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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-05-20 Leeward Exh D (SPP 21-000224) LEEWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAII HEARING TRANSCRIPT MAY 20, 2021 A regularly advertised hearing on the application of ARNOLD RABIN (SPP 21-000224) was called to order at 11:36 a.m. via live stream online meeting, with Chairman Michael Vitousek presiding. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Michael Vitousek, Nancy Carr Smith, Barbara DeFranco, Max Newberg, and Faith"Faye" Yates RECUSED: Mark Van Pernis ABSENT AND EXCUSED: Clement"CJ" Kanuha III ALSO IN ATTENDANCE: Dalilah Schlueter, Esq. (Counsel for the Commission), Jean Campbell, Esq. (Counsel for the Planning Department), Jeffrey Darrow (Deputy Planning Director), Tracie-Lee Camero (Planner), Maija Jackson (Planning Program Manager), Alex Roy (Planner), Christian Kay (Planner), and Noriko Sauer (Leeward Planning Commission Secretary) APPLICANT: ARNOLD RABIN (SPP 21-000224) Application for a Special Permit to allow the use of a portion of an existing farm dwelling as a real estate office on approximately 1.01 acre of land situated within the State Land Use Agricultural District. The subject property is located at 83-5365 Hawaii Belt Road, approximately 0.46 miles north of the Hawaii Belt Road/Middle Ke`ei Road intersection, Ke`ei 2nd, South Kona, Hawaii, TMK: (3) 8-3-010:089. VITOUSEK: The applicant is Arnold Rabin, SPP 21-000224, application for Special Permit to allow the use of a portion of the existing farm dwelling for a real estate office on approximately 1.01 acres of land within the State Land Use Agricultural District. Subject property is located at 83-5365 Hawaii Belt Road, approximately 0.46 miles north of the Hawaii Belt Road/Middle Ke`ei Road intersection, Ke`ei Ahupua`a, South Kona moku, Hawaii Island. TMK is (3) 8-3- 010:089. Commissioner Van Pernis has recused himself. Commissioner DeFranco has disclosed a relationship. Are there any objections to Commissioner DeFranco's continued presence on the Commission? She stated that she doesn't believe that it will affect her ability to remain fair and impartial in considering the matter. Seeing no objections, we will continue. Tracie Lee Camero will be your staff. Presentation, Tracie, please proceed. CAMERO: Thank you so much, Chair. Let me get my screen up for you. Can you all see my screen? You can just give me a thumbs up real quick. Thank you. 1 EXHIBIT D Good morning commissioners and members of the Leeward Planning Commission. Presented to you today is a Special Permit request for Mr. Arnold Rabin for SPP 21-000224. The subject property is located within the South Kona district and is identified on your screen by the red pointer. Just to orient you with the area in which the request is being made, the top portion of the map is Kealakekua Bay, and the bottom portion of your map is the Pu`uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park. Both are located makai from the subject property. On your screen you have a zoomed in location map, and you can see the subject property, which is identified again by the red pointer—red star. One of the more notable sites near the subject property is the Honaunau Elementary School, which is located directly across the subject property via Hawaii Belt Road and to the east. The applicant's request is for a special permit to establish a real estate office as a home occupation in approximately 120 square foot room within his existing farm dwelling. This is a site plan which was submitted to the Planning Department by the applicant. You can see that the existing residence is within the subject property. There's also a driveway access that connects to Hawaii Belt Road via an access easement which is to the right of your screen. This is the floor plan that was submitted to the Planning Department by the applicant. You can see that approximately 120 square foot portion of his dwelling that he has labeled as "office," which is where the proposed home occupation is being requested is outlined in red. On your screen you have the current County zoning map of the subject property and surrounding areas. The subject property is outlined in red and is currently zoned as Agricultural with a minimum lot size of 1-acre, also known as A-la, and is, it is indicated in the darker green color. The surrounding properties are similarly zoned Agricultural with a minimum lot size of 1-acre, and further away from the subject property, both mauka and makai, you have properties that are zoned Agriculture with a minimum lot size of 5-acres, which is indicated in the lighter green color. The State Land Use designation for the subject property is Agriculture and is indicated by the green shown on your screen. The surrounding properties are also within the State Land Use Agricultural District as well. The General Plan Land Use Allocation Guide Map, also known as the LUPAG, designates the subject property and the surrounding properties as Important Agricultural Lands, which you can see is indicated in the light green color on your screen. This is an aerial photo of the subject property which is outlined in red. There's currently a farm dwelling located on the subject property. You can see the access easement that crosses the nearby TMK, which connects the subject property to Hawaii Belt Road. Hawaii Belt Road is running from the top of your screen to the bottom, and across of Hawaii Belt Road is the Honaunau Elementary School. This is a slide showing you the current subject property's access to Hawaii Belt Road. And lastly, the Planning Department has not received any testimony from the public for this Special Permit application. The Planning Director is recommending an approval with conditions for the 2 EXHIBIT D Special Permit, SPP 21-224. And with that, I can open the floor to any questions from the commissioners. VITOUSEK: [Inaudible.] CAMERO: I'm sorry, Chair. Okay. VITOUSEK: I prefer if we have the applicant, if you'd like to make any statement and then we can give each commissioner the opportunity to ask questions of either parry. RABIN: Hi everybody, thanks for considering this. I really appreciate it. I've been living in Kona for 50 years and been a very active member of our community here. And so, I know a lot of you really well, and some of you just from our community interactions. And I just want to thank you all for serving our community also. It's,to me, it's all about community. The reason I, I wanted to get my office in my home is, I was really involved in the Kona Community Development Plan in its inception, I organized the community meetings at Konawaena School with my wife who passed away many years ago, that lead to the development of the community, the Community Development Plan, and I served a small period of time on the Action Committee with Barbara, where she was Chair. And through that insight, and my knowledge, I know that the Community Development Plan, one of the most important concepts is that people be able to work and not have to commute and clog up our highways and our roads by living near their place of work. Well, that's one of my goals, is the ecological impact and also reducing traffic. The other thing I want to state is, I'm going to have no impact on the agricultural usage of my land. All my agriculture is done outside. I don't have anything growing inside, ok. So, by staying at home, I'm actually working more on my agriculture. I'm producing right now cacao, `olena, and many fruit trees for home and sharing with family and friends and my whole place is in production as you can tell by that aerial map. So, in conclusion, due to COVID, I wasn't going out meeting people anyways. I learned this lifestyle works really well for me and I don't think I'm going to have any impact other than positive on my community, so that's why I want to move forward with this. Thank you for your consideration. VITOUSEK: Thank you, Mr. Rabin. Okay, Commissioners, are there any questions of the applicants or staff? Commissioner Yates? YATES: Yes. Hi, thank you. I was just wondering, is this the first of this kind of application in the area? CAMERO: Commissioner Yates, I can answer that. There's actually a similar application right down the road from Mr. Rabin's property. It was approved in 1981 for a similar retail, I'm sorry, for a similar real estate office to be located within an existing farm dwelling as well. This was approved though, again, in 1981. YATES: Okay. I was just wondering because, you know, you know how that goes where once you give, one thing opens and then the next person, and then the next. So, it was just a concern. 3 EXHIBIT D RABIN: Could I say something? VITOUSEK: Sure,please. Go ahead. RABIN: Yeah, I appreciate your, your question, and I just wanted to say because I've lived here 50 years, I know this neighborhood intimately that most of the land along the highway that is being used commercially here in the Honaunau, Ke`ei area, is actually zoned Agriculture. All the stores are, and as a matter of fact, right below me is Haleakala Gardens, owned by Barbara, which is also zoned Agriculture. And, you know,we, we cherish these things in our community. The problem is, with our whole County planning, where they zone places like Kona Palisades Agricultural, which means impact is tremendous cause agricultural volume--you're not allowed to rent`um, and I wonder how many rentals are in Kona Palisades. You know? Or in Kona Acres, also zoned Ag. Also, Kona Paradise south of me, is zoned Ag. There are numerous subdivisions like this. So, I think that's the real problem, is, is trying to reconcile the Kona Community Development Plan with actual zoning. CAMERO: Also, can I just say something? If Mr. Rabin was actually located within a State Land Use Urban district, he could actually come in through an administrative process that the Planning Department has and do a home occupation. His request would match that of a home occupation. However, because he's located within the State Land Use Agricultural District, within our Code and our Section 25-4-13b, he's required to come in with a Special Permit for this request. YATES: Thank you very much. VITOUSEK: Okay. Is that it for you, Commissioner Yates? [Ms. Yates nods.] Okay thank you. Any other commissioners? [None.] Okay, seeing no further questions, let's entertain a motion. Commissioner Carr Smith. CARR SMITH: I move that the application for Special Permit docket number 21-000224 be approved based on the Planning Director's recommendation, which shall be adopted. VITOUSEK: Thank you. Is there a second? NEWBERG: [Raises hand.] VITOUSEK: Seconded by Vice Chair Newberg. Any discussion? [None.] Okay, seeing none, let's go to roll call. CAMERO: Thank you, Chair. With that we'll take the roll call. Commissioner Carr Smith? CARR SMITH: Aye. CAMERO: Vice Chair Newberg? NEWBERG: Aye. 4 EXHIBIT D CAMERO: Commissioner DeFranco? DEFRANCO: Aye. CAMERO: Commissioner Yates? VITOUSEK: That was mute, but it looked like an aye. YATES: [Nods.] CAMERO: Aye. Okay. VITOUSEK: Yep. CAMERO: And Chair Vitousek? VITOUSEK: Aye. CAMERO: Thank you. The motion carries 5-0, with one commissioner recused. RABIN: Can I ask a question? [Speaking simultaneously with Mr. Vitousek.] VITOUSEK: Thank you very much. RABIN: Can I ask a question? VITOUSEK: Yep. RABIN: First of all, thank you all very much for your consideration. In my plans I had initially drawn my office in one part of my house, but recently I, I feel like it could be moved to another part of my house and be in a better position. The lighting, etcetera. It's the same square footage, same room but in a different location, do I have to reapply to move my office to a different room? VITOUSEK: I will defer that question to the Planning Department. DARROW: When plans come before the Planning Commission, they're not, they may change. What the Planning Department does is look to see if those changes to plans are substantial. In this particular case it appears that that's not the case, so I don't think you'll have any problem relocating to another room in the house. RABIN: Thank you, sir. VITOUSEK: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Rabin. You will be notified of this decision in writing. 5 EXHIBIT D The hearing ended at 11:51 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Kim Tanaka Secretary to Boards and Commissions 6 EXHIBIT D