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From: jeff melrose [Jeff @isleplan.com]
Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 11:46 AM
To: counciltestimony @co.hawaii.hi.us
Cc: Alice Moon; Kathleen Kosaka; Fresh Onishi; Guy Enriques; Aimee Miwa (Amy Miwa); Donald
Ikeda; Chris Bilhante; Caleb Yamanaka; Ken Melrose; Andrew Chun; Ray Robinson
Subject: HDIA Testimony on Bill 298 Revisions to ch 27
Attachments: DIA Testimony ch 270001.pdf
DIA Testimony ch
270001.pdf (1...
Please find Hilo Downtown Improvement Association's testimony attached for
tomorrow's County Council Public Works Committee meeting regarding revisions to Ch 27
(Bill 298).
We will be testifying via video from Hilo
Jeffrey Melrose
HDIA vice President
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HILO DOWNTOWN IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION
329 Kamehameha Avenue — Hilo, Hawaii 96720 — Tel. (808) 935 -8850 Fax: (808) 935 -4356
October 18, 2010
Councilman Guy Enriques
Public Works Committee Chair
Hawaii County Council
25 Aupuni St.
Hilo, HI 96720
Subject: Bill 298, Proposed Revisions to County Code, Chapter 27 Flood Management
Chairmen and Member of the Committee
My name is Jeffrey Melrose and I am the Vice President of the Hilo Downtown Improvement
Association (HDIA) and Chair of their Planning and Government Affairs Committee. On behalf
of our Board of Directors and membership we are testifying in full support of the proposed
amendments.
For more than forty years, it has been the expressed policy of the County of Hawaii to encourage
and support the revitalization of Downtown Hilo. The 1971 General Plan, and in every revision
since then, the County has emphasized the need to preserve the buildings and character in old
downtown as an iconic part of what defines East Hawaii as a unique and special place. The
Envision Downtown Hilo 2025 planning effort has renewed the County's commitment to make
downtown a long term part of what makes Hilo a great place to live, work and play.
With that as public policy background, we were surprised to find out several years ago that the
2006 amendments to the County's Ch. 27 Flood Management Ordinance essentially condemned
the entire streetscape of Kamehameha Ave and most of Ponohawai Street. Both of these two
street fronts lie within the FIRM VE line and are subject to coastal inundation from tsunami
activity. These two streets are also essentially the gateways into Downtown and where the
building are in most need of new investment to accomplish the broader commercial revitalization
that we seek.
Amendments made to Ch 27 in 2006 severely limited the amount a building owner can invest in
their structure by extending the definition of "substantial improvement" from 50 % of the value
of the building every three years to 50% every 10 years. Given the relatively low value of the
older wooden building in Downtown, 50% of their value every 10 years will barely allow an
owner to meet the costs of new ADA and fire requirements, let alone be able to substantially
invest in improvements to replace building decay, old wiring and other functional repairs. We
ask the Council to approve Bill 298 and return the investment horizon to three years, which is
still well above any minimums set by FEMA in this circumstance.
The second element of Bill 298 would remove the 50' buffer zone applied to V zones on the
FIRM maps. This is an arbitrary distance and it has nothing to do with increasing public safety.
What it does in Downtown Hilo is that it adds the impacts of Chapter 27's building constrains to
about 10 additional buildings. It also has the strategic impact of extending these constrains to the
back sides of several buildings on Keawe St that were not previously impacted by Ch. 27
conditions. This will make it significantly harder for several key landowners to reinvest in their
buildings and threatens to leave key pieces of the Keawe St. frontage to decay for lack of
reinvestment.
HDIA was not intimately involved with the process that amended Ch. 27 in 2006. In retrospect,
perhaps we should have been. That said, we are now in a circumstance that feels a bit like a
turtle in the drift net. The challenges that confront revitalization of old town commercial centers
require that we rely heavily on the ability of private sector property owners to see a future in
their properties and be willing to reinvest in their futures. The buildings and infrastructure in
Downtown Hilo has been stable for over 50 years. The FIRM line has been in place for much of
that time and we see no benefit for the County to self - inflict new regulatory constraints on
landowners who are committed to downtown revitalization.
HDIA is seeing some new interest and momentum in the revitalization of Downtown Hilo. The
proposed amendments to Ch. 27 will go a long way to removing a key barrier to that
reinvestment in some very pivotal parts of Downtown. We ask you to approve Bill 298.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify on this important matter.
Sincerely
Jeffrey Melrose
VP Hilo Downtown Improvement Association
Cc: Ray Robinson, President HDIA
Alice Moon, Executive Director HDIA