HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0485.004 2012-2014 HAWAII COUNTY COUNCIL HEARING —WEST HAWAII CIVIC CENTER
Tuesday, December 3, 2013 @ 9:00 am COUNTY CLERK
COUNTY OF HAWAI'I
RECEIVED
Re: Hualalai Partners, LLP, Time 9:w0.r BY
Date /2/.ai,3
Rezoning Request from Agriculture to Urban R-15
I am Ed Schulman and a 23-year resident of Hualalai Colony. I
previously addressed the Leeward Planning Commission on this matter at
both its July 18th and September 26th 2013 hearings and expressed my
concern on a singular issue: PUBLIC SAFETY; specifically, the impact of
continued development along the Hualalai Road corridor linking the
Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway with its mauka communities. That concern
remains unabated. Indeed, much to my surprise the Chair of the Leeward
Planning Commission readily acknowledged at the September 26th
hearing that she was personally unfamiliar with Hualalai Road, its
configuration or its condition.
Hualalai Road between the Queen K. and Hienaloli Road is a
relatively narrow two-lane roadway with 8 blind curves and virtually no
shoulder access in cases of emergency. All parties to this matter as well
as the Planning Department and the Leeward Planning Commission
agree this is a substandard road. During heavy rains I have personally
experienced flooding conditions with water and debris pouring onto
Hualalai Road from adjacent properties. On several of such occasions
public safety personnel were called to control and redirect traffic in both
mauka and makai directions.
Comm. No. 8`s'
Ref. To: P/PC-
Ref.Ref. Date DEC 3 *u1
HAWAII COUNTY COUNCIL
DECEMBER 3, 2013/WEST HAWAII
PAGE TWO
Hualalai Road is not only used by local residents but also by
tourists and cyclists as well as by public and private service personnel
including fire, police, and emergency medical. Over the years several
accidents have resulted in vehicles careening over its makai
embankment.
Hualalai Partners LLP's request for rezoning will open the door for
an additional 43 residential lots as to that parcel alone. Considering an
average of 2 vehicles per household making at least 1 round trip per day
up and down Hualalai Road, that translates to 172 additional daily vehicle
trips. Given the three (3) other proposed developments contiguous to
Hualalai Partner's project, all of which should be taken into account when
considering the current rezoning application, the projected vehicular
impact could be upwards of 800+ additional vehicle trips per day NOT
INCLUDING service and emergency personnel utilized by these new as
well as existing residents along this corridor. I would direct the Council's
attention to former planning director Chris Yuen's letter to the Leeward
Planning Commission dated September 23, 2013)
HAWAII COUNTY COUNCIL
DECEMBER 3, 2013/WEST HAWAII
PAGE THREE
Responsible planning demands that BEFORE rezoning approval is
given to this project that the developer provide the commission with a
detailed roadway safety design for the development's ingress to and
egress from Hualalai Road including improvements to Hualalai Road,
and that such a design be prepared by a Hawaii State licensed
roadway civil engineer. Of course, any such study must be reviewed,
verified and approved by the County's own roadway safety engineers.
To my knowledge, no such study has been undertaken by the
developer, let alone one which would create an exit lane from Hualalai
Road into its development without causing traffic to congest or create
unsafe conditions. Similarly, how will residents of these new communities
safely merge onto Hualalai Road from their respective developments?
The developer's TRAFFIC IMPACT STUDY, dated January 2012,
fails to address these safety concerns. It simply guesstimates the
number of vehicles utilizing Hualalai Road during various times of the day.
That is not a "safety study" which takes into account the design and
configuration of ingress and egress access points. A telling feature of that
study's limited assessment can be gleaned from its stated purpose and
objectives as set forth on page its page 1 as well as it's "Analysis of
Existing Conditions" and "Physical Characteristics" on page 5. The only
ingress from and egress to Hualalai Road from the development noted in
HAWAII COUNTY COUNCIL
DECEMBER 3, 2013/WEST HAWAII
PAGE FOUR
the developer's study is a location "approximately 400 feet makai of
Hienaloli Road." That access was based on the developer's asserted
right of way to "Candy Cane Lane" which, according to the owner of that
parcel, is not currently nor has it ever been available to the developer.
When confronted by that revelation at the Leeward Planning
Commission's September hearing counsel for the developer indicated that
his client had been "mistaken" when it represented to both the Planning
Department and Leeward Planning Commission its easement/right-of-way
to that purported access road.
Another important omission from the developer's study, and which
the study itself readily acknowledges on page 5, is that "pedestrian
traffic and/or bicycle travel were not considered in this study"
because Hualalai Road "has no paved shoulders and no sidewalks" and
"[t]he speed limit is 30 mph". The fact remains that cyclists and
occasional pedestrians —walkers and hikers — continue to use Hualalai
Road between Queen K. and Holualoa.
As we also know, the intersection of Hualalai Road and QUEEN K.
has NO signal light. A single stop sign and the Aloha spirit is all we have
to protect us as we enter and leave the area.
HAWAII COUNTY COUNCIL
DECEMBER 3, 2013/WEST HAWAII
PAGE FIVE
As I stated at the outset, my concern is one of public safety.
If these new proposed developments with their increased densities are
allowed to feed into and be accessed from Hualalai Road then there will
be traffic safety issues for the County to deal with in future in the form of
court actions for personal injury and or wrongful death. Any plaintiff's
lawyer worth their salt will have sufficient evidence of NOTICE to the
county of such hazzards if the Council approves the developer's rezoning
application as currently submitted.
41,
Edward H. Schulman
P.O. Box 1750
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
rezoning.3