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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-02-26 TPARKERSCHOOL LEEWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAIÒI HEARING TRANSCRIPT FEBRUARY 26, 2010 PARKER SCHOOL (USE 05-001) A regularly advertised hearing on the application of was called to order at 9:47 a.m. in the Hpuna Beach Prince Hotel, Hau/Lehua Room, 62-100 Kaunaoa Drive, Kohala Coast, HawaiÒi, with Chairman Frederic Housel presiding. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Frederic Housel, Brandi Beaudet, Lani Bowman, Geraldine Giffin, Wayne Iokepa, Richard Nelson and Rodney Watanabe STAFF PRESENT: Brandon Gonzalez (Deputy Corporation Counsel), Margaret Masunaga (Deputy Planning Director), Norman Hayashi (Planning Program Manager), Phyllis Fujimoto (Staff Planner), Jeff Darrow (Staff Planner) and Maija Cottle (Staff Planner). DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS: Ron Thiel (Traffic Division) and Ki Emler (Engineering Division) And approximately 65 people from the public in attendance. APPLICANT: PARKER SCHOOL (USE 05-001) Amendment to Use Permit No. 05-001 to allow the expansion of the Parker School complex to 14.32 acres situated within the Agricultural 1-acre (A-1a) and Single-Family Residential 7,500 square feet (RS-7.5) zoned district. The amendment is to allow the expansion of the school facilities which would include the construction of a new gymnasium, athletic fields, a new middle school complex and educational use of an existing warehouse structure. The property is located between KapiÒolani Road and Waikoloa Stream, Waimea, South Kohala, HawaiÒi, TMK: 6-5-4:25, 26, 28 and 63. HOUSEL: WeÓll proceed here with our first agenda item, and that will be Parker School. Before we start, Commissioner Giffin would like to make a statement regarding her participation in this agenda item. GIFFIN: Mr. Chairman, I would like to inform everyone here, as well as my fellow Commissioners and you, Mr. Chairman, that I no longer serve on the Parker School Trust, and as such I am able to make a knowledgeable decision that would be fair and impartial based on the material presented to this Commission, and with the approval of our corporation counsel. So as such, I will be voting on this agenda item today. Thank you. HOUSEL: Thank you. By the way, I left one person out in the announcements. IÓm Fred Housel and this is my first chance to chair this meeting, so please bear with me. Thank you. WeÓre going to have our staff present our first agenda item, Parker School. Maija? COTTLE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good morning, everyone. 1 EXHIBIT A COMMISSIONERS: Good morning. COTTLE: And IÓd just like to say welcome to our new commissioner, Dickie Nelson. ItÓs good to have you here with us. I hope you enjoy your time as a commissioner. The first item is an amendment to a Use Permit that Parker School received back in 2005, and this is actually a continued hearing from the November 20, 2009, few months, IÓm going to go ahead and go through the presentation just to re-orient everybody to the location of the property. The first map shows the zoning of the subject properties and surrounding area. You have Mmalahoa Highway running on the bottom of the slide in an east- west direction here. Lindsey Road comes off kind of in a north-west direction here. And then you have Kawaihae Road, and then you also have KapiÒolani Road, as well as PuÒuk Road here. The Use Permit request area is outlined in black on the slide, and thereÓs actually four properties that make up the Use Permit request area; two of those properties are currently zoned Agricultural 1-acre and those are shown in the light green, and two other properties are currently zoned Single Family Residential and those are shown in the yellow Î those two properties get access off of PuÒuk Road. The General Plan designation for this entire area actually is Medium Density Urban and thatÓs shown in orange on the slide. To the north is Low Density Urban designation and across Lindsey Road is Open, which denotes the area of the Waimea Park. So the applicant is requesting to expand the school complex on the existing property, as well as adjacent properties as shown on their master plan. And they are also requesting to allow the Waimea Community Education, which is a non-profit organization, to use the facilities for educational programs for all ages. And they are also requesting to remove the 90-student enrollment cap that was a requirement of the original Permit in This is the master plan for the school. You can see the existing Use Permit area for the elementary school as shown in a rounded dashed, dotted line, and that Permit area got access off of KapiÒolani Road Î you can see the parking lot is about half, currently, of the size thatÓs shown on the master plan. And this structure here is the current existing elementary school. The proposed request is to expand the school facilities onto, like I said before, four properties; one gets access off of PuÒuk Road and thatÓs shown here with a square dash line, another property is right here, and then the larger properties are outlined here. And this dot here is the proposed gymnasium. Where the marker is, here, is the proposed middle school. This is an existing warehouse on KapiÒolani Road that the applicant is proposing to use for classes, as well as the two exiting residential structures on these properties here. The Use Permit area does not contain, or does not include the existing campus thatÓs off of Lindsey Road near Kawaihae Road, but that would be mentioned in the Permit and a few of the conditions as well because we looked at the campus as a whole in considering this application. So the Department is recommending approval of the amendment requ just would like to go through a few of the conditions and kind of what has occurred since the last hearing. You should have received from the Planning Department a light yellow handout thatÓs called a Summary of Changes, and this packet of information includes a letter from the applicant, th from Parker School, dated February 8. In that letter they described the efforts that theyÓve 2 EXHIBIT A made to work with the Waimea community to come to agreement or solution on some of the issues that were brought up at the last hearing, and mainly those issues were traffic Î traffic increase, traffic congestion, pedestrian and vehicle safety Î and use of the gymnasium. So in that letter Parker School outlined some actions that they were willing to implement to address those issues. You also in your packet have a letter from the Waimea Community Association, which was one of the parties that Parker School worked with to come to agreement. And thereÓs actually been a revision to the agreement; they have a signed agreement between the Waimea Community Association and Parker School, and the applicant can speak more to that later. But IÓll just go over a few of the changes that the Department is recommending. If you look at Page 6 of the Summary of Changes, thereÓs a few pretty significant changes here. One is that the school is agreeing to limit the enrollment of the elementary school to 150 students, IÓm sorry, the combined middle and elementary school to 300 students -. GIFFIN: Excuse me, Maija, what number are you referring to on Page 6? COTTLE: IÓm sorry. IÓm looking at No. 8, Condition 8. GIFFIN: Okay. COTTLE: So for Condition 8 theyÓve agreed to an overall enrollment of the entire campus, thatÓs including the high school, of 450 students, and an enrollment cap on the elementary and middle school of 300 students. They also, on Condition 9, have agreed to reduce the size of the proposed gymnasium from 400 seats to 250 seats. And while we are on Condition 9, IÓm going to refer to another change the Department is recommending Î you should have a green sheet Î and that also will limit the hours of the gymnasium to 10:00 p.m. at night, up to 10:00 p.m. at night. And it also provides that, if after-school activities are occurring in the gym that involve persons other than Parker School students, the vehicle arrivals before 6:00 p.m. would be limited to 14 vehicles. And the reason for that condition is there was a concern of use of the gymnasium for community uses during peak hours of traffic; so thatÓs to limit arrivals during peak hours, during the p.m. peak hour. Going back to the yellow Summary of Changes, Condition 10 was added. This was brought up at the last hearing; the Police Department and Department of Public Works had supported the idea of requiring a connector driveway from the Lindsey Road parking lot through to either KapiÒolani or PuÒuk Road. And since then the applicant has decided that they donÓt, itÓs not necessary for them to expand their parking Lindsey Road, so we added that as a condition, and removed the prior conditions referring to installing no-left turn signs on Lindsey Road at the driveway entrance and requiring that internal connector driveway Î those two conditions were removed. And, letÓs see, if you also look at Condition 11, in that condition we added that the applicant provide a concrete curb, a gutter and a sidewalk along Lindsey Road, and that would be from the existing sidewalk here at the edge of the school campus up to the corner of KapiÒolani and Lindsey Road; so now there will be sidewalks from here up to the middle school entrance in this app Public Works Department and the applicant and the Planning Department all met and discussed the pick-up and drop-off area in front of the school at Lindsey Road. That was an area of concern for Department of Public Works because it was causing tr Kawaihae-Lindsey Road intersection. And since the last hearing ment of Public Works has implemented some re-striping of that area so that vehicles can pull further up away from the 3 EXHIBIT A Kawaihae intersection, and that is hopefully going to reduce the congestion through that intersection. So, that Condition 11 of the previous recommendation was removed, and that was to eliminate the school pick-up/drop-off area. We are also going to require upon approval of the Permit, if it is approved, that the school provide active management of the pick-up and drop-off area on Lindsey Road to actually have a staff member out there directing traffic, having people pull forward, if need be. And then Department of Public Works, if you look at Condition 16, theyÓre recommending that the applicant widen the Lindsey Road parking lot driveway on the schoolÓs property thatÓs currently a really narrow driveway Î itÓs about, I believe, 14 feet wide; so they are asking the applicant to widen that so that vehicles can move in and out more efficiently. And then we also added No. 17, which requires that, upon Final Plan Approval of the construction of the middle school and gym, that the applicant submit a traffic management plan, and that plan would be approved by Department of Public Works-Traffic Division in consultation with the Police Department, to show how theyÓre going to manage all of the vehicle traffic on Lindsey and KapiÒolani and PuÒuk Road during special events and for pick-up and drop-off activities. And then the last condition that we added was No. 31; this is adding a requirement that the applicant submit an annual progress report to the Planning Department to show how the development is coming along and how the conditions of approval are being met. And I believe thatÓs about it. I just also want to add that we have two staff here from Department of Public Works Î Ron Thiel is with the Traffic Division and Ki Emler is with the Engineering Division Î and theyÓre here also to answer questions you may have about traffic or pedestrian safety. Mr. Chairman? HOUSEL: Thank you, Maija. Commissioners, do you have any questi staff? Maija, I had one question on one of the conditions Î let me look up the number Î No. 14 now, and thatÓs the Hele-On bus stop thatÓs going to be provided by the school. It seems like, my recollection was that there was a dollar limit on how much the school was going to contribute towards that. Is that still in effect, or -? COTTLE: Our previous condition did not have a dollar limit; that was a discussion that was brought up at the last hearing that the school was willing to pay up to a certain amount, but that was never included in the DepartmentÓs recommendation. HOUSEL: So this condition says that they will provide it whatever the cost. COTTLE: Yes, they will provide a Hele-On bus stop shelter and/or related improvements. HOUSEL: Thank you. Thank you very much. COTTLE: YouÓre welcome. HOUSEL: Will the applicant or representative please come forward? Could you please raise your right hand? Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter now before the HawaiÒi County Planning Commission? 4 EXHIBIT A STURGES: I do. MELROSE: I do. HOUSEL: Thank you. Could you give your name and address, please? MELROSE: Jeff Melrose, 1405 Wainuenue Avenue. IÓm the consultant for Parker School. Do you want us to do all now, and get it out of the way HOUSEL: Yes, why donÓt we? Go ahead. STURGES: Carl Sturges, Headmaster of Parker School, 65-1221 Lailai Place in Kamuela. WILLE: Margaret Wille, 65-1316 Lihipali Road, Kamuela. And Carl had asked me to assist in working on the consensus agreement and be part of the presentation. MELROSE: Thank you, Commissioners. And I just want to re-visit the directions we got from the Commission in November. This was a, last November hearing, basically we were asked to go back and work and continue to work at Î the word ÐconsensusÑ was used Î to try and come up with a better understanding about how the school and the community could interact and solve problems on this issue. And first I want to kind of acknowledge the fact that thatÓs a daunting task, you know, a community to come to consen but what I want to do is simply acknowledge the fact that that was a tough task, and then I want to give credit to both Margaret and to Carl for working very dil process. So I think we hope to kind of unfold maybe a little bit different kind of agreement here than you may have seen before. But itÓs an important process that you sent us after. So thank you for doing that. And I just turn it over to Carl to kind of talk through what the process looked like and the general sense of it, and let Margaret key in as well. So, go ahead. STURGES: I would like to reiterate, frankly, our appreciation for you having sent us back to the community. At the time I think we were, what on earth are we to do to achieve consensus with the community. So I think we broke a lot of new ground, and IÓm going to try to start by giving you a sense of just what kind of a process we went through and how we tried to achieve that Î that actually has resulted in what I believe to be a much better document from our standpoint of what we were willing to do. And I think we have a much better appreciation of where the community is coming from, and I really believe that the community has a better sense that Parker School wants to be a community responsible player in Waimea for many years to come. So as a result of what was, you know, at first a rather daunting charge on your part, I think we have achieved what -. Well, probably the best way to describe it is to quote from Sherm Warner who is the president of the Waimea Community Association, in his letter endorsing our application he says that basically our agreement Ðnot only resolves virtually all of the issues raised by the community but it also sets a precedent for collaboratively addressing remaining concerns regarding the gymnasium.Ñ So I think what we created out of folklore here is a pretty good process, and one that I would recommend that other applicants regularly go through, because it does allow community input and I think thatÓs an important thing especially 5 EXHIBIT A here in HawaiÒi where there is an emphasis on community associations and the value of citizen input. A key to my process of achieving consensus is, of course, Margar a lengthy collaboration a couple of months ago when we went back to the community, and I really appreciated MargaretÓs desire to come up with a positive document that would allow Parker School to move forward and allow the community to feel good about it. And Margaret has been tireless in serving as a conduit for a variety of types of input from different stakeholders in the community; sheÓs been a great collaborator and a tough negotiator. And I feel that the document that we, the school on one hand and Margaret on the oth and I want to make a very direct statement that the school stands behind this document. As I go through some of the salient points, that youÓll see that many of them are contained in conditions from the County. But I do want to stress the fact that the school stands behind the entire document, and we feel that it will serve as a blueprint of what we will do now and what we will do as we go through the building process that comes as a result of approval by this Commission. I also want to thank the neighbors of Parker School. One of the things I heard even from the people who are very nervous about some of our plans, especially for the gymnasium for instance, the neighbors all said, look, we want Parker School to succeed, we recognize you have an important role to play in the community, but here are our concerns. And I felt that the neighbors were constructive, listened to us, gave us good suggestions, and I hope that the great majority of people who live in Waimea will feel good about the result that has finally occurred here. Ron Thiel of the Traffic Division of Public Works was very, very helpful in getting us to understand the ins and outs of the traffic situation in the heart of Waimea, which is of course where the school is located. And also Captain Sanborn of the Police was very useful in his observations about what we can do and what we are not to do relative to the parking lot that opens onto Kawaihae Road. So theyÓre involved in this and it was also very useful. As part of our process to go through this, we met with the South Kohala Traffic Safety Committee twice, and at the second meeting we did receive approval from that body, their endorsement of our application. We presented to the entire Waimea Community Association, and now you have a letter from them endorsing our application. And of course, the Design Review Committee of the Waimea Community Association, we met with them twice Î Margaret was a chair of that committee Î and I think that body in many ways was sort of the fulcrum of our negotiation process and, again, Margaret for spending a lot of quality time with me over the course of the last couple of months. We also met with County officials, the Police, you know, and the Planning Department. And I would also want to recognize particularly the role played by the PuÒuk Street neighbors who have, of course, the most immediate concerns because theyÓre the most immediately affected by any changes in the school. But PuÒuk Road was a key question. WeÓve always tried to maintain our role as a special relationship with those neighbors in particular, and their advice is very useful. We also held a general meeting for the Parker School ohana to get our own people more aware of what our plans were, what issues were, what the concerns of the community were and why we needed to make some changes to our application. I think a lot of people from Parker School are here today, and I want to acknowledge and appreciate their becoming involved in the process. 6 EXHIBIT A I think youÓve got a pretty good layout from Maija on our plans School into the, you know, the pasture land that the two big buildings we build are the gymnasium to the south and the new middle school to the north. There is also plan for some expansion of the lower school, turning a residential building into a resource center for the lower school, and various other projects in the old campus that would involve improving what is a deeply historic space from the town standpoint. So what IÓd like to do now is go through the major points contained in the agreement that Margaret and I on behalf of the school worked out, some of which again are contained in the conditions and some of which are not. But this is what we stand by and we think this goes quite ways toward meeting many of the community concerns. The first t our original Use Permit said that we would expand to 550 students. By the way, our current enrollment is 250 and our current enrollment cap is 328 Î thatÓs a self-imposed cap. The only other cap, as Maija mentioned, was a 90-student cap for the lower school. We reduced that from 550 to 450 because that would have a direct impact, of course, on the traffic that would be increased as a result of our increasing enrollment. And that will be a 300-capacity in the Use Permit area, which is where the middle school and the lower school will be located. This produces 20 percent less traffic according to our revised TIAR report. The other thing to keep in mind is that by limiting our use of the gym for all large events to after 6:00 p.m. on weekdays, the gymnasium would not contribute to the traffic crush during the go-home hours. And the other thing to keep in mind, of course, is that with the new middle school, two-thirds of the students will be dropped off in the lower school, middle school parking lot off of KapiÒolani, and that actually has the effect of reducing the number of parents and students using the existing parking lot, which comes off of Lindsey Road. We will continue to stagger start times. We are the only school in Waimea, I believe, that currently staggers start times and we find it does make a difference, and we will continue to do that; the staggered start times of even 10, 15, 20 minutes difference makes a huge difference in the traffic flow pattern around the school. WeÓll also continue our work with PATH, which we began in October of last year, and we are currently in the evaluation phase of that. One of the things we have learned as a result of this process is just how important biking and walking as alternatives to driving are, and how many challenges there are in Waimea to make that a reality. So thatÓs a process thatÓs going to take years, but we are now a very active member of that, and we see the advantages for the whole town but also of course for ourselves. We have agreed to grant an easement to Waimea Trails and Greenways; weÓve already sent a letter, which is Exhibit 4A in your packet, committing to transfer an easement to the County at whatever the point the County is ready for it. There was, I want to clear up a point that was brought up at the last Use Permit hearing here where it was stated by someone that we have been remiss in not granting an easement that was required from the first Use Permit for the lower school Î I want to clear that up: At the time we got that Use Permit for the lower school, all the school owned was the land where the current lower school is located, and you know, we agreed to granting an easement, that was one of know, in meeting with Waimea Trails and Greenways, that wasnÓt where they wanted the easement; they wanted it by the stream. We didnÓt own the land along the stream. Now in last two years we have come into possession of that; Parker School Trust Corporation signed over the land that includes the entire pasture area and along that entire strip where we own the land along the north side of the stream that we are going to be granting an easement. So we are now in the 7 EXHIBIT A position to do that because we own the land, and we are committed to making that happen. As youÓve already heard, weÓve agreed to install a community bus shelter on the other side of the park, which is used by our students, as well as students from other schools. But itÓs an important way in which people can use an alternative to car traffic. Okay, in terms of making some changes to the way traffic flows into the school, based on the County study and recommendations, we have signed on to change the drop-off and pick-up zones on Lindsey Road -. WhatÓs that? (Talking with Mr. Melros okay. Sorry about that. LetÓs see. I want to mention, I want to go back to the gym, that we did reduce the size of the proposed gym from 400 seats to 250 seats. holding any activity, whether itÓs Parker School or non-Parker School, that generates significant traffic over 14 vehicles; weÓve committed not to do that before 6:00 on weekdays and, you know, that reduces the traffic aspect of that. We do still see the gymnasium as primarily a Parker School resource but also a community resource. And so we do remain committed to the notion that it should be available for recreational league play. Parker School teams compete in recreational leagueÓs play. Lots of other teams do as well. There is a real limitation on available gym space in town and we do believe that that ought to be continued to be the case. And there are other things, there are other events that would come up periodically in town Î the Cherry Blossom Festival, etc. etc. Î what we think, you know, use of our gym would be advisable. We do also have a commitment to the community, we live in the community, and I donÓt think youÓre going to be seeing rock concerts staged in the Parker School gymnasium and, I mean, but IÓm not really trying to be facetious here; I guess what IÓm trying to say is that the school has a history of appropriate use of its facilities it makes available to the community, and I would certainly stand behind the kind of rental policy that we have fo generate noise in any significant degree or community intrusiveness. But we do feel that, as a community school we believe that our gymnasium should be a community resource to that degree and so we have, although quite understandably I think some of our immediate neighbors would prefer that we limit use only to Parker School, we feel that we have a community responsibility to go beyond that. Okay. All right. So back to the drop-off and pick-up on Lindsey, letÓs see, okay, there is a flow of traffic that needs to occur, you know, throughout the middle of Waimea, and part of that flow of traffic involves having sidewalks to walk on. And one of the more dangerous areas in Waimea at the current time is the area where our sidewalk ends, up Lindsey Road, and then making a right turn on KapiÒolani; there is an encroachment of shrubbery and a rather limited area betwee road and the edge of property Î better, by the way, thanks to Public Works, but still there. And we are committed to doing a real sidewalk Î the kind thatÓs raised and people will actually use when itÓs been raining Î and that should go from the existing campus around to where the entrance to the middle school, as well as the lower school, is located. So we think that that particular sidewalk will be good for the community, as well as for Parker School, and it begins the process of developing adequate sidewalk space. We do not envision any school traffic down KapiÒolani beyond that entrance to the lower school and middle school; that would be the sole entrance to the school campus on KapiÒolani. We would maintain the, thereÓs, right now there is a wonderful rock wall thatÓs overgrown and makes it impossible to enter the campus and other places Î we like that. We would keep that. And any other movement through the campus would be internal rather than along KapiÒolani beyond that point. Okay. So the crosswalk area in front 8 EXHIBIT A of the school, weÓd like to, well, itÓs already, the process already began; the County has already begun to re-stripe, or get rid of some of the striping in front of the school that prevents people from dropping off the students. Moving the main drop-off area slightly north along Lindsey Road would appear to be an important advantage. Especially, I rely on Ron Thiel for this, and we will be shortly in the next few weeks developing our own side will actually get out of their cars further north, walk on the campus through our sidewalk and access the campus in that way. We also think that a raised crosswalk on Lindsey Road would be a good thing. One of the problems right now is not everybody in town uses the existing crosswalk. There is quite a bit of evidence that indicates that a raised crosswalk is used more by people, and it also has the effect of slowing traffic down, both of which we think would be important on Lindsey Road. We are committed to that. And as part of the sidewalk rebuild we would certainly be willing to fund the cost of a raised sidewalk. ThatÓs quite a thing to put in because youÓve got to do drainage and all that sort of thing, but we still think itÓs worth it and we would be willing to foot the cost for that. And it also was mentioned that we will promise to acutely manage use of the drop-off area in front of the school. The issue was more acute at pick- up than drop-off actually, and especially the pick-up time when everybody comes at once to get their kids, weÓll make sure that traffic keeps moving and does not block the intersection with Kawaihae Road. WeÓve also begun the process of widening the entrance to the, the school side entrance to our parking lot Î when I arrived at school today, the fences were down, the area is dug out for asphalting Î and that should happen in the next few weeks. And one of the issues is just itÓs tough to get in and out of the parking lot and that slows traffic down, so weÓve already begun to implement that particular aspect. We have taken the Lindsey Road parking lot expansion off the table; we wonÓt be doing that as part of our master plan. It is sufficient to meet all the requirements for parking for our existing campus and, you know, clearly was an issue i terms of putting more cars out onto Kawaihae Road. And so we are comfortable with not doing that. LetÓs see. I mentioned the gym. And weÓve also, as per the County study recommendations, weÓll be doing signage and streetlights on Lindsey as per County recommendation, and that would occur at the point in which we build either the gymnasium or the middle school. We will continue to limit use of PuÒuk Road and encourage our parents not to drop off students on PuÒuk Road. Although one of the properties that would be rezoned is located on PuÒuk Road, the proposed resource center for the lower school, we wonÓt access that from PuÒuk Road; weÓll access that from the lower school side so that that doesnÓt add a further strain. We recognize that living in the middle of the campus is a challenge for PuÒuk Road residents, and we feel that, you know, theyÓve been good supporters of the school and we want to be sure that we donÓt have more strain on them by using our access point off of PuÒuk as ways of getting onto campus. WeÓll continue to work with the community, with the County on traffic issues in the greater Waimea community. We are supporters of a variety of initiatives that are, have the intention of changing and improving the traffic picture in Waimea, whether th bridge, build connector roads, bypass roads Î those are all things that will benefit the entire community. We support Ron ThielÓs desire to have a traffic management plan be a requirement for granting plan approval for either the middle school or the gymnasium. That represents the best way in which at the time the building is actually built, we get a read on what sorts of things are necessary to improve the flow of traffic and to minimize our impact on the overall traffic 9 EXHIBIT A situation in Waimea. So we certainly support the notion of the traffic management plan, which is now found in the conditions. We also have agreed to, you know, going through a plan approval process and notifying our neighbors of that plan approval process before it occurs, and weÓll ensure that we continue to get community input for our improvements. And we also have signed on for annual progress reports to the County. And this is something, which I would like to see, you know, done around the island that once these conditions are put into permit approvals that there is an annual update to the County indicating that progress is being made, that agreements are being abided by, and that we are still on track with the things we said we were going to do. And we certainly feel that we have a commitment to abide by all the conditions of the agreemen fashioned that is also portion of your documents today. So put all together, I think on the one hand I feel as though IÓve met my fiducially responsibility to the school that theses are things that the school can do, I feel as though IÓve met my responsibility to my students, which is on the one hand to provide them with adequate facilities and on the other hand to provide them with a safe way to get to and from school, and I feel at the same time help the school to meet its requirement to the community to lessen our impact as much as possible, to provide a quality school alternative for the Waimea area and to maintain safety for the residents of the entire community. So, on that basis I think weÓve done a pretty good job of balancing those different needs. Margaret, do you want to say something about the agreeme WILLE: Yeah, if I could, thank you. I just want to lend my support to this application, of course, provided that you agree to put in our consensus agreement. And I mention there is a, Planning Department submitted its recommenda did on behalf of the community Î and it wasnÓt just us, thereÓs a lot of interaction here among all different parties for the lot of agendas Î but is that you would, so you would incorporate this agreement as a condition as part of your Use Permit. And I just want to honor Carl. I mean I think if he said to you really, you know, what the basics that the Planning Department gave you was really gone far enough, I expect a lot of people would vote in favor of it. But he stood by this, and I want to support it. There were a lot of things that community members wanted in addition that we did not put in here. And I really, we worked for a lot of balance and went back, I think, a lot of empathy in putting each other, standing in each otherÓs shoes. I did just want to give a couple of examples of how our agreement goes beyond the Planning DepartmentÓs and sort of where the emphasis was. And I think on really this emphasis on pedestrian safety and not just in terms of accommodating traffic. For example, in our agreement, if you go over to where the middle school is going to be, it would also provide that there is a separate sidewalk entrance that would access to the middle school and not just coming in through the driveway Î so trying to keep where student access is on sidewalks and not through just the same place the cars enter. The same thing on the Lindsey Road parking lot Î right now there is no separate entrance, no separate sidewalk entrance, itÓs all combined. So, and the raised sidewalk goes beyond the Planning Department. So in terms of that and other emphasis in the CDP, we sort of expanded it, and in some ways, I think, beyond the comfort zone of the Planning Department to sort of just say we are recommending this. So, and maybe itÓs because whether they want to be, this is a precedent for other developments, but Carl stands behind it. We, he had me come down to do a signing where we both were going to sign, and I 10 EXHIBIT A know at the end of that, I said, well, Carl, this is a lot of work, youÓve really done a lot, and he said, no, this should be a model for the community. So I just wto stress that. So there are additional provisions here. I did go through it with Maija because I wanted to see, I wanted to make sure there is nothing in conflict between the two, that if you are accepting, if this is accepted, there is nothing where, well, is it A or B, or here isreally we just sort of took things a little further, or made further clarifications or details. I think the one point that she brought up and we looked at was really in terms of the time periods in the gym is a, for the, like, the athletic use, is it permissible starting at 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. and does it end at 9:00 or 10:00 p.m.? IÓm open to, I think it might as well be clarified at this point whatever that, so is that minor point that we got to where there is a conflict. So IÓm standing by this. I thank you, and I think it has been a good process. And I really appreciate CarlÓs standing up and being a model here, and ask that you do incorporate, you would need to incorporate this into, as a condition to the Planning Department recommendation. Thank you. HOUSEL: Thank you. Commissioners, do you have any questions? WATANABE: I have a comment to make. HOUSEL: Mr. Watanabe. WATANABE: Well, I appreciate the fact that you were able to collaborate and work together and come to some type of, it seems, consensus. However Margaret, implying that we incorporate additional agreements -? WILLE: (Inaudible.) WATANABE: But over and above what we have been, Maija presented this morning -. WILLE: Yes, in addition to that. WATANABE: Then, in that event, then IÓd like to move that we enter into an executive session so that we can discuss the, shall we say, legal issues, as well as potential liabilities of entering into an additional agreement aside from the conditions that were provided by the Department. And that way we can get some advice from corp. counsel on that. And I think that would be germane to our discussions later. GIFFIN: Do you need a second? GONZALEZ: Yes, and need a two-thirds vote. GIFFIN: Did you move? WATANABE: I did move, yes. GIFFIN: And I second. 11 EXHIBIT A HOUSEL: The motion was made to have an executive session to talk additional items that are not in the current agreement and to consult with the boardÓs attorney on questions and issues pertaining to the boardÓs powers, duties, privileges, immunities and liabilities. So the motion -. Do we need a vote on that? GONZALEZ: Yes, you need a two-thirds vote. HOUSEL: Maija, would you like to take the roll? COTTLE: IÓm sorry, Mr. Chairman, can I get the maker of the moti seconded the motion? HOUSEL: Commissioner Watanabe made the motion and Commissioner Giffin seconded. COTTLE: Thank you. Commissioner Watanabe? WATANABE: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Giffin? GIFFIN: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Beaudet? BEAUDET: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Bowman? BOWMAN: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Iokepa? IOKEPA: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Nelson? NELSON: Aye. COTTLE: And Mr. Chairman? HOUSEL: Aye. COTTLE: Okay, the motion passes, seven-zero. 12 EXHIBIT A HOUSEL: Okay, weÓre going to have a slight delay here in continuing the remainder. We do have, I want to announce we do have almost two-dozen people signed up to testify, so this may take some while, but weÓll try to conclude our executive session as quickly as possible. Thank you. EXECUTIVE SESSION The Commission went into executive session at 10:40 a.m. and came out of executive session at 10:56 a.m. by a motion made by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Commissioner Watanabe, and unanimously carried by a voice vote of all Commissioners in attendance. HOUSEL: WeÓll start our hearing. We can proceed on schedule, I hope. We will continue with the applicants. I did want to ask you: Have you received a copy of the Planning DepartmentÓs recommendations? STURGES: Yes. HOUSEL: And you are in agreement with those? STURGES: Yes. MELROSE: Yes, we are. Thank you. HOUSEL: Thank you. We have over two-dozen testifiers -. BOWMAN: Sorry, yes, I did have a -. HOUSEL: Sorry, we have one question for the -. BOWMAN: Quick question for the applicant; I just need some clarification. I believe, when you were giving your presentation, you said in regards to the number of vehicles at the gym, that it would be limited to 14 vehicles both Parker School and non-Parker, and I believe itÓs just non-Parker, correct? STURGES: That is correct. ItÓs just non-Parker. Sorry if I misspoke. BOWMAN: Okay, thank you so much. Thank you. HOUSEL: WeÓll begin our public testimony. Thank you very much. Since we have a large number of people to testify, in the essence of time IÓd like to ask everyone to please lim their testimony to three minutes or less. And IÓll call Î we have just four chairs here Î so IÓll call four people at a time, and if you can please come up and be seated at the table when I call your name. IÓd like to call Art Souza, Scott Elliott, Ann Renick and Emma Ansel. Is there -? Okay, we have everybody, it looks like. Yeah, go ahead, sir. Could you please raise your right hand? Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter now before the HawaiÒi County Planning Commission? 13 EXHIBIT A TESTIFIERS: Yes. HOUSEL: Thank you. Could you each, using the microphone, please state your name and address? RENICK: Ann Renick, P. O. Box 353, Lauphoehoe. ELLIOTT: Scott Elliott, 1142B HkÒula. SOUZA: Art Souza, P. O. Box 6100, Kamuela. ANSEL: Emma Ansel, P. O. Box 1469, KapaÒau. HOUSEL: Thank you. Would you like to start, please? RENICK: My testimony is brief. IÓm Ann Renick. IÓm the admissions director. And IÓm also in favor of all the proposals that Parker School has put on the board today. And I support it one hundred percent. Thank you. HOUSEL: Thank you. ELLIOTT: Thank you. Scott Elliott. IÓm in support of Î I live half away from the school, a resident of Waimea Î I am in support of the proposed Parker School expansion plan. I also commend them for, or you and everybody involved, for the long process. And I think, as mentioned, the process has resulted in a number of valuable improvements to the plan. I think Parker School is a great asset to the community and has proven to be a good community citizen, and I think this process has demonstrated that community goodwill. I think the key benefits from the perspective of the community that IÓm in, one I think the beneficial traffic impact of moving the middle school drop-offs off of Lindsey Road is a definite traffic improvement. I think the sidewalks on Lindsey Road are a big safety improvement for the area and for someone whose kids use the area, as well as personal user of the area. I think improving avenues for kids to walk to school ought to be a major community priority, and I think this plan certainly does this with the expansion of the greenway trail, as well as the sidewalks and the improved pedestrian plan. And last, I do think the community access to the gym, I do see as a benefit to the community particularly as we get quite a bit of wind and rain up there; itÓs nice to have an indoor space for the kids and adults to play. So thank you. HOUSEL: Thank you. SOUZA: Thank you for making some time for me Î I appreciate it. IÓd like to preface my comments, which IÓm going to read briefly, by just acknowledging the work that was presented this morning. I think Parker School has done a commendable job of addressing many of the concerns. IÓd like to also say, though, my comments that IÓll read do outline what I think are still some substantive issues that need more discussion. And with all due respect to Headmaster Sturges, and I appreciate his conversation, I would have to also suggest itÓs not in 14 EXHIBIT A every way a model process thatÓs been taken place, but it has certain potential for being just that. So my comments read as such: Good morning. My name is Art Souza. I am a property owner and an educator. What I would like to share are some after-the-fact, as well as some philosophic thoughts. In my role as a principal and superintendent, I have overseen the construction of a number of new public schools and existing-school renovation projects. In every instance the most important aspect of a successful school-building project is that the understanding, the commitment, and the support of the surrounding community is recognized and honored. It is through a process of honest, ongoing, and mutually respectful conversation and sharing of perspectives that we come to a point of trust and ensuring support. It is unfortunate that absent this spirit Parker SchoolÓs development process has become less than transparent, even contentious and adversarial. Simply put, many people in the neighborhood community feel that their concerns have not been respected. As property owners we request that Parker School respond to us like a neighbor, not a Wal-Mart. The second concept that builds successful schools is the belief that the school is indeed the heart of the community. Indeed it is in these classrooms that the very belief in community and the importance of Ðmaking a differenceÑ is instilled in our students. It is imperative that it be understood that in the process of building community, we do not at the same time destroy community. Parker School has expressed this commitment to community as a major component of their philosophy. I find it ironic that in their effort to establish their permanent campus the commitment to the smaller, neighborhood community is not evident. I would ask Parker School to clearly consider the consequences and the negative impact on the surrounding neighborhood as they move forward with their plans. In this spirit, and remembering just exactly where it is that Parker School is proposing to build their school community Î alongside, next door, and down the road from established, neighborhood residents Î I ask that the school fully honor the perspectives and the compromises requested by their neighborhood community. Thank you. HOUSEL: Thank you. ANSEL: IÓm a student at Parker School. And as a student, we use the community instead of the school as a place to practice sports. And building a gym and facilities to play sports would minimize the traffic flow coming in and out of Parker because we would have a designated area to practice sports on campus. This will allow us to always have a place to practice. A huge reason people donÓt look at Parker seriously about sports is because of our lack of utilities. When compared to other schools, we are very low in scale of sports. I think if we had a gym, people would take Parker more seriously for our sports, which would most likely increase our admissions. The privilege of having home games for sports would liven Parker SchoolÓs spirits in sport. Thanks. 15 EXHIBIT A HOUSEL: Thank you. Commissioners, do you have any questions of the testifiers? Thank you very much. IÓd like to call the next four testifiers, please: Shellie Gressard, Victor Cappagli, Mary Hon and Jesse Tarnas. Could you please raise your right hand? Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter now before the HawaiÒi County Planning Commission? TESTIFIERS: Yes. HOUSEL: Thank you. Could each of you state your name and address, speaking into the microphone, please? CAPPAGLI: Victor Cappagli. I live at 65-1226 Laelae Road, Kamuela. HON: Hello, my name is Mary Hon. My mailing address is P. O. Bo Kamuela. J. TARNAS: IÓm Jesse Tarnas. My address is 66-1672 Waiaka Place, Kamuela. GRESSARD: IÓm Shellie Gressard. My address is 65-1110 HkÒula Road, Waimea. HOUSEL: Okay. If you can please begin? CAPPAGLI: Yes. Good morning. ThereÓs a few things that I would like to say, and I appreciate being able to testify this morning. Thank you very much. IÓve lived in Waimea for about nine years. I have two daughters who have either gone to Parker School or go to Parker School now, so IÓm very aware of the traffic and safety in this immediate area. I am here to support Parker SchoolÓs expansion plan. I think that itÓs a benefit to the community to be able to have an alternate place for our students to go to school. My gi are very pleased with it, and I would like to see other parents have the ability to go to Parker School in the future. Future expansion is not something thatÓs easy; a lot of people do not like the idea of having expansion. But itÓs inevitable. We would like to have better roads around that area. We wait for different County organizations to redirect traffic and make dropping kids off to school and picking them up a little bit easier, but I donÓt believe that that should deter from this plan, which I believe is a good plan, for the expansion of support for the plan, and I ask that the committee (sic) grant p ahead with its proposed permitting. Thank you. HOUSEL: Thank you. HON: Hello, IÓm Mary Hon. IÓm a community member and a Parker S parent. My son will be graduating next year, so he would not benefit directly from, you know, the schoolÓs expansion, the improvements that Parker is seeking. But I feel that the entire community, keiki in the future, will benefit from this, from more classrooms and from a gym. And it says something about Waimea that we can have two really great college prep schools. And I hope that you will approve this. Thank you. HOUSEL: Thank you. 16 EXHIBIT A J. TARNAS: Hello, IÓm Jesse Tarnas. IÓm a sophomore at Parker School, and IÓm in favor of the proposed plan. And the first thing I would like to talk about is how Parker School, the progress of it is inevitable, and the development of it becoming a school with better sports facilities for students, the development of its teams happening, will happen, and will happen eventually, and I think now is when it is happening. And I think that first of all the proposed raising of the amount of lower school students that Parker School can have will be good for the expansion of the school, because it will provide for more students who are educated by Parker School and will therefore be more prepared for middle school and high school. IÓd just like to make the example: My sister and I both went to the same elementary school, but she went to Parker three years earlier than I did Î she went in third grade, I went in sixth grade Î she is two years ahead in math, IÓm only one year ahead. So I feel that the higher enrollment of the lower school will prepare more students for middle and high school. And also the gym, I believe, will provide better facilities. And as Parker has already proven itself to be an extremely prominent academic school through our success in debate, our success in just academics in general, I think that now having this gym will allow us to improve in our sports and will allow us to, since school is about developing as a person and as a student, I feel this gym will allow for that. And if we are to uphold education, which I believe everyone on this chair wants to do, then I believe that we should allow for the further development of Parker School and therefore the further development of its students. Thank you. HOUSEL: Thank you. GRESSARD: IÓm Shellie Note-Gressard. IÓm the assistant head at Parker School. IÓm also a neighbor; I live about half a block away from Parker School. And both my children attend Parker School. I want to lend my support to Parker SchoolÓs plan. I feel like just in and of itself the plan of expanding Parker School is a very, itÓs a great idea for the kids in our community. But after working on this process and seeing what Parker School is willing to do for the entire community and the neighborhood, I canÓt help being an enthusiastic supporter. ThatÓs all I have to say. Thank you. HOUSEL: Thank you very much. Commissioners, do you have any questions? Thank you very much. IÓd like to call the next four testifiers. LetÓs see, we have David Tarnas now, Jonathan Vedelli Î sorry, if I mispronounced your name Î Robert Whitfield and Tina Doherty. It looks like we are maybe missing one person. PUBLIC: Jonathan is not here. HOUSEL: Oh okay. If we could call Jennifer Grace? Could you please raise your right hands? Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter now before the HawaiÒi County Planning Commission? TESTIFIERS: Yes. HOUSEL: Good, thank you. Could each of you please state your name and address, using the microphone? 17 EXHIBIT A D. TARNAS: My name is David Tarnas. IÓm at 66-1672 Waiaka Place in Kamuela. WHITFIELD: IÓm Robert Whitfield. I live at 65-1225 PuÒuk Street, Waimea. DOHERTY: IÓm Tina Doherty, P. O. Box 384177, Waikoloa. GRACE: IÓm Jennifer Grace. IÓm at P. O. Box 1320, Kamuela. HOUSEL: Thank you. Would you like to start, please? D. TARNAS: Thank you, yes. My name is David Tarnas. And good m and Members of the Commission. IÓve submitted written testimony IÓll only say briefly that I do commend the school leadership and the neighbors and the South Kohala Traffic Safety Committee, the Waimea Community Association and all the others and the Parker School ohana to be so engaged in this civic discourse that has come up with the plan, with permit conditions, which I think have improved from the original application. And so, that kind of commitment to collaboration needs to continue, and the traffic management plans can do that; there is a good process. And as always in any family and in any neighborhood, you need an ongoing dialogue, and I think the school is convinced that thatÓs the best way to proceed and I think weÓve gotten that kind of commitment from our headmaster. So I encourage all of you to support this, and I appreciate you listening to all testimony from our ohana. HOUSEL: Thank you. WHITFIELD: Good morning. IÓve already submitted written testimony, so in the interest of time IÓd just like to stand on that written testimony. Thank you. DOHERTY: Aloha. My name is Tina Doherty. I have two children t School. And I also submitted a written testimony prior to this that testimony. And IÓm in favor of the approval of the Use Permit for Parker School. HOUSEL: Thank you. GRACE: Aloha. IÓm Jennifer Grace. I have a son at Parker School and I also work there. And thank you for letting me speak. The reputation of Parker School brought us there; thatÓs why I want my son to go there. And itÓs probably the best place IÓve ever worked. The people there, the faculty and staff, are very moral, wonderful, wonderful people to work with. IÓm definitely in favor of this. I think the intention of the school is to work with the community Î the smaller community that is our neighbors, and also the larger community. Right now, we presently do not have a gym; there is no facility that our students can get out of the rain and the weather. And our athletic director and PE instructor do brilliant things outside, but itÓll be really nice for them to be able to have a gym and to be able to expand our school. Thank you so much. HOUSEL: Thank you. Commissioners, do you have any questions? Thank you very much. IÓd like to call the next four: Gillian Culff, Kareen Forissier, Margaret Wille and Theresa 18 EXHIBIT A Lyon. Could you raise your right hand, please? Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter now before the HawaiÒi County Planning Commission? TESTIFIERS: Yes. HOUSEL: Thank you. Could each of you, using the microphone, please state your name and address? CULFF: My name is Gillian Culff and my mailing address, which I put on there, is P. O. Box 444, Kamuela. FORISSIER: My name is Kareen Forissier. My mailing address is P. O. Box 437354 in Kamuela. LYON: IÓm Theresa Lyon and my residence is on Kawaihae Road in K 1742. WILLE: Margaret Wille, 65-1316 Lihipali Road, Waimea. HOUSEL: Thank you. Would you like to start, please? CULFF: Sure. My name is Gillian Culff and IÓm a teacher at Park is my sixth year teaching there. My husband has been teaching at Parker School for 15 years and heÓs seen tremendous changes there Î really positive, wonderful growth. Both of our children attend Parker School; we have a son in the middle school and one in the high school. I just wanted to briefly address two things: First is the issue of traffic that has come up and that I think the school has worked hard to help alleviate any potential difficulties in that regard. Our family has been getting to Parker School in what I feel are environmentally responsible ways all along. My husband is that guy with the ponytail who rides up Kawaihae Road everyday on his bicycle; heÓs been riding his bike to school for 15 years. I drive to school, carpool with the neighbors, and our kids also use the free shuttle. And IÓd like to just point out that Parker School was a key player in helping get that free shuttle for Waimea, and itÓs used by a lot of people. We really appreciate it. And it helps for times when we are not all going home at the same time. Even though Parker is a private school, we provide a lot of financial aid; we give financial aid to, I understand to be 40 percent of our students. And I think that helps to make it an option for a lot of people in the community. We also have much lower tuition tha want to say that we are a very important player in the community. And the last thing I want to say is that we are one of a very few private schools that doesnÓt have a gym. And itÓs really hard sometimes to schedule use of Thelma Parker Gym Î I know this because as a student counsel advisor I have to schedule our faculty-student basketball games each year Î and it can sometimes be hard to, for our athletic director, to get the use of the gym when we need it. Our children in middle school have nowhere to change in their PE classes. They change in the bathroom, so the bathroom, the middle school has three stalls, and it gets really jammed, full of sweaty bodies trying to change. They tried changing in the theater for a 19 EXHIBIT A while. ItÓs just really difficult. And we really need facilities for our kids, if we are going to continue to provide a really great education for them. So that was all I wanted to say, and I thank you very much for letting me testify. HOUSEL: Thank you. FORISSIER: Good morning, I think, still. My name is Kareen Forissier. IÓm here representing myself as a neighbor resident but also as the legislative assistant to Councilman Pete Hoffmann. IÓd just like to share that IÓve been to most of the community meetings that Parker School, Margaret Wille, and the community have organized all together, and I definitely support this expansion with the amendments that you were presented to this morning. I think that there was never ever any concern regarding the expansion; I think there was full support for the expansion. I think the only concern really was traffic, and we definitely understand that, you know, all the traffic cannot be solved by Parker School alone and has to be hand-in-hand work with the County and certainly our office as well from the Councilman. So, yes, please support this with the amendments made. I was also asked to read part of testimony from a Laura Williams who could not be here today. They did send in a written testimony, so you also have that. So IÓll be brief. There are a few points that they wanted to make as the fact that they are loyal supporters of Parker School with a child that graduated from Parker and a family member that works at Parker; however, they have some concerns and oppose approval of a commercial gymnasium at Parker SchoolÓs KapiÒolani Road campus. They have a few reasons, and I will state a few: Commercial use of the gym would be an additional use of the facility beyond an accessory use needed to reasonably provide for on-campus school activities; the proposed school expansion, including the increase in enrollment up to a cap of 450 students, and the possible use of these campus facilities by the Parker School Trust Adult Education program, will in and of itself have substantial, significant impact on the neighbors without the additional factor of a commercial-use facility; the proposed KapiÒolani Road campus is located in a rural residential neighborhood not zoned for commercial use, and is furthermore part of a narrow, winding cul- de-sac of one-lane roads that are in daily, including evening, use for pedestrian recreation; use of any recreational facility for commercial functions would increase neighborhood traffic; gymnasium activities usually generate a lot of noise that would impact our quality of life, and consequently real estate values; it is unrealistic to expect Parker School to educate and require non-Parker School gym users to be considerate of the surrounding neighborhood; the Waimea community is already committed to building a regional level gym in the proposed district park to serve community needs and there is broad community support for this facility; and lastly, Parker SchoolÓs intended use for the gym involving rental to community groups, will undermine our community efforts to build a sports facility designed for commercial use in an appropriately zoned venue. So again, thatÓs the letter from Laura Williams and Maureen McLaughlin. HOUSEL: Thank you. LYON: IÓm Theresa Lyon. I am a parent of two Parker School seniors, students not seniors Î high school students. I drop them off every morning, and then most of the mornings I walk around the community, so IÓm very aware of all the roads, the back areas. IÓve 20 EXHIBIT A also, I moved to this community originally back in 1990. I havenÓt lived there the entire time, but I remember what it was like 20 years ago; it was a lot smaller. ItÓs growing. I assume it wil continue to grow. I am an immense fan of the school. IÓm very grateful that our family has the school as an educational resource for our children Î just beautifully, my kids are doing wonderfully there. I would like to second the statements made by a couple of people earlier about it really does need a gym and it needs more facilities. But the education occurring there is something that our family appreciates deeply. I think from what education on this in the last few months Î School has bent over backwards to try to make its immediate area, to improve it in terms of traffic, foot traffic and vehicular traffic, and since I am very familiar with both of those, I think it looks to me like a terrific plan. And I also think, having seen the community grow for the last 20 years, I understand that it will continue to grow, and I would like to see very much Parker School be able to grow along with it and continue to provide that service, because looking ahead, as old as I am, you realize the future is going to happen and IÓd like to be able to keep up with it. HOUSEL: Thank you. WILLE: Margaret Wille, Waimea. I also live in the neighborhood and walk my dog every morning in this general area. And I want to say I, as I said before, very much support the plan, provided this consensus agreement is put in and incorporated. Your directions to us was to, it wasnÓt just to Parker School, but it was also that the community step up and work on this plan. I consider much of what we added was really based on the Community Development Plan, and I see that if you were rejecting including this, that it would be rejection of the CDP and rejection of the community process. We went through numerous meetings and hearings and, with the community, whether through the South Kohala Traffic Safety Committee and the Waimea Community Association Planning and Review Design, and all of the approvals and all of the support was based on this agreement that Carl and I worked on; it was not based on what then the Planning Department selected out of there and incorporated or eliminated. I oppose the, IÓd oppose the Planning DepartmentÓs recommendation without incorporating the agreement with the community. Thank you. HOUSEL: Thank you. Commissioners, do you have any questions? T much. IÓd like to call the next four testifiers, please: Heidi Buscher, Tom Goodspeed, Victoria Missien Î Victoria Missien, okay, there you are, and it looks like we are missing somebody so IÓll call the next one Î Sherm Warner, would you like to testify? Could you raise your right hand, please? Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter now before the Planning Commission? If you could state yes, that would be good. TESTIFIERS: Yes. HOUSEL: Thank you. If you could go down the line, using the microphone, state your name and address, please? BUSCHER: Heidi Buscher, Box 1168, Kamuela, HawaiÒi. GOODSPEED: Tom Goodspeed. Mailing address, 65-1692 Kohala Mountain Road. 21 EXHIBIT A MISSIEN: Victoria Missien. Mailing, P. O. Box 6100, and we own property on KapiÒolani Road. WARNER: Sherm Warner. Mailing address is Box 1185, Kamuela. HOUSEL: Thank you. Would you like to start, please? BUSCHER: Hi. I provided written testimony, so IÓd like that to stand. I have one clarification: I wrote that my great-grandfather had come in on a mule, and actually my dad just told me it was actually an ox cart, so Î almost 100 years ago, and it was a very different town then. It was a very different town when I grew up there. Just driving by Bank of HawaiÒi yesterday, I was looking at the hitching post out in front there, and I remember being a kid and tying my horse up there and going into Sure Save for ice cream. ItÓs a really different town now. And itÓs, you know, I wish that my son in some ways could walk into town and I would feel safe about that Î heÓs only nine years old. But our town has grown and itÓs going to continue to grow. And there are things that are great about the growth of our community, and I totally support Parker School growing with our community. So, thank you. HOUSEL: Thank you. GOODSPEED: Hi, IÓm Tom Goodspeed. IÓm the athletic director at Parker School. I also serve as the K-through-5 PE instructor. I am a parent of a first-grade student at Parker School. And IÓm in support of the application for use amendment because Parker School is an inerrable aspect to the community. And as athletic director, I facilitate our kids and how they participate in the community parks and recreation leagues. And currently in 6 through 12 we have about 80 percent of our kids involved in after-school sports, and without a gym in our facility we send our kids off to places; we send our kids off to New Hope Gym to practice, we send them over to Thelma Parker to practice and play games, we shuttle them out to the field by Parker Ranch, we go across the street to the fields, we run the KapiÒolani loop, and weÓre all over the place Î we are all over the community. And as a safety issue and a traffic issue, if you can kind of picture that, thatÓs about 130 kids after school Î parents coming to pick their kids up to take them to these various places to get them involved in these after-school activities. If we had a gym and fields on our property, those kids would be self-contained; we wouldnÓt have that excess traffic coming in to pick these guys up, and that will help with traffic in the community as well. As a K-5 PE instructor, we take our kids out in the Waimea rain and cold. And we need a place to hang our hat. And a gym serves not only for athletic functions in PE, it serves so that we donÓt, you know, all cruise over to Kahilu Theatre for graduation; we can hold graduation there. A middle school building is a place for middle school students to hang their hat, put their banners up, and say we are proud, a part of this Parker School community. So IÓm in complete favor of this. And I thank you for your time. HOUSEL: Thank you. MISSIEN: (Inaudible) I just want to -. 22 EXHIBIT A HOUSEL: Could you use the microphone, please? MISSIEN: Okay. I just wanted to point out on this map that gray area there thatÓs tucked into this green, kind of U over the playfields, that gray area, all of the gray area along KapiÒolani, this gray area here, that gray area, those are homes. Those are residences and those are homes. And I understand that this is ParkerÓs plan; itÓs a really nice plan. But I think it is important to remember that that gray is not just gray; those are homes, those are families. HOUSEL: Is that your testimony -? MISSIEN: And IÓm one of -. HOUSEL: That was your testimony? MISSIEN: No, but no one had pointed that out, so -. No, I have my testimony. HOUSEL: Okay. Please use the microphone. MISSIEN: I was present five years ago at the first organized met neighborhood residents and Parker School representatives, held akÒula Road resident. The schoolÓs presentation that evening, presided over the Headmaster Carl Sturges, was for a 3-phase project: Phase 1 to include the elementary school, Phase 2 to include a gym, which was presented as a combination student-facility and revenue-producing asset for the school, which revenue would help them complete Phase 2 and begin Phase 3. The immediate and strongly negative response by the 50 or so residents present, to the proposal of a gym being located on KapiÒolani Road, caught Parker School representatives completely unprepared, and they reluctantly agreed that evening to reconsider a gym, in order to move forward with the rest of their presentation. Skip to the present, and Parker SchoolÓs current Use Permit application which includes, among its proposed amendments, a gym. This application underscores for me the schoolÓs evident intention to stay on-track with their original plans, despite neighborhood concerns, which have been consistent on this one point, while amenable to compromise and consideration on many others (e.g. requiring an interior road system, which Parker School did not want to be bound by; and a Ðcontained campusÑ design, which they argued went against their Ðopen-campusÑ history). This has been a difficult process for the owners and residents, as any objection to any part of Parker SchoolÓs proposal has frequently been met with accusations of Ðnot supporting Parker School,Ñ both in small meetings and in public forums. The burden of proving ourselves supportive while presenting another point of view has been an unfair burden, equivalent to obliging Parker School to repeatedly demonstrate that they are not against neighborhood preservation. In spite of this disparity, residents have repeatedly assured Parker School of our support, asking only that we be respected and remembered as pre-existing owners and residents of the area Parker School has proposed moving into. 23 EXHIBIT A It is also important to remember that the proposed land use Î the entire placement of their new, expanded campus, in fact, is by their own selection, and by agreement with Parker Ranch Trust. Under the terms of Richard SmartÓs estate, a tract of land was provided for Parker SchoolÓs permanent campus near to the Parker Ranch offices and rodeo grounds. The development of a campus on that property, though larger and unencumbered, was Î a a subsequent meeting of residents Î too cost-prohibitive, and the decision to instead develop the KapiÒolani Road pasture-property was formulated and eventually approved. The entire Î excuse me Î the entire, final KapiÒolani Road campus design is evidentlto be presented in a series of amended applications. This voluntary change from a larger, unencumbered, open piece of property to a smaller piece, situated in an established, homestead neighborhood on a quiet residential road, should obligate them to certain legally binding covenants and conditions prior to any and all permit approvals. The impact this development will make to the residents and roads cannot be overstated, both in terms of traffic safety and quality of life, and very possibly in decreased land values. Imposing their offered cap of 300 students still represents a significant amount of daily traffic as students, administration, faculty, and staff, even delivery vans, make their daily way to and from campus. Despite this life-changing proposition, we, and every owner/resident weÓve ever heard from, still support Parker SchoolÓs proposal to build Î but we ask for consideration. Out of respect for Parker SchoolÓs wish to provide their student body with a gym, we, as a neighborhood voice, have dropped objections Î thank you Î to its inclusion in the planned campus proposal. However, out of respect and consideration for the neighborhood, its use should be confined and limited to Parker School events only, and the hours of use limited by reasonable, neighborly curfew. It has been suggested by Mr. -. HOUSEL: Could you please summarize, please? MISSIEN: Yes. LetÓs see. IÓm not sure how to, to be honest. LetÓs see. There is no question that the town and its population have grown, and that the need for public space is as important to us here as it is anywhere. Had the campus been situated in a less impact-ful location, such a mutually beneficial, meaning if they rent it out, would be reasonable. But it is not. The exacerbating traffic conditions of Lindsey and Kawaihae Roads have made moving the problem down to KapiÒolani seem like one solution. As a demonstration of partnership and compromise, and a commitment to neighborhood preservation, Parker School campus facility use should be solely limited and dedicated to their own student body activities. And we do fully support them having a gym. The implication that we are against that is inaccurate. HOUSEL: Thank you very much for your testimony. WARNER: Thank you. IÓm Sherm Warner, the president of the Waimea Community Association. And you have my letter, which is in support of this agreement that was reached by Margaret Wille and others with Carl Sturges. And I just want to reiterate that our support is for the inclusion of this agreement as a package, as a supplement, and not as a menu that things could be selected from. The Waimea Community Association has been involved for many years 24 EXHIBIT A in the CDP process in the preliminary educational steps in the facilitated meetings. Members of the Waimea Community Association served on the Steering Committee. I served along with Margaret. And the discussions that took place actually at the instigation of this Commission between the community and Carl Sturges were to bring their plans more into accordance with the goals and values expressed in the CDP. And I commend them for d lot of time on this. And this agreement reflects that; it reflects a lot of those community values. And so with the inclusion of this agreement, we remain in support of this application. HOUSEL: Thank you very much. Commissioners, do you have any questions? Do you have a question? GIFFIN: Yes, I do. Thank you. For the third speaker, Victoria Missien, in your written testimony, in Paragraph Î 1, 2, 3 Î 4, I just want to know where you got that information regarding, ÐUnder the terms of Richard SmartÓs estate, a tract of land was provided for Parker SchoolÓs permanent campus near to the Parker Ranch offices and rodeo grounds.Ñ MISSIEN: That information was (inaudible) -. HOUSEL: Please use the microphone. MISSIEN: That information was actually presented to us at a number of neighborhood meetings in the early years by both Parker School and by the Parker Ranch Trust Î in fact, I think you were at a couple of those meetings Î but it was -. GIFFIN: I donÓt recall the statement, though. MISSIEN: It was presented as that they did have an alternate campus, which was at their disposal but, as I said, at the time Mr. Sturges explained Î and we understand the financial decision that the cost of, first of all, relocating the campus that they already were using, the facilities to continue using those facilities is obviously cheaper than building new facilities Î so the explanation was that it was too cost-prohibitive to do all of the cost of building an entirely new campus as opposed to what they are now proposing, which is continuing the current campus and then adding, of course, a smaller campus for the rest of their school. GIFFIN: I understand what you are saying. What I was questioning was where you got the information about Ðunder the terms of Richard SmartÓs estate.Ñ MISSIEN: ThatÓs what I just said; thatÓs what we were told by school representatives and by representatives of Parker Ranch. ThatÓs where I got that information. We were told it by them. GIFFIN: Thank you very much. COTTLE: Mr. Chairman, if I may? The Department has a question f HOUSEL: Sure. Please go ahead. 25 EXHIBIT A COTTLE: Thank you. Mr. Warner, we would like to know if Ms. Wil authority to enter into this agreement with Mr. Sturges. And the reason I ask that is because if you look at the agreement, itÓs signed by Mr. Sturges and Ms. Wille, and there is nothing to indicate that itÓs between the Association and the School on the actual agreement. So if you could respond to that? WARNER: It is between Mrs. Wille and Carl Sturges. She also cha and Design Committee. But I think this negotiation happened directly person to person, but the Community Association does endorse it. COTTLE: So itÓs an individual agreement endorsed by the Communit WARNER: ThatÓs correct. COTTLE: Thank you. HOUSEL: Thank you very much. IÓd like to call the next four testifiers: Jim Gressard, Miriam Matsunobu, Linda Copman and Jennifer Hussong. Sorry about the trouble I had with your names there. Could you raise your right hand, please? Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter now before the HawaiÒi County Planning Commission? TESTIFIERS: Yes. HOUSEL: Thank you. If each of you could use the microphone and state your name and address? GRESSARD: IÓm James Gressard, and I live on, address is 65-1110 HkÒula Road, which is the same block as Parker SchoolÓs proposed expansion. MATSUNOBU: Hello, IÓm Miriam Matsunobu, P. O. Box 5247, Kailua-K COPMAN: IÓm Linda Copman and I live at 65-1146 Spencer Road, whi 200 yards from the warehouse there. HUSSONG: Jennifer Hussong. I live at 65-1234 PuÒuk Road. HOUSEL: Thank you. Would you like to begin? GRESSARD: I would just like to say that IÓm in support of Parker SchoolÓs proposed expansion. I think they have demonstrated in the past their commitment to community through their theater, through the use of their property for farmersÓ market. I donÓt expect anything other than, you know, beneficial outcomes from the use of this expansion with the gymnasium and the school. Again, I just want to say I fully support this, and I t stewards of the community in their past and will continue to do so. 26 EXHIBIT A HOUSEL: Thank you. MATSUNOBU: I also want to stand by my written testimony. I am in support of the Parker School expansion. IÓm a parent of a daughter who travels on the Hele-On bus from Kailua-Kona to Parker. I also, IÓm a care provider for my mom in Lauphoehoe, so at any given time my daughter might have to go to school from Lauphoehoe or Kailua-Kona. I really appreciate that Parker School also provides for the diverse needs of, I think of this island as on community actually because I travel the roads from Kailua-Kona to Hilo as well. I just want to add one more item to my testimony, my written testimony, that I be going to Parker School, but one day I found out that a cell tower was coming up at Kealakehe Elementary School, and my daughter was supposed to go on to Keal just appreciate that I have an option, if I donÓt want my child to be going to school with a cell tower nearby. Thank you. HOUSEL: Thank you. COPMAN: Good morning. I want to thank all of you for allowing t happen because weÓve come from being miles apart to being very close. And IÓm an immediate neighbor, and so I really want to thank you. ItÓs been quite a process. And IÓm surprised and heartened at how many people have gotten involved. And I think we are very close. And IÓd just like to echo what Art Souza said; itÓs almost a model process. There is just one group that still remains to reach consensus with Parker School, and that is the immediate neighbors. And I think that, we had a meeting Î there were probably twelve of us Î and the main concern that we had was not Parker SchoolÓs expansion; we were okay with the middle school, we were okay with tripling the size of the campus on KapiÒolani Road, we were okay with them having a gym, having a place to change, having a place to have dances, having their games. What we did have an issue with was the rental of the gym on a commercial basis to And the reason for this is the roads are dangerous; they are narrow, they were never built to accommodate commercial facility. And so weÓve come a huge way in compromising and allowing them to do what they need to do to serve their student body, and we have no problem with that. I think unanimously everyone came that distance. But we still have an issue with the commercial use of this gym, and that is the single remaining area where we did not reach consensus. And so Margaret represents Margaret; Margaret doesnÓt necessarily represent the immediate neighbors. And so I am one of the immediate neighbors that use. I donÓt know that a Use Permit to allow the expansion of the school is also the appropriate way to allow them to rent out this gym in a commercial way. And so thatÓs the one condition I would like to see put into this that this gym be reserved for use by the school and not rented out. There is a need for another gym in our community; thatÓs why Thelma Parker is hard to get into. So if we open this up, and it will be opened up, itÓs going to be used heavily and it will definitely impact the quality of life. It will be a safety familiar with the roads will be coming in and out of the community. And thatÓs pretty much what I have to say. So if you can consider that really in your heart of hearts -. She doesnÓt want her daughter to go to school next to a cell tower, I donÓt want to live next to a commercial gym. Okay? Thank you. HOUSEL: Thank you. 27 EXHIBIT A HUSSONG: Aloha. As a PuÒuk Road homeowner, neighbor to both of Parker SchoolÓs campuses, I request that approval of this Use Permit application be conditional as regards to the proposed use and the days and hours of use of the proposed gym. IÓm sorry for my voice. I ask the Planning Committee (sic) to address this with respect to the fact that this construction will impact Parker School neighbors for the rest of their lives and the lives of our familiesÓ future generations. I am not opposed to a gym; I am concerned with the number of days and the times that the gym will be in use, whether or not it is commercial or not. The current students and employees at Parker School will all eventually move on and their replacements may not grasp the impact the neighboring homeowners will experience. My neighbor, Laura Williams, a PuÒuk Road homeowner, was able to arrange to host a meeting th with Carl Sturges at her house on February 17. At this meeting the neighbors and I asked for details about the proposed gym use. Carl Sturges expressed conflicting information that indicated that recreational league games and high school basketball and volleyball games are allowed to run as long as required for conclusive scoring to be achieved and admitted that this has resulted in some of the games going until 10:30 to 11:00 at night. This conflicts with the assertion that activity will end at 9:00 p.m. and leads to the necessary conclusion that with athletes and fans collecting their belongings and clean up after events. Cars will be coming and going potentially as late as 11:00 p.m. All the houses on my side of PuÒuk Road Î I live directly on property line Î were built when the land behind the properties was still a pasture, every single house has bedrooms facing the back of their property and thus directly facing the land where the proposed gym will be located. Furthermore, the prevailing wind in Waimea will carry all noise PuÒuk Road properties. I asked if Parker School could block out set nights each week, for example on the weekend where the gym would not be in use either by the school or commercially in order to allow the PuÒuk Road and surrounding neighbors a few nights respite from noise from the gym. Carl Sturges stated that this is impossible. My request is that Parker School be allowed conditional amendmen minimize the use of the gym to Parker School events only. If this is not possible, could the use be limited to five nights per week? Allowing unlimited commercial use of the gym in addition to the Parker Schools anticipated school activity usage of the gym would subject PuÒuk Road and surrounding neighbors to potential noise and traffic seven days a week as late as 11:00 p.m. This is unacceptable when you consider that people have to get up in the morning, some at 5:00 a.m., to go to work. We feel that this is absolutely contradictive to the conditions required to respect and maintain a quiet rural, residential, non-commercial neighborhood. ThatÓs all. HOUSEL: Thank you very much. Commissioners, do you have any questions of the testifiers? BOWMAN: I do. 28 EXHIBIT A HOUSEL: Commissioner Bowman. BOWMAN: Linda, and I think both of you, I sit on the Kohala Community Athletic Board and I know, you know, a lot of young league games, County league games, are played and we have one gym, big gym, but a lot of times, we are having a tournament this weekend and we need more gym space and they go to the high school Î this is not a commercial activity, this is the County P&R. Could you just tell me maybe what your opinion on this is, please? Either of you. COPMAN: Okay, I think we are very reasonable people, and a weekend day use is I donÓt think what people are concerned about. I have young children. They go to bed at 8:30. When you start getting into the evenings, every night of week -. And there are hula halaus, there are lots and lots and lots of demand for a commercial facility, and once this gym is built and if it is open for commercial use, it will be used. And so I think, you know, what we are looking at is our quality of life, our kidsÓ ability to go to sleep. ItÓs noisy. ItÓs a quiet neighborhood. There arenÓt even any lights; itÓs pitch black. Keck sleeping quarters are right across, right next to this. And so to have use every night is very different from what the situation is now. So I think that we were looking at the commercial use as being fair because they are hoping to expand their school so they have a place to have dances on Friday night Î I donÓt think anybody objects to that. What we are looking at is, okay, is it really necessary for you to expand your school to be able to rent to, you know, the Zumba class? Does that, is that part of your need? And when we look at that, we draw a line there and say, okay, expand your school, but donÓt rent it out to everybody who needs space to practice. So, IÓll let you answer. HUSSONG: My response is simply what I said in my testimony. IÓm not opposed to a gym. IÓm not opposed to activities at the gym. ItÓs the quantity of activity at the gym Î that is th the issue to me Î and that Carl Sturges said at the meeting with our neighbors on the 17, I think th it was, yeah, the 17, that with their own use they guarantee theyÓre going to be using the gym three days a week. If you have commercial use on top of that, or non-commercial use as you just described, you are adding, you know, another two or three days Î thatÓs six days of our lives where we are going to have noise. So I would hope that, you know, since they cannot guarantee that with junior and varsity games having to go a certain length of time without a time cutoff to achieve a score that is conclusive, maybe you could at least limit the number of days per week that the gym will be used at night. ItÓs not the weekdays at all or the weekend days that concern me; itÓs being able to rest at night. BOWMAN: Thank you. HOUSEL: Any other questions? Thank you very much. We have listed one more testifier. If there is anyone else who would like to speak, please come forward. Could I have Cyrus Mead please join us? Could you raise your right hand, please? Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter now before the HawaiÒi County Planning Commission? MEAD: I do. HOUSEL: Thank you. Could you state your name and address, please? 29 EXHIBIT A MEAD: My name is Cyrus Mead. My address is 67-13 Mmalahoa Highway, across from the war monument abutting Lualai Subdivision. HOUSEL: Go ahead. Please use the microphone. MEAD: IÓm in support of Parker SchoolÓs application to move forward with this plan. IÓve heard a lot of good testimony today and I hear the neighborsÓ concerns. I was raised in Kalapana and went to Phoa School from Ó72 to Ó78, and then I moved to Kamuela. And IÓ been a resident of Waimea since 1978. IÓve seen a lot of changes. When I went to Phoa School, they always talked about a gym. I work for the labor union. IÓm unemployed right now. Construction stopped. And I run a small business on the side. The labor union is LaborersÓ International Union of North America and Canada, and we just broke ground on the Phoa School gym at the end of last year. I would like to see this happen a little bit sooner than that. The Phoa School gym is a $8,500,000 project and the construction firm that will work for us is called Primatech Construction Î they are the general contractors on it, working with the State of HawaiÒi. I am proud to see the negotiations that have been going back and forth between the community and not see, as a longstanding member of the community, I see a lot of rubber- stamped projects. And I think that Margaret Wille is a tough cookie and has been working with Dr. Sturges in working something out, and with the community members. I have two students at Parker School; I have a third grader and a seventh grader. They are my nephews and IÓm raising them by myself. Right now, being unemployed from the union, I d when I go back to the project, both my boys walk to school. And Parker School has given us generous concessions as a low-income person trying to raise middle-class students in the community. We are one of that 40 percent that gets financial aid to go there. And I also have a base yard in the community on a block of where the gate to the reservoir goes up. Right now there is a lot of construction up at the reservoir, and huge trucking, De Luz Trucking, is using probably about 40 or 50 trucks a day going up there, and so there is a lot of use. And there is a lot of, everybody is being really conscious of the students. And as a community member I see the problems that Waimea School is having, because I travel from the Parker Ranch side of town and often we brake for the limited space that Waimea School has. Community Association and Parker School working together have hammered out a pretty good plan to present to you folks, and I hope you consider passing th construction of the gym in consideration of the neighbors also. HOUSEL: Thank you. Commissioners, do you have any questions? Thank you very much. Is there anyone else who would like to testify? Okay, I want to thank all of the people who came out to testify; this is very important in this process. Do I have a motion to close the public hearing? WATANABE: Yes, IÓd like to move to close the public hearing, please. HOUSEL: Okay. A second? BOWMAN: Second. 30 EXHIBIT A HOUSEL: The motion was made to close the public hearing by Commissioner Watanabe and seconded by Commissioner Bowman. Do we have a vote on that? GONZALEZ: Yes. HOUSEL: Maija, would you like to poll everyone? COTTLE: To poll everyone to close -? HOUSEL: The motion to close the public hearing. COTTLE: Sure. Commissioner Watanabe? WATANABE: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Bowman? BOWMAN: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Beaudet? BEAUDET: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Giffin? GIFFIN: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Iokepa? IOKEPA: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Nelson? NELSON: Aye. COTTLE: And Mr. Chairman? HOUSEL: Aye. COTTLE: Okay, the motion to close session passes, seven-zero. WATANABE: Mr. Chair? HOUSEL: Sure. WATANABE: If itÓs appropriate, IÓd be willing to make a motion now. 31 EXHIBIT A HOUSEL: Yes, would you like to have a discussion, or make a motion? WATANABE: I think itÓs preferable to have a motion on the table so that we can discuss that motion. HOUSEL: Okay. WATANABE: And that being the case, I move to approve the amendments to Parker SchoolÓs Use Permit application, 05-001, based on the revised conditions inclusive of the revised Condition No. 9, which limits the gymnasium size to a seating capacity of 250 and hours up to 10:00 p.m. but exclusive of the separate agreement between Î well, I thought it was between Parker School Î but I guess itÓs between Carl Sturges and Margaret Wille. And IÓd be happy to expand upon that during discussion, if the motion survives. HOUSEL: Thank you. Do we have a second? NELSON: Second. HOUSEL: Motion made by Commissioner Watanabe and seconded by Com Nelson. Would we like to have some discussion? BOWMAN: I think IÓve asked this question before, but does anyone know when the plans for the regional gym are at all in the future, or is that kind of like Phoa Gym? Sorry, to quote Cyrus. I mean just time-wise, if -. WATANABE: IÓm not sure but we did close the -. BOWMAN: Oh, okay. WATANABE: Yeah, you know, so itÓs a little bit out of order. BOWMAN: Okay, yeah, I guess the public -. I thought if the staff knew, thatÓs who I was meaning. No? Okay. Thank you. WATANABE: Mr. Chair? HOUSEL: Yes. WATANABE: If I might expand upon, cause I believe there are some concerns here about, shall we say, incorporating a third party agreement into the conditions that are set forth in the proposed amended Use Permit. And IÓd like to expand upon that more so, because I think there are a number of people that felt like, oh, they would withdraw their support without that being one of the conditions. And certainly, as a commissioner I appreciate the fact that both parties, the applicant as well as the community, were able to work together and for the most part it seems like their collaborative efforts have, you know, reached the point where theyÓre near a 32 EXHIBIT A consensus, not quite a consensus but near a consensus. And IÓm also convinced by the testimony provided that both parties are sincere in their efforts, especially Parker SchoolÓs efforts to appease the community and be a good neighbor. And as an individual I also recognize that individual parties have the right to enter into contracts; there preclude individuals Î or in this case if itÓs more appropriate to have a community association and the school as opposed to individuals entering to some type of agreement Î I donÓt see anything within the laws that will preclude them from doing that. However, as you know, we did enter into executive session and, you know, on advice of counsel I do feel that it would not be in the CountyÓs best interest for this Commission to enjoin the County any separate, private agreement whether it be between private individuals within the community or groups within the community. And for that reason I excluded including that agreement within, as a condition to this amendment. HOUSEL: Thank you. Anyone have any other comments? Commissioner Giffin. GIFFIN: Mr. Chairman, I have a question of our staff. In regards to that map thatÓs on the board, Maija, one of the testifiers said that that green area, I mean, IÓm sorry, gray area o the bottom and goes up to the left -. HOUSEL: The top. GIFFIN: The bottom, right? Is our map mislabeled? Because on my map, which is a duplicate of that, I think, says Waikoloa Stream. COTTLE: ThatÓs correct. I believe that the houses that the testifier was referring to were along KapiÒolani Road; there are four homes in this area, and I believe five homes in this area in addition to this lot, and there are also homes along KapiÒolani Road here. GIFFIN: Okay, thank you very much. HOUSEL: IÓd like to commend Dr. Sturges and Margaret Wille and all the community for all the hard work and effort you put into this. This is so much different than when we first heard this matter in November, and you should all be very pleased with all the cooperation and consensus that youÓve worked on. So IÓm very pleased to see that, and thank you very much for all your efforts. Do we have any more questions or discussion? Maija, would you like to take a poll? Would you like to poll the commissioners? COTTLE: Sure, I surely will. Thank you. HOUSEL: Would you like to read the motion first? COTTLE: The motion? Sure. The motion is to approve the Use Per request as recommended by the Planning Director in addition to the revised conditions on the yellow sheet, which was this Summary of Changes, inclusive also of the revision on the green sheet of paper, which was Condition 9, but excluding the individual agreement between Carl Sturges and Margaret Wille. 33 EXHIBIT A HOUSEL: Thank you. COTTLE: Commissioner Watanabe? WATANABE: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Nelson? NELSON: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Beaudet? BEAUDET: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Bowman? BOWMAN: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Giffin? GIFFIN: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Iokepa? IOKEPA: Aye. COTTLE: And Mr. Chairman? HOUSEL: Aye. COTTLE: Okay, the motion passes, seven-zero. HOUSEL: Thank you very much. And I believe the completed docume be provided to you shortly. The discussion ended at 12:10 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Noriko Sauer, Secretary Leeward Planning Commission 34 EXHIBIT A