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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN PC 2019/09/03 2018-2020Committee on Planning 16th Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii September 3, 2019 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Planning was called to order at ORDER: 11:05 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Ms. Ashley Kierkiewicz, Chair. R(1T T CAT r Present: Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Chair Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Vice Chair Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member Ms. Karen Eoff, Member Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Member Ms. Valerie T. Poindexter, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: The Chair called Dwight Vicente, who registered to comment in regards to Bill 83 and Bill 84, Draft 2, and came forward when called. COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. (There were none.) ORDER OF The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Order RESOLUTIONS: of Resolutions. (There were none.) BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, ORDINANCES: Bills for Ordinances. PC -16 September 3, 2019 Bill 83: AMENDS THE STATE LAND USE BOUNDARIES MAP FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII BY CHANGING THE DISTRICT CLASSIFICATION FROM THE AGRICULTURAL DISTRICT TO THE URBAN DISTRICT AT PU`U`EO, SOUTH HILO, HAWAII, COVERED BY TAX MAP KEY: 2-6-008: PORTION OF 026 Postponed: June 18, July 23, and August 20, 2019 (Note: There is a motion by Ms. Lee Loy, seconded by Ms. David, to recommend passage of Bill 83 on first reading.) ; and CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. And if I could my colleagues attention to their pinky folder, Communication 315.14, there is a letter from the applicant's consultant, Sid Fuke, informing us that Bills 83 and 84, the applications are going to be withdrawing from further consideration. So to repeat, Bills 83 and 84, the applicant, Ed Olson's Trust is withdrawing the subject applications for this project. So procedurally, Mr. Clerk, if you could please advise us on what we should be doing. MR. BROWN: For Bill 83, because it hasn't been amended yet, the Council Member who made the motion, Ms. Lee Loy, has the ability to withdraw this bill. For Bill 84, Draft 2, however, it will have to be either a motion where it needs to move forward to Council or it could be postponed indefinitely. I believe that's the only two options at this point, for Bill 84, Draft 2. But Bill 83, which is what we're looking at right now, can be withdrawn. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: And just to clarify, for Bill 84, you're recommending those two avenues because it's been amended. MR. BROWN: Correct. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, thank you. Before I entertain a motion to withdraw, any comments? Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. I've got to say that I'm disturbed and bothered by the fact that this has been withdrawn. And I appreciate the fact that there has been some issues and concerns revolving around this piece of property. But from everything that we had brought forth and, Chair, to your credit for pushing SHPD (State Historic Preservation Division) and getting the State to get things lined up—we have a terrible housing shortage in our County. We're needing 25,000 more homes by 2025. This is a small step, but it was a step towards that, so I just had to express my concern for a County as a whole. I'm not sure why they are withdrawing, but it sure makes me suspicious of the process. So, thank you. I yield. Page 2 PC -16 September 3, 2019 CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Ms. Poindexter. MS. POINDEXTER: Yeah, and I just want to say that—you know, and I want to thank Sid Fuke and the Planning Department for coming to meet with the community last week, and I think they left with a good understanding. I want to thank the Olsons' and Mr. Fuke representing them. Mr. Cross was there, as well; you know, moving forward together with the community. My respect for that process. So, I don't think there's anything suspicious about it. I think it's a good statement that there will be continued work with the community, and that's important. So that's a good motto, and I respect the Olsons for recognizing that, as well. So, thank you. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Ms. Poindexter. Anybody else would like to make comment? Chair Chung? I keep putting you on the spot today. Ms. Lee Loy, may I have a motion to withdraw? Withdraw Bill 83: Ms. Lee Loy announced the withdrawal of Bill 83. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Any objections? Seeing none, Bill 83 has been withdrawn. Nothing further is required. Moving on to Bill 84, Draft 2. Bill 84: AMENDS SECTION 25-8-33 (CITY OF HILO ZONE MAP), ARTICLE 8, (Draft 2) CHAPTER 25 (ZONING) OF THE HAWAII COUNTY CODE 1983 (2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED), BY CHANGING THE DISTRICT CLASSIFICATION FROM AGRICULTURAL – TWENTY ACRES (A -20a) AND OPEN (0) TO SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL – TEN THOUSAND SQUARE FEET (RS -10) AND FAMILY AGRICULTURAL – ONE ACRE (FA -la) AT PU'U`EO, SOUTH HILO, HAWAII, COVERED BY TAX MAP KEY: 2-6-008:026 AND 2-6-008:027 (Applicant: Edmund C. Olson Trust) (Area: 39.68 acres) The Windward Planning Commission forwards its favorable recommendation for this amendment to the State Land Use Boundaries Maps and change of zone, which would allow the applicant to consolidate and resubdivide the proposed project site into 51 total lots. Reference: Comm. 315.2 Intr. by: Ms. Kierkiewicz (B/R) Postponed: June 18, July 23, and August 20, 2019 (Note: There is a motion by Ms. Lee Loy, seconded by Mr. Richards, to recommend passage of Bill 84, Draft 2, on first reading.) CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. And before I entertain a motion to postpone indefinitely, any comments from my colleagues of this project, or the process? Ms. Lee Loy? Page 3 PC -16 September 3, 2019 I just want to say that the process before us is just failing us completely, and this was brought forward to the Planning Department and this was considered by the Planning Commission. I'm hoping that we as Council Members pay attention to when projects in our districts are going before the Commission so that we can start working with community at that point. I worked really had to bring SHPD and others to the table to bring attention to resolving issues that we felt needed to be addressed before we could make a decision, and alas, we have not been able to make a decision. I just want to express gratitude to the consultants, Planning Department, everyone that showed up and made themselves available to provide information; and Mr. Olson for his work in community and wanting to improve the quality of life for residents. MS. POINDEXTER: Madam Chair, I'd just like to say that I do CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Excuse me, I wasn't finished. MS. POINDEXTER: Okay, go ahead. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: We just need to pay attention to the process. We're all elected to do a job, and so everybody just needs to show up and put in the work. Any other comments? MS. POINDEXTER: Yes. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Ms. Poindexter. MS. POINDEXTER: I'd just like to say that I do pay attention to the process, and anytime anything within my district is coming from the commission, the community is notified, and they do participate. A lot of times we cannot vote for the commission; we cannot, period. So it depends if it comes at a negative or positive, you know, recommendation from them. We've had negative recommendation come from them, and my community had turned that around when it came to the Council. They also participated at the commission level. So I just want the public to know that I know. I and maybe many of the other districtsI cannot speak for them we pay close attention to the process. So, thank you. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Oh, Ms. Poindexter, this wasn't directed at anyone. I think, just in my time here on the Council, I noticed that "in general" some folks are plugging in at an opportune time. So, it was just a blanket statement about the process. I know that you are a very good representative of your district; always meeting with community and making sure that their voices are elevated. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Page 4 PC -16 September 3, 2019 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: This subject, we went back and forth on this a lot, and I think there is a lot of different areas that could have been improved in a lot of different departments. We as a body, I think we asked the right questions and we dug for the right answers. We got a lot of the answers we wanted, and those answers did not always point in a good direction. So I think on this matter, I think we did do our job, so we did our jobs well. I really appreciate what this body did because it highlights our abilities and highlights what we are expecting from the people who come before us. I really appreciate what we've done here, so thank you. I love Ed Olson. I love what he's done for our community, but this was a very with what's happening right now, this was a very important item that we had to address, so thank you. I just want to say thank you to this body for doing what we did. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Chair Chung. MR. CHUNG: Yeah, I'm going to take a hybrid approach on this thing. Because you know, I was there at that meeting with Ms. Poindexter and the consultants as well as members of the public. And, you know, of course I can't speak for Mr. Olson. I don't really know him, but I know what he has done for the community. We were really close to working out something with the community. But as I said all along, my main focus was on the impacts to the immediate area, traffic and flooding. I think we really hammered a lot of those things through; but along the way, and I'm going to reiterate this, it's only my opinion, we got stuck in these red -herrings, like with the cemetery. And I did ask those people who were there at the meeting, even one who was very interested in that cemetery; I said, "Raise your hand, how many people know people buried in that cemetery," nobody raised their hands. How many people knew of that cemetery before this whole thing came up? Zero. You know, I think, again I cannot speak for Mr. Olson or anybody working for him. But I've got to believe just the suggestion that someone would purposely go and desecrate burial sites is really offensive in my opinion, and that's why I wanted to stay away from that. I mean, but SHPD you know, through Ms. Kierkiewicz's effort, you know, got pressed into action. But we were really close. We were working through all of this. But I think the continual focus on these cemeteries, and to even suggest that some people would—like we all agreed, everyone on this board agreed that you don't do those things. So to suggest that someone else would do that on purpose, I think was a bit too much, really. I'm just surmising. I could be wrong. I have no idea why this thing was pulled, but I know we were close; and I know that the consultants knew that we were just a word or two from getting this thing moving Page 5 PC -16 September 3, 2019 forward. So they just in spite of it all, they just said, "Hey, we're pulling this thing off" So that's my view. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, thank you, Chair. Watching it unfold on the Council, I really saw what Ms. Kierkiewicz did with State Historic Preservation Society as unprecedented. They take long time to review burial plans; and to have had them at the table to answer our questions, I mean, literally show up and lay to rest a lot of the concerns, that was huge. I really think we were close toI wasn't at the community meeting. I'm just going to follow what the applicant is asking for. I do have a question though, procedurally, because Bill 84 is related to the State Land Use Boundary amendment and Bill 83 has been withdrawn, how do we—does this just put it all to rest at this point, Clerk? Or can it be picked up with a revised Bill 83? MR. BROWN: Bill 84 would be only about the rezone, so I believe they're independent of each other. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Clerk. I'll be ready to make the motion to postpone Bill 84, Draft 2, indefinitely, when this body is done discussing it. But for us as a Council, to have had State agencies standing ready to help smooth things out was huge. And I see this as a missed opportunity, because to leave it to the applicant to do it on their own, we have had far too many experiences where these State agencies don't pay attention. I look at what happened over on the Kona side. We wanted to deliver a beach park for—not Kohanaiki, it was Ka`upulehu. They sat for seven years. It was a community project. If a developer like that had to wait seven years for approval from SHPD, while Ms. Kierkiewicz had them at the table two months in it was a missed opportunity, I think, for us. We really need to think about what we want for this island and how we can utilize, as Chair Chung said, "Utilize our resources to help State agencies plug in quicker and give opportunities to us." So with that, I yield. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Chair Chung. MR. CHUNG: Oh yeah, and I just forgot to mention though, I thought Ms. Poindexter did a real good job in mobilizing her community in getting the necessary information out and to her—and then she kind of stuck you know, she was focused. Of course you had some of these distracting CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Disrupters? Page 6 PC -16 September 3, 2019 MR. CHUNG: Well, I wouldn't say disrupters, but things that were detracting from the main issues. She was really good at sticking with that, so she did a terrific job in that regard. We were this, yeah? And then we got the news, anyway. Thank you. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. Motion to postpone Bill 84, Draft 2, indefinitely. Vote on Motion to Ms. Lee Loy moved to postpone Bill 84, Draft 2, indefinitely. Postpone Indefinitely: Seconded by Ms. Poindexter was carried by the following (Approved) voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Eoff, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Lee Loy, Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kierkiewicz — 9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Do I have a motion to adjourn? ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 11:26 a.m., Ms. Lee Loy moved to adjourn MENT: the meeting. Seconded by Ms. Eoff and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Eoff, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Lee Loy, Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kierkiewicz — 9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Committee on Planning is adjourned at 11:26 a.m. Thank you. Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Chair Planning Committee AK/na qllql(q (Date) Page 7