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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-12-11 BDHRA Minutes BANYAN DRIVE HAWAII REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY COUNTY OF HAWAII MINUTES December 11, 2019 The meeting of the Banyan Drive Hawaii Redevelopment Agency was called to order at 2:05 p.m. in the County of Hawaii,Planning Department conference room, 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 3, Hilo, Hawaii,with Chairman Nathan Gaddis presiding. MEMBERS PRESENT: Nathan Gaddis (Chairman), Ross Birch, K.T. Cannon-Eger MEMBERS ABSENT & EXCUSED: Brian DeLima ALSO PRESENT: Michael Yee(Planning Director), Ron Kim(Corporation Counsel), Alex Roy (Planner), Kim Tanaka(Secretary), Gordon Heit(DLNR Representative) A quorum was present with three members in attendance. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC There were approximately 5 members of the public in attendance. At 2:05 p.m. Chairman Gaddis opened the floor to take statements from the public. GADDIS: Alright,we'll go ahead and call this meeting to order. First,we want to invite any statements from the public, if any,today. Anyone present? Okay,then we'll go on to business of the agency. BUSINESS OF AGENCY 1. Review, Discussion, and Action regarding two (2) Proposed Request for Qualifications (RFQ)/ Request for Proposals (RFP)for Properties Located on Banyan Drive, Waidkea Peninsula, Hilo to be Heard Before the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) at their December 13, 2019 board meeting. The two (2)RFQIRFP's being considered are for the following properties.- ]) roperties:1) TMK(3) 2-1-005:033-035 & 045 (Uncle Billy's Hilo Bay Hotel), and 2) TMK(3) 2-1-005.-020 (Country Club Hawaii). The Agency took this item up at 2:05 p.in. with approximately 5 members of the public in attendance. GADDIS: Really the reason for calling the meeting today was for us to review and discuss two proposed actions which are being put in front of the Board of Land and Natural Resources on the thirteenth. One is a request for proposals and request for qualifications for Uncle Billy's, and the other is for Country Club. And those are both being put out and they'll be voted by the Board on the thirteenth. They've been put out by the staff with a recommendation for approval to issue those, if I'm correct. Gordon, do you want to weigh in at all? Explain what they're doing, or? Page 1 of 4 Banyan Drive Hawaii Redevelopment Agency December 11,2019 Minutes HEIT: You've all read through it? GADDIS: Yes,we've read through, correct. HEIT: I'll just answer any questions. GADDIS: Yeah, so basically what they're proposing is to issue proposals,you know people can bid. My understanding, if there's only one person that comes to bat then you would have a quicker process to approve or reject that person, and if it's more than one,you want to explain that?How that works? HEIT: Well yeah, I mean,well okay there's two parts to it. There's a qualification GADDIS: Right. HEIT: And two proposals also. We look at them both as separate but jointly. GADDIS: Right,right. HEIT: So first we have to qualify as a,to present the proposal. If there's only one then we look at both, and you know if the applicant doesn't meet either one then we have to massage the request and see how we can try till it does fit. GADDIS: Right. HEIT: But yeah, it's a dual process but hopefully it'll vet the correct and appropriate applicants. GADDIS: To move forward with something,yeah. Does anyone have any questions on,that's present, on that process or what exactly we're looking at today? Basically we're,what we were going to do is just issue a statement to either support that,the issuance of the RFP/RFQ for both properties, or to submit a statement saying no,we don't support it. So that's kind of the whole reason for calling the meeting. Does anyone have any questions on how any of that works, or the mechanics of it or what it means? BIRCH: It's just the process of them going through the RFP for those two specific properties? GADDIS: Those two properties,yeah, correct. Which are issuing them yeah, they're both coming to their, or at the end of their leases actually already, right? They're on month-to-month, I believe? HEIT: Yeah, the lease expired GADDIS: For both of them,yeah? Page 2 of 4 Banyan Drive Hawaii Redevelopment Agency December 11,2019 Minutes HEIT: --2015, 2016, so they're on month-to-month permits right now. GADDIS: And previously they had put out, I believe,Uncle Billy's,but part of the condition on that was demolition,right? HEIT: Well we had a,we put out a Request For Interest,which is a little bit different just to see what was out there, and we had one applicant who submitted a proposal. So this is kind of the next step, but this will include the other property, Country Club, former Country Club. GADDIS: Okay. So I don't want to prolong anything unnecessarily. If no one has any questions then we can actually vote to support putting out the RFP and RFQ for both properties, or both reject. Somebody can make a motion to vote,to approve or not approve. CANNON-EGER: I move we support the RFPs. GADDIS: Anyone second that motion? BIRCH: I'll second. GADDIS: Great. We'll take a vote then for this agency to support the issuance of RFP and RFQ for Uncle Billy's and Country Club. All those in favor? ALL: Aye. GADDIS: Okay, opposed? Alright, great, so we're voting to approve that. So what we're going to be doing is actually probably sending a letter of support over to Land Board. That'll be basically the Agency's version of testimony, I suppose. So it's at least on record for everybody that we do. If there's nothing else on the business of the agency, if anyone wants to discuss anything you can bring it up now, otherwise we'll wrap up nice and tidy. ROY: Introduce our new member? GADDIS: Yeah,we do! Yeah,we do have an announcement,yeah that's a nice BIRCH: Since I was sworn in just before this meeting, I wasn't quite ready to make a, or be prepared to go right into a vote,but I'm glad to be here and be a part of this. I've been tracking the progress of Banyan Drive and tourism for quite a while now. I'm glad to be a part of this entity and hopefully we can move things forward in a positive way. Making tourism right for Hilo side. GADDIS: Yeah, thanks for coming on board. Go ahead please, K.T. CANNON-EGER: I'm K.T. and I'm with Friends of Lili`uokalani Gardens in addition to this board and I'd like to point out that we have our new calendar available, and what we do with the calendar is we promote every event we can find. It's got First Friday, it's got Hilo Hula Tuesdays, Big Island Page 3 of 4 Banyan Drive Hawaii Redevelopment Agency December 11,2019 Minutes Water Garden Club, 50th Kona Coffee Festival, Merrie Monarch, etcetera. Every event that we could confirm before going to press is in here in order for our residents as well as our visitors to be informed about what is happening in Hilo. GADDIS: Great. ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS 1. Approval of minutes from the April 24, 2019, Banyan Drive Hawai`i Redevelopment Agency meeting. The Agency took this item up at 2:11 p.m. GADDIS: Well, the only other thing we have on the agenda is approving the minutes from the last meeting. I think they've been issued out. I just need a motion to approve the minutes from the August 28, 2019, meeting. CANNON-EGER: So moved. GADDIS: And I just need a second. BIRCH: Second, even though I wasn't here. GADDIS: Great. You were able to review them. All those in favor of approving the minutes say aye. ALL: Aye. GADDIS: Any opposed? Okay, minutes approved. That'll wrap things up. We have a tentative meeting scheduled for Wednesday, January 29th. We've been holding these kind of a little more periodically than we were last year just to try and keep it relevant. We'll keep you posted if we do move forward with that meeting. That's it. Thank you so much for coming. Meeting adjourned at 2:12 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Kim Tanaka, Secretary ATTEST : Nathan Gaddis, Chairman Banyan Drive Hawaii Redevelopment Agency Page 4 of 4 Banyan Drive Hawaii Redevelopment Agency December 11,2019 Minutes