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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0060.002 1996-1998 HENRIQUES: Yes, I do. CHAIRMAN: Thank you. Please state your name and resident address, and if you received the Background and Recommendation Reports. HENRIQUES: My name is Robert J. Henriques, P. O. Box 3127, Kailua-Kon~~~~r~5. I have received the Recommendation. Time.-.-------r - RY-----------'----'--. Date------- ~ ~ - CHAIRMAN: Thank you. County Council /v - ,f, ~'C KASHIWA: My name is Gregg Kashiwa, 5375 Kalanianaole Highway, Honolulu, Hawaii. I have received the Recommendation. CHAIRMAN: Thank you. Do you have anything else you'd like to testify to at this time? KASHIWA: Not at this time. CHAIRMAN: Okay, then we'll ask you to take a seat back and get public testimony. Will the three people who raised their hand please come forwazd. Please state your name and resident address. E. KRIEG: Eric Krieg, 73-4265 Mamalahoa Highway or Hawaii Belt Highway. CHAIRMAN: Please testify. E. KRIEG: Well, I represent the property just east of the subject property, and I have some questions on how the development is going to be carried out. First of all, on the metes and boundaries, there's a 4.131 acre discrepancy, and it hasn't been pointed out how this property has gone from I1 acres to 15 acres. You know, how does the boundary change? How does the boundary change due to the surveying? We can see that the east, the south and the Mamalahoa Highway seem to check out, but the north boundary may be in question. As to the size and extreme narrowness of the property, it does not seem to lend itself to any sort of a profitable ag enterprise if broken down into five three-acre lots. The property is only 260 to 300 feet wide by a little over 2,000 feet long. It's also a Soil Class E, which is the poorest classification for soil. On the Subdivision Codes, they want to put a road inside there. And on Subdivision Codes it states that no dead-end cul-de-sacs over 600 feet maximum should be allowed; and this property, when they put the road in, that dead-end cul-de-sac would be over 1,500 feet long. The Subdivision Codes also state that three-acre lots cannot be any less than 170 feet in width, that they take that all from one-acre lots being 130-foot minimum width, and then each additional acre adding 20 feet to that. So, right now, just for one of those acres, those three- -32- 6 0 . d2 Comae. No. Fide rE1o. 2 N GIKhI Ief Zbt PrQSented ~pe<,Qi PC. JAN 2 3 1997 acre lots being 170 feet in minimum width, you can see it would be hard. And they want to put two of those lots side by side, three-acre lots side by side. That wouldn't meet even the County's minimum Subdivision Codes. And that's not even taking into account setbacks, you know, from the roads, from the road that they intend to put in. Also, entrance to the subdivision, there's very poor line of sight; and it would require the excavation of the subject property, as well as getting easements, and excavation of the northern property hillside. These hillsides aze 30-40 feet tall, and it's going around a corner in Mamalahoa Highway, and there's poor vision on each side. Even the Police Depaztment cites that this is a concern due to the flow and the speed of the highway. The traffic studying that was done is unrealistic; and even the police study of Lune 13, 1996, states vast discrepancies and recommends an independent traffic study be done. The water to the property, there's no adequate pressure for fire or an ag enterprise of any sort. Also, I believe, to rezone, you cannot get a variance; there's, County water is not available. There is water available at the bottom of the highway, but you're dealing in a 1,700 to 2,400- foot elevation, and there is no volume or pressure. You know, the volume and pressure source has not been addressed as per the, also, Fire Depaztment and Water, and Department of Water reports. Also, to do, to get water to a property of that nazrowness, that length, and that altitude, you would have to put duplex booster stations in, you would have to put water tanks in at least 100 feet higher than the highest part of the project to get the minimum 40 pounds of water pressure to the project; and this would probably further require getting easements from east property owners to do this. The rainfall in the area for an Ag enterprise, what they deem the property is going to be used for, is 20 inches-plus in a good year, and that's from the Soil Conservation Service, not the 60 inches that they purport in their reports there. And this can also be verified by the surrounding owners. And this is not good for producing the great variety of commodities as Mr. Kashiwa or the project planners expouses to and, certainly, without, not without irrigation. The description of the property and the surrounding neighborhood, the report states no historic or archaeological features were observed. Well, there happens to be a family cemetery on site, and the property has been occupied since the early 1800s or maybe even earlier. The property was supposedly walked by Gregg Kashiwa, Project Planners, Hawaii, who is also a part owner of this project. And I was wondering what the qualifications of archaeology, ornithology, biology and so forth that he had to do this, you know. The walk took four hours, and it's kind of hard to walk through that, through the jungle that's there. And, besides, on his report, you know, they had no notice, there was no notice of certain trees, and these certain trees happen to be the biggest, most abundant trees on the property, the ohia, the silver oak, mango. So I'm wondering, if he couldn't notice these big trees, how did they notice all the smaller things? There's also no notice of feral pigs, and on any day, you can find 20-30 feral pigs in the azea. -33- And, in summation, before buying this property at auction, as they did, I think there should have been a more realistic feasibility study done of the potentials and distractions of trying to downzone from Ag-20 to Ag-3; and I don't think that downzoning to Ag-3 is the answer for this. Do you have anything to add? Would you like to add anything Joe? Also, Joe Mahi here is one of the owners of the properties azound there that have lived and, they've been living at the property forever and ever; and he can also attest to the rainfall and to the people that have lived there and the historical sites, also, on the property, the grave sites and so forth. CHAIRMAN: Would you like to testify, Mr. Mahi? MAHI: Pardon? CHAIRMAN: Would you like to testify? MAHI: No. CHAIRMAN: So you spoke for everybody? E. KRIEG: Yeah. CHAIRMAN: You covered it all? Would your wife like to testify? D. KRIEG: I just have one comment, and in their study they're saying that by putting this in that it would not change the usage of the land or change the characteristic of the neighborhood. I feel it would greatly change the characteristic of the neighborhood. Everyone that has bought into that area, we're all zoned Ag-20 and we're all conforming to that. We don't want to see this area be in a subdivision; we didn't buy into this neighborhood because we wanted to see it subdivided. We aze in Ag land because we are there to conform to Ag land. I don't, I think it would greatly change the characteristic of our neighborhood by putting this in. They're talking about five homes on such a narrow piece of property. I think it would definitely encroach on our neighborhood. CHAIRMAN: For the record, could you please state your name and resident address. D. KRIEG: My name is Donna Krieg. My address is 73-4265 Mamalahoa Highway. I'm one of the property owners just east of the CHAIRMAN: Thank you. Planning Director. GOLDSTEIN: Could you just point out your property in relationship to this one? -34- E. KRIEG: This is the subject property right here. It's directly east, just above. The subject property, that's my, directly south of the property and ...(inaudible) Hawaii Belt Highway and there's a blind curve, a mean curve in that road there which we're trying to also expouse to that, signify having to take down a whole hillside to be able to have egress and ingress into this property. There is none at this point in time. CHAIRMAN: Thank you. Is there anyone else wishing to testify on this agenda item? Please raise your right hand. Do you swear to tell the truth on this matter now before the Hawaii County Planning Commission? MCDONALD: I do. CHAIRMAN: State your name and resident address, please. MCDONALD: My name is Ruby Keaainaina McDonald, PO Box 85, Kailua Kona, Hawaii. McDonald is with an M-c, not an M-a-c. Thank you. I was just sitting back there and listening to [his, and I'm very familiar with this property and Mr. Mahi. I don't know these people, but thank you very much. I just had a chance to read what you put out for the public hearing cause I wasn't familiar with this. I just have, in the addendum to the rezoning application, I don't know if you have it, you probably do, February 19, 1996, in there it states that the property was inspected and walked by Gregg Kashiwa. In summary, it was afour-hour inspection and he observed that there were no historic sites or archaeological features. He commented on the plant life and the wild life. I'd like to know what qualifies him as an archaeologist, or botanist, or the experts that should be looking at this type of features. Cause I know for a fact, the Mormon, this is a very junk map, but the Mormon Church isn't [oo far from there, and they have a lot of burials, there are lot of cemeteries, there were a lot of features. I also sit on the State Burial Council and we've heard a lot of cases with a lot of archaeological features in that area with burials. So it's just through my own personal experience CHAIRMAN: We don't know what his qualifications are. They aren't listed. But we have the same information as you. MCINTOSH: Mr. Chairman, if I could respond to that. One of the conditions of rezoning is a full archaeological survey to be submitted to and approved by the Director. That was part of the discussion in the previous application. So, and the new Zoning Code does require a historical survey. So those issues will be addressed as part of the subdivision process. CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Commissioner McIntosh. MCDONALD: Okay, thank you. -35- CHAIRMAN: Is there anyone else wishing to testify on this agenda item? TANAKA: Mr. Chairman? CHAIRMAN: Commissioner Tanaka. TANAKA: Seeing none, move to close. ALONZO: Second, Mr. Chairman. CHAIRMAN: There's a motion by Commissioner Tanaka, and a second by Commissioner Alonzo, to close the public hearing. MIRIKITANI: Excuse me, Mr. Chairman. I do have to go over some of the changes in the conditions of approval. That's Condition G. If you could make the identical change as you did in your previous application and insert the words "and." So the sentence would read, "An archaeological study and survey of the subject property shall be submitted for review and approval by the Planning Director and the Department of Land and Natural Resources Historic Preservation Division, prior to the submittal of plans for subdivision review or any land alteration activity, whichever occurs first. The second sentence you should also insert, "Should significant or historical sites be found within the subject property which merit preservation or the implementation of mitigative measures, the applicants shall prepare and submit the archaeological preservation/mitigation plan for review and approval by the Planning Director and by the Department of land and Natural Resources-HPD prior to the issuance of Final Subdivision Approval." GOLDSTEIN: I believe that should be "in consultation with." MIRIKITANI: "In consultation with," you're right. CHAIRMAN: In consultation with. GOLDSTEIN: DLNR. CHAIRMAN: Yeah. Thank you. We have a motion on the floor to close the public hearing. All [hose in favor? COMMISSIONERS: Aye. CHAIRMAN: Oppose? Motion carried. Commissioner Tanaka? TANAKA: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Before I make my motion, I had a couple of comments. Like Commissioner McIntosh had mentioned, there are several conditions that -36- address most of the issues that you had brought up. Specifically, Condition G requires him to do an azchaeological survey. Also we had some comments about how the subdivision was going to be set up, how many roadways, the width of the lots and so forth. We have a Condition E that requires the applicant to come before the Planning Director to get subdivision approval. We also have a condition that all requirements are-met as far as the water system before he can receive his rezoning. So with that, also, Condition I addresses the issue about access onto Mamalahoa Highway, as faz as site distance and all of those requirements. He needs to meet all of that before he can proceed forward. Having said that, I'd like to make a motion, Mr. Chair, to send a favorable recommendation on the application by Robert Henriques and Gregg Kashiwa, Change of Zone Application No. 96-13, for the reasons and with the conditions as stated by the Planning Director and with the modification to Condition G as stated by staff. ALONZO: Second, Mr. Chair. CHAIRMAN: There's a motion by Commissioner Tanaka, and a second by Commissioner Alonzo, to send a favorable recommendation on Change of Zone Application 96-13, Robert J. Henriques and Gregg R. Kashiwa, for the reasons as outlined and with the change to Condition G that inserts, "by Planning Director" on the second sentence, and at the bottom of Condition G, same page, that says reviewed and approved by the Planning Director in consultation with Depaztment of Land and Natural Resources. Discussion? Roll call. MIRIKITANI: Commissioner Tanaka? TANAKA: Aye. MIRIKITANI: Commissioner Alonzo? ALONZO: Aye. MIRIKITANI: Commissioner Baker? BAKER: Aye. MIRIKITANI: Commissioner Crook? CROOK: Aye. MIRIKITANI: Commissioner Green? GREEN: Aye. -37- MIRIKITANI: Commissioner Katayama? . KATAYAMA: Aye. MIRIKITANI: Commissioner Martinson? MARTINSON: Aye. MIRIKITANI: Commissioner McIntosh? MCINTOSH: Aye. MIRIKITANI: Chairman Balog? CHAIRMAN: Aye. MIRIKITANI: Nine ayes. The motion has been carried. CHAIRMAN: Thank you. You'll be notified in writing.