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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-02-26 BDHRA Minutes BANYAN DRIVE HAWAII REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY COUNTY OF HAWAII MINUTES February 26, 2020 The meeting of the Banyan Drive Hawaii Redevelopment Agency was called to order at 2:05 p.m. in the County of Hawaii, Aupuni Center conference room, 101 Pauahi Street, Hilo, Hawaii,with Chairman Nathan Gaddis presiding. MEMBERS PRESENT: Nathan Gaddis (Chairman), Ross Birch, K.T. Cannon-Eger, Brian DeLima (left at 2:15 p.m.) MEMBERS ABSENT & EXCUSED: None ALSO PRESENT: Jeffrey Darrow, (Planning Program Manager), Ron Kim(Corporation Counsel), Alex Roy (Planner), Kim Tanaka(Secretary), Gordon Heit(DLNR Representative) A quorum was present with four members in attendance. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC There were approximately 6 members of the public in attendance. At 2:04 p.m. Chairman Gaddis opened the floor to take statements from the public. GADDIS: Alright. We can call the meeting to order. Thanks everyone, for coming. We don't have any statements from the public at this time registered. So we'll go ahead and move right into the Business of the Agency. BUSINESS OF AGENCY 1. Review, discussion, and possible action regarding a proposal by Garth Yamanaka to rezone the Hilo Iron Works properties from the current Open zoning designation (0) to an Industrial- Commercial Mixed Use (MCX)zoning designation in order to maintain the existing uses and structures at Pi'opi"o, South Hilo District, Island of Hawai'i on Tax Map Key(s): (3) 2-2- 001.-030; .-024; .-034; .-008; .-007,- -2- 001:030; :024; :034; :008; :007; and.-017-.-019. The Agency took this item up at 2:05 p.m. with approximately 5 members of the public in attendance. GADDIS: First item on the agenda is a review and discussion regarding possible action for a proposal to rezone the Hilo Iron Works Properties from current Open zoning over to an Industrial- Commercial Mixed Use. So we can proceed with that as our first item on the agenda. ROY: Thank you, Chair. I'm just going to go through,before the owner gets up and does a little spiel on the discussion, I'm going to go through some of the slides just to kind of get you guys back into where we're looking at here. So this is the area in question. The area outlined in yellow, Page 1 of7 Banyan Drive Hawaii Redevelopment Agency February 26,2020 Minutes commercial industrial. This is the Hilo Iron Works buildings. And so to remind you,this is the land use plan that the BDHRA had come up with after extensive reviews and community involvement. So here, the BDHRA plan calls for Commercial-Industrial in this area. The current zoning is Open. On the left map you can see a lot of this area is currently zoned Open. And then on the map on the right, you see that's land ownership, and of course this is privately owned BDHRA parcels. So it's part of the Banyan Drive Redevelopment district. Here's the LUPAG,which calls for it to be Industrial zoned under the new GP coming out. So it seems to fit in line with what the Banyan Drive had come up with already. Here's just an aerial shot of the area, showing the buildings, and then this is a map taken from the applicants, or the owners information, which you guys have gotten copies of. So I will leave it up to him to lead the discussion from here on. YAMANAKA: Thank you for having me here today. I guess I was just going to start off with maybe a background of why we're requesting a change of zone and what we are hoping the Board can help support us in this. Ultimately,we're looking for some type of, maybe a letter of support moving forward with when we put in our application. So the purpose of the rezoning has been coming up for us because we've been having issues with the property due to the Open zoning. We were given the Open zoning, little background, I believe on page three. After the tsunamis that hit the area,we were under the control of the HRA. And at that point, I believe, and I may be, if I'm wrong on this maybe the County could correct me,but we were Open zoning at that point in time and there was a 35-year term where the HRA would determine the uses allowed at the property. The time has lapsed and the Open zoning,we were reverted back to the Open zoning. So the issues we kind of face are when we're trying to fill spaces at the property,there's a big question mark on what can be done there. With the Open zoning, it's basically parks,uses like that, and so it becomes a big issue for the owners in terms of using the property to its highest and best use. And so, some of the other issues we come across is if the owners ever try to mortgage the property, it becomes a real problem for the lenders. And then that in turn affects when you try to sell the property because,because someone has to come up with cash,basically. And so,part of the reason why we,we need to do the rezoning is we need a way for us to reinvest in the property. We need a way for us to use the property to its highest and best use considering the location within the Banyan Drive boundaries,within being an entry port into Downtown Hilo. We feel like we're not able to maximize the property to its full effect. And so, so that's,that's basically the background of why we,we would like to go for the rezoning. We're choosing MC-X because we feel that is the most suitable zoning for what exists there. It's always kind of been an industrial, light industrial commercial type of use on that property throughout history. So,we feel we're in line with that. And the last General Plan actually recommends certain areas for MC-X, and the Iron Works is listed as one of the areas that they would recommend for MC- X zoning. But I'm open to questions or concerns anyone might have. GADDIS: Go ahead if anyone has any. DELIMA: I move that we approve the recommendationI move that we approve and support the application for Industrial-Commercial Mixed Use. GADDIS: Okay, I'm just gonna clarify. So do you wanna move that we draft a letter of support? DELIMA: Yeah,because we Page 2 of 7 Banyan Drive Hawaii Redevelopment Agency February 26,2020 Minutes GADDIS: From the Agency. DELIMA: I don't think we have been empowered to actually do the change of zone GADDIS: Correct. DELIMA: I mean,that's been the interpretation. I disagree with that,but that's what Corporation Counsel has already advised, so I make that motion that we support and then I guess I we would go to the Planning Director and the County Council. GADDIS: Yeah. CANNON-EGER: Second the motion. DELIMA: I'd like to speak in favor of the motion. GADDIS: Yeah,please go ahead. DELIMA: Okay. To be frank, I think that if we, if the County does not address the private owners whose designation is open zoning,then it'll be, it could be viewed as a taking of private property without compensation. And the reason is, is that Open, and there's many cases that have made that determination, Open zoning,you cannot really do anything with the property. So from the point of view of the public interest, here you have a private landowner who has a designation of Open zoning, they have a structure on their properties. Mr. Yamanaka kind of indicated all the problems they're having in terms of being able to improve their structures. So it becomes an eyesore to the community, it limits the landowners ability to be creative in the use of the property. If we have, if this land is rezoned,the property owner could actually come up with a plan on how to make that more attractive for use. It could be,you know, a be a good place for restaurants, good place for walking paths, good place for retail,you know. There could be some light industrial use in that particular area that would make sense. It would give them a whole type of opportunities to do that. And I say the same things should apply to the Ice House. You have the Ice House right next the most beautiful park we have on the island, and it is an ugly eyesore right now because the landowner can't do anything with it. If we gave him a reasonable use, he could improve the property so it could complement the area near the park. So,you know,we really gotta give private landowners the ability to use their properties in a prudent and reasonable way that,that is complementary to the surrounding area and an asset to our community. And I apologize if we can't finish the discussion before 2:30, I have to go to a doctor's appointment so I'm leaving at like 2:25. GADDIS: Anyone else want to make any statements regarding a motion introduced by Mr. DeLima? We had a second from K.T. here, so we can move to a vote. So we're voting on a letter of support to be furnished supporting the rezoning from an Open designation to Industrial-Commercial Mixed Use for the properties identified as the Hilo Iron Works. So I'll move to a vote. All those in favor? Page 3 of 7 Banyan Drive Hawaii Redevelopment Agency February 26,2020 Minutes DELIMA: Aye. CANNON-EGER: Aye. GADDIS: Any opposed? Okay. So the aye's have it. YAMANAKA: Thank you. GADDIS: Thanks very much for coming. 2. Review, discussion, and possible action on HB.2578 HDI (S.B. 3115) RELATING TO PUBLIC LANDS. Presented to the BDHRA will be the current versions of the measure, committee reports, and submitted testimony to date. The Agency took this item up at 2:15 p.m. with approximately 5 members of the public in attendance. GADDIS: So we can move on to the second item on our agenda,which is discussion of current legislation, specifically House Bill 2578, Senate Bill 3115 relating to Public Lands and this encompasses the Banyan Drive Area so we're going to hear a quick update on that. DELIMA: Since you have a quorum, may I be excused? GADDIS: Yes,you may. DELIMA: Thank you. ROY: Okay,this is, this bill of course mimics the bill that we saw and read through last year regarding a new Waiakea Peninsula Redevelopment District. It appears to have a lot of similar language as the bill from last year,but however, there's some additional tax changes that I'm not really privy. I think it might be something that maybe Gordon might be able to speak to some of the changes that they may be facing regarding leases and their views on leases moving forward, if that's going to change,but I'm not going to put you on the spot. So the bill passed second reading CANNON-EGER: Excuse me, can we have the bill number again please? ROY: Oh, I'm so sorry,yeah, it's House Bill 2578, House Draft 1, HD1. So its 2578, HD1. CANNON-EGER: Thank you. ROY: So it proposes to authorize the designation of areas of regions of public lands classified as commercial, etcetera. And the establishment and implementation of guidelines for the redevelopment of such areas, and they specifically call out the Waiakea Peninsula, aka Banyan Drive as one of those first redevelopment agencies. Essentially, it would pass the authority over to DLNR to work through Page 4 of 7 Banyan Drive Hawaii Redevelopment Agency February 26,2020 Minutes that management and most likely the Banyan Drive Redevelopment Agency would go away. DLNR is not in favor of this. Suzanne Case has submitted testimony very similar to what she had presented last year. They speak to the revenue loss, and then other things the, one of her big ones was that roads and similar public kind of County-responsible structures and parcels wouldn't be able to be all- encompassed through the State in this new redevelopment district and it's better to have it separated as is. But again,that's her testimony. There was other testimony in support. Department of Taxation supports it but their focus, of course, is on how money is gleaned from that, and then of course the Mayor wrote a very general letter of support for anything that helps to move Banyan Drive forward. So, as I said before, it passed through WLH,the first reading, second reading, and then the committees on finance recommended just a couple days ago that the measure be passed un-amended and it was unanimously voted on to pass forward. So at this time I didn't know if BDHRA wanted to submit a letter. We still have time if the agency members wanted to have a discussion and we could submit a letter either to the Mayor or directly to the legislative branch to, if you wanted to put in some comment or concerns about that. So, I'll leave it to you guys to discuss. If you have any, if you want to just kind of open discuss, and then if you want to take action,you can tell me what kind of action you'd like to take on that. GADDIS: Yeah, if I can start off. So just at this time, Gordon, if you do want to weigh in,you know, anything significant you see in this version of things versus House Bill 1219 from last year which is the one that the Agency voiced support for the last time around. Before we take up an issue of issuing a letter of support for this one. HEIT: Okay,thank you. Gordon Heit, DLNR Land Division. No,basically it's a rehash of the previous bill. Our position's pretty much consistent with it. Again, you know, it's, I guess there's a lot of redundancy in there,rehashing things that are already existing. We are working towards putting out two properties for RFQs, Request For Quotations on GADDIS: Yeah, and what's the status of that? This is for Uncle Billy's and the Country Club, correct? HEIT: Right. GADDIS: Request For Proposal and Request For Qualification. HEIT: We're finalizing the submittals will be presented to the Land Board, I believe, next month. So we are moving forward with that. So hopefully we'll have something by summertime. GADDIS: Okay. And so just to clarify for everyone, what he's referring to is Department of Land and Natural Resources is issuing both a Request For Proposal and Request For Qualification for both Uncle Billy's and the Country Club properties which are currently both on month-to-month leases, correct? HEIT: Correct. Page 5 of 7 Banyan Drive Hawaii Redevelopment Agency February 26,2020 Minutes GADDIS: Yeah, and so if somebody steps forward after you submit those,then there would be a period of review on both counts,right? On the qualification side and on the proposal itself. HEIT: Yeah, they'll be run concurrently but separately. GADDIS: Right,right. Got it. Okay, so thanks for that. Being that the Agency supported House Bill 1219 last year, and I've read through what I can and from what I can see things are fairly similar. We issued a letter of support for that the last time around. So we have a template of sorts even in letter form to go off of. So I'd like to open a discussion of issuing a similar letter of support this year for this legislation. I'll open it up for anyone that wants to comment or pose questions. CANNON-EGER: For the purposes of discussion, I will make that motion. GADDIS: Okay. So we have a motion to issue similar letter of support, and is the motion to use essentially the same wording as our last letter? CANNON-EGER: Yes. GADDIS: Okay, very good. So that will have,basically the same wording as our letter that went out last year in support of House Bill 1219,which within that letter the Agency, Banyan Drive Redevelopment CANNON-EGER: Let's have a second before we discuss this. GADDIS: Oh please,yeah. BIRCH: I'll second the motion. CANNON-EGER: Thank you. GADDIS: So, Mr. Birch seconded the motion. So just to refresh everyone's memory for what that letter was last year,basically it was a support of House Bill 1219 and also a verbal commitment on the part of the Banyan Drive Redevelopment Agency to sunset itself once that bill takes effect,which was part of that legislation at the time. So we have a second. We should call a vote. All those in favor of issuing such a letter? BIRCH: Aye. CANNON-EGER: Aye. GADDIS: Okay. We have no one present to oppose, so the aye's have it. We'll go ahead and issue a similar letter to last year. Any other questions, comments, or discussion regarding that legislation? If not,that will actually wrap up official business of the agency. Page 6 of 7 Banyan Drive Hawaii Redevelopment Agency February 26,2020 Minutes ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS 1. Approval of minutes from the December ]], 2019, Banyan Drive Hawai`i Redevelopment Agency meeting. The Agency took this item up at 2:23 p.m. GADDIS: We can go move on to Administrative Matters which is just approval of the minutes from our last meeting which was December 11, 2019. Those should have been issued for you. If you have any questions you can pose them now. If not, someone can make a motion to approve those minutes. BIRCH: I move to approve the minutes for December 11th meeting. CANNON-EGER: Second. GADDIS: Okay,we can move to a vote to approve the minutes. All those in favor,please say aye. ALL: Aye. GADDIS: We have none opposed so those minutes are approved. We're tentatively scheduled for a March 25th meeting on Wednesday, March 25, 2020,in this same room. We'll update you as that agenda becomes available and we get some clarity on that. So thank you everyone, very much, for coming and have a great day. Meeting adjourned at 2:24 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Kim Tanaka, Secretary ATTEST : Nathan Gaddis, Chairman Banyan Drive Hawaii Redevelopment Agency Page 7 of 7 Banyan Drive Hawaii Redevelopment Agency February 26,2020 Minutes