HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0936.002 2008-2010 Page 1 of 1
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Murashige, Laura (3 2c1 / F�(. Gj.3� r
From: Fred Koehnen [fjk96720 @yahoo.com]
f'i'll Lib r1 ' -7
Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2010 1:56 PM
To: counciltestimony @co.hawaii.hi.us
Cc: jeff melrose `
Subject: Testimony for 10/19 Public Works Comm. mtg.
Councilman Guy Enriques, Chairman, and memberS of the Public Works
Committee:
My name is Fred Koehnen and I am President of F. Koehnen, Ltd., property
owner of TMKs (3) 2 -3- 004 -002, 003, and 016 in Downtown Hilo. These three
parcels are all in the Tsunami Inundation Area and therefor within the purview
of Chapter 27 of the Hawai'i County Code.
The proposed amendments to the Floodplain Management provisions appear to
be both practical and beneficial. Federal regulations group Downtown Hilo with
river -front properties throughout the country which are prone to flooding. When
the County Council adopted the 2006 amendments, I believe it was an attempt
to be in consonance with the Federal requirements. However, it is mostly
mainland river -front properties which I believe have been of most concern in
generating Federal restrictions on building within flood -plain areas, and
rightfully so. A noteworthy difference between those and the Downtown Hilo
inundation situation is the frequency at which expected flooding might occur. In
the river -front areas that can be an annual event; in Downtown Hilo tsunamis
hopefully will not average out to more than one in 25 years or so. But in
drafting regulations to confront the problem, on one - size - fits -all philosophy has
been utilized.
The proposed amendaments are a recognition that one size actually does not •
fit all. Present restrictions effectively condemn the entire frontage of Downtown
Hilo from any practical means of reinvestment and renovation. The proposed • ,,,,
amendments offer a modicum of hope to reverse that problem. The financial
risk of such reinvestment can and must be borne by the property ownerner +
undertaking it, but these amendments at least remove some of the
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impediments to getting something done. Indeed, Envision 2025, adopted by
the Council, looks toward such revitalization which is economically impossible in
our present situation.
I ask that all of you support the proposed amendments.
•
•
FRED J. KOEHNEN
Corn NQ, 93(0 . Z
Ref. To: C' PIA)
+4, bate_ CT 19 2Qig
10/14/2010