The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0766.029 2004-2006 Page 1 of 1 Murashige, Laura - From: Melissa Fleming [mfleming@co.hawaii.hi.us] Sent: Monday, November 13, 2006 9:36 AM To: Murashige, Laura Subject: FW: Attached Letter Attachments: Public hearing Letter KKE Nov 7th 2006.doc Hey Laura. More testimony. Mahalo, Melissa From: Adele Decuyper [mailto:bert4adele@msn.com] Sent: Monday, November 13, 2006 9:04 AM To: Isbell, Virginia; Pilago, K. Angel; Jacobson, Bob; Higa, Stacy; Ikeda, Donald; Arakaki, James; Holschuh, Fred; Safarik, Gary Subject: Attached Letter Aloha, Attached is a revised letter for the County Council Meeting on Wed. Nov 15th. Mahalo Adele DeCuyper f., CO -b Cli Comm. I Ref. ToPre;w" 6 Ref. Date 11/13/2006 BILL 251: Public Hearing (OPPOSE BILL 251) Adele DeCuyper 75-272 Malulani Drive Kailua Kona Hi.96740 Nov 9m 2006 Chairperson Higa and County Council Members, Dear Chairperson Higa, I wish to thank you and the Council members for voting for a public hearing on the rezoning of land for Kona Coffee Estates. I have to remind you that giving us one week to prepare appeared to be an impossible task. I thought the plan we were pursuing was to meet with all the different players and see if we could develop an action plan. It was especially surprising when we tried to elicit cooperation from the Department of Public Works and the Planning Department, no such help was forthcoming, in fact there was an air of hostility when we asked questions or telephone calls were not returned. We did get a return call from Stanford Carr who was unable to meet with us until just before the Thursday meeting. We certainly got the feeling that we were being pushed aside as a nuisance in favor of the developer. We heard from many people that we were wasting our time as it was a done deal even though no approval process that we know about has occurred. Contrary to the statements made by Stanford Carr and Richard Wheelock that only a few people living in Malulani Gardens are in opposition I have in my hand a survey done this week with signatures of 75 homeowners stating they are against what the Kona Coffee Estates is proposing at this time. Had I had more time to contact homeowners living on the mainland, Japan and those on vacation there would be many more. ISSUE: 1. Malulani Drive: The connector road developed when Lowe's was built between Henry Street and Queen Kaahumanu Highway (QKH) was and is a mistake and hazardous to Malulani Gardens traffic. In Dec. 2003 Mayor Kim had the road barricaded by the Department of Public Works and was NOT to be opened until such times that it could meet all safety standards. It has remained closed. The safety factors still exist and are probably worse today due to the increase in traffic. The former owner of the property now owned by Stanford Carr petitioned the State Department of Transportation to install traffic lights at QKH and the intersection to Malulani Drive. The installation was started a few months ago and as far as I know has stalled as the State now has a plan to widen the road from Henry Street south of Malulani Drive. However, that does not really solve the problem as the bypass from Henry Street still exists and Malulani Drive (Roadway Lot 44) appears not to be wide enough to handle four lanes of traffic. (See attached letter from our Association attorney.) When Malulani Gardens was developed a stub out road was made to favor the Kanuha property. Stanford Carr actually only has access to his property across Kanuha's. SOLUTION: Lowe's has no problem right now with one ingress/egress through Henry Street. In fact, in Lowe's Deed it states that they will have one ingress/ egress through Henry Street. My suggestion is to CLOSE the road by ordinance from the edge of Lowe's property that would only allow traffic from Kona Coffee Estates, Kanuhas and Malulani Gardens to access the QKH from Malulani Drive. That I believe was the original plan. In the past we have also suggested widening the road by incorporating the park and creating roundabouts (traffic circles) there are no signal lights needed in this design. These ideas were rejected. For safety reasons Malulani Drive CANNOT be opened until QKH is widened and the traffic light activated ISSUE 2. ROAD H When Malulani Gardens was going through the permit process in 1999 the Planning Department in phase two requested that "the internal roadway system for the subdivision should be designed to interconnect with adjacent developments to localize their internal traffic movements" As of now there are no developments on either side to connect to. Mr. Carr had made the suggestion that that road could be used as his "second access" road and a construction route that is in conflict with the intended use stated in the PUD. If used as a construction route how would Stanford Carr prevent his construction traffic from taking a short cut through Malulani Gardens' private road? Is he going to repair the damage? This action would destroy our gated community. This proposal doesn't make any sense at all. Carr's development is 108 acres, Malulani Gardens is 23 acres. Granted that it is low density, I believe that he still needs an access road further up the subdivision not at Road H the mid level road crossing Malulani Gardens that will divide and compromise our gated community. SOLUTION: A I don't think we should have to defend the use of this road. It is clearly stated in the PUD what the future use is for. I don't think we should have to defend our gated community either. Ipso facto. We didn't create it, the County allowed it to happen and now because it seems convenient for Mr. Carr he thinks he can take our gate away, if that is the case I want to see all the other gated communities take their gates out also including the ones that Mr. Carr has built. I also hope that he is prepared to take care of all of the internal private subdivision roads in perpetuity. SOLUTION: B Move Road H the middle level road to the mauka end of the Malulani Gardens subdivision. Brian Cook the developer of Malulani Gardens has a one-acre parcel that could be purchased by Stanford Carr. I believe this could solve many problems, access, water and future connectivity as desired by the planning department. This would also prevent division of our community. Joel Gimpel, Chair, Public Affairs says, "the right of way for a crossover to Malulani gardens is admirable, but because Malulani gardens is a gated community, we doubt that access will be permitted". Mr. Gimpel also mentions Kakalina, " This corridor is contiguous through Kailua View and Kona Heights. It lines up with a I-acre Ag parcel owned by Brian Cook just mauka of Malulani Gardens and continues north to the Kona Coffee Estates parcel and on to Palani Road" What a perfect solution, we all win. ISSUE 3: WATER Water is a huge issue in Kona. Malulani Gardens is on a "Private Water System". We were promised that when future development occurred we would be hooked up to the County Water System. This is one condition that CANNOT be negotiated. That promise must be fulfilled. SOLUTION: Right now we are not sure where the water for the Kona Coffee Estates is coming from. Several plans have been put forth none as of this date seem to be solidified Please inform us with a real plan not just "maybes". ISSUE 4: TRAFFIC Traffic is a huge issue if you are in the Kona Crawl everyday. SOLUTION: Do a new traffic study that is not paid for by the developer. The stretch of highway between Henry Street and Nani Kailua needs to be widened before we put more cars into the system. GENERAL COMMENTS: Gated communities are known to extend the life of the land as the Homeowners Association enforces the Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions that all have to abide by. It is cheaper for the County as they are not responsible for the upkeep of the private road system. Wait for the Kona Community Development Plan before we do more damage that will be hard to correct. Work on the infrastructure. There are a lot of bright minds around to help. Sincerely, Adele DeCuyper