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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0560.026 2002-2004 JaZY Os k,~ 4~.•~ ~ Harry Kim Christopher J. Yuen Mayor p J ~ ~ u ~ ~ f U ii Dircclnr •°i ~rE os~M•~ , Roy R. Takemoto ~i~_ i'~. - i Deyury Dirceior ~>aunf~r ~rt£utcti PLANNING DEPARTMENT l01 Pauahi S[reet, Suite 3 Hilo, Hawaii 96720.3043 (808)961-8288 Fax(808)961-8742 October 19, 2004 Honorable Leningrad Elarionoff, Chair and Members of the Committee on Planning COUNTY OF HAWAII 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, HI 96720 Deaz Chair Elarionoff and Members of the Committee on Planning: SUBJECT: BILL 248, DRAFT 3 -UNIVERSITY TERRACE PROJECT I am writing to reiterate the Planning Department's favorable recommendation and support of this proposed rezoning, and to suggest some changes to the conditions of approval in response to public comments and concerns and after some further investigation into the issues. 1. Scale of the Commercial Development. The project's commercial element would provide an alternative retail area for this part of Hilo, as well as an area for the expansion of the commercial office area that now exists on the makai side of Komohana St. The size of the commercial area, though, makes it possible that a "big box" type retailer could be located there, like a Sam's Club or Costco. This could bring considerably more traffic from outside the general area, and cause this project to be a major traffic generator into the area rather than absorbing commercial traffic that cutrently travels to other parts of the city. This is not what the application represented as the type of commercial activity that the project would generate. The Environmental Report states that "low density, pedestrian friendly retail and other office uses are envisioned. These include food, pharmaceuticals, and sundry stores, Hawaii County is an equal opportunity provider and employer. Comm. No. `s~•Z~ Rc:f. To: Fre:eAfsd ,,~f. L ~ _ n .T ~ n ~no4 Honorable Leningrad Elarionoff, Chair and Members of the Committee on Planning COUNTY OF HAWAII Page 2 October 19, 2004 restaurants, and other service type establishments." To discourage "big box" retail activity, we suggest that paragraph "E" of the conditions be modified to read: "The maximum squaze footage of the commercial and office uses shall be 350,000 square feet. No single commercial business may contain more than 60,000 square feet in Qross floor azea." This condition would allow a large supermazket (Safeway at Prince Kuhio Plaza is about 36,000 square feet, Foodland at Pazker Ranch Center is about 39,000 square feet), but not a "big box" type store (the Hilo Wahnart and the Home Depot currently under construction aze about 133,000 squaze feet.) 2. Drainage. Currently, some drainage from the adjoining residential subdivisions to the north (between this property and Kaumana Dr.) flows into this property. The Crescent City Heights subdivision (Sub. 3886) and Omao St. subdivisions (Sub. 4225) were developed out of this property and the developer was allowed to drain those subdivisions onto the residual property that he still owned, which is now the subject of this project district rezoning application. In addition, the Hilo Boarding School Ditch flows into this property. This existing drainage should be continued. We therefore suggest adding an additional sentence to the end of pazagraph AA to read: "The subiect property shall continue to accommodate existing drainage from the adjoining subdivisions to the north, and from the Hilo Boardin¢ School Ditch." 3. Street Connections to Existing Subdivisions. I had previously recommended that there be no vehiculaz access from the existing side streets, because the residents might naturally be concerned about traffic cutting through their neighborhoods to get to the Ponahawai St. extension. These streets, such as Omao and Wiliwili St., aze narrow. Currently, these side-roads dead-end. We have re-evaluated this in the light of a policy to try to emphasize interconnectivity ofstreets. This policy provides alternate routes and reduces the need for everyone to use the main streets to get anywhere. It also promotes community integration. It appears likely that most of those who might want to use the side streets to get to the Ponahawai extension would be residents in the neighborhoods between Kaumana Dr. and the subject property, because residents who live further up Kaumana Dr. would most likely turn off at the Mohouli St. extension, then turn down Ponahawai Honorable Leningrad Elarionoff, Chair and Members of the Committee on Planning COUNTY OF HAWAII Page 3 October 19, 2004 directly, rather than go through the local streets. (Access from side streets would probably never include Malanai St. or Spring St., because Pu'u Honu, which must be preserved as a natural feature, sepazates them from the proposed development.) To implement street interconnections, we suggest rewriting Condition R to read: "All accesses to the property shall meet with the approval of the Department of Public Works.[There shall be no vehiculaz access to the existing side streets, except as maybe required by the emergency preparedness plan identified in Condition DD.]Vehiculaz access from existing streets in the Kaumana azea may be allowed by the Planning Director, in consultation with the Department of Public Works, after a community meeting and with traffic calming or other design considerations to limit the use of the streets connecting to the Ponahawai Extension to local traffic." 4. Location of Commercial Enterprises and Multi-Family. The open-ended nature of the rezoning request has drawn some comment. We think that it would be reasonable to limit the commercial and multi-family azeas so that they do not abut the existing residential areas. We would ask that the following sentence be added to the end of Condition H: "Commercial uses and multi-family buildings shall be no closer than 200' from the existing residential lots adioining the Project District." 5. Fair Share Contributions. We recommend that the reference to "hotel units" in Condition NN be deleted. The application refers to "transient" housing units, but it is clear that the applicant means units with kitchens that are rented out on a relatively short-term basis. These are not "hotel" units as that term is defined in the Zoning Code, and it would be more accurate to treat these as multi-family units for fair share and affordable housing purposes. Sincerejy, , ~ ~ CHRIS///TLLL//////O/PHER J. Y'IJEN Planning Director CJY:pak Wpwin60/Chna/Komohana rezone new condition 2 Honorable Leningrad Elarionoff, Chair and Members of the Committee on Planning COUNTY OF HAWAII Page 4 October 19, 2004 cc: Honorable Harry Kim Mr. Stephen K. Yamashiro