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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-03-05 TMIZUKAMI WINDWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I HEARING TRANSCRIPT MARCH 5, 2010 A regularly advertised hearing on the application ofSIDNEY T. MIZUKAMI REVOCABLE LIVING TRUST (SPP 09-96) was called to order at 9:45 a.m. in the County of Hawai‘i, Aupuni Center Conference Room, 101 Pauahi Street, Hilo, Hawai‘i, with Chairman Rell Woodward presiding. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Rell Woodward, Dean Au, Takashi Domingo, Andrew Iwashita, Zendo Kern, and Wallace Ishibashi. STAFF PRESENT: Brandon Gonzalez (Deputy Corporation Counsel), BJ Leithead Todd (Planning Director), Norman Hayashi (Planning Program Manager), Daryn Arai (Planning Program Manager), Phyllis Fujimoto (Staff Planner), Jeff Darrow (Staff Planner) and Maija Cottle (Staff Planner). And approximately 10 people from the public in attendance. APPLICANT: SIDNEY T. MIZUKAMI REVOCABLE LIVING TRUST (SPP 09-96) Special Permit to use an existing agricultural equipment building and surrounding area for parking, deploying and storing non-agricultural equipment and materials used for a telecommunications cable installation business on approximately 28,704 square feet of land in the State Land Use Agricultural district. The property is located in the Wainaku Farms Subdivision, approximately 650 feet south of the intersection of Kulana Kea Drive and Kaohu Lehua Place, Wainaku, South Hilo, Hawai‘i, TMK: 2-6-32: portion of 15. WOODWARD: We will then proceed on with Item No. 1 on the agenda. Applicant is Sidney T. Mizukami Revocable Living Trust, Special Permit 09-06 in South Hilo. Maija. COTTLE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If I could direct your attention to the screen right in front of you; and I’ll also be pointing to the map, screen over here. You can see the red dot on your screen in front of you. Let’s just do a test. Can everybody see the red dot on the screen. COMMISSIONERS: No. COTTLE: No. Okay. That’s not working so I’ll just describe. The first agenda item is a Special Permit request. And the applicant is Sidney Mizukami. The subject property is located in the Wainaku area of the South Hilo district. It’s shown on the slide outlined in red. And you can see it between Kaiwiki Road and Kulana Kea Drive. The current zoning is Agricultural, actually let me skip ahead here. Here’s a close-up view of it. The current zoning is Agricultural 20 acres, which is shown in the dark green. You can also see Single Family Residential zoning 1 EXHIBIT A in the light yellow off to the left of the slide, as well as Residential and Agricultural zoning up on the top right side of the slide. The General Plan designation for the property is Important Agricultural Land on the north portion of the property, and that’s shown in a white color or light green color; and Low Density Urban is shown in the bright yellow on the south end of the property. This is an aerial view of the existing agricultural warehouse, and that is shown right in the middle of the slide. You can also see the existing macadamia nut orchards surrounding that warehouse to the bottom of the slide. Okay. The applicant is requesting to utilize the existing ag storage building, as well as the surrounding property right near the storage building, to park and deploy and store non- agricultural materials that are related to his telecommunication cable installation business. And he’d like to do that on a 28,704-square foot portion of the property. This is a site plan that shows the special permit request area outlined in blue. You can see the driveway coming in on the top right-hand side of the slide; and the square in the middle of that special permit request area is the existing agricultural warehouse, as well as a concrete apron around that warehouse. You can also see the existing macadamia nut orchard on the main portion of the property. This is a site photo taken as you’re approaching the warehouse from the driveway. You can see the concrete apron, as well as some existing agricultural equipment and storage containers. The Planning Department is recommending approval of this special permit; but we’re also recommending approval only for a three-year period of time, a three-year permit life, for the reasons stated in the recommendation. WOODWARD: Okay, thank you, Maija. Do we have any questions for Planning staff? AU: Yes. WOODWARD: Commissioner Au. AU: Is it appropriate to ask a question right now about the background report? WOODWARD: Yes. Yes. AU: I have a question on the building permit that was approved. Can you tell me the history of the old building permit that was pulled? And it says it’s not finalized. COTTLE: Sure. Yeah, the building permit for the agricultural equipment building was pulled in 1999; and the Building Department’s records show that that permit has never been finalized. And electrical and plumbing permit were also pulled at the same time, and those have not been finalized as well. AU: Can you go back to that picture that shows the property. That pole that’s sticking out to the left, is that a temporary power pole or is that just a telephone pole? COTTLE: I’m not certain what that pole is. Maybe the applicant can answer that question. 2 EXHIBIT A AU: Okay, I have questions for the applicant then. WOODWARD: All right, any further questions for staff? Commissioner Domingo. DOMINGO: As a follow-up to Commissioner Dean’s questioning, I see that the services provided, permanent service is provided to the building. You know, I’m wondering, under normal circumstances when you build a structure and it has not been, it has been inspected to a certain degree but not completely because it wasn’t signed off, you should always, you should also have the plumbing and electrical approval; and having both of those approval, along with the building approval, then a request is made to the power company for connection. I’m wondering, has there been some kind of mix-up? Because normally if the permit hasn’t been finalized, this building, in my understanding, shouldn’t be given power. It might be, that can be answered by some other part, or the applicant, or whatever. But -. COTTLE: Yeah, I’m not certain why the Building Division would have signed off or given authorization to Helco to hook up the permanent electric without the permits being finalized. I can’t answer for the Building Division. But the permit records that staff checked to verify whether the permits were completed, this was checked about a month ago, a month and a half ago. So maybe since then the permits have been finalized; but a month and a half ago they were not. DOMINGO: I understand. But, you know, I doubt if that could have ever taken place. This should have been finalized if they received power, that would be completion of the building; and that was in the latter part of 1999. It’s almost ten years, just about ten years ago. Did you folks made any site inspection to the property? COTTLE: Yes. Actually that’s where we got this photo. DOMINGO: Now I realize that this permit applies only to a certain portion of that total, the total size of the property. So what we’re doing is singling out, delineating by number of feet and whatever, how much would be under the special permit, yeah. And in essence, you know, this would be then argumentative when we discuss the issue. Because in essence what we’re doing is, here we have agricultural property and then we’re carving out a piece of property for a use which is generally placed in a light industrial area, you know. And I was wondering, I was going to ask to what extent the macadamia nuts were, farm was being worked upon. But that is not part of the application so I think that is not germane to the question. And, of course, because this is an agricultural parcel, you know, how many people actually work on the parcel, and if any at all were any income registered or derived from this property to show that it was actually used as an agricultural, put in agricultural use? And, you know, those are some of my concerns to which I think we can discuss this when we entertain a motion. COTTLE: I can respond to the harvesting of the macadamia nut orchard. According to what the applicant explained to staff, the mac nuts are not being harvested at this time. The trees are just being pruned, maintain. And I don’t believe that any employees other than the applicant are doing the maintenance activities of the orchard. 3 EXHIBIT A WOODWARD: All right, thank you. Any further questions? Commissioner Kern. KERN: Maija, do you by chance have these pictures on the slide? COTTLE: No, I don’t. KERN: No, okay. Did you notice if there were additional poles coming onto the property that brought the power to it or if it was brought off the main road? COTTLE: I did not notice that. When I went out to the site I was looking mainly at the warehouse and the equipment that’s currently there. KERN: Okay, we’ll ask the applicant. Thank you very much. WOODWARD: Yeah, well, the applicant will be coming up here in a second. So these questions probably he can answer. Commissioner Au. AU: I have one last question for staff. What is the current number of years a building permit can be opened? And what was the number of years that particular permit, during that time when it was opened, did it change from back then to what it is now, that a building permit can be opened for a certain amount of time? COTTLE: As far as I know the Building Division allows permits to be opened for years. There’s no limit on when it has to be closed. AU: Well, is there someone here or other staff members that can verify that? Because from my experience I understand that certain building permits close after, let’s say, five, ten years. Is there anybody that can verify that? And, you know, this is, or that’s not the case? COTTLE: I don’t know for sure. WOODWARD: All right, thank you. If we could get the applicant and/or representative to come up; and we’ll hear from you folks. All right, gentlemen, good morning. If I could swear you in. If you’ll raise your right hand, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth today before the Windward Planning Commission? MELROSE: I do. MIZUKAMI: I do. WOODWARD: Okay, Mr. Melrose, you’re going to start first or -? MELROSE: Yeah, thank you. WOODWARD: If you’ll give us your name and address, and then you may begin. 4 EXHIBIT A MELROSE: Certainly. Jeff Melrose, 1405 Waianuenue Avenue, Hilo, 96720, representing here today Mr. Sid Mizukami. I want to get into some of those specific issues in a minute. But let me just start by introducing you to Mr. Mizukami. Mr. Mizukami is, you know, I’ll just let him give you a little bit of background. And then he, like a lot of folks who get into this circumstance, is nervous as he can be. So I’ll just let him talk a little bit about the background of his property and what he’s doing. I’d like to address the building permit issue. That’s a new one to us. We were unaware that it wasn’t finished fully. We’ve got electricity and that kind of stuff already in place; and we can talk about that in more detail, and the Ag use we can get into too. But let me just introduce you to Sid and let him kind of give you a little bit of background. WOODWARD: Okay, if you’ll give us your name and address, and then you may begin, sir. MIZUKAMI: Thank you. First off I’d like to thank you for allowing me the time to present the request for this special use permit. My name is Sid Mizukami and my address is 73-1388 Hikimoe Street, Kailua-Kona, 96740. I’ll be working off notes so I’ll remember the information I would like to share with you, as well as hopefully it will help take aware some of my nervous energies. I’d like to begin by providing you with a little background information. In 1999 I purchased the property as a mature mac nut orchard, and then permitted, and constructed a farm warehouse on the property. The building was built to service the orchard to house the farm equipment, tools, and other farm necessities, as well as a restroom and a place for the workmen to eat their lunch. The building was built with extra space to allow me to husk, process and store the nuts, and maybe some from the neighborhood farms as well. Soon after the building was built, the price of mac nut dropped dramatically. While several of my neighbors knocked down their trees we continued to maintain the farm operation. We still prune and trim the trees, replace the fallen trees, fertilize the trees, and provide weed control in hopes that the market will rebound. The building in the surrounding apron was left with unused space. So I began to park some of my telecommunications equipment, telecom equipment on the site to support my growing island-wide business. This turned into a sensible habit as the building had adequate room and it provided protection from the elements. Some equipment is used strictly on the farm and others are used in the telecommunications business. Some serve dual purposes. Except for two cable trailers which are used strictly in the telecom business, all of the other equipments are used for dual, in the dual operations. The equipment consists of an earth saw, an argo truck, bucket lifts, trenchers, pickups and a flatbed truck. These equipment are used on the farm by our neighbors and by our employees on their personal properties as well. There are seven to nine employees in our telecom business, all of whom live in East Hawai‘i.I too was born and raised in Hilo and relocated to Kona in 1977. When employing the telecom business, they pick up and drop off equipment as needed at the Wainaku property. Other times they report directly to the job site from their homes; and for the most part they report to the Kona baseyard for their equipment needs. We do not perform any on-site work for the telecom business at this location, at the Wainaku location. All on-site work is strictly farm related. There are no sales of any kind on this property. Except for a few materials used during emergencies to restore service for the utility companies, no materials at the 5 EXHIBIT A Wainaku site belong to the telecom business. Ours is a labor service company with very little storage space needed. The complaint filed with the Planning Department last year came from a neighbor and was related to our storage of derelict equipment on site. The complaint was fully justified, and we corrected the situation immediately. I apologize for not having removed the equipment sooner. They were stored on the property to be removed by a salvage operator. But due to the falling price and scrap market, the scrap dealer did not remove them in a timely manner. I hope you will grant me a long-term permit to remain at this location as the proposed use does not impact the surrounding properties, the County or the State. I think my use of the existing farm building is more to help agriculture than anything else. And the remainder of my property is fully developed for Ag use. Thank you for allowing me the time to present this request. WOODWARD: All right. Thank you, Mr. Mizukami. Let me ask you a question. Have you had chance to review the Department’s recommendation and all the conditions -? MIZUKAMI: Yes, I have. WOODWARD: Including the three-year time limit? MIZUKAMI: Yes. WOODWARD: Are you in agreement with all of those conditions? MIZUKAMI: Well, we -. MELROSE: We -. I’m sorry. MIZUKAMI: Okay, let me -. Can I just follow that conversation for him? WOODWARD: Sure. Mr. Melrose. MELROSE; Yes, what we would, we would like to ask the Commission to extend the three-year term to the kind of five-year standard term that you’ve provided in other special permit circumstances that I’m aware of. That’s one issue. It may be a technicality but also there is a, the time limits, the 7 to 5, given the -. I mean if you’re really going to be a stickler for the immediate timeframe --. Often if he has got to run off to Kona and he picks up a truck at 5 o’clock, I’d hate to have that be an issue, cause it happens intermittently and it’s not something that happens on a regular basis. But, certainly, the bulk of the business would happen within this time frame. I’m just admitting to the fact that the business periodically will come in to pick up a vehicle or drop one off that has to be delivered after five. So it is just a pick- up and drop-off business. It’s not an on-going activity. So that’s a constraint that perhaps more of a detail than anything else -. So, but those are the issues that we’d like to address with you today, is the use of the three-year term. At this point it’s written such that it terminates entirely at the end of three years. There’s no ability to come back and have a 6 EXHIBIT A conversation or a -. Or if there’s no issues associated with the neighborhood, there’s really no action on the ground that could increase his agricultural productivity. He has kept it and willing to continue to keep the Ag use in place, where some of the neighbors have taken it away. So his intention is to continue to keep that Ag in place. And there’s really is not much to grow where the existing building is. So -. WOODWARD: All right, thank you. Any questions for Mr. Mizukami or Mr. Melrose? AU: Yes, I have. WOODWARD: Yes, Commissioner Au. AU: Mr. Mizukami, I have a question for you. You mentioned in your testimony you have a Kona baseyard. MIZUKAMI: Yes, we do. AU: And you have a telecommunication company based in Kona? MIZUKAMI: Yes, we do. AU: Okay. So is this property considered your Hilo baseyard? MIZUKAMI: Well, you may call it that, yes. It’s more just a storage pickup/drop off location than a full-on baseyard. AU: Okay, thank you. MIZUKAMI: You’re welcome. WOODWARD: All right. Let me ask Mr. Mizukami, do you agree to all the other conditions other than your concern about the three-year time limit? MIZUKAMI: Pretty much, except for the time as Mr. Melrose mentioned. You know, coming back from Kau or Kona, if we finish work at 4:30 or 5:00, it’s hard to be back, you know, before the time limit. WOODWARD: Okay.Commissioner Domingo. DOMINGO: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Mizukami, your business is under Telecable, Inc? MIZUKAMI: Yes, Telecable Systems, Inc. DOMINGO: Yeah. Could you tell us about that company? 7 EXHIBIT A MIZUKAMI: We do work mostly for the utilities, the power company, the phone companies, the cable television companies. We build extensions, we also take care of their outage situations when it occurs. Like let’s say even if a pole comes down off hours, you know, we have to go there, pick up, you know, the argo truck to go out there, replace the pole, and run new lines, or whatever else is needed. DOMINGO: Are you a sole owner of the company? MIZUKAMI: Yes, I am. DOMINGO: I see. Do any of the employees that you have on payroll right now are used to work on the macadamia nut farms? MIZUKAMI: Yes. We’re kind of diversified in what we do, mainly because if one type of business is slow at least they have something to do to earn a living. We work with a small core of people, as I mentioned seven people. So we try to use the seven and not grow any more. The rest of them we place in the labor service companies and draw them as we need them. This way here we can pretty much guarantee our people full time employment. Sometimes they have to go out in the mac nut field to work, but at least it’s something for them to do. DOMINGO: Not asking for a definitive figure, but has there been a substantial amount of your gross income derived from the farming operations? MIZUKAMI: Very little. At this point none at all. Since we built the building, as I mentioned the price dropped dramatically; and I’m pretty much giving the nuts at this point to one of the neighbors so he can at least have enough to make a go. DOMINGO: So Telecable Systems, Inc. is, are paying the wages of those people when they work on the farm then? MIZUKAMI: Pretty much so, yes. DOMINGO: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. WOODWARD: All right. Thank you, Commissioner Domingo. AU: Commissioner, I’ve got a question. WOODWARD: Yes, Commissioner Au. AU: Can you tell me about that permit you pulled in 1999, from when you designed it to when you pulled the permit, to when you were, during the construction phase then to now? Can you just tell me about that, please? MIZUKAMI: Yes. Well, as I mentioned we pulled the permit and constructed the building. The actual construction was done by a contractor and assumed, I’m kind of at loss here because I 8 EXHIBIT A assumed that all of the permits were closed. As someone mentioned earlier, we do have power at the facility and, you know, that usually does not happen until the County releases approval to the power company for a hookup. WOODWARD: I’ll leave that up to you. MIZUKAMI: I will follow-up on it because I would like to have this cleared up. WOODWARD: Okay, thank you. Did you have something further, Commissioner Au? AU: Could I bring staff up? I have a question for staff regarding this issue. WOODWARD: If you’ll wait just one second, I was just conferring with the Director and she’s going to make a statement about some of these issues. Madam Director. LEITHEAD TODD: Staff has prepared an additional condition to be proposed that any building permits should be finalized within 90 days, cause I don’t know whether it’s, that they weren’t finalized or that our records aren’t that good at the Public Works Department. But obviously, you know, somebody gave the go-ahead for permanent electricity to go to the building. And that building looks like it’s complete. So we’re going to add that as a condition so that they can provide some proof of the building permits being finalized. And then the other recommendation I was going to suggest is that we have done some other of these permits where we’ve done time limits; and we’ve done five years instead of three. And then we have given an opportunity, depending on conditions, for applicants to come back and ask for an extension. In particular, you know, the information -. I’m familiar with this area; and the applicant is correct that other owners have bulldozed the macadamia trees and basically turned the area into pasture. And much of this area has just become what I would call single family residential with a big lawn in some of these surrounding areas. So I’m a little surprised that he actually has property and there isn’t a house on it, and he has got actual workers, and he is actually maintaining the macadamia nuts. So I would ask the Commission to consider, you know, changing it to what we have done on other special use permit. For consistency, we’ve done five years with that permit up in the Honokaa area where they had that portable john service, I think that was a five-year permit in order to give them time. And I’m also, you know, interested in that this is a little different in that his workers are both doing the telecommunications work as well as actually doing farm work; and that was new information that he has said he’s giving the mac nuts to his neighbor. So there’s actually harvesting of the nuts that are occurring, even though he’s not getting the revenue from it. And I’m not sure, you know, about the time limit. I think that’s something that the Commission should take a look and see whether those are reasonable time considerations. WOODWARD: You’re speaking about the hours of operation? LEITHEAD TODD: Hours of operation because -. 9 EXHIBIT A WOODWARD: Okay. LEITHEAD TODD: Typically farms don’t necessarily stop at 4 or 5 o’clock. WOODWARD: I would think if you’re going to pick a time maybe something like eight in the evening. You’re not going to disrupt, that would just be my suggestion. Commissioner Au, does that answer your questions you had? AU: Yes, it does. WOODWARD: All right, thank you. Okay, are you -? Mr. Mizukami, are you comfortable with the recommendations as modified by the Director? MIZUKAMI: Yes, I am. WOODWARD: Okay, very good. Mr. Melrose, did you have anything further? MELROSE: No, I think that’s a worthy solution. WOODWARD: Okay, for the -. DOMINGO: Mr. Chairman? WOODWARD: Commissioner Domingo, yes. DOMINGO: What are your long-term plans with regards to abandoning the use on this farm land and finding for an industrial, light industrial use zoned property? MIZUKAMI: We have none. It’s -. DOMINGO: So you plan to maintain this use for as long as the business exists? MIZUKAMI: Yes. And as far as the Ag portion of it, we have from time to time looked at other products, other trees, products, and what have you. But, you know, can’t really come up with anything. Just looking at everyone exiting the mac nut business at this point. So, you know, we’ll continue. Hopefully if it comes up we’ll be one of the few with it. DOMINGO: Well, you know, as far as the rest of the acreage of the parcel, you know, I’d just like to say it’s noble of you to provide it for your neighbors and those who are farming; and that’s good. I think what we’re considering here today is a small portion of your property which you want to maintain and use as a storage building for some of your, perhaps, farming uses, but more so as indicated by the write-up it’s principally used as a place for the telecable systems business. MIZUKAMI: Yes, because the room exists, yes. 10 EXHIBIT A WOODWARD: All right, thank you, Commissioner Domingo. So for the record we have nobody from the signed up to testify. So thank you folks. ISHIBASHI: Question, Mr. Chairman. WOODWARD: Commissioner Ishibashi, yes. ISHIBASHI: Thank you for your testimony. With regards to the starting and ending time of the business, you had a recommendation on the times? MIZUKAMI: Under normal conditions, what was recommended works for us. WOODWARD: Seven a.m. to eight p.m.? MIZUKAMI: The start times sometimes, you know, if they need equipment and going out to Kau or Kona they may just swing by, pick up a truck and leave; and that may be 6 o’clock, whatever time it is. WOODWARD: Six, okay. MIZUKAMI: And outside of that there would just be the outage conditions.Let’s say that if there’s a storm and the power comes down and there’s now -. WOODWARD: Right, well, that’s covered in the conditions. MIZUKAMI: Yes, right. WOODWARD: So 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. would work for you? MIZUKAMI: Six a.m. or, yeah, somewhere in that neighborhood. WOODWARD: Okay, all right. ISHIBASHI: Thank you. WOODWARD: Okay, any further questions? Okay, thank you, folks. All right -. MIZUKAMI: Thank you. WOODWARD: Would anybody like to make a motion? Oh, wait a minute, Brandon -. I was just conferring with Corporation Counsel.If somebody would like to make a motion that incorporates particularly the Director’s change in recommendation -? Commissioner Kern. KERN: Yeah, I’ll make the motion, and maybe staff can help fill in some of those recommendations there. In regards to applicant Sidney Mizukami Revocable Living Trust, Permit No. SPP 09-96, Special Permit to use an existing agricultural equipment building and 11 EXHIBIT A surrounding area for parking, deploying and storing nonagricultural equipment and materials for a telecommunications cable installation business on approximately 28,704 square feet of land, TMK: 2-6-32: portion of 15, I move that the permit be granted with the new conditions. Condition No. 2, that would be five years, correct me if I’m wrong, and deletion of the last sentence in Condition 2. Condition No. 4 changing the time to 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and also adding a condition that will be numbered by staff that says all open building permits need to be closed and finalized within 90 days of the application. Did I miss anything? WOODWARD: I think you’ve got it. COTTLE: Yes. WOODWARD: Yes, Maija. COTTLE: I would also recommend on Condition 9 removing the language that says with the exception of Condition No. 2. KERN: And Condition 9 removing the language that says with the exception of Condition No. 2. I got it? COTTLE: Yes. WOODWARD: Okay. Do we have a second? ISHIBASHI: Second. WOODWARD: Commissioner Ishibashi seconded. Okay, any discussion? Okay, seeing none - . DOMINGO: Mr. Chairman? WOODWARD: Oh, Commissioner Domingo. DOMINGO: Mr. Chairman, I have some reservations about this application. I think from my standpoint, my views are that it may have serious ramifications. It’s only because what we’re doing here is we’re carving out a specific portion of the total acreage and using that portion as a, for a use that is rightfully belong, that rightfully belongs in an Industrial, Light Industrial zoning. Now perhaps we can find within ourselves to say this is an appropriate use for this particular time and perhaps, and I may agree. But, you know, there are others, many people nowadays with agricultural zoned lots who may be farming or who may not, or who may just have a, use their properties as for pastoral uses. Now if they have, if they had some other businesses and would like to use a portion of their property for that business use, then they will be creating to a certain extent industrial use on their agricultural property. Now are we going to approve that? And in the event they come before the Commission and we permit them to do that, you know, if that is to be done, what I see is a zoning, default zoning for a Light Industrial use in an agricultural parcel. And this can be widespread throughout this whole island. That’s why I have some 12 EXHIBIT A serious reservations. It’s nothing personal with the applicant or what. But if we’re going to uphold the provisions of the Zoning Code and the General Plan, then for me I’m saying you’ve got to look at this very seriously and think about what ramifications may come about in the future, you know. Now we’re saying let’s give him, if this body decides to go ahead and approve that, and we’re saying, okay, let’s give him five years. Upon questioning he said he would, intending, his intent is to use this property for an industrial use as long as he can, as long as his business is in operation. Now would the time of its operation make any difference? I say no. Why should it make any difference? It’s an agricultural property.The residents are not situated on this property. So what impact would it have, with what impact would it have on his neighbors? You know, so if we said if there are impacts, then what I’m saying is this use should be located in a Light Industrial zone where all those kinds of commotions and activities and traffic would be prevalent. So, you know, that’s why I have some serious reservations about this application. WOODWARD: Thank you, Commissioner Domingo. I would just make a comment that one of the things that this -. This is admittedly kind of a peculiar amalgam of telecommunications business with macadamia nuts. I mean that doesn’t generally come on the radar screen. But what has happened I think is that we have, that Mr. Mizukami has managed to maintain his macadamia nut farm only because he has a profitable business. If he didn’t have a profitable business, he might be with all the other people bulldozing their macadamia nut trees to make 20- acre single family dwelling lots, which is cut, you know, that is his right. I mean if he wanted to do that he could bulldoze those macadamia nut trees right now. So it’s, I can see your concerns and, but I think in this particular instance we’re actually maintaining the agricultural use of this land by allowing this particular use of a building which is already in existence. We’re not, it’s not that he’s building another building that wasn’t there. And it does have a combined use, not only for this telecommunications business, but a good -. Most of these machines, I think with the exception of one, are also used to maintain the orchard. So I agree with your concerns, but I think that the greater good is served by this, by approving this. Do we have any other comments? DOMINGO: I just, Mr. Chairman? WOODWARD: Yes, Commissioner Domingo. DOMINGO: I’d just like to mention and, you know, thank you for your opinion and your comments; and in a certain way I agree with you. But, I mean, setting a precedent is the key issue right here. You know, we can extend and give him the permit. And if others are in line and apply for the same, come in with the same situation and apply for a permit, are we ready, are we ready to say, yes, go ahead? You know, and it’s not like the Cable Systems Inc. is coming before us and claiming poverty, by no means. You know, I think they’re well equipped, they have a wide inventory of equipment that they work with. But it seems like the major part of this business is in Hilo, because he said all of his employees are situated in East Hawai‘i, whereby his base is located, his business is located in Kona, you know. So I don’t know how you can rationalize that. But what I’m saying is that, you know, if it’s going to be good for him, let us make it good for everybody in the public who wants to enjoy that same privilege, you know. If 13 EXHIBIT A we go ahead with this, in my own opinion, and zoning, zoning would not have much of an impact in the decisions that we make. It’s just the use, and if we can accept that use. Thanks. WOODWARD: All right, thank you, Commissioner Domingo. Commissioner Iwashita wanted to speak, and then Commissioner Kern. Commissioner Iwashita. IWASHITA: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I share pretty much all of Commissioner Domingo’s concerns in terms of process and planning. My particular concern in this case is that basically -. You’re right, Mr. Mizukami is a good businessman, he’s keeping his overhead down. He had this facility to, you know, facilitate his business without additional cost of a lease or acquiring a Light Industrial zoned parcel to develop. Can’t fault him for that. From the public’s perspective in terms of planning, Commissioner Domingo’s concerns are correct. And in terms of how we decide this particular application, you know, what we have in terms of the facts of this case are that the applicant actually started the use without applying for this permit. This application is based upon we becoming aware of this otherwise improper use by way of a complaint of some unrelated issue. And so the question before the Commission in my mind is whether or not, as Commissioner Domingo put it, we will establish a precedent where you have prior use, discovery of the prior use which doesn’t conform to the law, and then an application after-the-fact to conform it to the law. The, we have in the past, in my past five years, had applications where we have approved prior use. Now the one that stands out in my mind is the amusement park in Paradise Park, you know, where we have, we basically approved an amusement park down there. You guys should all check it out. It’s a pretty neat place. I haven’t had a chance to do it yet. But in that case, you know, the distinction between that and this case is essentially the community got behind that, they expressed the need for this type of facility in Paradise Park for basically the children or, like in my case, child-minded people to service their need. In this case, there has not been any evidence on the record that there are no other Light Industrial facilities that could provide the storage and pickup needs that Mr. Mizukami’s business has. So I, you know, I understand his business perspective. I think from my perspective, you know, he should be given a reasonable amount of time to find -. You know, I’m aware that there is lack of Light Industrial zoned land upon which he can properly run his business. So I am disinclined to extend the time that he needs to find that, although five years, I guess, is an outside limit for me. I do not feel like there should be really, you know, there should be an understanding in the applicant’s mind that there’s going to be an extension of this in perpetuity because that would be the precedent that, you know, basically what we’re doing here is creating a spot zoning of this use, this particular use for this purpose. And if extensions are granted basically with, you know, as a matter of course, then basically landowners can say we don’t have to do rezonings, we’ll just -. You know, if I have, if I’m fortunate enough to own Ag land I can just do special permits and get away with that. So those are my concerns. Thank you, Mr. Chair. WOODWARD: All right, thank you, Commissioner Iwashita. Commissioner Kern. 14 EXHIBIT A KERN: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yeah, I’d first like to start off by saying I do agree that ideally this would move to a better zoned location. However, though, we’ve had a Hawaii Johns in front of us in the past which is a similar circumstance. They’ve been there for almost 20 years and we thought we should give them, you know, time to get their feet on the ground or not pull the carpet out from underneath them, give them time to do what they need to do and eventually get to a Light Industrial zoned location. Now let’s just say that the agricultural business was thriving right now. That farm, that place would probably have big trucks coming in and out of it every day, farm equipment and everything else, just to field the agricultural activities there. We all know agriculture is not doing very well these days, and neither is many businesses. So, to me, this does kind of fuse those two together, and with hopefully not much more impact than there would be if we had good agricultural times. Secondly, the economic hardship that everyone is dealing right now is real; and I think we should give, you know, business owners that are trying their best and property owners that are trying their best to keep them in business and also promote the potential agricultural activity. Because the plausible effect of not doing this is, well, Mr. Mizukami has every right to come in for a rezone. And underneath that LUPAG Map, you know, he could be coming in for single family homes. And we’d rather have somebody bringing in some equipment up there and storing it in an existing place, which would be similar to an agricultural business, or coming in to do RS- 7.5, RS-10. In my opinion, it’d be better served as this right now and to give him a chance and give him five years. But, again, I would not think to make this your end-all location. And that’s all I have to say right now. Thank you. WOODWARD: All right. Thank you, Commissioner Kern. Do we have anybody else who’d like to comment? Okay, seeing none, Maija, let’s get a vote. COTTEL: Okay, Commissioner Kern? KERN: Yes. COTTLE: Commissioner Ishibashi? ISHIBASHI: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Au AU: No. COTTLE: Commissioner Domingo? DOMINGO: No. COTTLE: Commissioner Iwashita? 15 EXHIBIT A IWASHITA: Kanalua. COTTLE: Commissioner, I’m sorry. Mr. Chairman? WOODWARD: Aye. COTTLE: And Commissioner Iwashita? IWASHITA: Kanalua. COTTLE: Okay, Mr. Chairman, that’s four votes in favor. The motion passes. WOODWARD: All right, thank you very much. You’ll be notified in writing of our decision. You managed to squeak by. Thank you. MELROSE: Thank you. LEITHEAD TODD: Mr. Mizukami? MIZUKAMI: Yes? LEITHEAD TODD: I would look for another place to relocate within the five years. Because I think there’s a substantial likelihood that if you were to come back for an extension it would not be approved. WOODWARD: Thank you, Madam Director. The discussion ended at 10:47 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Sharon M. Nomura, Secretary Windward Planning Commission 16 EXHIBIT A