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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-03-11.SKCDP.Minutes.DRAFTMitchell D. Roth Mayor Lee E. Lord Managing Director County of Hawaii PLANNING DEPARTMENT Zendo Kern Director Jeffrey W. Darrow Deputy Director SOUTH KOHALA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE Aupuni Center • 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 3 • Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Phone (808) 961-8288 • Fax (808) 961-8742 Thursday, March 11, 2021 DRAFT Meeting Minutes CALL TO ORDER Vice -Chair Smith called the South Kohala Community Development Plan (SKCDP) Action Committee (AC) to order at 4:03 p.m. Due to restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic, this meeting was held via the Zoom interactive video platform. ROLL CALL Action Committee Members Present: Ruth Smith (Vice Chair), Julia Ann Alos, Karen Anderson, Peter Hendricks, Tristie Licoan, Kevin McLaughlin and William Sanborn. Action Committee Members Absent -Excused: Mark Gordon. Planning Department Staff: Planners - Rob Leasure, Keiko Mercado, Kamuela Plunkett and Natasha Soriano. Director — Zendo Kern. Members of the public: Members of the public observed the meeting via the YouTube livestream. The livestream recording is available at South Kohala CDP AC Meeting - March 11, 2021 - YouTube. ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA: None ANNOUNCEMENTS: 1. Vice -Chair Smith expressed her appreciation for Chair Diane Keanali'i, who has vacated her position on the Action Committee since the last AC meeting. 2. Committee Member Anderson shared introductory comments, including her move from Washington to Hawaii in 2011, her experience with the Nature Conservancy, and her interests in environmental justice and wastewater in Pua'ko. 3. Planning Director Zendo Kern conveyed the administration's support of CDP ACs and his interest in empowering them to succeed in implementation activities and shared his excitement for future community coordination among all of the CDP Action Committees. In addition, Director Kern emphasized his open-door approach and welcomed suggestions and ideas from AC members. Hawai `i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer Page 1 PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS: None APPROVAL OF MINUTES: None. BUSINESS: 1. Election of Action Committee Officers: a) Mr. Plunkett requested each committee member to nominate someone to the position of Chair. Committee Member Alos nominated Committee Member Sanborn. Committee Member McLaughlin nominated Vice -Chair Smith and Committee Member Hendricks seconded. The motion passed with 5 aye votes, and 1 nay vote. Committee Member Smith accepted the position of Chair for 2021. b) The nominations for Vice -Chair began with Chair Smith nominating Committee Member Licoan; Committee Member Sanborn nominated Committee Member McLaughlin; and Committee Member Licoan nominated Committee Member Anderson. The roll call vote resulted in 4 ayes for Committee Member Licoan, 2 ayes for Committee Member McLaughlin, and 1 aye for Committee Member Anderson. Committee Member Licoan accepted the position of Vice -Chair for 2021. 2. Update on Waimea Trails & Greenways Committee: Ms. Soriano noted that the project is in Phase 1 - Design (60% complete) and is delayed in completing the environmental permitting with FHWA and the 106 Historic Preservation Process. In 2011, remains were discovered within the easement for the trail & required a burial plan to be implemented. Ms. Soriano further noted that this project is currently not on the State Transportation Improvement plan, but the committee is preparing it to be shovel -ready when state/federal funds become available. No significant update on Phase 2, except that the easement arrangements with Parker Ranch are in the final stage. Mr. Plunkett asked Ms. Soriano to clarify the different phases and locations, to which Ms. Soriano noted that the Waimea trail is to be four miles starting at Church Row in Waimea and ending at the end of DHHL property on the other end of Waimea, meeting up with Kawaihae Road. Phase 1 starts at Ulu La' Ulu La'au Park to Kahawai Street. Phase 2 continues from Kahawai St. to the HELCO transfer station. Committee Member Hendricks asked about the composition of the trail and Ms. Soriano stated that the goal is to have a completely paved trail for pedestrians and bicyclists, but funding will determine if it will be fully paved and ADA -compliant. Vice -Chair Smith asked about timing for funding and Ms. Soriano clarified that funding may be received any time, depending on how the state funds their projects through the year. In addition, Ms. Soriano noted that the difficulties of preparing shovel projects include the need for federal permitting and the legal process, which impact the ability to quickly access the funds. Vice -Chair further enquired about the amount of possible federal funding and Ms. Soriano stated that this is unclear given possible legislation that may require states to dedicated funding to alternative transportation and complete streets. Committee Member Sanborn asked who is leading the project and Ms. Soriano clarified that the County Planning Department is coordinating with Public Works to close out the design contract with county funds. The Mayor's office is also supporting in seeking more funding and Parks & Recreation will be involved in Phase 2 as they will be involved with trail maintenance. httys.llwww.ylannin,-.hawaiicounty.,-ov/home southkohala(a)hawaiicounty.-ov Page 2 Committee Member Alos requested that on future topics the planning staff provide information in advance to be better prepared to engage in discussions. 3. Waikoloa Intersection and Second Access Road Investigatory Subcommittee Report: Mr. Plunkett corrected the agenda item, which incorrectly included a reference to Communication 2019-4. Ms. Soriano communicated that in December 2020, Public Works awarded Belt Collins a contract for the design of a round -about located at the intersection of Waikoloa Road, Paniolo Avenue and Pua Melia St. Currently, they are in the preliminary design phase and started the Section 106 Prehistoric Preservation Investigation. The head engineer is Robin Matsumoto, should you require additional information. Ms. Soriano noted that she did not have an update regarding the second access on Waikoloa Road. Committee Member Alos commented that Mr. Pinkston stated to Council Member Richards that he would donate $100,000 towards this issue and that she would like to see that money be put towards a safety report. In addition, Ms. Alos asked if the funding delay for the Daniel K. Inouye Highway will create a burden on Waikoloa Road. Ms. Soriano stated that she is not informed about the specifics but noted that Public Works would need to follow the HRS 343 requirements regarding environmental assessments, which would include either a traffic or alternative route analysis. This may help determine the decision on intersection design. Committee Member Alos further questioned the quality of a traffic impact analysis report (TZAR) during the Covid pandemic and wondered if given the Meridien Pacific project should Public Works put in 4 -way stop signs immediately for safety purposes. Ms. Soriano responded that there are options that Public Works may consider regarding TIARs under these conditions but, in general, state-wide traffic has returned to near pre -pandemic levels. Committee Member McLaughlin asked if there would a be a public comment period on the proposed intersection solution before the design phase is closed. Ms. Soriano confirmed that it should occur as part of HRS 343 requirements Vice -Chair Smith highlighted that the subcommittee reports include a point regarding the concerns of a roundabout design for person with disabilities. Committee Member Sanborn further noted that roundabouts located near multiple civic activities in the area (e.g., like at Lindsay Road & Kawaihae Road where there are two churches, two schools, a playground) may result in undesired traffic backup when the crosswalks are located at the edge of the roundabout. Mr. Plunkett thanked the subcommittee for the hard work put into the two reports and opened for a motion regarding accepting the report and closing the subcommittee. He further noted that closing the subcommittee does not preclude a future subcommittee to be formed to address additional items that the AC would like to address. Vice -Chair Smith motioned to accept the reports and Committee Member Sandborn seconded During discussion, Committee Member Julia Alos noted that conditions in the area have changed and that there are varying degrees of differences. Committee Member McLaughlin stated that the set of tasks defined for the subcommittee have been met and that future issues could be addressed in either a new subcommittee or smaller -scaled enquiries. Committee Member Sanborn questioned if the issue will be buried if the motion passes. Vice -Chair noted that the conditions around the intersection change continuously and suggested a new subcommittee be considered if significant changes occur in the future. httys.llwww.ylannin,-.hawaiicounty.,-ov/home southkohala(a)hawahcounty.-ov Page 3 After discussion concluded, Committee Member Sanborn called for the vote and the motion to accept the reports was passed with 6 aye votes, 1 nay vote. Vice -Chair Smith then motioned to close the subcommittee and Committee Member Licoan seconded. During discussion, Committee Member Sanborn raised the proposal to prepare an addendum to capture new information since the report was prepared. Committee Member McLaughlin suggested that the addendum should be presented to the full AC to be more efficient. Committee Member Alos agreed to prepare the addendum and present it during a future meeting. The motion to close the subcommittee passed with 6 aye votes, 1 no vote (Approximately 5:35 p.m. several Committee Members noted their need to exit the meeting. In advance of their departure, the AC acted regarding Approval of Minutes (see results below). Subsequent to this action, Committee Members Alos, Anderson, Licoan, McLaughlin, and Sanborn exited the meeting.) 4. Action Committee Member Initiatives and Network Maps: Mr. Leasure presented a visual portrait of the AC members' network of community groups and projects with which they are involved. This network image was created on the on-line Kumu software and shows the type of community groups and specific projects linked to each AC member. Mr. Leasure noted further that the categorization of the types of community groups is a proposal to be reconciled with other CDP ACs so that they may be combined for an island -wide view, and he stated that the planning staff would like the committee members' suggestions on other information to include and ways to organize the data that would be useful to them in their effort to prioritize and implement CDP -related implementation actions. Planning staff indicated that instructions will be sent to AC members with the draft minutes on what steps AC members should take regarding completing the mapping exercise. The Kumu map for SK CDP AC connections to community groups and projects [Communication Number 2021-01] may be found and downloaded from the following website: Com .No. 2021- 01 SK CDP Mapping - Laserfiche WebLink (hawaiicounty.gov). PROPOSED AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: None. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Committee Member Sanborn moved to accept the minutes from the June 18, 2019, and December 16, 2020, meetings. Committee Member Hendricks seconded. The motion passed with 7 aye votes, 0 nay votes. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 5:51 p.m. All Action Committee information can be viewed and downloaded from our website: https:/Iwww.hawaiicountvcdp.info/south-kohala-cdp https.11www.ylannin,-.hawaiicounty.-owhome southkohala(a)hawaiicounty.-ov Page 4