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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-09-01 Windward Exh A (Item 1 Renegade Towers PL-USE-2022-000004) WINDWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAI`I HEARING TRANSCRIPT SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 A regularly advertised hearing on the application of RENEGADE TOWERS LLC (PL-USE-2022-000004) was called to order at 9:05 a.m. in the County of Hawaii Aupuni Center Conference Room, 101 Pauahi Street, Hilo, Hawaii with Chair Dennis Lin presiding. COMMISSIONERS IN ATTENDANCE: Dennis Lin, Gilbert Aguinaldo, Lauren Balog, John C. Cross, Louis Daniele III, Wayne De Luz and Michelle Galimba. ALSO IN ATTENDANCE: Malia Kekai Esq. (Counsel for the Commission), Jean Campbell, Esq. (Counsel for the Planning Department), Zendo Kern (Planning Director), Clinton Mercado (Planner), Tracie-Lee Camero (Planner), Jessica Andrews (Planner), Janice Hata (Zoom Host), Alex Roy (Acting Planning Program Manager), and Melissa Dacayanan-Salvador (Windward Planning Commission Secretary) And 15 members from the public in attendance. APPLICANT: RENEGADE TOWERS LLC (PL-USE-2022-000004) Application for a Use Permit to allow the establishment of a telecommunication facility with a 180-foot-tall monopole tower and related equipment and improvements within a 4,108 square foot portion of a larger 14.622-acre parcel. The subject property is located at 3331 Kaumana Drive, to the south of the Nolemana Street/Kaumana Drive intersection, Kaumana and Ponahawai Homesteads, South Hilo, Hawaii, TMK: (3)2-5-002:023. Secretary's Note: "—" indicates that there were technical and/or internet difficulties, which made the conversation inaudible. LIN: Okay, the first item of business is applicant Renegade Towers, LLC, PL-USE-2022- 000004. Application for a Use Permit to allow the establishment of a telecommunication facility with a 180-foot-tall monopole tower and related equipment and improvements within a 4,108 square foot portion of a larger 14.622-acre parcel. The subject property is located at 3331 Kaumana Drive, to the south, [cleared throat] excuse me, to the south of Nolemana Street/Kaumana Drive intersection, Kaumana and Ponahawai Homesteads, South Hilo, Hawaii, TMK: (3) 2-5-002 dash, sorry, Parcel 023. Do we have any in-person testifiers? Kean Umeda? UMEDA: Hi, my name is Kean Umeda. I live on— LIN: Hold on one second. Yeah. KEKAL Will swear you in real quick. 1 EXHIBIT A LIN: Yeah. Please raise your right hand,please. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth in front of the Windward Planning Commission? UMEDA: Yes, I do. LIN: Please state your name and where you live, and you may start, and you have three (3) minutes. UMEDA: My name is Kean Umeda, I live on 25-3483 Opalipali Street, Hilo, Hawaii. Um' I am not in support of the cell phone tower. Um' pretty simple. There's an alternate site as I understand and that won't interfere. Some of the reasons I don't want a cell phone tower is health concerns and the view. I do not want to see a cell phone tower that looks like a fake tree. I want to keep Hawaii as it is. Um' very important that we work to keep the tower maybe placed in a secondary site where I believe it's on the 8-mile marker. Where there are no homes so, there shouldn't be no concerns with health and any view being disrupted. Um' pretty much that's all I got to say. LIN: Thank you. Is there anyone in the audience that has registered to testify? Okay. I will go on to the Zoom testimony. The first one that I have here is Bryce Novak. NOVAK: Aloha Commissioners. My name is Bryce Novak from J5 Infrastructure — LIN: Oh, hold on Mr. Novak. I need to swear you in. KEKAI: Can you swear everybody in. LIN: Yeah, um' do we have Mary Uyeda as well? HATA: Yes, we do. LIN: Mary if you could um'— KEKAI: At least unmute. LINT —unmute? So, I could swear you in please. Um', can you please raise your right hand if you are on camera. Um' but do you swear to affirm, sorry, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth in front of the Windward Planning Commission? NOVAK: I do. LIN: Ms. Uyeda? NOVAK: Is it okay to proceed? LIN: Okay, alright, before you provide your testimony please provide your name, where you live, and you have 3 minutes. 2 EXHIBIT A NOVAK: My name is Bryce Novak. I live in Kailua on Oahu. KEKAI: Please proceed. NOVAK: Proceed, sorry, I'm having a little bit tough time hearing you guys. I'm going to go ahead and proceed. My name is Bryce Novak from J5 Infrastructure Partners. We represent AT&T's interest in Hawaii regarding all macro new site bills and site modification on their towers. We've been before the Commission approximately, the Windward Planning Commission about 5 or 6 times. Approximately 5 times over the last 3 years regarding this FirstNet, first responder program and we've gotten some great sites here. We've done one in Leilani Estates, one in HPP, one in Kurtistown, we've done one on the other side, the Hilo side on Saddle Road and now, were looking to collocate as the initial build out for a last time on this Renegade tower. And in this specific area was noted by County and State first responders as an area that they have trouble with getting reception on. So, I just want to call attention to the testimony provided a letter of support by AT&T that was submitted and confirmed that we've entered into agreement with Renegade Towers to collocate on their tower. I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have for us regarding AT&T's collocation. Thank you. LIN: Thank you Mr. Novak. I will now, are there any Commissioners have any questions for Mr. Novak? If not, I'll proceed to the second testifier Mary Uyeda? HATA: Mary appears to be unmuted; UYEDA: ffiaintly in the background, hello] HATA: I don't know if she can — LIN: I think she's trying right now Janice. HATA: Okay. LIN: So, Mary can you hear us? [for about a couple seconds there is silence] Janice, can you try to say "hello"to her or have her begin her testimony? HATA: Hi, Mary. Can you hear me? [no response,for about 30 seconds there is silence] LIN: Janice if you could send her a message that we can't hear her via the chat. HATA: Yes, I have to re-enable the chat because we disabled it after the last meeting. So, one second. [there is silence] Okay, Mary is connecting to audio right now. Next, we'll move on to the County zoning map. Here is closer view of the subject parcel outlined in blue. The subject parcel and its surrounding properties to the east and south are zoned Agricultural-20 acres shown in dark green. The properties to the north across Kaumana Drive are zoned Residential, 3 EXHIBIT A Residential-10 acre shown in light green, Agricultural Residential-10 acres shown in light green and to the west a mix of Forest Reserve and Agricultural-20 acres. Here is the State Land Use Boundary Map. The SLU designation for the subject property is Agricultural indicated in green with State Land Use Conservation land indicated in the light blue, which is part of the Hilo Forest Reserve. The General Plan LUPAG. The General Plan Land Use Plan Allocation Guide (LUPAG) map designated for the subject parcel as Extensive Agriculture which is indicated in white. The aqua color indicated the conversation, Conservation area which is consistent with the Hilo Forest Area that's on the left side and the mustard yellow area is designated Rural which is where the Kaumana City subdivision is. Finally, the light green towards the bottom on the slide is Important Agricultural Land. Here are a couple images from the applicant. The top left image is a site plan showing the nearby tower located towards the bottom left of the site plan and the right-side image is a blown- up version of that area. And this is the applicant's elevations of the tower, one from the south and one from the east. Here's the aerial view. Again, the property is outlined in blue in the middle showing Kaumana City towards the top and the image on the right is a blown-up version of the subject property. Here's an image standing from, standing on Kaumana Drive looking at the proposed driveway location. The image on the left from Kaumana Drive as well looking makai with the subject property on the right and the image on the right standing on Kaumana Drive looking mauka, the subject property is on the left. Here are some photo simulations provided by the applicant. The existing view of the subject property from Daniel K. Inouye Highway is the top left and the bottom right shows the proposed subject property again from Daniel K. Inouye Highway and it's indicated proposed 180-foot tower. Here's another simulation. This one is from Kaumana Drive looking mauka from Kaumana Drive and the bottom right is with the in a view with the proposed tower. This existing view of the property looking makai from Kaumana Drive. Again, with the image on the right showing what the tower would look like. This is on Opalipali Street looking in the direction of the subject property. The left is the existing and the right would be with the tower, the 180-foot tower. Here is a, provided again by the applicant of what the coverage is going to look like. The left is the existing and the right is the projected and of course the subject property is located in the middle there's the bottom on the right-side map looks like in blue. We provided this location map just to show where the previously located, previously approved back in 2016. I believe it was July 7t', 2016 across Daniel K. Inouye Highway where the yellow star is indicated on the map. That's roughly about 1.2 miles from the subject property and of course with Kaumana City in the back. According to our applicant as well, the person who applied for that application back in 2016 have sold the property. So, there is a new owner who according to the applicant is not interested in doing the tower at this time. 4 EXHIBIT A That's our conclusion on the slide. The Director recommends an approval with conditions and excuse me, and with the additional requirement that it be a stealth monopole constructed to look like. That's all. Thank you. Back to you Chair Lin. LIN: Thank you Clinton. At this time, I will ask the applicant or their representative to please come forward or is that Mr. Novak? APPLICANT/REPRESENTATIVE: Came up to the table. LIN: Hi. Please raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter now before the Windward Planning Commission? APPLICANT/REPRESENTATIVE: I do. LIN: Please speak directly into your microphone and state your name and the area you live in and whom you represent. MARTIN: My name is Danette Martin, I live in Kailua-Kona, and I represent Renegade Towers, the applicant. LIN: Have you received the background and recommendation reports from the Planning Department? MARTIN: I have. LIN: Do you agree with the recommendations including the proposed conditions? MARTIN: I do. LIN: Okay,please go ahead. MARTIN: Great. Well, I wanted to expand more on this previous location that I think the carriers would have preferred it to. I represented Verizon Wireless during that application and when they were starting to build that, and they were trying to get their utilities in place they gave an application to HELCO. And they were given a price tag of about a million dollars to bring power to that location. They couldn't, um' they couldn't do that. So, Renegade Towers offered well maybe we could build it for you. They looked into it and they even after trying to spread the cost between the carriers, it still didn't work. So, Renegade Towers asked me if I could try to find a site that would work that was closer to utilities. So, I looked around and the closest that I could get that would still give some coverage to Saddle Road and the Daniel K. Inouye Highway was this location here. We sited it as far mauka as we could. The parcel is sloped. So, the elevation where the tower is sitting is the elevation is 1,959 and then it slopes down to 1,801. So, I met with the community. We had a nice luncheon over at Kuhio Grille and I explained to them that we are still not getting the coverage that we want up mauka. We're trying to get up the highway as much as possible. 5 EXHIBIT A Right now, E911 doesn't work and that's a problem and so the residents asked if I could move it to the Hilo side and I explained to them with the difference in elevation you would have to have like probably a 350-foot pole there. And FCC requires anything over 200-feet you couldn't have a tree pole, you would have to have a big tower that was painted white and red, and it would have to have a big beacon on top and that would be much worse than a stealth tree pole. So, it seemed Mary was the one that set up the meeting. She understood. Some of the other community members were afraid about the emissions, RF emissions. I provided information from a health physicist as well as FCC brochures which indicates that typically a cell phone antenna emits around one percent(1%) of the maximum amount of emissions allowed by the FCC. I did also bring a meter with me, and I tried to explain to them that their phone because of its proximity to them provides more of emissions than the tower would. But that they could limit that if they had the tower closer to them. Because when your phone, you're on a call and your phone drops that means that your phone had to power up so much that it gets to the maximum allowed by the FCC and then it drops the call. So, when your phone is powering up and you're putting it to the maximum amount you're putting it to your ear. That's where, that's where the emissions are. So, I hope I brought some comfort to them. I know some people, no matter how much information you give them they're still afraid. But the 1996 Telecommunication Code prohibits jurisdictions from denying applications for health reasons. The FCC strictly handles the safety issue. And I think on the aesthetic part that people were concerned about. I think that the stealth pole is a good mitigator for that. Do you have any questions for me? LIN: Commissioners, you have any questions for the applicant? DANIELE: Do you have a mock-up of what that would look like, as a stealth pole? MARTIN: I did provide that to the Planning Department. MERCADO: I can provide that for you Commissioner. DANIELE: Thank you. MARTIN: It is not for a photo simulation. It is an actual tree pole that's in Honolulu, in Makakilo. MERCADO: Thanks Christian go ahead, sorry. MARTIN: Oh, that's the one I gave you; I gave the Planning Department with the minutes of the meeting that we had. But you could show the one that's at the Volcano Golf Course as well. The pole on the right is the Makakilo cell phone tower and the other two I'm not sure where those were taken. MERCADO: The other two are just samples of what a monopole looks like. 6 EXHIBIT A MARTIN: Samples online probably. MERCADO: Yeah, the two on the left is just samples that we searched for what the pole would typically look like. LIN: Thank you, any other questions for the applicant or staff? AGUINALDO: I have a question for Danette. MARTIN: Yes. AGUINALDO: Hold on, yeah. So, when we were talking about topography elevation, I think it was on the PD Background Report. Um' I noticed that it's on kind of like the far mauka Saddle Road corner of the property. MARTIN: That's right. AGUINALDO: I know you guys were talking about elevation from mauka to makai, the community asked can it be a little bit more down and I do understand about that pole height, and I hope the community understand about height restrictions — MARTIN: I think they do. AGUINALDO: —with that there. But is there, was it looked at. I know we had in our Background report, the property I think was physical address 3331 Kaumana Drive. MARTIN: That's the subject property that we're on. AGUINALDO: On we're on? MARTIN: Yes. AGUINALDO: I know if you guys put it on more on the boundary with the State and I understand with the community is basically more of the safety issue and of course of its, the visual — MARTIN: Yes. AGUINALDO: — of it. Having it been there's many alternative discussion or thoughts of if you guys bring it a little bit more down because there's a property owner with his house there. It would, you know bring it down somewhat versus way on the top corner. MARTIN: Um-hum. AGUINALDO: It is a big parcel, and you know has that also been considered? You know,just have a backup plan of it. 7 EXHIBIT A MARTIN: We haven't considered that, and you know we could consider that but what I think you would lose in coverage — AGUINALDO: Right. MARTIN: — on the highway, I mean it's already not giving us what we want. So, the further that you move it down — AGUINALDO: Um-hum. MARTIN: I think you would lose something, and it wouldn't provide the community that much comfort. You know a simple planting of some trees uh' would actually mute that. AGUINALDO: Right. MARTIN: You know at the neighbors there — AGUINALDO: Right. But that stealth where you guys showed — MARTIN: Yes. AGUINALDO: —where was it? Um' on Oahu? MARTIN: Oh, Makakilo, yes. AGUINALDO: So, in Makakilo is that is being proposed or — MARTIN: Yes — AGUINALDO: —is it just a reference? MARTIN: It is a reference. AGUINALDO: Okay. MARTIN: So, there are several different tree pole types— AGUINALDO: Right. MARTIN: —and that is just one of them. AGUINALDO: I think if its more look like one tree because one of the testifiers indicated they figure just like sticks and branches, right. MARTIN: Um-hum. 8 EXHIBIT A AGUINALDO: Verses it looks like a tree. MARTIN: Part of the problem too is this is a 180-foot tower— AGUINALDO: Right. MARTIN: —it's really um' not really a good idea to have a tree pole for a 180-foot tower. The branches are very heavy. Which means you would have to have a beefer tower and so typically you would see these tree poles maybe 100 feet instead of 180. So, that was kind of the reason why we originally proposed just painting the tree and that's my personal preference. It's just painting the tree and mix it up among some of the natural landscape. I think it's less of obtrusive. But that's just my personal view, I've been doing this for a very long time. AGUINALDO: And the Makakilo site, how tall is that? MARTIN: That's under a 100, I think. AGUINALDO: Under a 100. MARTIN: That was just an example what a tree looks like. AGUINALDO: Right. MARTIN: But you know the other trees the ones to the left. AGUINALDO: Yeah. MARTIN: Those look more like the Norfolk Pine where they've got more of a separation. AGUINALDO: Okay. I think I completed my questions. Thank you for your answer. MARTIN: You're welcome. CROSS: I have a question. LIN: Go ahead Commissioner Cross. CROSS: Howzit Danette, long time no see. MARTIN: Yes! CROSS: I'm very familiar with that monopole — MARTIN: Yes. 9 EXHIBIT A CROSS: — or that monopine up there at Makakilo— MARTIN: He very much is. CROSS: — since I'm the one that approved it. MARTIN: [Laughing.] CROSS: Anyway, I want to ask a question about the 2016 site — MARTIN: Yes. CROSS: — that was approved, and I believe the HELCO 69KV lines run right by there. MARTIN: Yes, and that's why we choose it when we were there because we saw the transmission lines and thought, oh, there's power here. CROSS: Okay. So, HELCO that's in my question. So, HELCO is quoting a million dollars — MARTIN: That's right. CROSS: —to get to a site that is just a few hundred feet away from 69KV lines. MARTIN: I don't know, it is not my job to know that. I know that they were told that, I think they spent a lot of money developing it and I don't think they would have abandoned it if it didn't cost that much money. So, I don't know. CROSS: Okay and moving to the current site. It's right there in the upper corner of the Britton property. MARTIN: Yes. CROSS: Any thoughts of moving it another 100 feet in, farther in just a bit? MARTIN: I don't know what that would, I don't know that would help. CROSS: Just farther away from Opalipali residents — MARTIN: We already like 270. I mean, I guess. We've got setbacks too. You know, we tried to kind of tucked it back on that property line. CROSS: Okay. Alright, thank you. LIN: Okay. Um' any further questions from the Commissioners? AGUINALDO: Not at this time. 10 EXHIBIT A LIN: If not, is there a motion for action? GALIMBA: Chair? LIN: Go ahead Commissioner Galimba. GALIMBA: I move that application for Use Permit, Docket No. 22-000004, be approved based on the Planning Director's recommendation, which shall be adopted. LIN: Thank you Commissioner Galimba. Is there a second? DANIELE: I'll second that. LIN: Seconded by Commissioner Daniele. Any discussion? Hearing no discussion, staff may I have a roll call vote please. MERCADO: Okay. Thank you. Um' first off, Chair Galimba? GALIMBA: Vice Chair, aye. MERCADO: Vice Chair, sorry. Commissioner Daniele? DANIELE: Aye. MERCADO: Commissioner Aguinaldo? AGUINALDO: Aye. MERCADO: Commissioner Balog? BALOG: Aye. MERCADO: Commissioner Cross? CROSS: Aye. MERCADO: Commissioner De Luz? DE LUZ: Aye. MERCADO: And Chair Lin? LIN: Aye. MERCADO: Thank you, that's seven (7) ayes and no noes, zero noes. Thank you. 11 EXHIBIT A LIN: Thank you. MARTIN: Thank you so much. LIN: You'll be notified of the Commission's decision in writing. MARTIN: Thank you so much. The item ended at 9:47 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Melissa Dacayanan-Salvador, Secretary Windward Planning Commission 12 EXHIBIT A