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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0313.001 2018-2020 Harry Kim :•4o0/517oF M'''' Michael Yee Mayor :l • _ -- \\,6A Director Wil Okabe • rss, Duane Kanuha Managing Director oc wo: Deputy Director .•••••• TE OF•Nr - West Hawai`i Office East Hawai`i Office 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Hwy •`• 101 Pauahi Street,Suite 3 Kailua-Kona,Hawai`i 96740 County of Hawaii Hilo,Hawai`i 96720 Phone(808)323-4770 Phone(808)961-8288 Fax(808)327-3563 PLANNING DEPARTMENT Fax(808)961-8742 May 21, 2019 cld mac CF !.; ov o Aaron S.Y. Chung, Council Chair and Members of the County Council _- County of Hawai`i 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, HI 96720 Dear Chair Chung and Council Members: SUBJECT: Change of Zone Application (REZ 19-000234) Request: A-20a to A-5a Applicant: Leonard and Marianne Freeman Tax Map Key: 3-5-004:030 In regards to the Windward Planning Commission letter dated May 20, 2019 concerning the above-reference matter, attached please find a copy of the draft transcript for the May 2, 2019 hearing for your information. Should there be any questions, please contact Jeff Darrow at 961-8158. Sincerely, MICHAEL YEE • Planning Director Comm. No. �•� Rte•To: _ LFreemanREZ19-234wpctranscript Ref.Date MAY 2 2 26/9 Enclosures www.hiplanningdept.com Hawaii County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer planning@a,hawaiicounty.gov • WINDWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAII HEARING TRANSCRIPT MAY 2, 2019 r A_regularly advertised hearing on the application of LEONARD AND MARIANNE FREEMAN (REZ 19-000234) was called to order at 10:09 a.m. in the County of Hawaii Aupuni Center Conference Room, 101 Pauahi Street, Hilo, Hawaii with Chairman Joseph Clarkson presiding. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Gilbert Aguinaldo, Dean Au, Joseph Clarkson, Thomas Raffipiy, John Replogle. ABSENT &EXCUSED: Donn Dela Cruz. ALSO PRESENT: Michael Yee (Planning Director), Malia Hall (Deputy Corporation Counsel for the Windward Planning Commission), Jeff Darrow (Planning Program Manager), Maija Jackson(Planner), Christian Kay(Planner), Jessica Andrews,-(Planner), and Sarah_Hata-Finley (Commission Secretary). And 10 members from the public in attendance APPLICANT: LEONARD AND MARIANNE FREEMAN (REZ'19-000234) Application for a Change"of Zone from an Agricultural-20 acres(A-20a) to an\Agricultural-5 'acres (A-5a) zoning district for approximately 1"1.57 acres of land. The subject property is located on the northwest side of Kihalani Homestead Road, about 0.90 miles from its intersection with Hawai`i Belt Road (Highway 19), Kihalani Homesteads,North Hilo, Hawaii, TMK: (3) 3- 5-004:03.0 . . CLARKSON: The next item on the agenda is anapplication from Leonard and Marianne Freeman, a rezone application =Please proceed with your presentation when you're ready, Maija. JACKSON: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Chair Clarkson, can we request a five-minute recess? CLARKSON: Certainly.---:,,, JACKSON: Thank you. = CLARKSON: The Chair declares a five-minute recess. We will resume in five minutes at approximately 10:16. Chairman Clarkson called a recess at 10:10 a.m., and the meeting was reconvened at 10:18 a.m. CLARKSON: We're back in session. The next item on the agenda, Item No. 2 is a rezone application from Leonard and Marianne Freeman. Maija, if you would— 1 • JACKSON: —Thank you, Mr. Chair. Appreciate it. So, the next application is located in the North Hilo District between the towns of Laupahoehoe and Papa`aloa. You can see Laupahoehoe Point on the top of the slide, and the subject property is outlined in red in the middle of the slide. So, here you have the Hawaii Belt Road, and then off of that to access the property, you would take Kihalana [sic], I'm sorry, Kihalani Homestead Road up to the subject property. ' The Applicant is requesting a Change of Zone from Agricultural–20 acres to Agricultural–5 acres in order to subdivide the 11:47-[11.57] acre property into two lots. Two lots is the maximum number of lots that can be created with Agricultural 5acre zoning should the Change of Zone request be approved. There are currently two farm dwellings on the property =One is considered a first farm dwelling, and the other is an additional farm dwelling. There's also an agricultural storage building on the property. And, the Applicant's purpose for this rezone is to create the 2 lot subdivision for estate planning purposes. They will continue to reside inn one of the homes. The property is also currently being used for cattle grazing. So, this is the Applicant's proposed site plan. You have Kihalani Homestead Road on the right side of the slide, and there are two houses. This,is the farm dwelling, and this house here is the additional farm dwelling, and then closerto the,road is the agricultural storage structure. There are two existing driveways from the road:- One is located in this area, and then another one is located near the farm dwelling on the makai side of the property. So the Applicant is just proposing a 2-lot subdivision. This is the general location herein the middle of the proposed lot line division. So, there would be one house on each lot should the Change of Zone and subdivision be approved The County zoning forthe property is Agricultural 20 acres. That's shown in the dark green color. Last year, mid to-late-last-Year, the Planning-Commission approved or recommended a favorable;recommendation•for a Change of Zone, and the County Council approved a Change of Zone for this lot directly across=the street-which was previously zoned Agricultural–20 acres. So, the current Applicant is proposing to do the same. The General Plan designation for the property is Important Agricultural Land which is shown in the light green, and the StateLand Use District of the surrounding area and the property is Agricultural. This is an aerial view of the property. You have the Kihalani Homestead Road running through the top and bottom of the`slide and then the farm dwelling with the red roof.located here. Additional farm dwelling with the white roof located here, and then the existing agricultural storage building closer to the road. These are some photos of the property. This is the more makai farm dwelling. You can see in the very back little dots. Those are the cattle that are currently grazing on the property. And 2 then this is the existing driveway to that house, and then this is the other driveway further mauka. This is to provide access to the ag storage building and the additional farm dwelling. This is a view of Kihalani Homestead Road looking mauka or west. The subject property is on the right, and you can see the roof of this house here is the location of the rezone that was done last year by the County Council. The—let me go back to this slide. So, Kihalani Homestead Road is a County-owned road, County owned and maintained. It has about 11 to 12 feet of pavement width, so it is a narrow road,but there are large, grassy shoulders. The Planning Director is recommending a favorable recommendation to the County Council for this Change of Zone request. And, that concludes my_pres_entation. I'd be happy to answer any questions. CLARKSON: Any questions for staff? If not,,will-the Applicant or their:representative please come forward? Please raise your right hand. Do,you swear or affirm totell-the truth on this matter before the Commission today? KERN: Yes. CLARKSON: Please introduce yourself and your relationship to_the application and proceed. KERN: Thank you. Zendo Kern,_Planning Consultant I'm-here representing the Freemans. Good morning, Mr. Chair,Members of the Windward-Planning,Commission, Mr. Director, Corporation Counsel;-and_all the wonderful staff of the Planning Department. Yeah, so far this is a_relatively straightforward application. Some of you saw the adjoining property_that we were in for last year. This area is comprised of multiple-sized lots from two acres, fiveacres, ten acres,,:actually'very few 20-acre parcels. Those lots were created prior to the, the majority of those lots were"created prior to the zoning, and then when the County came along with doing zoning, they said, you know, this area is Ag-20. So, it's kind of odd how a lot of the lots are smaller even though it's zoned Ag-20. In this case, I think Maija did a wonderful job with explaining;everything in the presentation. The density of two homes already exists, basically subdividing`it. So, that_density will remain within the conditions that precludes from additional farm dwelling-in there:as well. So, there's no chance of really increasing density. It will remain at the same densityand allow to be subdivided. We have reviewed the conditions and recommendation, and we're okay with those, and I'm happy to answer any questions that the Commission may have. CLARKSON: Any questions for the Applicant's representative? No? Thank you. KERN: Thank you. 3 CLARKSON: At this time, we'll take public testimony, if any. There is no one who wishes to testify on this matter apparently. At this time, I'd like to receive a motion that public testimony be closed. RAFFIPIY: So moved. AGUINALDO: I second. CLARKSON: All those in favor? COMMISSIONERS: Aye. CLARKSON: Opposed? Motion carried. Public testimony isyclosed. Is there any further discussion on this? HALL: Motion first. CLARKSON: Hm? HALL: Motion first, then discussion. CLARKSON: Oh, motion first, then discussion. Is there a motion for action? RAFFIPIY: I'll make a motion,Mr. Chairman. I move that a favorable recommendation be forwarded to the County Council on the application for Change of Zone Docket No. 19-000234 based on the Planning Director's recommendations which shall be adopted. AGUINALDO: I second. = _ CLARKSON: It's been moved and seconded. Now is there any discussion? Feel free, don't hesitate if you have a question. REPLOGLE: I sort of do. Is this leading eventuallyto breaking up ag land into—this is more for the Director I guess—into smaller and smaller pieces? Not that everybody wants to farm 20 acres, but next year,they'll5be back asking for 2-acre lots, and the next year 1-acre lots. And, Laupahoehoe will be covered with people instead of food. YEE: That's certainly not our intent that, to go there. So, first of all, we, we're very cognizant around the density issues; hence why we put the condition on not adding additional farm dwelling units. So, it's not the situation where they, they're trying to create more density, more lots that they want to sell. It clearly was for estate planning for this owner. When it comes to issues around our approach to agricultural lands on the island, it's a much larger conversation then,l could probably have here right now at this moment. But know that we're very sensitive over the uses and how we approach agricultural lands on this island, and it is a big question. We are'very attuned to important ag lands and often you see in 4 the background report, we address what, you know, what the ag lands are designated for and being thoughtful about the uses being proposed for them. REPLOGLE: Thank you. YEE: That's the shortest answer I can give you in this moment. CLARKSON: I'm going to, I'm going to actually respond to Commissioner Replogle addition— please look at the map and note that when this was zoned Ag-20, the vast majority of the lots were much smaller than that. I live in a very similar area further up Hamakua with much larger parcels than this actually, and it's zoned Ag-5. I personally think-whoever did the zoning made a big mistake. An area like this with predominantly small parcels, homestead parcels, should have been zoned Ag-5, the entire area. And, I would hope that the Council in its wisdom would someday make that change,but as for now, I'm in favor of the motion. JACKSON: If I may, Chair Clarkson, add to both you and Director Yee's discussion, too. So, for this particular area, speaking to the future, there is a limitation on water availability the more mauka you go up Kihalani Homestead Road. So, there are just a few other parcels located closer to the highway that potentially could be rezoned, maybe this lot, I'm sorry maybe this lot, this lot, and this lot. But; as you go further-up the road, there is not [sic] water available for upzoning. CLARKSON: If there's no further discussion at this time,please call for the vote. JACKSON: Commissioner Raffipiy? RAFFIPIY: Aye. JACKSON: Commissioner Aguinaldo? AGUINALDO: Aye. JACKSON: Commissioner Au? AU: Aye. JACKSON: Commissioner Replogle? REPLOGLE: Aye. JACKSON: And Chair Clarkson? CLARKSON: Aye. JACKSON: Okay, the motion carries five, zero. 5 IIS The discussion ended at 10:31 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Sarah Y. Hata-Finley, Secretary Windward Planning Commission 6 I