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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN PWMTC 2020/02/18 2018-2020 Committee on Public Works and Mass Transit 19th 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 Public Works and Mass Transit was ORDER: called to order at 2:34 p.m. in the Council Chambers, Kailua-Kona, by Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Chair Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Vice Chair Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Valerie T. Poindexter, Member Mr. Herbert M "Tim" Richards, III, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member Absent& Excused: Ms. Karen Eoff, Member STATEMENTS Chair David 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 Chris Krueger, who registered to comment in regards to Comm. 769, and came forward when called. Change Order As directed by the Chair and with no objection from the Council Members, of Business: the following item was taken out of order: Res. 489-20: GRANTS A VARIANCE FROM CHAPTER 3, SECTION 3-6(b)(3) AND 3-11(a)(2)(A)(ii) HAWAII COUNTY CODE 1983(2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED), TO ALLOW AN ADDITIONAL GROUND SIGN, MOUNTED IN EXCESS OF MAXIMUM ABOVE GROUND LIMITATIONS ON 74-5035 QUEEN KA`AHUMANU HIGHWAY, TAX MAP KEY: 7-4-008:055 (ZONED ML-3a) Mid Pacific Petroleum requests a sign variance for construction of a second ground sign at the subject parcel to advertise fuel prices. Reference: Comm. 742 Intr. by: Ms. Lee Loy (B/R) PWMTC-19 February 18,2020 CHR. LEE LOY: Thank you, Clerk. I need a motion to send a favorable recommendation of Resolution 489-20 to the Council. Motion to Approve: Mr. Richards moved to recommend adoption of Res. 489-20. Seconded by Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. CHR. LEE LOY: With that if it's okay, Robyn, if you don't mind coming forward. I also believe the applicant, Mr. Zendo Kern, is in our Kona office. MR. HENRICKS: Yes, he is Madam Chair. He's coming to the table as we speak. (Note: At this time, Acting Building Division Chief Robyn Matsumoto and representative for applicant Zendo Kern, Planning Consultant, came forward to address the members of the Committee.) CHR. LEE LOY: Perfect. By the way, Clerk, thank you for providing that camera up front so we could actually see the testifiers and not the back of their heads. So thank you so much for making that adjustment. Mr. Kern, if you don't mind, go ahead. This was a variance application that you put forward. If you could provide this body with a background. Thank you. MR. KERN: Sure. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the Committee. Good to see you again today. Zendo Kern here representing the applicant. So this was a relatively straight forward variance application. It's kind of a long time in getting here. Went through various processes. But I'll leave that for another conversation. This is to allow basically a sign to post the gas station prices along the highway there. Currently, this gas station was a Tesoro gas station and there was actually a sign there. When these folks went in there to basically get all their permits and everything proper, they were like, "Oh, actually you know what,there was another ground sign and that sign shouldn't have been allowed there. So you need to do a sign variance." So then they contacted me to help walk through the sign variance. And about nine months later, here we are. So on that property there's a small marques sign on the corner, most of you are probably very familiar with it. The marquee sign kind of blends in there. It's maybe about six feet tall and it basically lists the businesses that are there. And then this sign is to actually post the gas station prices there. So Chapter 3 only allows for one ground sign. Thus, we have to do the variance to allow for this. There is a signage on the actual gas station itself. But however, right in that area there are some coconut trees. There's some nice, you know, greenery around there. So having the sign there where actually people could see it I think would Page 2 PWMTC-19 February 18,2020 help improve safety, public health, et cetera; and not having to rubberneck around the side to actually see what gas station prices might be pushed back further on the property. And that's where if you can see on the exhibit, Figure 2, it says to actually replace, remove and replace existing cabinet signs. And existing meaning that the Tesoro signs were the original ones that were there. And so these will be the new gas station. I'll be happy to answer any questions. CHR. LEE LOY: Thank you, Mr. Kern. Robyn, any follow up? MS. MATSUMOTO: Good afternoon. My name is Robyn Matsumoto, Acting Building Chief. So this is just one of those standard variance requests because they already have an existing on our books. So they have to request a variance. Unfortunately, due to the timing it's not going to happen before we amend the current Sign Code. CHR. LEE LOY: Thanks, Robyn. I'm going to open it up to the rest of the Council Members if they have any questions. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. I have a question for Public Works because, you know, I'm deeply concerned that this is very reminiscent to a conversation we had last year about Holiday Inn and their quest in getting a sign variance which took about five years. And so, I'm going through these background materials and there's a plan review comments letter here from August 2018. And so,just looking for some clarity from Public Works around why it took so long to get this done. MS. MATSUMOTO: So basically, you know, we submitted the documentation and it had to be returned a few times to go back and forth due to corrections and errors. And at one point it was somewhat left on the side before we could get it back onto the agenda. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Robyn. Mr. Kern, is that a pretty accurate assessment? MR. KERN: Yes. There definitely some back and forth at the beginning and it got misplaced for a little while, for a few months. And then we got it back on track and then we had to do some back and forth and some clean up. You know, it was a process. Once we got it going back on track it was basically doing what we could to get it together. And it's also somewhat confusing just how the whole makeup of the ordinance is with posting of the notices and what not. So I think what you folks are working on to streamline it will be extremely helpful to all parties. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Thank you. Yes, you know, kudos to Councilwoman Lee Loy for spearheading that. You know, I just want government to work properly. And so, there's a lot of room for improvement. Page 3 PWMTC-19 February 18,2020 And I hope that we can have another conversation about how we can better refine some of our processes. Thank you, Chair. I yield. CHR. LEE LOY: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Any other Council Members? Alright, well seeing none—and thank you, yes, Mr. Kern, there was a bit back and forth. And I'm actually glad you brought this forward because we were able to work with the department and begin to realign some of that process. And as Robyn mentioned, we're going to be adjusting that section of the code. And so it's my hope that we're actually managing better expectations on individuals who have to move sign variance applications forward and a better bright line of process. So with that, all those in favor to send Resolution 489-20 to the Council with a positive recommendation please say "aye." Vote on Res. 489-20: The motion to recommend adoption of Res. 489-20 was (Approved) carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Lee Loy–8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Eoff– 1. Excused: None. MR. KERN: Thank you all very much for your support and have a wonderful rest of your day. CHR. LEE LOY: Thank you, Zendo. Thank you, Robyn. Alright, Mr. Clerk if we could please read in Communication 769? Return to Order The Chair directed the Committee to return to the order of business. of Business: COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. Comm. 769: REQUESTS A DISCUSSION WITH A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS REGARDING ISLAND-WIDE TRAFFIC SIGNAL ISSUES From Council Member Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, dated January 7, 2020. Motion to Close File: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to close file on Comm. 769. Seconded by Mr. Richards. CHR. LEE LOY: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, please lead our discussion. Page 4 PWMTC-19 February 18,2020 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. Just in my own district I've got a few issues that we've worked with DPW (Department of Public Works) with, Mr. Takaba. I just wanted to do some follow up and some questions on how we deal, what is our process, and kind of go from there. Thank you for coming today. State your name. (Note: At this time, Traffic Division Chief Aaron Takaba came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. TAKABA: My name is Aaron Takaba. I work at the County of Hawai i Traffic Division, the Division Chief. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I just want to do some background. I had to learn this. So what are the job duties of the Traffic Control Department that you run? MR. TAKABA: Our duties are to operate and maintain all of the traffic signals for the entire island at this point. That includes the State signals and street lights. We also are responsible for the operations and maintenance of the signs and markings for the County roads. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then how many do we have across the island that we control right now? MR. TAKABA: Signals, there's a little over 100. And street lights, there's about between 10,000-11,000 street lights. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then whose job is it in the department to fix traffic signals? MR. TAKABA: Well there's varying levels of expertise. So I guess you could say there's the engineer's like myself and Kason (Pacheco) behind me and there's also the technicians and electricians also, and inspectors also too. And each have different responsibilities. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So when it comes to—we have a lot of discussions about the intersection of 130 and Highway 11, which is a State highway Intersection but we run the traffic signals. So in that case, whose job was it to fix that traffic signal? MR. TAKABA: Well particularly when it's related to maintenance and maybe small adjustments I think that's where the County would come in. But if it's going to be something bigger or it's going to be a design change or maybe a bigger project such as coordination of the entire corridor, then probably it would involve the State's buy-in or participation in that part. But we're looking at, for that particular problem, was something that we can probably handle with the Page 5 PWMTC-19 February 18,2020 exception of the delineators or the channelized—or that one idea you had about separating, keeping the lanes, us, delineated. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then in your department the people who handle traffic signal, traffic light issues are going to be one group or is going to be spread out? MR. TAKABA: Well we have one group of a Technician, an Engineer, and an Electrical Engineer also that wea Civil Engineer and an Electrical Engineer, we go out and we observe traffic, make notes of the things that we see whether it be how traffic's backing up or the performance of the intersection. And from there they make recommendations to how we could possibly adjust the signal. In this case, we noticed that there was a time of day program in the morning that was put into place, and it actually made the left turns turning from Hilo to the bypass a little longer than it needed to be. So our idea was to take that out and we reduced it by 20 seconds. So it's a little quicker to go around the entire cycle. But at this point we're still monitoring to see if that's working or if we need to make further adjustments. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So coming from my past field, there is jobs that were for certain people and not for others. So do electricians in your department do the work as well or are they separate? MR. TAKABA: Yes. The electricians they deal mainly with the maintenance. They're also on standby when particularly electrical problems occur with the equipment, if there's knockdowns, things of that nature. When it comes time to make decisions about making a change like with timing or things of that nature, they have to refer to the technicians or the engineers. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Because it's their job to make sure timing is right and everything is upkept the way it's supposed to and the signals working properly. MR. TAKABA: Yeah. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Do we outsource signal work as well? MR. TAKABA: Yes. We do have—we had a consultant in the past and we have one currently trying to do timing adjustments coordination. In East Hawaii we finished already. And also we're in the process of doing West Hawaii. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: As far as? Page 6 PWMTC-19 February 18,2020 MR. TAKABA: Timing coordination, where you sync the signals so they kind of work together during certain times of the day. So in that case it gives priority to the main street. So you're going to see cars moving on the highway pretty well but it's going to back up a little bit on the side streets. So there's a little bit of a longer wait in those cases on the side streets. But it's mainly to get traffic moving in the morning and in the afternoon. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And why are we outsourcing that work when we have a department that can do it. MR. TAKABA: Well that one was a project that was started before I was in my position. But I think maybe because it was a bigger project that maybe required a little bit more expertise and dedicated attention. So I think that's probably what it was. I think that was a good route personally because sometimes we have to rely on people, like in the profession, I mean from the private industry to help with some of that stuff. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then what capabilities do we have in viewing and making real time changes to traffic signals? MR. TAKABA: Yes. We have what's called Centrax. It's a program that you can actually view the signals from the office. And they need communications and certain electronics at each intersection. So not all of them are at this point on the system. But for the most part they are and the goal list to actually get all of them connected that way. So we can remotely make those kind of changes with timing or that type of adjustments. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So you can remotely change from the office some of the programing on some of the traffic signals that we have? MR. TAKABA: Yeah. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Without even visiting the site. MR. TAKABA: Yeah. Personally I like to actually go on site and do some of that stuff. Part of it is because I don't like the idea of doing it remotely without actually seeing what's actually happening. But I think there's people that couple of the technicians that we have they do more of the remote access stuff. So it is a convenience thing and it can be used in a good way because you don't have to drive two hours to, say, Kona to make the change in the field. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So you can actually see the intersection? MR. TAKABA: Well, that's a different system. You can see—we have cameras that you can surveil or view the intersection to see how traffic is moving. And Page 7 PWMTC-19 February 18,2020 then we also have a system that can actually access the controller or the computer that runs the signal and actually make the changes from the office. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So if we had a problem we could actually address it potentially by seeing the intersection in real time and then making slight changes to the programming? MR. TAKABA: Yeah. We can do it that way. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: If needed. MR. TAKABA: If needed. And I think though, depending on the view that the camera allows, we still might need to go out and observe traffic. Like if there's a back-up on Highway 11, say Highway 130, maybe it's beyond the view of the cameras. Maybe in those cases we might have to actually do both and go out in the field but also have the ability to view from the office and make changes there. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So some of the cameras on my restaurant we can actually move around, what are they called like PTZ (Pan Tilt Zoom) cameras? MR. TAKABA: Yeah. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: You can actually move them. Do you have those up there too? So like the ones I have, are those the ones you have on the light posts? MR. TAKABA: Yeah. The PTZ camera, those are the surveillance cameras that you can kind of move around as you need to. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: They have a pretty good range, yeah? MR. TAKABA: Yeah. Pretty decent. They're getting better, for sure. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I understand the quality is good too. MR. TAKABA: Yeah. And some of the other cameras that you see are detection cameras. So they're meant to be moved around necessarily but they're meant for detecting cars. So that's another type of camera that you might see on the signal poles. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And all of this gives us a better control over our system? MR. TAKABA: Yes. Page 8 PWMTC-19 February 18,2020 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And then how far, I mean, is there a technology that is better than what we have or are we behind the scene? Not behind the same but are we behind, you know, what we could have? MR. TAKABA: I wouldn't say we're behind necessarily. There's stuff that they have out there that may be more advanced, but I wouldn't say necessarily we're behind. And I think too, right now,just to give you an idea of what we're dealing with. We have some problems that we're trying to address with detection. I might've mentioned that on the phone with you before. So there's some things that we're trying to work on. In addition to improving efficiency, we also have to address just getting it running, making sure it's running properly. So that's part of the equation as well. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. But overall, your department's well- staffed. And from what I'm getting we should expect a fairly quick response. from Traffic Department when we have a signal issue. MR. TAKABA: Well, yeah, we're trying our best. I mean there's a lot of ground to cover and some of the stuff we do takes time to really make good decisions. But we're definitely not neglecting to try and address those things. And some of it, like I just mentioned earlier, to fix a timing issue we probably have to first make sure the detection is working, which is actually what we did at Highway 11 and 130. We had to fix the detection first before we can really try and make the thing operate or flow better. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. MR. TAKABA: But yeah, we're doing the best that we can with what we have. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So I really appreciate what you guys did at Route 130 and Route 11. But the intersection services about 48,000 vehicles a day. That's roughly about 2,500 vehicles, if I did the math from the paperwork you gave me correctly because it was a little bit confusing the paperwork, but I tried. During peak demand per hour I think about 2,500 vehicles an hour. So I recorded that in October 2019 and it was fixed last week. So that's almost four months. So what was the total time required to fix that signal? MR. TAKABA: Well yeah, that one we first had to do our observations. We're also trying to get the detection fixed. We're planning to reinstall the loops which is the permanent detection. And we just had some problems with permitting from the State so that took a little while. And so we made the decision at the end, you know what, we might as well just get cameras up there because the cameras were considered a temporary detection. So we decided just last week I believe, to put those cameras up. And at the same time we made the timing adjustment. So it just took that long. Maybe we could've done it a little quicker. But I think it's just that we were relying on getting that permit and getting things permanent, Page 9 PWMTC-19 February 18,2020 instead of doing this interim measure of doing the temporary cameras for detection first. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I like the line of logic there. But we had, I mean I'm one of them, but 48,000 vehicles a day coming through spending an extra 10-20 minutes a day in traffic when we can adjust the programing and the timing by computer from a room and view the intersections. So now you can see the problems that are happening across the island, including my intersection or our intersection, but you can actually make changes to it from there. And a fix that took a few hours and a little bit of visiting at the site you're saving 48,000 vehicles 10-20 minutes a day in their normal daily commute. That's, you mean, for the people that sit in that traffic, myself included, that's huge. So I guess in hindsight I think maybe we could've worked a little bit quicker to get it done faster and then worked on the long-term solution which was your sensors in the road. Did anyone in your department know that remedy could've been applied earlier on? So we could've had that instant kind of temporary fix while we find a long-term solution. MR. TAKABA: Yeah. Maybe that's something that we can learn from I guess. I don't know if—yeah, to me it's just a learning experience I guess. But we had good intentions. It just maybe took longer than most of maybe you would want or other people would want. But we still continue to monitor it. We're not done yet. But we just tried to—last week we decided we have to get something at least fixed and try to move forward, you know. So it's something that we're still looking at. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Well as one of the people who drives that road to and from work every day waiting in school traffic every morning, I am extremely happy with the changes that you made in the last week. And I'm guessing that the other 48,000 vehicles are as well. MR. TAKABA: Great. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And I've had many phone calls and a lot of emails and other come up. Can these types of fixes be applied across the island to alleviate ongoing traffic issues at peak traffic times? Is that something that we can look at doing as well? MR. TAKABA: Yeah. The plan with the group that mentioned, their job with the technician and a couple engineers, their tasked with addressing efficiency. So the goal is to actually go around and try to address those types of problems to try to make things run better. So that's the plan. Page 10 PWMTC-19 February 18,2020 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then, Kamehameha Schools intersection, before we're off the subject, I'm from the area. Is that intersection working properly? MR. TAKABA: That's another one we changed. We just finished changing the detection. And this Sunday we're going to go out and change the controller and the cabinet. We're hoping that should fix all the problems we've been getting. We've been a lot of calls with that one. Callers from the public and stuff. So we hope by Sunday that should get done and addressed. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That is wonderful. Thank you. I yield and thank you very much for coming today. Thank you. MR. TAKABA: No problem. Thank you. CHR. LEE LOY: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Anyone in Kona? MS. VILLEGAS: Yes please, Chair. CHR. LEE LOY: Go ahead, Ms. Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you. Aloha, Aaron. Thank you for being here today. MR. TAKABA: Hi. MS. VILLEGAS: Hey. Mahalo for your attendance and for sharing some of your insights on these issues. I, myself, happen to represent the Kailua-Kona district, District 7, which at certain hours of the day might as well be complete gridlock. My cellphone, email, office line is consistently on fire with comments. As the testifier who came here earlier today, there is extreme need and disappointment in this community with the traffic congestion. Now I know, believe me, I'm one of the first ones to say it's kind of part of the irony of our economy doing well and having lots of visitors being here which means we have more of the snowbirds on the roads and their cars coming out of their garages and driveways and visitors here alike. However, I have to believe there are communities not only in the State but nationally and globally that have fewer roads than we have and more traffic and that operate more efficiently than ours do. Just in doing some research into adaptive technologies, Mr. Takaba, are you familiar with the adaptive signal control technologies? MR. TAKABA: A little bit. We're just starting to look into that right now. But we're not at the point where we want to get to far into that until we can address some of the operational problems that we have. But yes, I have heard of it somewhat. Page 11 PWMTC-19 February 18,2020 MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. Well in just doing a quick couple minute search I came up with the U.S. Department of Transportation's website for the Federal Highway Administration, in which they have vast information about how these technologies and resources can be used to improve our traffic flow, how they respond faster to traffic conditions, and how they can help to cut costs. One of the statistics listed here is that according to the Texas Transportation Institute, the cost of traffic congestion is $87.2 billion in wasted fuel and lost productivity. That translates to $750 per traveler. And mind you this data was last modified in September of 2017. However, in my mind outdated signals are seriously affecting our County, our community, and personnel and people trying to get to and from work or their homes. When we're not meeting the needs of our travelers by making sure that our roadways are connected with the technologies available to allow for a more succinct communications strategy with them and we have people sitting at lights with no traffic on one side and sitting there in idle. It's just really frustrating as I'm sure you can understand. I know it takes time for some of these things to come to fruition. However, it's taking too long. I just really want to urge you to think outside the box or think inside the box of what our federal highway administration is utilizing and some of the technologies that are already there. We do not have to reinvent the wheel. If this is going to take some financial investment I firmly believe that it would be worth it. I don't think the cost is going to be prohibitive. But to continually cost our community and visitors and everyone as much money as we do in idling in traffic—although I will say every time I get frustrated in traffic I try to take the time and be grateful that where I'm sitting in traffic is as beautiful as it is, and we are as blessed as we are to live here. The other thing I want to comment on is, doing just another quick search on this U.S. Department of Transportation website, it looks like there's a state transportation incentive projects, some grant money that was given to the State of Hawaii between 2014 and 2019, $100,000 for workshop strategies, and $200,000 for implementation in a localized area. In your experience, has any of that been allocated to the Big Island, to the County of Hawaii and have any of your staff been associated with any of that training or resources? MR. TAKABA: I don't believe we were involved with that,to my knowledge. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. My other question comes with I met with David Yamamoto when I first got into office last year and talked to him about the potential for some of these new technologies to be implemented in order to kind of leap frog some of the issues we have and get straight to a technology that might be able to more efficiently and effectively allow for all of our streets and streetlights to coordinate better. I was told that was planned to happen last fall after they finished some of the timing of the lights on the east side. However, I Page 12 PWMTC-19 February 18,2020 guess it didn't happen then. And then I've asked for an update and was given a list of all the streetlights and traffic signal optimization. But I'm wondering if you can catch me up to what has been done. Has anything been done? Where are we in this process? And what can—you know, I as representative of this district with thousands of people extremely concerned and frustratedI wish the job came with a magic wand and we could just have more roads. But historically it's my understanding that when you build more roads you actually end up with more traffic. So I'd like to see the roads that we do have operating more effectively. MR. TAKABA: Yes. To clarify I think what you were talking about before was our coordination project that I mentioned earlier. We concluded the east side fairly recently and currently working on the west side and that involves coordination of the signals. And I know I can get you a more detailed update. But I know right now we're in the process of updating the timing for Highway 11 from Henry Street to Kamehameha III Road. So that's the first area we're looking at. And also I believe Kuakini Highway, the lower road is also being looked at for a coordination timing update. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you. That's really great news especially with Alii Drive being one-way due to the sinkhole. It is really—and it being our peak visitor's season. I guess that I would like to ask for continued updates if you could, on this process and where we're at. And also kind of, you know, I don't know if it's appropriate to ask for a commitment, but that we could be looking, to these more innovative technologies in order to better serve our community because we don't have the resources to broaden. You know, we don't have the STIP (Statewide Transportation Improvements Program) finances right now to broaden Highway 11 between Henry Street and Kamehameha III. But getting those lights timed, it's priceless. MR. TAKABA: Yes. We'll continue to look at it—look into these new technologies. I believe in the spring there's going to be a demo or a project on Oahu that we're going to try and look at and see how that works. But it will be a good indication of what we try here in the future. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. I just want to encourage you. The future is now. It's costing us hundreds of thousands of dollars. And in a current global community where we're facing issues with carbon emissions to have so many cars idling on the road is kind of aif this is one of the things that we can do more effectively and more efficiently to help reduce our carbon emissions. I think that it's a great investment. And if I can encourage and inspire some sense of urgency for action on the west side of the Big Island and taking the steps necessary to improve the flow of our traffic and our roads over here, I just would great appreciate that. And we'll probably just keep in touch and let me know if there's anything I can do to help support this process as we continue to navigate the solutions to our traffic congestion. Page 13 PWMTC-19 February 18,2020 MR. TAKABA: Alright. Sounds good. Thank you. MS. VILLEGAS: I yield. CHR. LEE LOY: Any others in Kona? Alright, hearing none I have a couple of follow-up questions, Mr. Takaba. Has any thought been given to the last six months of traffic impact just island-wide as it relates to our Mass Transit system going down? Okay. I can see it on your face. It wasn't considered. MR. TAKABA: Maybe I didn't quite understand the question. CHR. LEE LOY: Well, over the last six months we really struggled with providing Mass Transit Systems island-wide. And we really went from a fleet of close to 40 down to a handful. And I'm just trying to look at that holistic approach that, you know, everything is impacting traffic. And so as the Chair and Mr. Kaneali`i as the Vice Chair, we're standing in kind of the crosshairs of Public Works and Mass Transit. And so we're trying to lean on our skillsets to understand this better holistic approach. One, to improve our roadways, right? But also our Mass Transit system that impacts our roadway systems. So I'm asking you, from the Traffic Division, was any consideration given over the last six months to understand the impacts on traffic in general while our Mass Transit system was failing? MR. TAKABA: Yeah, that's a good point. We didn't specifically think about that. But I think that would definitely have an impact because when you have less people using alternate transportation they're going to use vehicles, regular vehicles. So I think that would have an impact on the traffic congestion or traffic in general. CHR. LEE LOY: In addition to that we have a number of change of zone applications that often come forward. And there's always a TIAR, a Traffic Impact Analysis Report. Has the department used some of the data being collected throughout these various change of zone applications or environmental impact statements or environmental assessments in hope to begin to measure the trend of traffic so that we can, as a Chair and a Vice Chair, begin to plan for future traffic loads, not just the roadway systems, but the signalization? MR. TAKABA: Yes. I think that would be good to consider that because in the TIAR's they make recommendations with respect to what they project traffic to be, what kind of improvements should be done relating to timing or additional lanes. So I think that's something that should be considered. CHR. LEE LOY: Thanks, Aaron. You know, because I mean thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder for bringing this forward. It's a bigger holistic approach, right? Not only walking pedestrian paths, all these other things, more fuel-efficient cars. But it's just everything that we have coming forward. I'm just Page 14 PWMTC-19 February 18,2020 hopeful that we can look at maybe a three to five year horizon and then begin to implement that with some forward-faced and funding, right,to help improve, you know,just the quality of life. And maybe just kind of rethink that approach. Thanks. MR. TAKABA: Sounds good. CHR. LEE LOY: Yeah. Thanks, Mr. Takaba. MR. TAKABA: Thank you. MS. VILLEGAS: Chair? CHR. LEE LOY: Okay. MS. VILLEGAS: My apologies, Chair. I just had one more thing I was hoping to add in. CHR. LEE LOY: Sure, go ahead. MS. VILLEGAS: Great. Mr. Takaba, I just wanted to throw out there I know that you guys are working on 11,000 LED (Light-Emitting Diode) streetlights and getting those replaced. I just would put in my suggestion that getting our streetlights timed and running accurately and efficiently is a greater priority. I know that the streetlight's out in front of my house, but when I drive down the road to get on the highway and it is back to back traffic at any time of day, that is more important to me, and to the constituents of District 7,than a streetlight being out at this point. So if I could just put that suggestion and recommendation I would be so grateful if the prioritization might be focused on our stoplights. Thank you. Aloha. I yield. CHR. LEE LOY: Alright. Thank you. Did you want to respond, Mr. Takaba? MR. TAKABA: Well, I just wanted to mention that I agree to a point that the signals are important because it does affect the driving public and efficiency. The streetlights, however, have a differentI mean there's people that want the streetlights improved. So we're kind of balancing our workload and trying to do the best we can. But what's good for one may not be good for—people's priorities might be different. So we're being asked to do things from different places. Maybe to put it that way. But yes, I agree the signals are important and we have to look at that for efficiency sake. Thank you. CHR. LEE LOY: Thanks, Mr. Takaba. Go ahead, Mr. Page 15 PWMTC-19 February 18,2020 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I have a follow-up question? What is our priority right now? Because your department is streetlights and stoplights and traffic signals, correct? MR. TAKABA: Correct. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So what is your priority and who gave you the priority to do what right now? MR. TAKABA: Well the certain signal problems, if it's safety related or even it could a streetlight if there's a knockdown or something safety related, those are going to get tended to first over something that might just be for, say, convenience or something that could maybe wait a little longer. So emergencies come first. Efficiency fits in there probably high too,towards the top. And then maintenance is probablyI mean they're all important but I think maintenance maybe can be step down because if it's something that can wait a day or so or wait a little bit, we can maybe wait. But we have to remember that what needs to be maintained today, if it's not maintained the next day it becomes a safety issue or it becomes an efficiency issue. So everything's important. But I think emergencies first, efficiency, maintenance, and the change outs of the LED's would probably be—if I could prioritize, that would be probably fourth on the list. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So signals first, efficiency accross traffic and then at the very bottom you have lights? Or somewhere near the bottom you have LED conversions. MR. TAKABA: Yeah. That's where I would put it. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I agree with that. Is there someone that disagrees with you on that? MR. TAKABA: Well, it was an effort that the Mayor wanted, to be honest. And he wanted the light. He said it's just dark everywhere. So it was something that when I came on we had and we had to fix. I mean, some of the lights were actually failing too, so we need to actually address it for that reason. But he just wanted things brighter. Yeah. He wanted more lights. He wanted it brighter. So we're balancing that with everything else. So we're doing what we can. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah. There's always going to be that priority balance. I was wondering where it was coming from, the decision. I think in this case we're actually dealing with, we're actually shedding light on something that is saving time. MR. TAKABA: Yes. Page 16 PWMTC-19 February 18,2020 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: We're really talking about, Aaron, is peoples time every day. Ten minutes in traffic when it could be—actually that's just ten minutes extra. My normal drive is 10-15 minutes. Normal traffic time is 30, 40, 50 minutes depending on what's going on. So that one traffic light, every day, ten minutes, you cannot give me back my life. But if you can decrease my time in traffic you're giving me 10-20 minutes of my life, which at the end of one of these days feels like a lot. So whatever you can do to increase to the good people in these islands, traffic ability to get through town and be efficient, then please make that a priority. And it sounds like you already are. So yes, please, and thank you. MR. TAKABA: Okay. Thank you. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. CHR. LEE LOY: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. And, you know, to follow-up on that one, with the LED's I know that was another approach to actually reduce the energy cost when we were switching out the LED's. So there was an opportunity for funding for that, maybe prior to you, or just as there was a transition to you. So some of this was actually already in motion. But thank you, Mr. Takaba, for providing such great insight to your job MR. TAKABA: You're welcome. CHR. LEE LOY: And I think the biggest take away is your job has an incredible impact on our community. And so, we do appreciate what you're trying to do to balance all of that. And it's not fun getting scolding's or yelling's all the time. Alright. MR. TAKABA: You're welcome. No problem. CHR. LEE LOY: With that, Council Members, anyone else? We have a motion to close file on Communication 769, all those in favor? Vote on Comm. 769: The motion to close file on Comm. 769 was carried by the Filed following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Lee Loy—8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Eoff— 1. Excused: None. CHR. LEE LOY: Thank you. Motion to adjourn, please? Page 17 PWMTC-19 February 18,2020 ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 2:54 p.m., Ms. David moved to adjourn the MENT: meeting. Seconded by Mr. Richards and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Lee Loy— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Eoff— 1. Excused: None. CHR. LEE LOY: This meeting is adjourned. Mr. Clerk, I have 2:54 p.m. Thank you everyone. i I I i a i i i a. K. Lee Loy, Chair (Date) s and Mass Transit Comm, ee SLltk Page 18