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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0615.001 2018-2020MgYFOF M,YSusanL.K. Lee Loy 4 Office: (808)961-8396 Fax: 808 965-8912CouncilMember I District 3 Email: sue.leeloy@hawaiicounty.gov irE aF.H,,N HAWAVI COUNTY COUNCIL 25 Aupuni Street,Hilo,Hawaii 96720 Z-7 MEMORANDUM W DATE: December 2, 2019 P TO: Aaron S.Y. Chung, Chairperson; and Members ofthe Hawaii County Council 4-- FROM: O ` Susan L.K. Lee Loy, Council Member SUBJECT: Resolution No. 409-19; A Resolution accepting the dedication ofParcel 1St(Road A", Kaluna Street) and Parcel 2nd (Road"B", Keali`i Street), identified as TMK No. (3) 7-8-010:084 (por.), situated at Kahalu`u, Keauhou 1st, District of North Kona, Island and County of Hawaii, State of Hawaii from Kamehameha Investment Corporation, a Hawaii corporation. Attached is a letter from Thomas Yeh, on behalf of Kamehameha Investment Corporation,which provides additional information regarding Resolution No. 409-19. Please distribute copies of this letter at the Public Works and Mass Transit Committee meeting on December 3, 2019. SL:ps Comm. No. Ref.To: P1 PNMTE/ Hawai`i County Is an Equal Opportunity Provider AndEmployer Ref. mate PEC .0 3 2019 Law Offices of Yeh & Moore THOMAS L H YEH k Limited Liability Law Company fly ityehandrnoorecorn OfCounsel 10 Kamehameha Avenue,Hilo,Hawaii 96720-2830 MICHAEL W MOORE mmooreGyehandmoore corn relephone (808)961-0055 JILL D RAZNOV December 2, 2019 jdraznov,vgrnail corn Chairperson Sue Lee Loy and Committee Members Committee on Public Works and Mass Transit Hawai'i County Council 25 Aupuni Street, Suite 1402 Hilo, Hawai'i 96720 Re: Resolution No. 409-19; Dedication of Keali'i and Kaluna Streets TMK: (3) 7-9-010:084 Dear Chair Lee Loy and Members of the Committee: On behalf of Kamehameha Investment Corporation, please consider this letter in support of the above resolution. We have been assisting Kamehameha Investment Corporation (KIC) in the process of bringing Keali'i and Kaluna Streets up to current dedicable standards since approximately 2013, when discussions with the County began towards this end. In late 2016, after the plans for upgrades to the road were approved by the County, an agreement for the upgrades was entered into by KIC and the County, and the required work was completed to the satisfaction of the County's respective agencies. By way of background, Keali'i and Kaluna Streets were previously constructed in 1987 and have served as the access to the residents on each side of the roads, and are often used by members of the public. These streets function as an important conduit between Kamehameha III Road and Alii Drive. These streets also serve as an alternate route for vehicles to travel in the mauka or makai direction when there are traffic issues on Alii Drive, and can serve as an additional mauka makai escape route in the event of an emergency. To bring the Streets up to County dedicable standards, the surface of the streets were repaved, improvements made to conform to current design standards for accessibility, under ADA guidelines, street light poles and lamps replaced, and new striping and street signs were installed. In addition, in an effort to ease the County's maintenance burden and costs, grass landscaping in a number of sidewalk locations and median strips were removed or replaced with xeriscaping (and xeriscaped walking trails where dirt shoulders previously existed), to accomplish the goal of minimizing maintenance costs associated with mowing or weed control, while making these areas more pedestrian friendly. In addition, by installing xeriscaping, irrigation costs have also been eliminated. The plan for xeriscaping was actually a bit ahead of its time, given the Council's recent adoption of an ordinance which will require the phasing out of herbicide use for weed control. The only exceptions to the conversion to xeriscaping involved the frontage of road sections bordering the Hale Kehau and Bayview Estates developments, whose owner associations requested that the sidewalk grass landscaping strip be retained in return for their respective agreements to be responsible for the maintenance and costs of irrigating this grass landscaping. The homeowner associations for Bayview Estates and Hale Kehau have entered into landscape maintenance agreements with the County towards this end, relieving the County of this maintenance obligation. Law Offices of Yeh & Moore N Limited Liability Law Company Resolution 409-19 December 2, 2019 Page 2 Enclosed with this letter are photographs of the streets taken on November 22, 2019, which accurately depict the current condition of the streets, the xeriscaping, and the sidewalk grass landscape strips to be maintained by the Bayveiw Estates and Hale Kehau associations. After receiving Special Management Area approval for the work from the Planning Department and approval of the construction plans from the Department of Public Works (DPW), KIC commenced to complete the required work and worked closely with representatives of DPW in recently completing final punchlists. To date, Kamehameha Investments Corporation has expended approximately $5 million in bringing the Streets up to dedicable standards. Given the above, we respectfully request that your committee recommend the adoption of Resolution No. 409-19, for the reasons that the proposed dedication will place in the public domain an important street network for traffic circulation and an alternate emergency route. The Streets are consistent with County policy for reducing herbicide application, reducing water consumption and as being consistent with the provisions of Section 23-86 of the Hawaii County Code. Should there be any questions concerning the above, we plan to attend your committee meeting scheduled for December 3, 2019. Thank you for your thoughtful consideration ofthe above. Very truly yours, LAW OFFICES OF YEH & MOORE THOMAS L. H. YEH Enclosures cc: Department of Public Works Corporation Counsel Kamehameha Investment Corporation u r r. T1I rww' y k „• LtY: d r't" ib ' AeXX^A ,..,,r., .dli' w'..1" l c, View of Kaluna Street toward Bayview Estates r p w u a i View of Kealii Street toward Keauhou Estates