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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN PC 2020/02/18 2018-2020Committee on Planning 23`'d Session West Hawaii Civic Center 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Building A Kailua-Kona, Hawai i February 18, 2020 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Planning was called to order at ORDER: 10:05 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Kailua-Kona, by Ms. Ashley Kierkiewicz, Chair. ROLL CALL Present: Ms. Ashley Kierkiewicz, Chair Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Vice Chair Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member (came in later) Ms. Valerie T. Poindexter, Member Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member Absent & Excused: Ms. Karen Eoff, 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: (There were none.) CHR KIERKIEWICZ: I'm closing public testimony at this time. Before we move on to order of the day, I just wanted to acknowledge students from Waiakea High School who are joining us in the Hilo Chambers. Give a wave; nice to see you guys. They are here to see Government in action. They will also be going to the Planning Department to job shadow today and maybe become planners and join our County workforce. But it's great to have you folks here. Love opportunities to engage and empower our youth. Okay, Mr. Clerk, if we could move on to business of the day, Communication 755. COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. Comm. 755: NOMINATION OF JUSTIN LEE TO THE BOARD OF APPEALS From Managing Director Roy Takemoto, dated January 29, 2020, submitting for the Council's review and confirmation the above nomination. Requires Council Confirmation by: March 14, 2020 (Section 13-4(1), Hawaii County Charter) PC -23 February 18, 2020 Vote on Comm. 755: Ms. Villegas moved to recommend confirmation of the (Approved) appointment of Mr. Justin Lee to the Board of Appeals. Seconded by Ms. Poindexter and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Lee Loy, Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kierkiewicz — 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Eoff — 1. Excused: None. Deputy Managing Director Barbara Kossow provided a brief narrative of the nominee. Committee Members spoke in favor of the appointment. Chair Kierkiewicz informed Mr. Lee that he does not need to appear at the Council meeting for confirmation of his appointment. ORDER OF The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Order RESOLUTIONS: of Resolutions. (There were none.) CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Moving on to Bill 137. BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of Business, Bills ORDINANCES: for Ordinances. Bill 137: AMENDS SECTION 25-8-23 (VOLCANO -MT. VIEW), ARTICLE 8, CHAPTER 25 (ZONING) OF THE HAWAII COUNTY CODE 1983 (2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED), BY CHANGING THE DISTRICT CLASSIFICATION FROM SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL — 20,000 SQUARE FEET (RS -20) TO VILLAGE COMMERCIAL — 10,000 SQUARE FEET (CV -10) AT `OLA`A SUMMER LOTS, `OLA`A, PUNA, HAWAII, COVERED BY TAX MAP KEY: 1-9-004:004 (ADDlicant: RTA Kilauea Lodize_ LLC) (Area: 1.176 acres) The Windward Planning Commission forwards its favorable recommendation for this change of zone, which would allow the applicant to develop a 1,920 -square foot retail building with 26 parking stalls, construct three cottages on the north west corner of the property, and make related improvements on the subject parcel. The property is located along Old Volcano Road between Haunani Road and Wright Road. Reference: Comm. 728 Intr. by: Ms. Kierkiewicz (B/R) ; and Page 2 PC -23 February 18, 2020 Comm. 728.1: From Planning Director Michael Yee, dated February 6, 2020, transmitting the draft transcript from the Windward Planning Commission's January 8, 2020, meeting. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Can I have a motion to forward Bill 137 to the Council with a positive recommendation? Motion to Approve: Mr. Richards moved to recommend passage of Bill 137 on first reading. Seconded by Ms. Poindexter. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Will the applicant and/or representative please come forward? (Note: At this time, Planning Consultant Zendo Kern, representative for the applicant, came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. KERN: Good morning, Madam Chair and members of the Planning Committee. Zendo Kern, Planning Consultant here representing the applicant. The applicant's direct representative was not able to attend today. He will attend in Hilo though, in two weeks just if there's any particular questions for him. I'm happy to give an overview of the project and application. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, and I believe Director Yee and Christian Kay are joining us from Hilo Chambers. So if anybody has questions for them, they're available. MR. KERN: Awesome, thank you. This is relatively a straight forward change of zone application. It's right next door to Kilauea Lodge and has been there for many years. These owners acquired Kilauea Lodge a couple years back and have been making sensitive improvements to the Lodge. The previous owners decided that they wanted to retire. So they've had this property there, it was next door. So the goal there is to have a little retail store, couple cottages in the back and some parking. We sent out all the notifications, and they didn't have anybody contact our office or even send in any negative testimony or anything like that. So it's been very clean. The only issue two things came up. One of them was, I guess both kind of related to the Department of Public Works. This parcel has a 12 -foot wide access easement on the Hilo side of it that goes all the way and actually accesses the property in the back. Our original concept had an access point going in—or an egress on one side and ingress on the other side. That was potential for three points of entry into that parcel there. So, I actually contacted the owners on the back side to see if we Page 3 PC -23 February 18, 2020 could work something out where they would potentially use the existing, or what would be the improved access. So we could kind of get some economy -to -scale with that. The owners said that they were actually going to sell the property. There are two sisters, somewhat elderly, and said they're going to sell the property pretty soon. So they had no interest in that, but the current owners are happy to work with them on that. So what we did is we just moved the access point to the Kilauea Lodge side of it, so there's just one point of access there leaving the other 12 -foot wide access easement there for the back lot. The owners are, though, open to the option to allow the back lot to use the, you know, the improvements when they're made there and get some economy to scale with that. So that was just something that came up, and that wasn't a big deal. The other thing that came up was that one of the conditions stated that to do, basically curb, gutter, sidewalks in front of that parcel. In that area of Volcano, that's quite odd. That would be the only area that would be curb, gutter, sidewalks in there. It's very rural in there and grass shoulders. So what we came up with the commission was to amend the condition to basically say when the Department of Public Works decides to do that, that the applicant, the owners, would pay their proportionate share to make those improvements in front of their property. So that worked out fine. Everybody was agreeable to that, which makes sense because if that's going to be improved, they'll pay their share to do it right now. It actually, one, it would look really weird; and two, it would be actually kind of cause a hazard, because if you're going down a nice grassy shoulder to all of a sudden curb, gutter, sidewalk for 120 feet, 150 feet; it would just be odd. So that worked out. Everybody was agreeable to that. The conditions are fair and the lot will be consolidated with the Kilauea Lodge parcel. And it's pretty straight forward, State Land Use Urban. So, yeah, like I said, nothing odd. No challenges, and I'm happy to answer any questions. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Mr. Kern. Questions, comments? MS. LEE LOY: Yes, Chair. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Mr. Kern. Thanks for being here, and I think you already touched upon it. My understanding based on you going through the Page 4 PC -23 February 18, 2020 conditions of approval, the applicant agrees to the terms and conditions of approval as outlined in the background report? MR. KERN: And as amended at the Planning Commission. MS. LEE LOY: Okay. And then, you mentioned the condition related to the 12 -foot wide easement. MR. KERN: Yeah. MS. LEE LOY: And that agreement is currently reflected within the bill, correct? MR. KERN: Yes, that was taken care of within the bill. MS. LEE LOY: Perfect. MR. KERN: There's a little bit of latitude there which we liked, but it leaves it alone so it could be standalone or worked with the owner. And Department of Public Works is perfectly fine with that as well. MS. LEE LOY: Great. Thanks for your hard work. I yield. MR. KERN: Thank you. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. Thanks Mr. Kern. On these conditions, that you have agreed to, under Condition M, the prohibition for the use of barbed wire? Was that—how did that come about? MR. KERN: That came about from the Planning Department. We really didn't have an issue with it because we're not really going to do anything in that regard. But I know the hoary bats have been an issue. I think the Planning Department would be a little better suited to answer that question. MR. RICHARDS: Okay, so that's something that was presented to you. MR. KERN: Yeah, all of this was presented to us. MR. RICHARDS: Chair, I raise the issue of that because that is a debatable condition. Now in this situation, I understand that we're not talking livestock, but I'm concerned that this is coming out of the Planning Department, because this needs further conversation, though this does not pertain to Mr. Kern or this particular piece. But I'd like to talk about this further. I yield. Page 5 PC -23 February 18, 2020 CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Sure, we have Director Yee in Hilo. He may be able to provide some insight into this Condition M. (Note: At this time, Planning Director Michael Yee and Planner V Christian Kay came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. YEE: Michael Yee, Planning Director. Just quickly, that it's standard recommendation from U.S. Fish and Wildlife. That's how it got in there. MR. RICHARDS: Okay, but that's for the State of Hawaii? Because that's not standard throughout the nation. MR. YEE: I guess so. So yes, we can debate this later. MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, I think Director, you and I should have a conversation on this. And then we'll bring it back to Council. Thank you Chair, I yield. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you Mr. Richards. Anyone else? MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I had a question. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Can you tell me about the barbed wire? MR. YEE: I'm going to let an expert explain to you a little bit more. MR. KAY: Good morning, Madam Chair and members of the Planning Committee. Christian Kay with the County of Hawaii Planning Department. Sc we get comment letters when we request comment letters from different agencies up in Volcano with the Hawaiian Hoary Bat and other endangered species being in that area. We request comment letters from U.S. Fish and Wildlife and other agencies. U.S. Fish and Wildlife, as a standard condition lays out a series of mitigation for protecting those endangered species. And so one of those conditions has to do with the prohibition of barbed wire fencing. And so as we take those comments in, we pass them on as conditions of approval. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And that's specific to this site or all sites? MR. KAY: Where we get comment letters from Fish and Wildlife, again because this is up in Volcano, this is a standard condition that we apply to most every permit or rezone that we get a comment from. And even some we don't get comments, but we know the area that there is a presence of the endangered species, so we'll add that. Page 6 PC-23 February 18,2020 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, we had an email from a constituent just asking basically how we're going to mitigate any concerns for endangered species. So this is part of that process? MR. KAY: That's correct. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That's wonderful, I like that. Thank you. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Anyone else? Okay, seeing no questions or comments, Mr. Kern, thank you for being here. Please thank your client for their continued investment in our community. There is a motion on the floor. All those in favor please say "aye." Vote on Bill 137: The motion to recommend passage of Bill 137 on first (Approved) reading was carried by the following voice vote. Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Lee Loy, Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kierkiewicz— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Eoff— 1. Excused: None. MR. KERN: Thank you very much. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Can I have a motion to adjourn? ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 10:21 a.m., Mr. Richards moved to adjourn MENT: the meeting. Seconded by Ms. David and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Lee Loy, Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kierkiewicz— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Eoff— 1. Excused: None. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Planning is adjourned. Thank you. Approved: zi2L-1- 2,02-0 Ms. Ashley Kierkiewicz, Chair (Da e) Planning Committee AK/dt Page 7