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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN HSSSC 2018/07/10 2016-2018Committee on Human Services and Social Services 12th Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii July 10, 2018 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Human Services and Social Services ORDER: was called to order at 9:03 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Ms. Maile David, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Chair Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Vice Chair Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member Ms. Karen Eoff, Member Mr. Dru Mamo Kanuha, Member Ms. Eileen O'Hara, Member Ms. Valerie T. Poindexter, Member Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Member Ms. Jennifer Ruggles, Member STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS CC)N4N4T TNT_ CATIONS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. The following individuals registered to speak and came forward when called by the Chair: Jon Olson: Comm. 975, comment. Geoffrey Last: Comm. 975, comment. CHR. DAVID: I believe that concludes our public testimony period, and I'm closing public testimony at this point. Mr. Clerk, could you please read in Communication 975. The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Communications. HSSSC-12 July 10, 2017 Comm. 975: REQUESTING UPDATE ON THE COUNTY'S PLAN FOR BUILDING OR RE -BUILDING IN THE AREAS OF LAVA ZONES 1 AND 2. From Council Members Dru Mamo Kanuha and Karen Eoff, dated June 29, 2018, requesting the Offices of the Mayor, Housing and Community Development and the Planning Department to address housing solutions for those displaced by the recent lava event. Motion to File: Mr. Kanuha moved to close file on Comm. 975. Seconded by Ms. Eoff. CHR. DAVID: Thank you very much, Mr. Kanuha. MR. KANUHA: Thank you. And mahalo, Madam Chair, for having this on your committee this morning; and mahalo for everybody for being here. I wanted to just bring everybody at the table, get more information about really what's going on and what our plans are now and into the future. So I appreciate everybody being here, and I know there's a few presentations that you wanted to make and we can go from there. CHR. DAVID: Thank you very much, Mr. Kanuha. I'd like to at this time call Director Yee and Director Ley to the table. Oh yes, and Mr. Takemoto. I just want to note that we have also in the room Housing Administrator Neil Gyotoku. So we'll allow you to do the presentation first, Director, and then I'll open it up to questions. So please identify yourselves for the record and then proceed. MS. LEY: Good morning Madam Chair, and Council Members. My name is Diane Ley, I'm the director for the Department of Research and Development. And the Mayor also asked me to lead the coordination of the team focused on recovery. Well today we're here to present you with an update on planning efforts to move forward with recovery in terms of housing. I do want to just very quickly share a bit of a larger framework that we're working on. Obviously there's the ongoing emergency operations, because this disaster is not over. FEMA is in town, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, providing both our technical and support for moving us forward with public assistance as well as individual assistance; and then we're also working on mitigation, which falls on both the emergency side as well as the longer term recovery. The transition to recovery from a disaster really includes building our communities again. And again, that includes our housing. Page 2 HSSSC-12 July 10, 2017 (Note: At this time, Planning Director Michael Yee, Research and Development Director Diane Ley, and Executive Assistant to the Mayor Roy Takemoto came forward and provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, see the DVD copy of the meeting proceeding on file in the Clerk's Office. A copy of the PowerPoint presentation is made a part of the record, see Comm. 975.1) MR. TAKEMOTO: So we know the sense of urgency. We invite any kind of input and assistance from any of you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Takemoto. Council Members, I'm going to open it up with questions if it's okay, with director. Mr. Chung, go ahead. MR. CHUNG: Thank you very much for that presentation, and thanks for all your hard work during this past month and half to two months. I just wanted to follow up on that testimony with Mr. Last, to see if there's anything that can be done. I know you touched upon it briefly, Roy. And you know, quite frankly I did get a phone call from, you know, a family that I was working with. They're actually a foster family, special license foster family, which means they're relatives of the kids who are in foster care. They had to move out from Leilani, and they gave me a call and said their volunteering evacuee's. But they weren't able to get assistance, you know, because they had to move the kids out because it's bad for them. Is there anything that can be done, I mean, in terms of the language, or is it something that's required? You guys are just following what FEMA is telling you guys to do, is there something that can be done? MR. TAKEMOTO: Yeah. No, it's just so many different factors pulling at each other. So these letters were prompted by households saying they need a letter stating it's uninhabitable in order for their insurance companies to recognize a claim for temporary relocation. So that kind of started it, and then Red Cross said they need a letter also with this uninhabitable things. But we knew that when you say that this area now is uninhabitable, then what does it mean for those who want to stay? So now the ones who want to stay are getting affected by these letters, stating it's uninhabitable. So on the one hand we're trying to help those get insurance and Red Cross, and then those who want to stay are getting impacted. So we have a meeting tomorrow to figure this all out. FEMA, SBA (Small Business Administration), the Housing Office, the Real Property Tax, and Civil Defense. We're all meeting to see what's happening. Because FEMA had told that they don't need letters. That people should register and that FEMA will send their own inspectors. We know that there are personal sensitivities, individual sensitivities, so one idea that one FEMA guy told us was that in those cases maybe they should get doctor's notes. But anyway all these kind of protocols hopefully tomorrow's meeting will resolve. Page 3 HSSSC-12 July 10, 2017 MR. CHUNG: So I could talk to you about that later on? Okay. You know, I don't have any more questions actually, and I just wanted to publicly state, you know, there's a lot of expectations of the County, you know, when you have emergency situations. And then you know, sometimes there are criticisms, and sometimes there are accolades and whatever. But from my perspective you guys are doing a terrific job, and just I wanted to congratulate all of you and thank you in that regard. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Chung. Mr. Richards, go ahead. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. And I'll echo again what Mr. Chung had said, a great presentation. Thanks for catching us up. Couple of things that I had a question on, Roy, you talked about an upcoming meeting, and Michael kind of relating where we are today. I haven't heard someone mention getting a volcanologist in to talk about Puna District, and what's going on. I realize it's looking to a crystal ball trying to figure out what's going on, but is the County meeting with someone from Volcano National Park or seeking input? Because we need some of that direction. So I ask the panel. MR. TAKEMOTO: In fact we just set up a meeting this morning with USGS (United States Geological Survey). It's tentatively scheduled for Thursday, where we are getting their input in terms of understanding the different levels of risk as applied to these different areas that I had outlined earlier, the impacted areas. So to get their input of risks in figuring out the policies for these areas. MR. RICHARDS: Okay, I think that's actually quite important as for making all these other plans. Chair, I would ask that we would be briefed on that meeting or maybe have their presentation come before us as well. Because if we're going to have to make some exemptions in changes, I think we should have an understanding what the best minds are thinking of coming forward. So I ask that. So again, thanks Roy for that one. I think, you know, this terrible situation, and I commend the County and all the Directors for what's been done so far. This does give us an opportunity to kind of reinvent and reinvent districts. I'm thinking be mindful when we're talking about walking to community centrals, economic centers, and things like that. I was able to attend a presentation put on by our Department of Transportation concerning Transportation for America, a group out of Washington D.C. And they talk about we're not going to fix our transportation problems until we fix our zoning issues, and this might be an opportunity to do that. Not that we want to have this ability to do it, but this may be a great way to kick start some of that. And so I know Michael you're very well aware of what we're talking about here, but I was thinking about that and thinking this may be a great way to kind of kick start that initiative. Also when we're talking about building the density. Page 4 HSSSC-12 July 10, 2017 Increasing, that's all part of that transportation and walking communities and all that. So I think as we have an understanding as a Council to be asked to approve some changes, I think that's all part of the conversation. The last thing I wanted to mention was we're talking about building, and Council Woman Lee Loy has mentioned in the past. And I will also raise the question that means we need to streamline our building permit processes. And I think this is also a time we can recreate the wheel and make things faster and more streamlined where we can actually get some things done. There are some projects out there where we've discussed them, that I think are out there, and we can actually do some good things. But we're going to have to get the slow process of building permits approval expedited. So with that I'll yield. I want to listen to my colleagues. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. And I think that was a great suggestion about having the USGS coming present to the Council. Because I think I've been hearing our constituents say that, you know, "We want a meeting, because we want to be updated," and I think this is a great way to do it within our meeting forums. So Ms. O'Hara, you're next. MS. O'HARA: Alright. Thank you, Chair. And thank you for putting this presentation together. So many things. Of course, you know, I'm right in the middle of it with you guys. And hearing my constituents were affected. We already had a meeting, Roy, Diane, and I, about the letters. And it's very difficult to write a blanket letter that applies to every case because every case is virtually different. And so it may be something that we need to let the homeowners, affected population, solicit and see what it is that's really needed. Another thing that's come up that I've heard is FEMA inspectors are not being allowed into Leilani to do their inspections, and this is slowing things down. Everything that I hear slows the process down, and we need to find ways to streamline and move the process forward as Mr. Richards just said. I heard that we were not doing any streamlining of permitting for accessory buildings on private lands, maybe we need to be doing that. Maybe we need to be bringing in those ohanas, so that people have roofs over their heads in a shorter term and not wait what's generally taking nine to twelve months to get a permit for a simple structure. We need to find ways to streamline and move this forward, because I hear very slow process, is what I'm hearing. It's a nice process, but very, very, slow, and our population can't handle that. And recovery isn't just about housing, it's also about rebuilding the district. It's about road building, I don't hear anything about that. It's also about redeveloping economic activity, I didn't hear anything about that. Providing housing if people don't have jobs won't do any good. They will Page 5 HSSSC-12 July 10, 2017 leave the area. And right now we lost tons of jobs in Puna, because of this eruption. A lot of people were engaged in the short term vacation rentals in lower Puna, we lost three to four hundred of those. And I've heard an estimate, for every short term vacation rental it creates at least five part time jobs. We have lost tons of jobs. And so we need to consider that as part of the rebuilding, and not just nice imagery of walkable towns. Pahoa has a lot of land within its town boundary that is not being used productively, either commercially or residential and that's something to consider. It could be expanded upon. Right now it's high in useless, well I won't say useless it's grown up in albizia trees. Maybe we can find a use for them, and remove some albizia and start some development in the area known as Pahoa Village. I don't know what the status of the Pahoa master plan is, I was going to ask Mr. Yee this when I had a minute. We were at the point of once again contracting it when this lava event happened, just like 2014. So I hope it's somewhat moving forward. Because without that plan and without the wastewater facility, that plan is supposed to address in terms of a feasibility study. We would have a hard time reconstructing, or rebuilding Pahoa and Puna area. So that has to forward sooner than later. Also didn't hear anything about education. I know we've lost at least one school site, and others have been affected. So when you're rebuilding, when you're going into the rebuilding mode it's not just about housing it's about all of these things coordinated together. And I know it's hard, and I know we have some working group started. I unfortunately haven't heard from my working group in last two, three weeks since it was created, and I hope to get a meeting going tomorrow. But we got to move a little faster to address the needs of the folks that are so impacted by this. So I'm hoping that we can get better coordination between the legislative branch and administration as we move on this rebuilding of Puna. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. O'Hara. Ms. Ruggles, go ahead. MR. RUGGLES: Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. I actually just have a couple questions. Mr. Yee, you mentioned that you were asking the remaining 290 people who haven't been permanently relocated what is their barrier, and what has been your feedback so far? MR. YEE: It's 219 and it's Parks and Rec and Office of Housing, I believe, that are conducting the surveys. They've only just started, so I really can't say. I don't know if Roxcie has anything she could add, I'm not even sure she has the information yet on the surveys. So if you don't mind, Roxcie? MS. RUGGLES: Yeah, thank you. Page 6 HSSSC-12 July 10, 2017 (Note: At this time Parks and Recreation Director Roxcie Waltjen came forward to address the members of the Committee.) CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Director Waltjen. State your name for the record. MS. WALTJEN: Roxcie Waltjen, Parks and Recreation Director. As of yesterday we have a total of 219 people that have been displaced and they are—we have about 35 of them are at Kea`au and the rest of them are at Pahoa. Every day we have people that are moving out, that are getting placed into micro units or different housing, various alternatives, okay. Some of them are moving into rental units, some of them are moving back to the mainland, some of them are purchasing property and getting plans going to build a new property. Some of the farms, I've individually talked to some of farmers who have lost land down there. And they have already purchased property in Orchidland, and they'll be starting their farm up there. I was quite surprised to see how they were very resourceful, because the minute everything started breaking out and they were told hey, it's headed your way, they moved a lot of their property, a lot of their plants and their farming things out of the area. They moved them and they immediately applied with the Small Business Administration and they got grants, they got low interest rate loans. The SBA also gives out homeowners loans, okay. I think it's like 3.6 percent interest, 30 year fixed-rate a loan. So if they go to the recovery center all these agencies are set up over there and you just go to site, to site, to site, to site. Don't go in with the mindset that you're not going to qualify, just hit everyone and see what happens. Couple of people that I came across down inI went down to Rozett's Nursery, because the Kapoho Palms had an annual sale. And since I was looking for some palms, I went down there and bought all my palms from her. And she's the one who gave me the inside about the different farmers, what they all got together they went down and they applied for loans. They got their loans, they got some of their insurance money already and they are already making their move to Orchidland. In addition to that, last week Thursday and Friday we had FEMA, Hope Services, and Housing went to the Kea`au shelter and they talked to every single member there. There was 100 percent of compliancy. All of them were interviewed. And we found out what barriers were preventing them from moving on to transitional housing, or what were their needs. So all of that has been taken care of as far as Kea`au goes. For Pahoa, it's yesterday, today, and tomorrow, they will be doing the same thing. Over the weekend we had eight individuals removed from Pahoa shelter. They were trespassing and they will not be allowed back. They were found to be ineligible, they were not from any evacuation zone. In fact they were from other parts of the island. They had heard that there was a shelter opened. They had moved in and some of them were doing illegal activities. So police Page 7 HSSSC-12 July 10, 2017 were called and they were trespassed and taken out of the shelter, so we lost eight of those over the weekend. In addition to that, all our seniors got moved out of the senior center and into the micro units at the Sacred Hearts Church. There's four more of them that will be moving out tomorrow, because there was one thing that they lacked. So before they actually made the transition, our guys are going to be moving them tomorrow. Put them into their own little micro units. As you all know, the Pahoa Community Center will be used as an early voting and polling station, so that has already been cleared out. So most of the people in the Pahoa shelter are up on the upper level. Half of the tents are gone already. So people are moving on, people are energetic. However, there are some that needs to be a little bit more motivated. So that's the reason we've been having people come to them yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Well, they'll be doing the individual one to one working with them in getting their application, you know, what are the barriers that they're facing. So were getting a little bit better handle on, you know, what the status is on what it is. The reason this is like this, it's not because of a lack of caring or a lack of people not doing their job. What has happened is when this broke out, it was like we got the call at 3:45, and at 4:00 I needed a shelter opened. So anybody who walked through those doors who needed a place, the word was and the orders were we accept everyone. We weren't going to be taking applications and having them stand in line. We accepted everyone. We had cots, we had a place ready, and we had food available for them. You know, it was that fast. So by 4:30 we were operational. And when something goes on like that, and you got like 250 people walking through your doors on that first day, it's a challenge. And just having that 24-hour thing going on. In addition to that, just so that you have some—you can kind of gain gage what's happened. We started out, the highest number of evacuees we had at all shelters was like 485. And as of yesterday we had 219, but I believe that the number has dropped to 180 -something this morning. But I need to verify those numbers before I actually tell you, yes, it dropped another 20 or 30. So you know, things are moving forward, and there are options. What the Planning Department is trying to do is look on more of a long term kind of thing. And that takes a little bit more knowledge, and you got to think of all the different angles. Because we don't want to be faced with the situation where we make a mistake now, and later on the road where we get them back at the shelter. MS. RUGGLES: I'm glad that I asked you. Thank you, for the update. MS. WALTJEN: You're welcome. Page 8 HSSSC-12 July 10, 2017 MS. RUGGLES: What has been a few of the barriers to rehousing that you've been hearing? MS. WALTJEN: Some of the barriers are that, some of the people that are at the shelter, number one they were not they are chronically unemployed. You know, I come from an employment that HR (Human Resources) field, and when you say that someone is chronically unemployed which means that they have a job for three months and they don't work, and then they have a job for six months and then they work. So a lot of them have been chronically unemployed. There are some people that have medical disabilities that are still at the shelter. However, most of those that have the severe medical disabilities are being placed into the micro units. There are couple of families there that didn't want to be found, so they gave us wrong information they gave us false names. And after going through and trying to work with these individuals, we found out after the fact that these were some of the barriers. So these are the people that are left. You know, most of the people that checked into the shelter the first few weeks stayed for a couple of nights, moved out and moved on, you know, and are working towards a more permanent state. There are some that was in a rental situation, and cannot find affordable rental units. So that's the issue. MS. RUGGLES: Great, thank you. MS. WALTJEN: So it's a lack of availability of the appropriate—where it can fit their means, yeah. MS. RUGGLES: Yes, thank you. And overall do we have an estimate of how many people have been displaced? MS. WALTJEN: I can only tell you, or verify what you know. Our total number was 485 at the shelters, but you know, there's a lot people that did not come to the shelters. They lived with family, they had other houses, you know, so it's really hard for me to say. To quantify to give a realistic estimate on that. MS. RUGGLES: Thank you. Mr. Takemoto, do we have any estimates on many have been displaced? MR. TAKEMOTO: As of yesterday, they confirmed number of destroyed homes was 700, inaccessible is around 50. MS. RUGGLES: We don't have a head count on how many people? MR. YEE: I'll add that FEMA has had something like 2,000 folks registered, yeah. I heard that at this morning's brief. Page 9 HSSSC-12 July 10, 2017 MS. RUGGLES: FEMA had 2,000 registered? MR. YEE: Yeah. MS. RUGGLES: Wow, thank you. MR. TAKEMOTO: So the FEMA registration data is the source where we can get all kinds of information, the detailed. But that is forthcoming. MS. RUGGLES: Right, thanks. My next question is we mentioned encouraging accessory dwelling units, and you mentioned ways of streamlining the process for guest homes and ohanas. And one of those ways was streamlining the pre -approved packaged homes. Are there any other ways that you're looking at to streamline these accessory dwelling units? MR. TAKEMOTO: Okay, so this one, we want a very controlled application. So under the emergency proclamation, the Department of Health will waive the requirment to upgrade from cesspool to septic. Provided that the total number of bedrooms does not exceed five bedrooms, and there's no kitchen. So that basically means a guest house. The reason why I say we want to control it, because after the disaster ends we want to make sure those are in good places where we want them. So all those micro principals that I mentioned earlier, that is the target areas where we want to direct these exempt guest houses, too. MS. RUGGLES: Yeah, we want them in alignment with our development plans. We also mentioned in incentivizing long term rentals to enhance the affordable rental rate our rental class rate, what does that mean? MR. TAKEMOTO: Right now not so much in East Hawaii but maybe it is, we need to take a look. But definitely West Hawaii as an example, the affordable rental rate to qualify for that property tax class is way too low. It' doesn't make sense relative to the market rent, so we need to get that realigned better. And the other thing is to somehow incentivize the Section 8, and one idea for that is to include in the Chapter 19 that if they except Section 8 then they can qualify for that property tax class. Because Section 8 allows the landlord to rent at actually a higher rent than the rent stated the affordable rent. MS. RUGGLES: Right. MR. TAKEMOTO: Yeah. MS. RUGGLES: Right. Okay, great. Thank you. We also mentioned the restricting development in high hazards zones, and it said compensatory and regulatory. Who would be in charge of that? Page 10 HSSSC-12 July 10, 2017 MR. TAKEMOTO: The Council would have to approve that plan. That plan includes whatever tool that would be proposed, can be either or, or combination a regulatory. Compensatory would include all the acquisition, condemnation, land exchange kind of ideas. Whereas regulatory implies that they can stay there under certain conditions. MS. RUGGLES: I see. And who would be presenting that plan to us? MR. TAKEMOTO: If we form this redevelopment agency it would be that agency, I think there's a board that would run this agency pretty much. MS. RUGGLES: And we would approve of the numbers? MR. TAKEMOTO: Yes. MS. RUGGLES: I see, great. And my last question isI really appreciate the amounts of effort that the administration has been putting into engaging the community like Mr. Yee mentioned. And for tonight's meeting you guys are going to get feedback from the community. My question, does the community know that this would be a focus of this meeting? MR. TAKEMOTO: No. But, I'm not sure what you mean by focus, because this is more like an experiment. So big turnout is not necessary, if it works and we plan to use this tool in other meetings where it would be highly publicized. MS. RUGGLES: I see. Okay good. Because I didn't know about it till now, otherwise I would have put the word out there for everyone to get involved. But now that I know this is kind of a trial. Okay, great. Please keep us posted, us Puna Council Members posted, so that we can help get the community engaged in the way that's most helpful moving forward. Alright that's all I have, thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Ruggles. Ms. Eoff, go ahead. MS. EOFF: Mr. Richards had his light on first, I don't know if his comment was relevant to something that was MR. RICHARDS: I was going to make a shout out, so go ahead. MS. EOFF: Okay, thank you. Well basically I wanted to thank the administration, and all of these department heads for being here today preparing an update for us. It's kind of so clear now that there's not only the short term reactions that you need to be concerned with and taking care of, but the long term planning and the opportunities for redevelopment. It's kind of really great that some of you have been immersed in these kinds of thinking processes for so long, Page 11 HSSSC-12 July 10, 2017 because it seems like you're able to come together now and expedite these ideas. Because now we need implementation at a more rapid rate than ever before. But I see that some of the solutions will apply to the larger need of our whole island in the future. So I'm really pleased to know that your skills and expertise is now being applied to this situation currently. Is there anything besides, you know, maybe use of our contingency funds going forward in some way, or is there anything that Council can be doing to help more in our own districts? I know that we're focused on Pahoa and the Puna area, but there's definitely things other districts are able to do to help. MS. LEY: Thank you for that question. It's a good one. This is Diane Ley from Research and Development. You know, I think that this is just a start of a dialog, we've been running pretty fast both with response to the emergency and now with standing up. Learning the details of the Federal recovery process, and how that integrates through the State and down to the Counties. We absorbed a lot, we still have a lot to learn and kind of filter. As we say, we still need to stand up, you know, a more engaged dialog with the Puna communities as well as the broader communities. So we'll be I think continuing to move forward on that, you know, we got other components that are ongoing in terms of response. I appreciate the interest in the Council in hearing from experts such as US Geological Survey that will help inform future decisions that you will all need to make; as well as our ongoing efforts to coordinate with some of the micro economies that have been hit very hard. And our work with the visitor sector, and agriculture sector to hear what their needs are and address some of them in the short term. So there maybe opportunities for small initiatives with Council contingency funds. And in all of those areas, and I think there's been some effort to date on specific initiatives along those lines. Again, going forward there's going to be immediate needs, there' going be intermediate and long terms needs, and so we're going to be in this for the long haul. It's not going to be fixed overnight, the issues is not just Puna's issue to resolve but there is this island as well as the State. But you know, we got good strong partners, so I think as we lean into this and we learn more about the opportunities. Opportunities to bring Federal resources maybe to address schools that we lost, figure out which roads we do want to replace and which roads we want to leave close. What do we want do with those areas that have been impacted, do we want to go back into them or do we leave them as open spaces or wild spaces. You know, there's lots of questions to answer, and you folks as policy makers are going to be heavily involved. Thank you. Page 12 HSSSC-12 July 10, 2017 MS. EOFF: Thank you, and thanks again. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Eoff I'm going to go to Mr. Richards, then to Ms. Lee Loy, and then Ms. O'Hara. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. And this is, actually I said this before and I'd be remiss if I didn't. Roxcie, to your department, Parks and Recreation, if any of the Council Members haven't been to any of the shelters, I've been going initially twice a week, and then I throttled back about once a week as things sort of settled in. Mayor, excellent choice as far as directing the shelters, I know it's a little bit outside of the box but as everybody knows that's where I spend most of my time. The way they handled these shelters was outstanding. And I visited the shelters, and they were always clean. I would talk to people, I started to look at animals. Director asked me to go in and offer some veterinary oversight. But I was talking to people too, and I was checking with the same people week after week. They're being well cared for, their facility is being kept very, very clean. And very unique allowing animals and pets to accompany, Mayor, that was good call. I know it wasn't popular with some, but good call. And I just wanted a big shout out to Parks and Rec, because they did a phenomenal job managing something that was very, very different and they did a great job. So I had to say that, Roxcie. Way to go. And to Moe, between the two of you guys you did an outstanding job. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you for that, Mr. Richards. Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. To Ms. Ley, yes, we're in it for the long haul, it's not a sprint, it's not a marathon, it's even bigger than a triathlon at this point and we haven't even gotten in the water. I did want to share, and kind of go through my thoughts as it was presented to me. So Mr. Yee, you know, you mentioned some of the guiding principles, and I really clung on to the leveraging of the opportunities. I was wondering if there was any type of asset-based information that we had. Because we're going to have to leverage so many different organizations, you know, infrastructure: housing, or water, or sewer. Do we have any asset-based information, so we could actually guide some of these opportunities in specific areas? Because the infrastructure is ready to handle it, or closer to ready then trying to develop brand new infrastructure. MR. YEE: Very good question. I would say no, I don't have like a list that's written down. I think in multiple conversations, we have about multiple different issues. Something is always brought up that would be added to that list. In terms of financing assets, in terms of infrastructure, certain projects that are being planned and how can we help with those plans with infrastructure investment? I Page 13 HSSSC-12 July 10, 2017 would say as we move further into this process, you know, we'd probably have that list in hand. But for now, no, I don't have a complete list. MS. LEE LOY: And that's fine. I mean, that's just one more thing. Oh, Ms. Ley. MS. LEY: If I may, just an observation. One of the things that has really run through for many people who have been spending a lot of time at the Emergency Operation Center and meeting together and working together, is we've seen people come together. That is true of our island, people want to work together. But some of the traditional barriers, or maybe log jams are starting to dissolve. So I think that even though there's not a specific list, right now. I think there's the knowledge base there, and there's a willingness to work together. And I think that's what's going to make the big difference. MS. LEE LOY: I absolutely agree. I mean, I'm in one of those stakeholders meetings. And one thing I took away from that meeting, is that we can't be paralyzed by those barriers anymore. We have to let them go, and we have to think differently. And that was really empowering to that group to say, okay, we can be outside the box a little bit. My next question was related to future considerations of Lava Zones 1 and 2, and then maybe this is a question for Mr. Takemoto. You had land use tools, condemnation, land use district zone amendments, transfer of development rights. I wanted to understand what transfer of development rights meant. MR. TAKEMOTO: Right now that too is very academic. There's State statue enabling, we don't have the enabling ordinance level. So we would require all those steps before we even use it. But there is other ways we can use the concept, so if we condemn here, we've got to give an opportunity here to buy it at a price point where the compensation pay here can be afforded here. So that's basically transferring development rights. But if you want to get into the real technical part of transferred development rights, it's creating more density one area whether it's by rezoning or whatever. Identifying a sending area, where you're going to down zone a restricted development. Where you don't want development to go anyway, and then you send the rights to the receiving area of the high redensity. So that was basically the concept that I was explaining for like the Kea`au possibility, where we would create the value with entitlements and possibly infrastructure investment. And then capture it back, and then use that captured value as the means to exchange or transfer rights from the impacted area to this developed area. MS. LEE LOY: I like that. You mentioned Chapter 1-71, which is the redevelopment, have we looked at Chapter 201-H as an option for affordable housing and expediting those permitting processes. And maybe not necessary in Kea`au, but in other areas across the island. Because I think that one piece that Page 14 HSSSC-12 July 10, 2017 I'm hopeful for is like a migratory housing piece, where if we were to create a nice 201-H project maybe in Waikoloa we could re -stabilize the workforce and not put a lot of pressure on our Mass Transit System, which is struggling right now. Is that an option for one of these land use tools to explore? MR. TAKEMOTO: Okay, so yeah, the short answer is yes. But we may not need it, because 201-H basically the advantage is that you can do code exemptions. But under HRS -53 which is the redevelopment agency applied for disaster, they would have the power to do exemptions. But the redevelopment agency functions within a target area, right, so if you want to leverage the situation to island -wide beyond the impacted area, beyond the jurisdiction of the redevelopment agency, then yes, definitely 201-H is the means to do that. And we should be looking island -wide and accelerating, using this disaster as an opportunity as you say to bust through the barriers and just get things happening. MS. LEE LOY: Absolutely. I mean we're looking at a community, but we have to look at our island and leverage its entire assets. Have we looked at actions to quiet title, or quick claims for other properties? MR. TAKEMOTO: Not sure what you mean by that. MS. LEE LOY: I guess there's a number of properties out there where there are a number of land owners, and maybe one particular landowner would want to try and do something but because there's so many on title if the County would assist with those actions to quiet title. So that there would be an opportunity for one landowner to provide housing. MR. TAKEMOTO: Never thought about that one, so maybe afterwards you can bring some examples. MS. LEE LOY: Oh, this might be a question for Mr. Yee. Stale subdivisions, have we looked at all the various subdivision applications that we have, that had been sitting still. And have not been able to move through their conditions of approval, and look for opportunities to accelerate that process. MR. YEE: When the event first started, yes, I did pull some stale ones to see what the holdup was. Had conversations, you know, like for one example with Hank Correa. Just to ask him what the holdup was, and then as the event unfolded more it was kind of put on hold. A lot of the stale ones were certainly not in the Puna region, so trying to make a policy decision right then at that time to expedite projects outside of Puna was not a direction I wanted to go at that time. We could always pick that up as we move forward. Page 15 HSSSC-12 July 10, 2017 MS. LEE LOY: And finally, if we are leveraging community partners, one thing I did hear is that Zoning Code. And I have individuals outside of the County, including the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, who stand ready for a complete overhaul of Chapter 25. And are willing to put together the various pieces, so we can have a better and more succinct Zoning Code and get that piece ready as we move through some of these other housing opportunities. So that's my offer to you folks. Thank you all for being here, I appreciate all of the conversation. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. I'm going to go to Ms. Poindexter right now, and then finally Ms. O'Hara. MS. POINDEXTER: And I want to thank all of the departments, and everyone involved. Because I think we definitely are doing a good job, so thank you, Mayor, for heading this. The one thing that I wanted to talk about is rebuilding that community. When you talked about doing something where there'll be a walkable community, you know, blue zoning it. But I'd also like you to consider like assistant living communities, or villages for our kupuna. And I say that because a lot of them of course, it's not only for the kupuna, but disabled people as well. Because those villages will create jobs, because you need your nurse's aids, you need maintenance people, you need people cooking. So if you talk about economic development, well you're building that community, and we want our people to age in place. A lot of people don't want to leave Puna, they want to rebuild. They don't want to relocate. So I really believe in looking at assisted living, or even independent living villages that would create opportunity for economic development. So I'll yield at this time, thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Poindexter. And Ms. O'Hara, I'm going to hopefully end with you and move on with the agenda MS. O'HARA: Yeah, I just have a couple short questions. CHR. DAVID: Thank you. MS. O'HARA: I didn't hear anybody bring up the lava viewing site, it keeps coming and being tossed around. Business in Pahoa are suffering badly, and they are begging, begging for this. Even if it's just bringing people in to do shuttle tours, where they never leave the shuttle and they stay on County or State highways. It would really tremendously help to bring people into Pahoa town right now, so can somebody speak to that what the status is and what the holdup is? MS. LEY: Yes. We have been, I believe for about six weeks now exploring alternatives to lava viewing. And multiple sites have been overrun by lava, on an Page 16 HSSSC-12 July 10, 2017 almost daily basis. Eligible candidates become overrun by lava, it spills out of the channel. There was a whirlwind one day that was splashing lava, there are seepage that comes out of the walls of the channel. There are issues with hazardous fumes, as well as laze. And so we have been really challenged, I believe we looked at six different sites. And it's just been an ongoing challenge, and I understand the frustration. The administration understands the frustration, we put a lot of time and effort into this. And there really are a lot of extreme safety issues to address. We've met with USGS on the issue, we met with national park for their guidance and advice. There just are no easy answers. MS. O'HARA: I understand there's no easy answers. But the public has been giving really good recommendations, which doesn't seem to be heard. And that is that we don't need a physical lava viewing site. What we need is to allow certain tour companies to conduct a lava viewing. They bring the people to Pahoa, and we have parking, bus parking. And let them go out to see the lava do a 20 minute MR. CHUNG: Madam Chairman? CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Chung. Point of Order: MR. CHUNG: You know, just a point of order. I see Mayor Kim coming up here, but we have a lot of people in the audience. And I'm anticipating a lot of testimony for our next meeting. Maybe this is something that could come up later, because it doesn't deal with housing issues, yeah. I mean that's what we have on the table, and you know, under normal circumstances we could let this go. But I think it's better if we just move on. CHR. DAVID: Thank you for that, I was just thinking the same thing. And I was going to ask Ms. O'Hara if she would be willing to discuss this further with the departments. MAYOR KIM: On that, let me respond. CHR. DAVID: Yes, Mayor Kim. MAYOR KIM: I promise all of you, I promise the community that we have been looking at this for a long time. Our priority first has to be the residents that we are in charge of, and I'm looking at these three people that are working seven days a week on their regular job. But to create a safe viewing area is a high priority thing, I'm glad Diane didn't say that they picked one and I just turned it down. Because the USGS concern of fumes, and would approve only one bus at a time, one per hour like. And that was so impractical. So I'll close with you, because I know you have a very busy agenda. But that is high priority for us, we're working on it. Page 17 HSSSC-12 July 10, 2017 CHR. DAVID: Appreciate it, Mayor. Thank you very much. And before we go, I do have one—oh, Mr. Kanuha, you go first and then I do have one question. MR. KANUHA: Thank you. Just briefly, you know, Karen and I brought this communication forward because we just wanted to talk story with the administration. Get an idea of really what you're Looking towards the short term, intermediate and long term impacts of housing. Not only for Puna, I mean that's the number one thing that we really have to focus on, but this is an opportunity to look at the entire island. Before this eruption we had issues with affordable housing, workforce housing, and this eruption kind of exasperated that entire problem. So we thought it was a great opportunity to engage with you guys on how we can work, coincide work with you guys on these specific issues. And if there's legislation that we need to bring forward, we're here to work with you guys. So please don't ever hesitate to give any of us a call, we'll be there to help in any way possible. So again, you know, mahalo for you guys' being here, and mahalo for Mayor Kim, your administration, the amount of work that you guy are doing. We really, really can't thank you guys enough. So with that I'll yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kanuha. I'm going to make this really short, because we are pressed for time. Because we're discussing housing and the options that are available, and thank you so much for your presentation. I see Mr. Gyotoku in the audience, would you come forward for just a minute. I just want to know, could you just brief us on what the Housing Administration ties in with the efforts of the Planning Director on potential housing opportunities to address this emergency situation. Thank you. Identify yourself for the record. (Note: At this time, Housing Administrator Neil Gyotoku came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. GYOTOKU: Neil Gyotoku, Housing Administrator. In the past few weeks my office has been dealing mostly with the damage assessments. We process the damage assessments, and yesterday we had 700 homes. But in likes of what you're asking that we continue to work on affordable housing, especially in the Waikoloa district. The issue on Waikoloa has been the unexploded ordnances, and we're very close to clearing it up. I have three projects that we'll soon be processing to be built in the Waikoloa area. We're also working with two different affordable housing people, developers in the East Hawaii. I've worked with Mr. Takemoto in us trying to develop Mayor Kim's vision of developing a community in Puna. We're talking about with different developers as far bringing in some type of community in the Puna area outside the danger zone. Page 18 HSSSC-12 July 10, 2017 CHR. DAVID: I see. Okay, great. And I think what you're working on right now is making use of the emergency funding, also to get your units that are in need of repair. And I assume those would be available to people, in this emergency situation. MR. GYOTOKU: Yes. Also, my office as was discussed earlier is working with the people at the shelters doing housing survey assessments. I did have a number that they surveyed, the 495 families or persons are in need of some type of housing assistance, whether it's rentals—so we're kind of analyzing those people to see if they qualify for housing vouchers, to see if we can get more monies. I've been talking with HUD (Housing and Urban Development) to try and see if we can get more funding. We do have vouchers out there, but it's the funding to pay for the housing assistance is a problem. CHR. DAVID: Okay. And thank you very much. Because I think what everybody is alluding to is that because of the emergency situation, that we can manage and leverage some of this funding to make you better able to quicker process or provide homes so we can house our people that are affected by this emergency. So thank you very much for your input. And I want to thank Director Yee, Director Ley and your department, and Mayor's Administration. So with that thank you, gentlemen, and for all the work you guys do. Council Members, all those in favor of filing communication 975 please say Ic aye. Vote on Comm. 975: The motion to close file on Comm. 975 was carried by the Filed following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, Eoff, Kanuha, Lee Loy, Poindexter, Richards, Ruggles, and Chair David — 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member O'Hara — 1. Excused: None. CHR. DAVID: Motion to adjourn, please? Page 19 HSSSC-12 July 10, 2017 ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 10:45 a.m., Ms. Poindexter moved to adjourn MENT: the meeting. Seconded by Ms. Eoff and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, Eoff, Kanuha, Lee Loy, Poindexter, Richards, Ruggles, and Chair David — 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member O'Hara — 1. Excused: None. CHR. DAVID: Committee on Human Services is now adjourned. Mahalo. Approved: Human Services and Social Services Committee MD/rk (Date) Page 20