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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-10-06 Windward Exh A (Item 1 Thomas Trusts PL-SPP-2022-000017) WINDWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAI`I HEARING TRANSCRIPT OCTOBER 6, 2022 A regularly advertised hearing on the application of MAURICE AND JIRANAN THOMAS TRUSTS (PL-SPP-2022-000017)was called to order at 9:07 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, and Louis Daniele III. COMMISSIONERS ABSENT AND EXCUSED: John C. Cross, 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), Jessica Andrews (Planner), Clinton Mercado (Planner), Tracie-Lee Camero (Zoom Host), Maija Jackson (Planning Program Manager), and Melissa Dacayanan-Salvador (Windward Planning Commission Secretary) And 3 members from the public in attendance. APPLICANT: MAURICE & JIRANAN THOMAS TRUSTS (PL-SPP-2022-000017) Application for a Special Permit to legitimize the use of an existing warehouse and office facility for warehousing, distribution and administrative operations related to retail and service activities in Orchidland Estates and Volcano Village on 1.045 acres of land in the State Land Use Agricultural district. The subject property is located at 16-1695 34th Avenue, at the southeast corner of its intersection with Orchidland Drive, Orchidland Estates, Puna, Hawaii, TMK: (3)1- 6-009:385. Secretary's Note: "—" indicates that there were technical and/or internet difficulties, which made the conversation inaudible. LIN: Now,we'll move on to agenda Item # 1. Applicant,Maurice and Jiranan Thomas Trusts. Application number PL-SPP-2022-000017. Application for a Special Permit to legitimize the use of an existing warehouse and an office facility for warehousing, distribution, and administrative operations related to retail and service activities in Orchidland Estates and Volcano Village on 1.045 acres of land in the State Land Use Agricultural District. The subject property is located at 16-1695 34th Avenue, at the southeast corner of its intersection with Orchidland Drive, Orchidland Estates,Puna,Hawaii, TMK (3) 1-6-009: parcel 385. May I please ask staff to present? JACKSON: Thank you,Mr. Chair. Good morning, everyone. So,our first application is a request for a Special Permit. If you could just give us one moment to get the presentation up. Okay, so the subject property is located in the Puna District. It's in the Orchidland subdivision, and you can see the property is 1 EXHIBIT A shown with a red outline and it is off of Orchidland Drive. The applicant is requesting,give me just a moment to get rid of that line. So,the applicant is requesting to legitimize the use of an existing agricultural warehouse, an office facility and related improvements for warehousing,distribution, and administrative operations related to retail and service activities in Orchidland Estates and Volcano Village. This would be on a 1.045-acre property in the State Land Use Agricultural district. The existing 8,160 square foot building is currently permitted as an agricultural storage facility. It houses 7,200 square feet of warehouse and distribution space and 960 square feet of administrative office space. The warehouse facility currently accommodates a wide range of hardware products, food, and liquor/beer that supports the applicant's general store operations that are located adjacent to the property in Orchidland as well as the hardware store and restaurant operations in Volcano Village. So,the reasons for the request,basically the applicant wants to continue to have a central facility that houses all of the products that they sell at their True Value Hardware operations in Volcano and Orchidland, as well as their restaurant in Volcano Village which is the Thai Restaurant. The applicant has indicated that the facility will only be used to support its other commercial businesses listed in the application and will not expand the use beyond what is represented. So, it will not be utilized for other entities to come in and use the warehouse space. Obtaining a Special Permit will legitimize the use that has been operating for nearly 20 years without the appropriate land use entitlements. So,this is a close-up view, I'm showing the zoning. The subject property is outlined in red, and it is in the southeast corner of Orchidland Drive and 34th Avenue. The current zoning is Agricultural-3 acres which is shown in the light blue color. The State Land Use designation for the property and all of Orchidland is Agricultural and the General Plan LUPAG map for the area is Medium Density Urban,which is shown in the orange color. That generally designates the Commercial node for the Orchidland area in the General Plan. This is the Vol-, I'm sorry the Orchidland Neighborhood Village Center map from the Puna CDP. You can see that the property is shown in yellow, and it is right in the middle of the designated Village Center. The Village Center is shown with a dash-outline. So you have, Kea`au-Pahoa Road here and Orchidland Drive and 34t'. This shows the site plan that the applicant provided. You can see Orchidland Drive is on the left side of the slide, 34th Street is at the bottom. Currently,there is a driveway off of 34th Street which is going to be relocated to Orchidland Drive and this access will be closed off. You can see the existing warehouse building in this crosshatch pattern as well as parking and there is a loading dock over on the south side of the property which adjoins to the adjacent Orchidland Center. This is an aerial view of the property. Again,on Orchidland Drive and 34th Street you can see the existing warehouse next to the adjacent Orchidland Center,True Value Hardware. There is a dwelling just south of the property and just north of the property as well. These are some views of the road and the warehouse. The top view is looking south on 34th Avenue or 34th Street,you can see the warehouse on just to the left of the road and another view looking towards Orchidland Drive. You can see the existing driveway that will be closed off and relocated to Orchidland Drive and this is a view on Orchidland Drive looking at the property. This is looking east, so the property is in this corner here. It's heavily vegetated up at the front, and then this is looking west. So,the new relocated driveway would generally be in this location here. The Planning Director is recommending approval of the Special Permit with conditions, and you should have received the Background and Recommendation as well as a submittal from the applicant dated September 19th responding to agencies comments as well as a submittal dated September 28th from the 2 EXHIBIT A applicant and recommending some revisions to the conditions. And this morning the applicant also provided another paper with four(4)or three (3)conditions revisions. These condition revisions were based on discussions with the department between the time the 29t1i letter was submitted and now and the Director can speak to his support or concerns with any of the conditions after the applicant's presentation. We have not received any public testimony for this application and that concludes my presentation. Thank you. LIN: Thank you Maija. Do I have any questions for the staff, Commissioners? I just want to check with Tracie, I saw that one person logged into the Zoom. Was that for this application or was it for the second agenda item? CAMERO: My apologies Chair. I only see myself and the meeting logged in. I don't have anyone else that's currently in this meeting. LIN: Okay,we just saw somebody show up on the,I guess,the wait list, so. Yeah, I don't that person was admitted. But if you could just check. CAMERO: Yes, I will. I don't have anyone waiting in the wait room currently. LIN: Okay. That's fine,thank you. At this time,I'll move on the application, applicant's presentation if the applicant and the applicant representative could please come forward. APPLICANT AND REPRESENTATIVE: Came up to testifier table. LIN: Okay, if you could please raise your right hand,I have to swear you in. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter before the Windward Planning Commission? APPLICANT AND REPRSENTATIVE: I do,I do. LIN: Okay,please speak directly into the microphone and state your name and the area you reside in, and whom you represent. ARAI: Good morning,Mr. Chairman,members of the Commission and department staff. My name is Daryn Arai,I'm a Land Use Planning Consultant residing in Hilo, assisting the applicant Maurice and Jiranan Thomas. THOMAS: Good morning,my name is Maurice Thomas and I'm the owner of the Orchidland warehouse property. LIN: Thank you. Have you received the background and recommendation reports from the Planning Department? Do you agree with the recommendations including the proposed conditions and then if you could explain your conditions,proposed conditions that you had provided. Thank you. ARAI: Thank you. Yes,we have received the Director's background report and recommendation and we do appreciate his favorable recommendation regarding this Special Permit application. We do agree with most of the conditions as presented however,we ask that refinements be made to the conditions and a lot of it is just for clarification purposes. The letter dated September 28th attempted at first pass to offer some suggested revisions in order to provide clarity because we totally appreciate the Director's concerns that this application or at least the proposed use is actually recognizing something that has been going on for the past roughly nineteen (19)years since the facility was 3 EXHIBIT A constructed in 2003. Given the length of time he's been in operation,I think that clearly conveys that for the most part he has operated in a very responsible manner and not in a way that's deleterious or has an effect upon adjoining neighbors and other existing uses. But be that as it may,the Department did notify the applicant that he did not have the proper permits to operate the warehouse operation and this entire effort is simply to make it right. But in order to make it right,there's a process and that process is getting additional government approvals to install the septic system and to bring the building up to current Code requirements in order to support the proposed,the requested operations. And that is why the proposed amendments that's dated 28th and further revised and amended on that handout we just presented to you this morning is an attempt to not depart from the requirements that's being asked by the Planning Director. But, simply to adjust the timing of it. I'm sure the Commission appreciates the process but obviously they don't want to see us before you once again in a half a year, for example. The building permit,the final plan approval process, getting the various Government approvals for the requested improvements will take some time. We don't want to cast bite on the length of the process but, we are aware that some people applying for a Single-Family dwellings have been waiting about a year for their building permits. So,were cautious on how long it will take to secure the necessary approvals to provide the improvements to this commercial type of use. From a land use standpoint, and we appreciate the thoroughness of the staff s presentation as always. It is an industrial type of use because it's really a warehouse but when you think about it it's directly supportive of commercial operations right next door as well as in Volcano. When you look at the various plans for the area whether it's the General Plan and the Puna Community Development Plan it's really the right use in the right place. And I think the applicant has conducted himself in a responsible manner all these years so,we hope you would agree that you also find that this is a reasonable use in this particular location of Orchidland Estates. And with the conditions as we recommend,we hope you'll also find that to be reasonable as well. THOMAS: I know that Daryn has said that I've operated in a responsible manner, and I know that you're probably in the back of your mind here thinking. Sort of how you did this for twenty (20)years, and you know,but I in some honesty I have to say that when I applied for the permit, and I got an agricultural storage warehouse. I didn't, I guess it wasn't presented to me at the Planning, or at the Building Division that the warehouse could not be used for other things. So, I mean, I got to admit I just was naive or whatever and then I also had the people at the Liquor Department which are very restrictive on many different things. And they came out and looked at our warehouse and they gave us permission to store industrial or whatever items. So,I just thought that everything was okay, and I didn't really think that it was wrong, and no one gave us. We even got the final building department gave us our final on the building somewhat five (5)years after we were already in operation. Their inspectors all came out to the inspect the building for our building permit final and no one ever told us or indicated that"oh,do you know that you might be operating out of the law?" To tell you the truth, when I got the call from the Planning Department in the beginning of the year I was, I almost fell over. I mean I was like, I told the girl,what! I couldn't, I didn't even understand that. You know I said,"Oh,I didn't know this is not right" and so that was that took us into this whole process. But I'll tell the truth, I've done a lot of different things in my life,but I didn't think it was wrong. If anything,I thought well maybe the people in Orchidland,the Association would be against me or wouldn't want. But I thought, you know, like if I built that warehouse and I thought they were going to come out against me for doing it or whatever,but they never did. They seem to think that it was fine, and stuff and I had all my,the Liquor Department people come out. I don't know if you ever,when I went to get my first Liquor Permit in years ago,the Director told me that we are the most restrictive agency probably in the County because we make sure that you are totally correct. You've paid all your taxes,you've done this,you've done that and everything. We look you over with a fine-tooth comb. 4 EXHIBIT A Well, they came out and looked at the warehouse and said and agreed that we could store liquor in it. That's pretty you know positive,you know,I mean,well, anyway I'm probably over stating already. LIN: Thank you,Mr. Thomas, for explaining the situation. I guess at this time,Mr. Arai — ARAI: Sure. LIN: —would you like to go through the conditions— ARAI: Sure. LIN: — and then also we'll ask Director Kern for his— ARAI: Sure. LIN: — feedback. ARAI: Thank you. Um' with the other,um' I'm sorry,with that section of the four(4) conditions that I've laid out on this sheet of paper we passed out this morning. The other conditions as recommended by the Director is fine,we accept that. Speaking directly to Condition No. 3,we simply removed the reference to this sixty(60)days in which to install the system because we will speak to that in the following Condition No. 4. But Condition No. 3 just make sure that whatever system is installed it meets DOH requirements. Condition No. 4,we, Condition No. 3 spoke to 60 days,we thought that was a little severe in order to complete the installation and secure the approval from DOH, so,we are asking maybe for ninety(90)days,hopefully,that is found to be reasonable to install the wastewater system because the Director was concerned regarding the continued use of a wastewater system that has not been approved by the DOH. Further in the condition we ask that one (1)year be provided to the applicant to secure a Certificate of Occupancy that will ensure that the structure itself meets all current Code requirements. And given the review,the need for Plan Approval, applying for building permit, securing a building permit, and constructing all of the improvements we think I year is very reasonable. We wish we could do it much sooner to satisfy the concerns of the Director,but I think from a practical standpoint I year is reasonable. Condition No. 5,we appreciate the guidance of the Planning Department, and we agree to the proposed amendments that would ask for privacy slates or slats to be installed within the existing fence that is situated along the southern boundary of the property and adjoining the existing single-family dwelling located on that property. And finally, given that we are asking for additional time to secure these permits, we find it also reasonable to assure the Planning Commission and the Planning Director that the applicant is not simply waiting for I year from now and then attempt to make the necessary plans and submit for the necessary permits. But we are suggesting that a monthly progress report be submitted to the Planning Department,the Director can check each, each and every single month to make sure that diligent effort is being made by the applicant to get the necessary approvals and should he find that the applicant is not being diligent,the applicant,the Director can take necessary corrective actions. So,that in a nutshell, are the proposed changes that we're suggesting. LIN: Thank you Mr. Arai. Director Kern, if you'd provide some feedback. 5 EXHIBIT A KERN: Sure. Good morning, all. Good to see you all. So,I'm going to talk a little bit about feedback on these conditions and a little bit of a higher level. Okay, so the land use component of this, where it's cited,I don't really have an issue with,it's right there,it meets the General Plan,it's where the growth is supposed to be. I take serious issue with the wastewater system. I'm actually really upset about it. It's not cool! You're a business guy. You operate a business. You should know better [audio noise's] when it comes to waste,check, check,we good? How about that,is that not happening, can you all hear me? Just fine? Hello,hello,hello,hello! Test,test,test! All right. You know, as a businessperson,you should know better. I get the warehouse component,I get the I call them excuses, I think there's some reasons, I get that. But from the wastewater perspective I don't. I just don't get it. It's been known,it's been a thing,it's been out there,it's common knowledge that we're converting our cesspools to septic systems or sewer. The fact that this wasn't even approved,isn't cool. As a kid, as a guy that has been born and raised here, grew up in Puna understand it takes people going through today's challenges and there's degrees of room. But I think from a business perspective if someone is coming here has to be held to a much higher level. Thus,the reason why I had a very strict time condition in getting that done. The use of the building,the timing of getting the building permit, taking care of and secured, I understand that I understand there is a process to get there. The building obviously structurally sound, I don't see a problem with that,I don't see a problem with that. I do take serious issue with that and that's not cool,that's not responsible and that's not respectful of this island. THOMAS: First thing Mr. Kern, I appreciate, and I thank you for everything you've helped us with in this manner and everything and I take regard to your upsetness of the wastewater system. When I,I really don't know why when you folks submitted your,when the letter was submitted to you from the Health Department. When we,you do not put up a warehouse like that without an approval from the Health Department for a wastewater system. That either in their records they are not correct or whatever but that,they was the ones that give us approval for the cesspool, and they had to have,we used a licensed contractor, Rick Rego and we put that into specifications of the Health Department. KERN: Do you have the engineering specifications that were created and done at that time? THOMAS: Well, I can look for them and see,but they said that we didn't,they didn't have,we didn't have approval to use that system or whatever. But that's what was approved or that was applied for at the time we did the building permit. So, I don't know how they can say they didn't,we didn't have, I mean,we don't just put the warehouse. I mean, I don't think the Building Department would have given us our final without having us known that, or them known that we had an approved wastewater system to hook up to. KERN: I think Ag storage is a unique description of a building and a use, so it's not connected in the same way that a single-family residence would be. So, anyways,we can go back and forth on this. — THOMAS: Right, I— KERN: But my point is that that needs to be remedied yesterday. THOMAS: Yes. KERN: And thus,the timing of these conditions. 6 EXHIBIT A THOMAS: I agree with you a 100% and we've already contacted an engineer and they are designing the system right now and we've made it the highest priority and at the time the warehouse was applied, the permit was applied for, a cesspool was what was required at that particular time. Of course,now, times have changed so you know a septic system needs to get in there and it needs to get in there right away and we're in the process of doing it right now actually. And I agree with you on everything you've said. KERN: Okay, and I appreciate that. So,related to the conditions, Condition 3 I don't have a problem with that amendment. Condition 4,I can support that too as long as you are okay with year timeframe because that clock will tick and obviously,you'll get an administrative on that. So,if you feel comfortable with getting the Certificate of Occupancy within that time period,my original condition was to submit for a building permit, and I was giving grace for whatever the building permit processing time was and at a certain period of time after it was issued. So,if you guys feel more comfortable with this, I'm fine with that. Condition 5, I don't have any issues as well and the final condition which isn't numbered for a progress report,I don't see any harm in that and support that. So,overall, I support that. Fix the wastewater. Thank you. ARAI: Thank you Director Kern and we appreciate the courtesy or the accommodation knowing the Plan Approval process,I'm sorry,the building permit process will take some time. But the reason we structured it that way was simply in recognition of your concerns regarding the continued use of facilities without the proper improvements in place. So,it was in response that we knew where your concerns are coming from, and we wanted to be forthright and sincere in saying we going to strive to comply within a timely manner. KERN: Correct and you know we want conditions that are achievable. Right,we don't want to come back here just because that wasn't achieved and as long as you're working on that right now,I think that is achievable. THOMAS: Yeah,to reaffirm,not only have we contacted the engineer and they're working on the system we've contacted a contractor already. Also,they're prepared to as soon as the system's been designed,they are going to come in right away and start to do the work. So,we've already been trying to be proactive and get this thing done quickly. KERN: Great, and I appreciate that a lot. THOMAS: Thank you. KERN: So,I support the conditions. ARAI: Thank you. AGUINALDO: Mr. Chair, I've got a question. LIN: Go ahead. AGUINALDO: So, Director Kern, so we are going to do his Condition No. 3 from 60 to ninety(90)days max? KERN: So,what happens is Condition 3 will not have any timing in it,— AGUINALDO: Okay. 7 EXHIBIT A KERN: —it's just going to be that they have to approve, they have to install an approved system. AGUINALDO: Right. KERN: 4 is where the timing condition is going to come in — AGUINALDO: Okay. KERN: So,4 is within 90 days of approval of this permit. This permit meaning this Special Permit that we are talking about right now. AGUINALDO: Okay. KERN: They will have the system installed that would be approved by DOH. AGUINALDO: Right. KERN: Department of Health. AGUINALDO: Okay. KERN: And then from there they would have the year to secure building permits, and the change of use permit— AGUINALDO: Right. KERN: —for Certificate of Occupancy for the building and I think that's fine. There will be an administrative within the conditions there is an administrative time extension which could not exceed any of these dates. So,that would give them ultimately two (2)years for the building permit side of it if they need it. AGUINALDO: Right. KERN: That's not automatically granted. So,if they come back within, say,ten (10)months and say we still need more time, and they haven't done anything,there will not be an administrative time extension given. If it's,hey,we're working on it and it's caught up with building and we're working through it,then,I wouldn't see a problem with doing that as long as there's effort being made in that way. To me,it's that 90 days for the wastewater that's the most critical. AGUINALDO: Okay. LIN: Thank you. Commissioners any questions for the applicant or staff at this time? DANIELE: Yeah, I have one question. LIN: Go ahead. DANIELE: The warehouse and the septic were simultaneously built or was the septic built after the warehouse was built and if it's an agricultural warehouse that's meant to store agricultural goods why was a cesspool built? 8 EXHIBIT A THOMAS: Okay, at the time that we applied for the permit with the Building Division,you have to go through to get a sewer or some system for your waste. So,the contractor that we hired for the waste system was Rick Rego and at that particular time in 2003 the Health Department told us that septic wasn't really, I think they were coming out already then and being used we'd had them up in Volcano. But they said that a cesspool for the warehouse was fine. So, that was through the Health Department, and so they gave us the permit to do that cesspool, as far as I know cause I did it through the contractor. And so that's why there is a cesspool there rather than a septic system cause that was what they told us, supposably the Health Department told us that was what they wanted. So,we put that in. If they would have told us that they wanted a septic system definitely that would have been put in either,but a cesspool at that time they said that was fine. So,we did it and I didn't, it wasn't until this process has happen about you know,the warehouse being there or operating without the right whatever that permit, or whatever. It was then when that went out to the Health Department and they said,oh,yeah this needs a septic system, and we don't have any record of them hooking them up to a cesspool or any kind of waste system. And I was like,whoa, I can't,I don't. Maybe they didn't see it their records or maybe lost their record or something on it but, and that's when I thought well,I better maybe start digging thru my files to see if I can find something on that. Because I don't, [heavy sigh],I can't, I tell you truth usually they come out,I know that the Health Department usually comes out and inspects the cesspool,they don't? I mean in the old days,they use to. KERN: The inspection for a wastewater system is done by the engineer that designed the system and that letter is sent into DOH for them to do it. THOMAS: Okay, so, I remember a long time ago they used to come to,the Health Department used to send somebody out to look at the hole and say it was approved or whatever. But. I just you know, all I know is that at the time we applied for the permit for the warehouse through the Building Division that I hired the contractor to do the cesspool that was required at that time. As for as I know and he put it in and I just, I just assumed that everything was okay after that. But. DANIELE: Thank you. LIN: Any other questions, Commissioners? Hearing none, may I have motion for action? DANIELE: Okay, I'll move that the applicant for Special Permit Docket No. 2022-017 be approved, based on the Planning Director's recommendation,which shall be adopted with the Conditions of 3,4, and 5 and the Condition of a monthly progress report. AGUINALDO: I second. LIN: Okay, it's been,motion made by Commissioner Damele and seconded by Commissioner Aguinaldo for approval of this Special Permit with the conditions presented today by the applicant. KEKAL Can I just get a clarification. The condition you're adding, do you want to just add it to the beginning of Condition 15,or do you want to make it Condition 16? LIN: The progress report? KEKAL Yeah. So, 15 is the one that if they don't comply then timely the Director could revoke it. So,it could just be added to the beginning of that prior to that sentence or it could be its own number if you guys wanted. 9 EXHIBIT A JACKSON: Chair Lin? LIN: Go ahead Maija. JACKSON: The Department's preference would be that's it's a new condition we number it No. 15 and we move 15 down. LIN: As 16,okay. Is that okay with you Commissioner? DANIELE: Yes,yes,that's fine. LIN: Okay. JACKSON: I also request a correction on a typo,privacy slates should be privacy slats. LIN: Okay. JACKSON: For the fencing. LIN: Okay, Commissioner Damele if I could ask you to revise your motion to incorporate the changes as discussed. DANIELE: We acknowledge the typo in Condition 5, and we will move Condition 15 and we will put in the Condition of a monthly progress report as 15 and move 15 to 16. LIN: Okay, so the motion and a second. Any discussion? No discussion? Staff,roll call vote. JACKSON: Thank you Mr. Chair. Commissioner Damele? DANIELE: Aye. JACKSON: Commissioner Aguinaldo? AGUINALDO: Aye. JACKSON: Commissioner Balog? BALOG: Aye. JACKSON: And Chair Lin? LIN: Aye. JACKSON: Okay, the motion carries four-zero. LIN: You'll be notified of the Planning Commission's decision by writing. Thank you. ARAI: Thank you Chair Lin and Commissioners and Director I appreciate the support. Thank you. 10 EXHIBIT A THOMAS: Thank you very much. The item ended at 9:45 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Melissa Dacayanan-Salvador, Secretary Windward Planning Commission 11 EXHIBIT A