HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0161.000 2004-2006 02/27/2005 07:25 8089829601 LGRI CAMPBELL LAC PAGE 01
Hawaii County Council
County Clark
Fax 961-8912
February 28, 2005
County Clerk: Please distribute to council members for the Thursday,
March 3, hearing on the Yamada special permit for commercial zoning on
Aulii Street in Orchidlend.
r G,.
Dear Council Members,
This letter regards the George Yamada special permit aplllcation to
develop commercial retail use on Aulii Street in Orchidland Estates. I
am a 24 year resident of Orchidland and former vice-president and road
chair of the association, There are a number o1 reasons why the Yamada
permit should be denied.
We already have a daeignated commercial area on Orchidland Dr1ve only
1I2 mite away. This arrangement has been worked out in conjunction with
the planning department, keeping the general plan in mind, in an effort
to avoid halter-akelter strip mall development along highway 130 that
will degrade the aesthetics, lead to multiple stop lights and traffic
congestion on the only highway through lower Puna, and multiply the
number of crowdod access roads into Orchidland.
This commercial development on a residential road would violate the
community infant to assign such activity to a single location,
Orchidland Drive itself, in an attempt to provide all the services the
neighborhood needs in one convenient location and to confine the
undesirable effects of such activity, such as noise, congestion, and
visual blight, to the smallest area possible. This is best achieved by
picking a single spot, aueh as the existing commercial node, and
allowing growth outwards from there.
Setting a precedent of allowing unplanned growth to leapfrog witty-Hilly
along highway 130 is a recipe for disaster. Converting highway 130 from
a transportation corridor into a shopping malt strip with stop IigMs at
every intersection will choke off the commute from the bedreom community
of pupa to the job center of Hilo and strangle the east Hawaii
economy. This will mandate the immediate conversion of Railroad Avenue
into a highway at huge expense end social disruption for the residents
of Persdiae Park. It will make a mockery of the Keaau bypass road.
Please cnnsidar carefully the long-term consequences of this decision.
Community members era against it. A sensible approach now can minimize
future problems I urge you to deny this permit.
Sincerely yours,
Mark wllman
Box 1 141
Keaau, HI 96749
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