HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0560.014 2002-2004
To: HAWAII COUNTY COUNCIL MEMBERS
Re: UNIVERSITY TERRACE DEVELOPMENT by WESTERN UNITED LIFE
ASSURANCE COMPANY
Please reject Western Life's request that you approve a Project District zoning for the
171.5 acres it intends to develop under the name of University Terrace. Please review the
attached Hawaii County Code citations that we believe make the requested approval
inappropriate.
We know you've received much input on the negative impacts of this Development on
traffic, drainage, schools, and the neighboring residential areas' quality of life and
property values. Surely, the Developer's request for 10-story apartment buildings within
a few feet of existing single-family homes, 35 acres of commercial development, and
hundreds of single and multi-family residential units speaks volumes about its lack of
true concern for the consequences of inserting thousands of people and cars into the
middle of an already established neighborhood with limited resources and infrastructure.
A development of this size, with so many very real concerns and questions regazding its
impact, should not be given the Council's permission to do whatever it wants whenever it
wants- a permission Project District zoning effectively provides. The fact that such anill-
defined, open-ended, and therefore unknowable zoning permission can be given does not
mean it should be given. My family asks this Council to require the Developer to apply
for a more appropriate zoning status if the current ones do not afford it an opportunity for
reasonable development. At the very leastthe current Council should defer any action on
this request until the newly-elected Council members aze seated so the issue can be
reviewed by the public's most recently elected representatives.
Only you now stand in defense of both the letter and spirit of our County's planning
process; please reject Western life's request for Project District zoning and require of it a
more detailed, committed, and responsible approach to its University terrace
development.
~ank you for your service to our community.
.l'ohn and Pamela Lipscomb
103 Punahele st.
Hilo, HI 96720
10/5/2004
Attachment
Comm. No.
Ref. To: PrssNt~
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PROJECT DISTRICT ZONING and QUESTIONS re. the UNIVERSITY TERRACE
DEVELOPMENT
The following questions/concems arise from a reading of Division 4 (Project Districts) of
the Hawaii County Code.
1. Section 25-6-41 states that a Project District (PD) may be established only if the
proposed district:
"1. Is consistent with the intent of this chapter and the County general plan; and
2. Will not result in a substantial adverse impact upon the surrounding azea,
community, or region."
The language used in the Code strongly suggests that PD zoning be reserved for
developments in areas not yet significantly developed (i.e., "pioneer developments"). A
development such as University Terrace, with hundreds of residences and a lazge
commercial area cannot help but have a "substantial adverse impact" on the "surrounding
area, community" when it is placed squazely in the middle of along-established
residential community that already suffers from a much used infrastructure (residential,
medical facilities and a jail). QUESTION: Isn't there a material burden on this
Developer to show, BEFORE approval is given for PD zoning, that the concerns the
community has about flooding, noise, traffic, sewage management, property value
deterioration, loss of open space, etc. aze not appropriate? Give the size, scale and
duration of the University Terrace development, such a burden CANNOT be met by the
applicant. In fact, because PD zoning allows the developer so much flexibility as to what
it will put, where, and when, the public has not been able to receive the responsible,
detailed answers to the concerns it has about "substantial adverse impacts". Because the
Council cannot be shown that this development, in an already highly developed azea, will
not have "substantial adverse impacts", PD zoning cannot be permitted.
2. Section 25-6-45 states that the Council may impose conditions on the use of the
property subject to the Project District, provided the Council finds that the conditions are:
"(1) Necessary to prevent circumstances which may be adverse to the public health,
safety and welfaze". QUESTION: How can any decision about needed "conditions" be
responsibly reached when there is so little certainty about what will be built, where it will
be built, and when it will be built? Given the lack of specific responses from the
Developer to the community's concerns, there aze few specifics for the Council to review
in order to meet its burden to see that the University Terrace development does not create
"circumstances adverse to the public health, safety and welfaze"
Attachment to 10/5/2004 Testimony