Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0964.036 2004-2006 o Margaret Wille Attorney at Law 65-1316 Lihipali Road Kamuela, Hawaii 96743 August 22, 2006 To: Chairman Stacy Higa, and Members of the County Council Re: Bill 309 Interim Amendments to the General Plan Suggestion: Amend Transportation Road Map F to include the two sections of the Waimea Mini-bypass as I have drawn on the attached copy of the General Plan Facilities Road Map F, for the following reasons: 1. Inclusion of future roads on the facilities map is important for identification of additional funding sources and for coordination of all interrelated road planning projects (e.g. On May 10, 2006, an engineer for the State Kawaihae Bypass Road project, said this prospective County Road should be on their planning map). 21he General Plan text includes the mandate for implementation of the two sections of this critically needed in-town mini-bypass (Transportation Course of Action 13.2.5.6.2g): To relieve traffic congestion through Waimea town, implement construction of a) Parker Ranch's connector road from Kamamalu Street to Mamalahoa Highway; and b) the County's extension of this road, between Mamalahoa Highway and Kawaihae Road in the vicinity of the Waimea solid waste transfer station. 3. Director Yuen agreed that omission of this Mini-bypass road was an oversight in the 2005 edition of the General Plan and told the Planning Commission that it should be included on the Facilities Map. In response to Commissioner Graham's concern regarding the omission of this road on Map F, PU g GowA n4sim Director Yuen responded: " And, unfortunately, the facilities map that was passed in 2005, although the text mandated this Bypass Road, the facilities map did not include it. And we really should put it on the facilities, in that case we should put in on the facilities map." [Page 17 of the minutes of the May 26, 2006 Planning Commission Meeting] 3. There is no legitimate reason that correction of this inconsistency in the General Plan text and map F should not be corrected at this time. Background Note: At the request of Parker Ranch, Director Yuen initially proposed to delete the above referenced General Plan mandate to implement completion of the Mini- bypass. In the wake of community objection he agreed to withdraw that proposal. See attached letter of Director Yuen dated March 30, 2006. Also attached is a copy of my written testimony to the Planning Commission on this map issue, dated April 21, 2()06. and the relevant pages from the Planning Commission minutes from April 21; 2Wo Comm. No. W.3 0 Ref. To. !2 4u Ref. Date 66 2 3 j/VbU piCv ~•Ri •ITI W yy ~ V j ,,•Np e ~ a z v. o N I, `dig O v?. [too C9. o ' OD y > C6 OD GVi ~ m. ~ " •,y I r i 9 C ~ o ~ d C' Try x - ~~y + -71 f n ti. d w Y r 7Q y 00 ~ z C ttos p Harry Kim Christopher I Yuen Director tyor Brad Kurokswa, ASLA LEED® AP Deputy Director (tfo rttg af'tt£traii PLANNING DEPARTMENT 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 3 • Hilo, Hawaii 96720.3043 (808) 961-8288 • PAX (808) 961-8742 March 30, 2006 Mr. C. Kimo Alameda, Chairman And Members of the Planning Commission 101 Pauahi Street,.Suite 3 Hilo, HI 96720-3043 Dear Mr. Alameda and Members of the Planning Commission: Proposed General Plan Amendments One of the proposed amendments to the General Plan has aroused a great deal of public interest: the deletion of a "Course of Action" for Transportation in South Kohala, sec. 132.5.6.2(g): "To relieve traffic congestion through Waimea town, implement construction of (a) Parker Ranch's connector road from Kamamalu Street to Mamalahoa Highway; and (b) the County's extension of this road, between Mamalahoa Highway and Kawaihae Road in the vicinity of the Waimea solid waste transfer station." This "course of action" was new in the 2005 General Plan and grew out of the ordinances rezoning Parker Ranch land on the south side of the Mamalahoa Highway: Ords. 92-65, 96-117, and 02-25. These allowed commercial and residential development on Parker's properties (the "Parker Ranch 2020" plan), and required Parker Ranch to build this lateral connector road, triggered by phases of their development. The Parker Ranch section of the connector road would allow traffic to bypass the Lindsey Road/Mamalahoa Highway intersection bottleneck, as well as allow residents living in Waimea south of Mamalahoa Highway to get to shopping areas and the public school without using Mamalahoa Highway. The Planning Department decided that this requirement should be formalized in the General Plan as well. Representatives of Parker Ranch met with me and asked that the County consider alternatives that would still provide a parallel route south of Mamalahoa Highway but would not necessarily be the "connector road" called for in the ordinances. They pointed out that the General Plan locked in a specific solution, and that if the County in the end decided that it wanted the connector road called for in the rezoning ordinances, it could Hawal'i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer. Mr. C. Kimo Alameda, Chairman And Members of the Planning Commission Page 2 March 30, 2006 still enforce these even if the requirement was not in the General Plan, but that the General Plan would be another obstacle if a better solution was found. This made sense to me and I agreed to introduce an amendment deleting this course of action. At the same time, the written rationale for the amendment does say that the conditions of the rezoning ordinances remain in place. Unfortunately, but understandably, some members of the public have taken the proposed General Plan amendment as a retreat from the concept of a parallel route for traffic in Waimea. In addition, to date, I have not been shown any plans by Parker Ranch for a way to have this alternate route without implementing something like the road called for in the rezoning ordinances, and it seems that it would be very difficult to do so. The County has a contract with Parsons Brinkerhoff, an engineering firm, to specifically look at traffic circulation within Waimea, including the connector road concept. They expect to have preliminary findings by mid-summer. Because of this pending study, and because of the public concern about the amendment, I ask the Planning Commission to defer action on this proposed General Plan amendment at least until the Parsons Brinkerhoff study has given its preliminary findings. If the study reaffirms the basic concept of the type of connector road called for in the rezoning ordinances, I will withdraw the proposed General Plan amendment. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Sincerely, CHRISTOPHER J. Y* N~~ Planning Director CJY:syw p:wpwin60*\1ettmX20061pc gpwnmdr t 3-30-06 cc: Parker Ranch Trust Waimea Community Association Department of Public Works Parsons Brinkerhoff Mr. Wayne K. Awai (via e-mail) Ms. Margaret L. Becka Ms. Victoria L. Dunn Ms. Margaret Wille i To: Hawaii County Planning Commission From: Margaret Wille Re: interim Amendments to the 2005 General Plan Date: April 21, 2006 SUGGESTION: Add: Waimea Mini-Bypass-Connector Road to the South Kohala District Transportation Roadways plan on Road Map F as a future collector road ----At the April 7th Planning Commission hearing, Director Yuen stated it is important for any prospective road that may require additional funding to be on the General Plan road maps; ----Additional funding may be required to complete this mini-bypass; ----Director Yuen recently indicated that omission of the mini-bypass connector road from Road Map F was not an intentional omission;- ---The County's section of this road is supposed to be "on course": a $400,000. Environmental Assessment is now being conducted and construction of the County's leg was on the County's CIP list for 05-06; ----Parker Ranch is obligated to complete the "Town Center" portion of this mini-bypass, and that construction is supposed to be completed concurrent with development in the immediately surrounding areas [development in the surrounding areas is already in place or is now being permitted along all three phases of the "Town Center' roadway]; ----Implementating construction of this road is the one specific course of action in the General Plan designed "to relieve traffic congestion in Waimea town": it is inconsistent to mandate completion of this roadway as a course of action and not include the road corridor on Map F of the South Kohala Transportation Roadways Plan; and, ---this roadway is important to the community at large: we are starting a "Mini-Bypass: complete by 2008" campaign. Request of the Planning Commission: Please help to keep this road project "on course" in whatever other ways are possible. ~lc~.~~~ro~ Cbrnvr~lssraN I-I~~.~~c~ TfQV~(,~fi s~a(~'oCe G~n~:~ Pla.r Z~n~CGntiv~ (~^Q~-~rnQ,~kg. TXtTeftlowh-ru T~mo W,\ f: Now the development of F-2 proposes to change this developer s land to County land use designation of Rural. Rural as defined in the County General Plan has typical lot sizes of 9,000 square feet to two acres. Therefore, this amendment is potentially going to take the lot sizes from 200 acres and greater down to 9,000 square feet to two acres; and as I understand it you can build a house on half-an-acre. I talked to the Planning Department, that's what they told me. Since SMA No. 269 was issued about 20 years ago, the Coastal Zone Management Studies had documented a complex array of problems affecting coastal waters arising from NPS (Non-Point Source Pollution) and CSI (Cumulative and Secondary Impacts), the combined impacts of by human land use activities and development. Amendment F-2 does create an opportunity for present and future developers and lot owners to apply for rezoning in the hopes of subdividing your land further. Higher density development can only increase the exposure of Kealakekua Bay to Non-Point Source Pollution and Cumulative and Secondary impacts. To put it in plain English, we don't have the science yet to know what exactly will end up in the Bay, when it will end up there, and what it will do when it gets there. The coral reef, fish and dolphins are already stressed by human use. If we ruin the water, we ruin the reef. If we ruin the reef, we kill the fish. The General Plan mandates protection for natural resources, natural beauty, unique habitat and coastal resources. Kealakekua Bay and the marine preserve qualify on all these levels. Therefore, I hope the Planning Commission will delete Amendment F-2 and protect K-Bay. Thank you. ALAMEDA: Thank you. Very good. Any questions? ~t.t "~t~~ Q "T'~fvr~P~CT~ri`oN IZaal WILLS: Hi. Margaret Wille and I want to make a couple of comments. One is o yo ransportation Road Map F, I think that's not in detail. And perhaps you've already agreed to this, but I'm unaware, and this has to do with the mini-bypass which Parker Ranch had requested to be removed and Director Yuen agreed not to promote that. But I iust want to make sure that the corresponding road man in the Plan includes this road. And I believe Director Yuen wasn't opposed to that, but that it had been overlooked or an oversight that this be, this mini bypass or the two Can we put that map on? Or maybe it's not detailed enough. But I have, what I gave you I handed out in the testimony showing this map. Currently Parker Ranch, under its rezoning ordinances, is required to build about one-half of that road and then the County section, which the County has substantial funds, could put that in. We're really pushing to get this road in. And I just want to make sure, as Chris Yuen said it's important for it to be on the maps in order to, if additional funding is needed. ALAMEDA: Okay. WILLE: It's also just in terms of looking at working on the State's bypasses, I mean, one of the engineers said, well, we didn't even know that map was being, that road was being considered as they were looking at the General Plan. And just so that everyone is on the same page that it's important, so I just stress that. 16 And the other point, just in terms of, I'm not sure, if you've already covered this, is the Plan Implementation. It was on Page 7 of the Interim proposals requesting to remove the Annual Report section. Obviously, I would hope that you would not remove that accountability provision. And I know Director Yuen has said he is proposing that because the Department is overburdened and that you look at these areas that he is overburdened as to how one can have additional people there. There are very minimal fees charged on any of the development permits, look at other ways. And if you have, in fact, asked, approved his or are agreeing to his request to remove this Annual Report, the accountability section, I would hope that some form of review be still carried out. I think this is very important right now where one is promoting the Community Development Plans as a communication mechanism so that the people, the communities know what's going on. I actually think if that, if that had been done, if there had been an annual review of the courses of action, the Department would see that this road is mandated; and when Parker Ranch came in for its recent subdivision, the Planning Department would be saying, "You've got to get your road in." And instead, they're asking for it to be deleted from the General Plan. So, just, if you have agreed to remove that annual report, I hope you encourage more accountability and provide, address the overburden problem in a way that isn't excluding the public from getting public input. Thank you. ALAMEDA: Thanks, Margaret. WILLE: Thank you. ALAMEDA: You're welcome. I see no questions. Thank you very much for your testimony today. You may be seated. Mr. Director, hearing Brenda and Margaret and Dore, do you have any comments or thoughts? YUEN: I'll be happy to answer any questions the Commissioners may have as a result of that or other things that have come to mind in the last few minutes. ALAMEDA: Okay. Any questions for Mr. Director before we take action on these items? Commissioner Graham? GRAHAM: Just on that last testimony from Ms. Wille about the Bypass Road in the Waimea area which is aheady there in the paperwork and we're not going to delete it at this point. But she said she believes it doesn't exist on the map to support what's already there. Can you explain that? Is there something you're going to do about that, or is that a real problem, or - 9 YUEN: You'll notice that we're going to put this on hold until Parsons Brinckerhoff, which is working on a circulation study in Waimea, completes evaluating other alternatives. My expectation, we met with them last week, and my expectation is that they feel that this is an important, this Bypass Road, Parker Ranch Bypass Road is an important component of transportation through Waimea town. In that case, I will drop the proposed I interim amendment. And, unfortunately, the facilities map that was amassed in 2005, although the text mandated this Bypass Road, the facilities map did not include it. And =•a *aa~t ,t on the facilities, in that case we should put it on the facilities map. But I would expect to put it, I 17