoning should be denied. To pazaphrase your Planning Commission who recommended denial of this application, "Land owners aze not entitled to rezone. They are entitled to use the property under current AG 5 zoning. We should draw a line with this application until questions about infrastructure can be addressed." We agree with your Planning Commission and here are some of the issues we believe should be resolved to the satisfaction of the community before the property is rezoned: 1. We aze concerned about incremental zoning decisions. Several pazcels of land between this property and Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway have recently been rezoned for residential development and others will be before you soon. These individual applications do not meet your threshold for major impact analysis, but collectively they total in excess of 100 homes. County planners should be directed to look at these as a group and plan the roads Comm. No. y3 .i Y Ref. Ta t?~ fi Ref. Uote 1 and infrastructure accordingly with public input. This is not only an issue of good planning but also an issue of public trust. Developers should not be allowed to subvert the intent of County planning processes. 2. The developer states there will be no impacts on schools, water and sewer systems, police, fire, parks and public utilities. We disagree and believe impacts will be significant. New developments in Kona are being planned with no neighborhood pazks, police and fire service is already stretched thin and our water system, we recently learned, is sucking brackish water into the aquifer serving our neighborhood. This means increased levels of sodium and chloride in the water beyond EPA and Health Department standazds, putting people at risk of hypertension and other impacts on health. We have been told that new water service will have to be brought to this development at a very high cost before building can start. If that is true, deny the rezoning until the public can see the scope, impact and cost of this new water system Sewers aze not planned for this development. But if sea water is rising in the aquifer due to over pumping, it won't be long before pollution from human waste also enters the aquifer. 3. Traffic access to this new development, as planned, is not adequate. The main collector street, Nani Kailua, is very steep and does not meet your own standazds for a collector. Adjacent streets, Aloha Kona and Hoene should not bear the burden of more traffic for this new development, as they aze already busy streets. Two streets, Melelina and Kaewena, previously identified in your county plan as north/south streets that could have provided access to this property, have now been dedicated as cul-de-sacs as part of recently approved rezonings. The developer has indicated he is looking as some access to Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway from the south, but this is not the answer, as it would still bring more traffic into existing neighborhoods. The answer is a new access to the north of Nani Kailua onto Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway. 4. The proposed plan shows one internal road on the property to serve 43 home sites. If this road were blocked by fire, flood or other emergency situations, residents would be trapped. This certainly does not meet effective emergency planning standards. 5. Vazious endangered species have been sighted in this azea and appeaz to make it their home. Proper time should be allowed to research these sightings and determine if this is a habitat land. If it is, development should either be halted or proceed in a scaled back fashion to accommodate our endangered species. In summary, rezoning this property may make sense at some point, but there aze significant public policy issues that need to be addressed, debated and resolved before rezoning occurs. These aze issues that will come up again and again as Kona continues to grow and existing neighborhoods feel the impact of new development. 2 Don't rush into this rezoning. Take some time, build some public trust, do some good staff work, develop a plan and seek public support for good rgrowth, smart growth that is inevitable in Kona. To approve this rezoning without laying the proper foundation would abrogate your responsibility to the people of this island to protect the land and foster a spirit of cooperation among those who live here. Aloha, and thank you for the opportunity to shaze these comments with you. Sincerely, L~ti~~~~~~L,l~ D ici a Kish v~~, ~~~u, ~~-v~ Cazol Nani Stone 3