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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-01-08 TCARLILE WINDWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I HEARING TRANSCRIPT JANUARY 8, 2010 C.L. CARLILE ENTERPRISES, L.P. A regularly advertised hearing on the application of (SPP 09-000093) was called to order at 10:40 a.m. in the County of Hawaii, Aupuni Center Conference Room, 101 Pauahi Street, Hilo, Hawai‘i, with Chairman Rell Woodward presiding. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Rell Woodward, Dean Au, Takashi Domingo, Andrew Iwashita, Zendo Kern, and Wallace Ishibashi. STAFF PRESENT: Brandon Gonzalez (Deputy Corporation Counsel), BJ Leithead Todd (Planning Director), Margaret Masunaga (Deputy Planning Director) Phyllis Fujimoto (Staff Planner), Jeff Darrow (Staff Planner) and Maija Cottle (Staff Planner). And 30 people from the public in attendance. APPLICANT: C.L. CARLILE ENTERPRISES, L.P. (SPP 09-000093) Special Permit to allow a visitor center with a certified kitchen for the sale of food and retail items on 5 acres of land within the State Land Use Agricultural District. The property is located along the south side of Umauma Gulch, and Old Mamalahoa Highway, Wailua Government Tract, North Hilo, Hawaii, TMK: 3-1-1: portion of 22. WOODWARD: We’re now on Agenda Item No. 3. Applicant is C. L. Carlile Enterprises, a Special Permit to allow a visitor center with a certified kitchen on 5 acres of land within the State Land Use Agricultural District, North Hilo. I guess Jeff is going to be giving us the lowdown on this one. Jeff? DARROW: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If I could direct your attention to the presentation. Our next applicant is C. L. Carlile Enterprises, LLP. The area of this application is just north of Hakalau. Hakalau is identified in the dark blue zoning, which is Agricultural 10 acres. The darker green color is Agricultural 20 acres. It’s a little difficult to see but the property is outlined with a black outline. This is located, again, just north of Hakalau off of Old Mamalahoa Highway. This is an aerial photo. It’s, again, a little difficult to see. This is the general area of the property. You can see that majority of it is vacant or used as pasture or agricultural uses. You have some eucalyptus trees here. And you can see scattered residences across the Umaumau Gulch from the property. The applicant is requesting a special permit to allow a visitor center with a certified kitchen for the sale of food and retail items on 5 acres of land to enhance the permitted zipline tour operation. The visitors center will include an approximate 1900-square foot structure with a certified kitchen for the sale of food and retail items. These items will include sandwiches, salads, smoothies, canned and bottled drinks, as well as retail items like t-shirts, hats, and mugs, 1 EXHIBIT B etc. There’s also an approximate 400-square foot structure which will include bathrooms and showers and a storage room, and also parking areas. This is the site plan submitted by the applicant. You have Old Mamalahoa on the right side of the map. Access to the property is from a paved concrete driveway up to the proposed visitors center. And there is another parking area located in this general area. Again, you have some restrooms and shower area. There are several other accesses. The property is actually approximately 80 plus acres in size. They’re asking for just this particular area for the special permit. The applicant owns two parcels. The upper parcel is used mainly for the zipline tour operation. This would be in support for that. These are some site photos. This is looking south on Old Mamalahoa Highway. You have the concrete access to the property. This is looking at the property. This sign says the “Umauma Experience.” This is the proposed visitors center. It’s in its construction stage. It was previously going to be used as a storage for all the equipment that they were storing up there but in the process they decided to request a special permit for a visitors center. This is one of the sites from the property. This is Umauma Gulch. There’s an actual viewing area up there for visitors that come to the property. As I mentioned this is also, this is part of a zipline operation. This is, you can see the ziplines there going over the gulch. This one is approximately 2,000 lineal feet long and it’s one of eight ziplines that they have. The Planning Director is recommending approval with conditions. If I can just bring to the Commission’s attention a few things. One is that we have submitted a revised recommendation. It should be in yellow. The difference between that one and the first one was we had deleted Condition 11. We were asking for public access be granted to this particular site on the property but after legally looking at it, it looks like legally we cannot enforce that. And so at this point we’re going to delete that. Additionally, we’ve received numerous letters of support. We have received one letter of concern dated 12/29 regarding Kamaee Road; and we’ll have the applicant or their th representatives address that matter. The applicant had submitted a letter dated January 4 requesting certain conditions be revised or deleted; and I’m sure we’ll address that as well in the application, I mean when the applicant comes forward. Are there any questions? WOODWARD: Any questions for staff? Commissioner Domingo. DOMINGO: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Jeff, the property consists of that and which abuts the State Highway, Highway 19, and all the way up to the Old Mamalahoa Highway? DARROW: This property actually doesn’t abut the highway. It abuts the Old Mamalahoa Highway. The actual highway itself is, it’s a little further down. Let’s see, see, here’s the property in this general area. So you see the Old Mamalahoa Highway. This is the main highway, Highway 19. So there is property between the Highway 19 and this particular property. 2 EXHIBIT B DOMINGO: I see. You know, along the highway there are two structures. I think probably it used to be used by the State Highway Division similar to that. It’s painted white and light blue. Who would own that two structures? DARROW: I’m actually not familiar with those. I know that in this general area it’s about Mile Marker 16. You have the World Botanical Gardens in that particular area. You have the bridge for the Umauma Gulch. So I’m not sure exactly where you’re speaking about in regards to these two structures. But maybe they’re owned by the State for just storage or something. DOMINGO: Have you folks gone there and taken a -? DARROW: Yes. DOMINGO: Have a site inspection? DARROW: Yeah, we took the photos that are on the presentation. DOMINGO: Okay, okay. Probably it’s not part of the application but I swear there’s a signage on the earth itself, built there to indicate the property, it’s name. But I don’t, I won’t venture to say that it’s the same, the applicant’s name. DARROW: I would guess that that is the, connected to the World Botanical Gardens. And we can, hopefully the applicant may be able to address that matter. DOMINGO: Okay, thank you. WOODWARD: Any further questions for staff? Okay, seeing none if we could have the applicant and/or their representatives come up, have a seat. MIKKELSON: I’m here again. WOODWARD: You’re back again, okay. So you’ve already been sworn in so you don’t have to do that again. But, sir, if I can get you to raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth today before the Windward Planning Commission? CARLILE: I do. WOODWARD: Very good. All right, if you’d like to begin your testimony, if you’ll give us your name and address and then you’re free to begin. CARLILE: My name is Cleo Carlile and I live on Maui and in Texas and have come to the Big Island over 30 years. And I got involved in the world Botanical Garden ownership way back in the very beginning of that. And then that’s how I ended up with this. WOODWARD: All right, very good. Would you like to say anything further or -? 3 EXHIBIT B CARLILE: I would like to say that I appreciate the opportunity to be here today. It’s nice to see all of you and put this Committee in -. I didn’t know how you operated or anything about your process. So I’ve enjoyed sitting through the first part. Sounds like you’re reasonable and that’s wonderful. I used to serve in your position, almost like that, in my community for ten years as a planning and zoning council, so I know a lot about that from those experiences. And I guess that’s it. I’ll turn it over to Lori here. WOODWARD: All right, very good. Do we have any questions for Mr. Carlile? No? Okay. Lori, if you’ll give us your name and address again and then –. MIKKELSON: My name is Lori Mikkelson. I live in Laupahoehoe, Post Office Box 291. I met Mr. Carlson, sorry, Carlile about three or four months ago. And initially by my son-in-law and some other people, I ended up meeting with him. And I went to the site and I thought to myself at first I’m not sure about this. But after talking to him and seeing it and taking it, you know, a tour of the experience, I can see the potential for the local community to have an opportunity for employment, I can see an opportunity there for the local community to have a place to go and have recreation, which on the Hamakua Coast we don’t have much unless it’s, you know, backyard. And so that kind of adds to it, as well as Mr. Carlile spoke from his heart on how he feels about this property and how he wants to keep it undeveloped and keep the Ag going. And he has, there’s a lot of cattle grazing going on there, and also some gardening and some organic stuff growing on there, and the landscaping is beautiful. So I got involved that way. He did have, the construction of the building was on-going at that time. And, you know, he told me what he thought he should have and how it should be; and we discussed the rules and what he would have to be required to do. And he decided to go forward. And so that’s the gist of it. WOODWARD: All right, thank you. Any questions from Commissioners? Commissioner Domingo. DOMINGO: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, just to expand on the question that I originally asked -. From the mauka Mamalahoa Highway boundary end of the property, how far does this extend towards the ocean? MIKKELSON: It does not. It’s from the Mamalahoa Highway up mauka. DOMINGO: Above the Old Mamalahoa Highway? MIKKELSON: Yes, only. DOMINGO: I see. So what I was referring to was another entity? MIKKELSON: It’s another endeavor. DOMINGO: Okay, okay. Thank you. WOODWARD: All right, any -? Commissioner Iwashita. 4 EXHIBIT B IWASHITA: Thank you, Mr. Chair. There’s this letter of concern about Kamaee Road. Do you have any input on that? MIKKELSON: Yes, I do. I do. That, again, is associated with the neighboring endeavor. They had the World Botanical Gardens; and since the zipline is an approved use, they decided to put one in as well. And theirs is up and running. Ours is not yet. And the traffic concerns are on-going concerns. They are parking on the road from what I understand. I’ve had some people who have called me asked me about it and wondered if it was associated with us. We have ample parking off-road, so it’ll never be that issue. IWASHITA: Can you just sort of show me what the relationship is? Cause I have a, I’m looking at the map and I’m having a hard time figuring it out. DARROW: Unfortunately, I apologize for the darkness of the map. We’ll try to see if we can help that -. The subject property is in this area. It’s my understanding that Kamaee Road goes out to the north, on the property to the north and then travels on up. Is that correct? MIKKELSON: Yes. DARROW: Yeah, and so the road that the person is speaking to is actually on an adjacent parcel to the south. MIKKELSON: If I could since it’s so large, while the map is up and the lights are out? WOODWARD: Sure. MIKKELSON: If you look at the map and you see a little finger of land sticking down from the bottom to the Mamalahoa Highway, that is the affected portion for the special permit. WOODWARD: Okay, thank you. One other question I might have while we have you here, I know that you submitted a letter asking for revision or elimination of certain conditions; and I believe the Planning Director has given that, her response to Jeff. Did you want to go over what the potential revisions for the conditions would be? th DARROW: Sure. In looking at Mr. Carlile’s letter submitted January 4 or dated January 4, 2010, page 2, he has some concerns regarding certain conditions. The second paragraph he addresses Condition No. 6. If we look at our conditions, I believe that is the condition that limits the amount of people per day on the property. It has a maximum total of 80 visitors per day. We are, the Planning Director is recommending that instead of having it on a daily, a limit on the daily amount that we use the amount that we use for a yearly amount which is 30,000 visitors. The 80 amount is 365 divided by 30,000. So we come up with that figure. But in this, Mr. Carlile’s concern is that on certain days he may have more visitors than that, on other days he’ll have less. So he wanted to ask that it just be the yearly figure which would be 30,000. So we would, the Planning Director would be agreeable to changing that to allow 30,000 visitors per year maximum total. 5 EXHIBIT B The next condition would be Condition No. 7 which limits the vehicles on site to 15-passenger vans. There’s a concern that people will be coming from Kona and by limiting the size of these vehicles they would have to bring more vehicles from Kona. So he was asking that he would be agreeable to increasing that to 30-passenger vans. And, again, Mr. Carlile, if you have any concerns or disagreements, if you could -. CARLILE: That’s not a big issue, except just thinking of the environment and cost and people and so forth. Coming from Kona is quite a ways and it just would cut down on traffic, etc. That it not that big a deal for us, but just thought it might be more practical. WOODWARD: So those revisions, the two revisions he has mentioned, the 30,000 per year number and the change in the size of the vehicles, those are acceptable to you? CARLILE: Yes. DARROW: Thank you. Looking at the next condition, this would be Condition No. 9; and this is a condition which prohibits weddings, concerts, conventions and other types of special events and activities. This is our standard condition placed in retreat facilities or other types of similar requests that actually don’t ask for these types of events. And the main reason is that there’s no conditions limiting, if these uses were requested by the applicant we would be able to limit the amount of events, the amount of people, the amount of vehicles, those types of limits on these particular uses. So at this point I believe the Planning Director is asking that if the applicant wants to proceed with these particular uses that he would come in for an amendment for these uses. And then the last condition is Condition No. 10. The bottom portion of the property that connects to Old Mamalahoa Highway also runs halfway in Umauma Stream. And basically we just have a condition that it’s a traditional customary use that people go swimming, they access the river to go fishing, and get prawns, and other type of activities in there. And so it’s our condition that we just not block, that the applicant not bock that access. His concern is that in his particular quadrant there in that section that that area is very dangerous to access into the stream. I guess from the bridge down to where the stream is there’s no practical way to get down there. So his concern is more out of liability and safety. But at this point the Planning Director recommends to keep this condition in, just because that if it’s not an area that people don’t access they won’t and it shouldn’t be a concern. Regarding liability, there is Hawaii State Law 520 that does not have liability on the private landowner for recreational uses. WOODWARD: All right, thank you. We did have, did you have anything further to add to any of this? No? MIKKELSON: Not at this time. WOODWARD: Mr. Carlile? 6 EXHIBIT B CARLILE: Yes. I’d just like to say about that. It is right at our entrance there. It’s just a few feet, and there’s a lot of plants there that if I start making trails and ladders down into the water there I think it’d become very ugly. The other side of the river is the custom line not on my property, I wouldn’t have any control over that. So I just wanted to mention that. So thank you. WOODWARD: Okay, thank you. So you still have some concerns about that one but the others are satisfactory to you, is that correct? CARLILE: I would still, of course, like to be able to have small groups, weddings, etc., because this is a beautiful property. It has been filmed there, the Bachelorette. Up on the upper property, I didn’t know that that would be an issue. I didn’t think about applying for it when I applied. And so, of course, I’m like the Doctor, I’m not trying to build any empire building, have any big weddings there or -. Certainly I don’t like loud noise and would be very careful about those issues. So that’s all. WOODWARD: Okay. Well, it sounds like if you did decide that in the future, you wanted to pursue that, that you could bring back a request for an amendment. We did have -. Commissioner Domingo, did you have a question? DOMINGO: Yes, just one short question. Does the other property owner have any special permits for the use of that property? DARROW: Yes, they do. DOMINGO: They do. You know, one concern that I have here is that, and I don’t know what the nature of the activity the other permittee is allowed to make, to do. But with this one and combined with the other, you know, has the issue of access to those Mamalahoa Highway been addressed? It either has to come from Umauma, from Umauma with a narrow roadway going up to the orchid farms and it either, has to come from Ninole where there’s a turn-off at one point, and the other one is at the Hakalau Gulch, just before Hakalau Gulch. And, you know, I foresee that probably an increase of usage of those portions of the Highway. I’m concerned about the potential safety hazard it may create in the future. Now I know, you know, there’s this statement made that he’s not interested in establishing an empire as a doctor stated, but I guess with weddings and other activities that are being proposed would come other demands or suggestions that perhaps being able to hold a luau, you know, for those occasions, and just to have luaus for people to come and look at the Umauma Gulch. You know, as you say it’s a very eye-catching and very interesting place, a beautiful place to spend some time with. And there are others, maybe not you but others who would be so much interested in doing something other than what you’re proposing and in addition to what you’re proposing that would help them enhance their business. So, you know, what I see is a potential for a huge amount of growth here. And I think we should just be careful what we look at, how we look at things. WOODWARD: Okay, thank you. Any further questions? Okay, if you all would be seated, we do have six people signed up from the public to testify. I’ll get the first four up – Steve, last name starts with a P and they couldn’t read it, so I -. 7 EXHIBIT B PRUEITT: Yes. WOODWARD: Okay, sir. PRUEITT: Can I go last? WOODWARD: Can you go last, sure if you’d like to. PRUEITT: Yeah, okay. There’s probably a lot that’s going to be said. WOODWARD: Okay. The next is Tony Delellis. DELELLIS: That’s me. WOODWARD: All right. Domeck, have a seat, or have a seat at the table. Domeck, Lori Schaeffer, and Gary Marrow. Okay, and we do have, as I say, six people signed up so we’d like to have you limit your testimony, please, to three minutes. And if you go beyond that we’ll politely ask you to summarize. Now, I need to swear you in. If you’ll raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth today before the Windward Planning Commission? TESTIFIERS: Yes. WOODWARD: Okay, very good. All right, Tony Delellis, you were the first on this list. If you’ll give us your name and address, and then you may begin DELELLIS: Okay. Tony Delellis, 28-1177 Old Railroad Way in Pepeekeo. I would just like to speak to what the property means to me. I own and operate Kapohokine Adventures. I know enough to tell you that 2008 for tours was terrible and 2009 wasn’t much better. We managed to increase our sales and our gross revenues by more than 30 percent, and a lot of it is due to opportunities like Mr. Carlile’s. We added six jobs in Hilo, another four in Kona. From what I understand the operation of the zipline will add another twenty plus jobs. These are all things I think are very important. Mr. Carlile has a vision for his property. He wants to keep the footprint looking basically the same as it does today. He’s trying to bring in activities that will make a spectacular guest experience but not include a lot of development; and that’s why I’ve become involved in what he does. I’ve got several such partnerships around the island and they’ve all been very lucrative; and this one promises to be good for us, my staff and the community as well. So I’d like to thank you all for at least bringing it this far and, you know, I look forward to working with Mr. Carlile in the future. Thanks. WOODWARD: All right, thank you for your testimony. Any questions for Mr. Deleliis? Okay, seeing one, Mr. Domeck. DOMECK: I’m Todd Domeck, 29-2187 Old Mamalahoa Highway in Hakalau. I am the owner of Go Zip LLC which is a Hawaii-based company that operates Zipline Tours on Maui and hopefully here on the Big Island. And the reason we do that is because it’s a low environmental impact fun activity for families and it’s an opportunity for us to bring folks out and teach them 8 EXHIBIT B about the land and teach them about the culture and the history; and there are certainly a lot of that on Mr. Carlile’s property. So that’s why we do it; and I’m in support of Mr. Carlile’s permit. WOODWARD: All right, thank you very much. Any questions? Okay, seeing none -. IWASHITA: Oh, I have one. WOODWARD: Oh, excuse me. Commissioner Iwashita. IWASHITA: So will you be the one operating the actual zipline operation? DOMECK: Yes. IWASHITA: Okay, thank you. WOODWARD: All right. Okay, Ms. Schaeffer. SCHAEFFER: Hello. WOODWARD: Hi. SCHAEFFER: My name is Lori Schaeffer.I live on the Old Mamalahoa Highway as well, in Hakalau. My address is PO Box 291 in Hakalau. And I also work for Go Zip LLC. And I’m not going to take too much of your time because I appreciate you guys hearing us today. But I do just want, they’ve really said pretty much everything I wanted to say. So I’m also in support of this and really think it’s going to offer a lot of employment for the local people and really just going to bring a great visitor experience. Thank you. WOODWARD: All right, thank you. Questions? Okay, Mr. Marrow. MARROW: Aloha, good morning. WOODWARD: Aloha. MARROW: Yeah, my name is Gary Marrow. I’m also co-owner of Kapohokine Adventures and my address is PO Box 638, Pepeekeo. And, yeah, I just wanted to say as well that, yeah, we got started back in 2004 and, you know, we want to make sure that we include the community with everything. We have five tours that we run here. There’s not one tour that we do not include private landowners, and we feel like that’s a huge part of the community. It creates more jobs. And by meeting Mr. Carlile through one of our other private landowners, basically everything that he’s doing is exactly what we want to be a part of; and we think it’s going to create a lot of new jobs and business for the island. And I’m definitely in support of it, so we’d appreciate it if you’d consider it. Thanks. WOODWARD: All right, thank you very much. Questions? Commissioner Domingo. 9 EXHIBIT B DOMINGO: Yes, just a short question. Thus far how many locals have you folks employed? MARROW: Well, speaking for my company, Kapohokine Adventures, everybody that is employed is local, everybody except for one employee that I have was born here on the Big Island. I currently employ 18 people altogether. And that, again, was from a start in 2004 of two and one vehicle. And I’ve always felt it’s imperative for anybody to take, you know, me or my company seriously that the company needs to reflect the complexion of the community in general. So we do that very much, yeah. WOODWARD: All right, thank you. Okay, if you all may have a seat. And we’ve got John Cross and then Steve, P -. PRUEITT: Prueitt. WOODWARD: Okay, Prueitt. All right, if you gentlemen will have a seat and then raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth today before the Windward Planning Commission? TESTIFIERS: Yes. I do. WOODWARD: Okay, Mr. Cross, if you’ll give us your name and address, and then you may begin. CROSS: John Cross, 29159 Io Place, Hakalau, up Chin Chuck Road. For Wally’s benefit, this is Field F-20A, you have traversed this lot many times in your past. Basically I’m here as I have history upon the land. I am, I was the Crop Control Superintendent for the plantation. I‘ve known this land for sugar cane purposes, I’ve know it after sugar cane and I’ve known it now in new ownership under Mr. Carlile. And what I’ve come to realize after losing sugar is we need new business, we need new industry and we have to put our faith in the tourism industry, that’s where we can get money into our community. This area or this Hamakua Coast has something very special to offer all of our visitors. We have Akaka Falls, the second highest visitor attraction in East Hawaii. The first is Volcanoes National park. Well, just a little bit further down the road is Umauma. And I like this, Taka, us local guys all Uma uma, right, and everybody else is Umau ma, the debate continues, you know. We’re going to be drawing tourists either from Hilo or from Kona. It’s going to be a link. They’re going to go to Akaka Falls, they’re also going to go to Umauma, they’re going to go to World Botanical Gardens, they’re going to go to the Umaumau experience. We’re going to offer a palate, a plate of things for our tourists to see. And they’re going to see things of Hawaii that they could only imagine; and now they’re going to see and take a photograph of it first-hand. WOODWARD: All right, thank you very much. Any questions? Commissioner Domingo. DOMINGO: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. John Cross -. 10 EXHIBIT B CROSS: That’s me. DOMINGO: Good to see you around. I say that because we go back so many, over 20 years since he was working for C. Brewer. And I’m so glad that you still believe in the land in this particular way from a different perspective. And I like the positive perspective that you have with regards to the future of the lands along.the Hamakua Coast. And I think that would be an answer, a partial answer to the economic growth within East Hawaii. It’s just that we as planners and people, responsible people, in the area should take care of our land because we’re all caretakers of that land and we should be vigil on what has been planned for it. And I’m glad you’re still at it, John. Thank you. CROSS: Taka brings up a point that I would like to mention. I was part of the sale of all the assets of C. Brewer. I sold a lot of this land. My signature is on many of your guys’ documents. I’ve always appreciated owners that honor the land and they appreciate what they have become an owner of. Some of the people we sold land to did not honor the land.They broke it up, they sold it, they used it as a commodity, and they dishonored the land by treating it as a commodity. I see in Mr. Carlile he honors the land, he wants to keep it special, keep it the way it was; and this is an honorable good use and you feel good that it’s a new owner. And I am glad that the land continues to be honored past my ownership. WOODWARD: All right, thank you. Okay, Mr. Prueitt. PRUEITT: Good morning. WOODWARD: Morning. PRUEITT: It’s a privilege and an honor to be here today. I am from Portland, Oregon; and I’m a developer. And I’ve seen what has happened to land. I’ve come to Hawaii now for over 30 years, have known Cleo for a good portion of those years as a very honorable man, and he does what he says he’s going to do. And I’ve admired the Hawaiian culture and their treasure in the land. We don’t have that often in Oregon. And so to preserve the land and do what you do is so honorable. I just recommend and commend you on that. What I’ve seen with Carl’s property up, Cleo’s property up there is, what he has done with it so far. And he has done it himself, a lot of it, with the planting of all these different Hawaiian plants, with the sweat of his own hands. At the age that he is, that’s commendable. And I just think the small portion that he’s asking for the center to have where he can sell some T-shirts and sandwiches, it’s going to cut down on traffic. To come to this property and visit it for just an hour or two isn’t real practical because it’s huge, and what it has to offer is huge. So people can grab some sandwiches there or something to eat, that’s just going to cut way down on that traffic situation. And I, just to touch on, as a developer any time you can cut down on traffic it’s just advantageous. And with busses to be able to bus people in there would really cut down on that. So I hope you can take a look at that and sympathize with that.It cuts down on fumes and gas and just the traffic. But thank you for your time. It has been great to just come and watch this Council (sic). I did this all the time in Oregon as a developer. So you guys have great principles and convictions and it’s just a privilege and honor to sit in on it. This is the first I’ve done it in Hawaii. 11 EXHIBIT B WOODWARD: Thank you, Mr. Prueitt. Do we have any questions for Mr. Prueitt? Commissioner Iwashita. IWASHITA: Just for the record, his address? WOODWARD: Oh, yes. PRUEITT: Oh, sorry, 3010 -. WOODWARD: Oregon. PRUEITT: Portland, Oregon, yeah, land of the trees, cheese and ocean breeze, 3010. IWASHITA: For, your specific -. rd PRUEITT: It’s 3010, 3010 Northwest 123 Place, Portland, Oregon, 97229. WOODWARD: Thank you, sir. Anything further? Commissioner Ishibashi. ISHIBASHI: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, this land like Brother John Cross said was, is important. Coming from the sugar plantation, I worked there many years, and seeing the land develop this way is what we need in East Hawaii. Tourists want to see this kind of ambiance of the islands. They don’t want to see shopping all the time. They want to see something natural. So I appreciate these types of projects, especially along the Hamakua Coast. It’s important, thank you. WOODWARD: All right. Let me just ask the Planning Director one question for my own personal information. I know that we’ve gone over the request for the revisions to some of the conditions. And the one question I had on Condition No. 9 which prohibits weddings, concerts and conventions, I can see concerts and conventions cause that makes a lot of noise and a whole lot of people. Would it be reasonable to eliminate weddings from that list of prohibitions? LEITHEAD TODD: The concern I had is that this came in as a request for a certified kitchen and that because it didn’t include, you know, the special events in it I was concerned about whether there was sufficient notice to the surrounding community. And I didn’t want to add in a use that wasn’t in the original application without that kind of notice to the community. If the wedding event were limited in size cause, you know, I got married there were 30 people, my son got married we had 250, I think Emily got married and it was 2,000. So, you know, you just want to -. If the Commission is inclined to allow for weddings I would want to have some type of limitation on the size because weddings typically involve individual cars and more traffic. It’s not something where people are coming in a bus. And so that would be my biggest concern about that. And that’s the same thing with concerts. When you’re doing a zipline operation and you’re picking people up from Kona or Hilo, they usually book it and sign up for it, you put them on a van or you put them on a bus, and then you bring them to the site. But 12 EXHIBIT B when you’re doing a concert or a wedding it’s typically single family cars that are coming to the site. It’s not busses, and so there’s more of an impact on the community; and that’s my concern. WOODWARD: Okay, so you feel it would be better to have this come back as an amendment if that use is requested? LEITHEAD TODD: Well, either that or to limit the size of the wedding, if the Commission is inclined to allow them to have weddings. WOODWARD: Okay, very good. Well, that gives us the information we need. Is anybody ready to make a motion? IWASHITA: I am. WOODWARD: Okay, Commissioner Iwashita. IWASHITA: Thank you, Mr. Chair. With regard to Agenda Item No. 3, Applicant C. L. Carlile Enterprises, L.P. (SPP 09-000093) Special Permit to allow a visitor center with a certified kitchen for the sale of food and retail items on 5 acres of land within the State Land Use Agricultural District, I move that the application be approved, together with the special conditions on the revised recommendation with the changes noted on the record. DOMINGO: Second. WOODWARD: All right. Any discussion? Okay, seeing -. AU: I -. WOODWARD: Oh, Commissioner Au. AU: I just want to make one comment about the traffic. You know, there’s a lot of bridge work going on right now along the Hamakua coast. So, you know, traffic is getting high. There are a lot of people commuting from Hilo to Kona so there is a traffic concern, and also with all these tours coming up and you guys all want to jump on with the developer, traffic is a concern. Right now we have that brand new bridge coming up and it’s almost complete, being built by Hawaiian Dredging; and, you know, that’ll help ease off the traffic and the speeding. And another thing I want to mention, I’ve done a lot of bridge work in the past and the Hamakua land is a beautiful land; and I’m very happy that there’s developments like this. Because for me as a bridge worker I would see this under the bridge, and I thought I was the only one that got to experience stuff like that. But I didn’t realize that we had zipline tours there and, you know, I’m going to take advantage of it. So, thank you for this development; and I think it’s great. WOODWARD: All right, thank you. Any further discussion? Okay, Jeff, let’s have a vote. 13 EXHIBIT B DARROW: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Before we take the vote, if I could get some clarification on the motion? IWASHITA: Yes. DARROW: Just to clarify that when we’re talking about the amendments to the conditions that these include condition, let me find my paper here, sorry -. IWASHITA: No. 6, that 30,000 per year. LEITHEAD TODD: And then 15-passenger -. IWASHITA: And then changing 15-passenger to 30 passengers on No. 7. DARROW: Okay. And in regards to No. 9 is there -? IWASHITA: No. DARROW: Okay, no change to No. 9. And then No. 10 no change? IWASHITA: Yes. DARROW: Okay, thank you for that clarification. With that I’ll take the motion. Commissioner Iwashita? IWASHITA: Yes. DARROW: Commissioner Domingo? DOMINGO: Aye. DARROW: Commissioner Au? AU: Aye. DARROW: Commissioner Ishibashi? ISHIBASHI: Aye. DARROW: Commissioner Kern? KERN: Aye. DARROW: And Mr. Chairman? WOODWARD: Aye. 14 EXHIBIT B DARROW: The motion passes six to zero. WOODWARD: All right, thank you very much. And, Mr. Carlile, you’ll be notified in writing. Thank you. The discussion ended at 11:25 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Sharon M. Nomura, Secretary Windward Planning Commission 15 EXHIBIT B