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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-05-05 TPlant-Mason PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAII HEARING TRANSCRIPT MAY 5, 2006 A regularly advertised hearing on the application filed by PLANT-MASON FAMILY was called to order at 9:40 a.m. in the TRUST (SLU 06-000010/REZ 06-000037) County Building, Councilroom - Room 201, 25 Aupuni Street, Hilo, Hawaii with Chairman C. Kimo Alameda presiding. PRESENT:C. Kimo AlamedaABSENT & EXCUSED: Jeffrey McCall Fred GaldonesRodney Watanabe Bill GrahamRene€ Siracusa AndrewIwashita Allen Salavea Ivan Torigoe, Deputy Corporation Counsel Christopher J. Yuen, Planning Director Norman Hayashi, Planning Program Manager Phyllis Fujimoto, Staff Planner Jeff Darrow, Staff Planner And approximately 9 people from the public in attendance. APPLICANT: PLANT-MASON FAMILY TRUST (SLU 06-000010/ REZ 06-000037) a.State Land Use Boundary Amendment for 14.771 acres of land from the Agricultural district (2.8 acres) and the Urban district (11.9 acres) to a Rural district. b.Change of Zone from an Agricultural 20-acre (A-20a) and a Single-Family Residential 15,000 square feet(RS-15) district to a Residential and Agricultural 1-acre (RA-1a) district for approximately 14.771 acres of land. The property is located along the southeast corner of the Kulana Kea Drive and Kauhiuula Road intersection, Wainaku, South Hilo, Hawaii, Tax Map Key: 2-6-32:6. 1EXHIBIT A 2EXHIBIT A 3EXHIBIT A 4EXHIBIT A 5EXHIBIT A 6EXHIBIT A 7EXHIBIT A 8EXHIBIT A 9EXHIBIT A 10EXHIBIT A 11EXHIBIT A FUKE:Sure. And I€m sorry I didn€t get a chance to share this with you cause this just kind of popped up. It would read A drainage plan shall be submitted for thereview and approval of the Department of Public Works in conjunction with the subdivision application process. A copy of said plan shall also be provided to the owner of TMK: 2-6-32:1 for review and comment.‚ And this is largely intended to enable the property owner to provide his input, you know, in the decision-making process. ALAMEDA:That€s Condition H. YUEN:That€s the one large property, that€s the TMK for the large propertymakai? FUKE:That€sthepropertythat€sownedbytheTallett-. YUEN:I€mfinewiththat. ALAMEDA:Okay,verygood.Seeingnofurtherquestions,goahead. FUKE:TheonlyotherthingislikeIdidreceiveanemailthismorning from a surrounding property owner, Aiona Ishii;and, basically, she said that she was supportiveoftheproject. AndIalsoprovidedyourstaffwithacopyofaletterfromaDr.RobertHamiltonwhois also an adjoining property owner that expressed his support for the project. 12EXHIBIT A ALAMEDA:Okay. FUKE:Thank you. ALAMEDA:All right, seeing no further questions, we do have testimony on this agenda item. Will Mr. Paul Tallett, Evonne Bjornen, and Paul Tallett, Sr., please come forward. You may be seated. I€m going to have to swear you in. Please raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth now before the Hawaii County Planning Commission? TESTIFIER:I do. ALAMEDA:Thank you. I guess we can start off on my left. Mr. Tallett, could youpleasestateyournameandaddress,Jr.,fortherecord. 13EXHIBIT A ALAMEDA:Any questions? Sure, Mr. Graham. GRAHAM:Mr. Tallett, when we look at the map we just see the marking there, it says drainage, kind of -. Is that like a gulch, or is that just a low spot on a clear flat land, or what is it really like there, and as it goes down to your property to also -? P. D. TALLETT:This drainage easement here, well, as stated in their proposal there€s an 8 percent grade change which only covers the upper area. Further back towards this drainage easement there€s a more dramatic change in grade and elevation. And as it crosses my property, part of my property here is declared an inundation zone wherethegradeismuchmoresignificantandthewaterismuchmoretorrentialbecause of the steepness of the grade. So I€m afraid that with the increased development here the increasedwaterdrainagewillfurtherhampermyproperty.SoIwanttomakesurethat this is properly addressed, in case my property does incur damage later. GRAHAM:So the grade you€re talking about is really, let€s see to the right is makai, right, so the grade you€re talking about is going mauka-makai? P. D. TALLETT:Okay, so Mauna Kea is up here and the ocean being -. GRAHAM:Right. P. D. TALLETT:Off the property here. And, yes, the water drainage coming makai from their property across mine and heading down. 14EXHIBIT A GRAHAM:So you€re concerned about any runoff from those lots coming south and getting picked up in the drainage way and then running makai and bringing more water for you to have to deal with down there? P. D. TALLETT:Yes, correct. This is a 14-acre parcel and all of this water does end up in this drainage easement and then crosses my property. So with the development of roads, roof tops -. Currently this property is barren, I mean, it was former cane land; and I believe that there€s great seepage into the soil. But with manicured lawns, roof tops and driveways, the water flow would increase creating a heavier waterflow through this easement, potentially damaging my property. GRAHAM:And is there also a lot of water coming down from more mauka that goes underneath that road or something, that runs down the drainageway, or is the drainageway just draining this particular parcel? P. D. TALLETT:At this point to my knowledge there is no water coming over or underthisroadwayhere.Theremaybesomewatercomingfromthepropertyowneron this side, as there is a grade identical to this one on the south side of this drainage easement. But the development on this property, I believe, would directly impact my property without proper attention. ALAMEDA:Commissioner Siracusa. SIRACUSA:Yes. We still didn€t get a picture of whether that drainage. I assumeit€s notpaved, it€s not a pave culvert or something like that. It€s just -? P. D. TALLETT:Correct, at this time it€s unimproved. SIRACUSA:It€s just grass and weeds and soil? P. D. TALLETT:Yes. SIRACUSA:Okay, so is there a siltage problem during heavy rains that, you know, soil and particulates being carried along from that property onto yours? P. D. TALLETT:Currently I do not notice a siltage problem. But if there is a dramatic development here, siltage could become a problem. But currently it€s just a flow of water which is seasonal at this time. SIRACUSA:Well, since there will be a, an engineer will do a drainage study, and that will include your land, thank you Mr. Fuke for that. Then are you willing to wait on that engineer€s recommendation for how they can mitigate the problem? P. D. TALLETT:Yes. SIRACUSA:Thank you. 15EXHIBIT A P. D. TALLETT:Thank you. ALAMEDA:Thank you. Any other questions for Mr. Tallett? YUEN:I have a question. ALAMEDA:Okay. YUEN:What happens after? Where does the water go after it leaves your property makai of you? P. D. TALLETT:It continues down Mokuhonu Street, it goes through two plantation camps, and eventually crosses under Wainaku Street and under Highway 19 before reachingtheocean. YUEN:Doesitbecomemoreofagullyinthatarea? P.D.TALLETT:Definitely-. YUEN:Okay. P. D. TALLETT:With residents on both sides of the stream further down. YUEN:Okay. Thank you. P. D. TALLETT:I would like to add, I have a fairly large property 2 œ acres or so. But the other residents further downstream don€t have that luxury. They€re on 7,000 to 10,000 square feet; and some of their properties, especially their residence, is directly on the stream. They€re without notice of this because they€re beyond the 500 notification mandatory requirement. But they certainly would have some issues, those who are not present today. ALAMEDA:Okay. Commissioner Siracusa SIRACUSA:I€d just like to remind you and the others, anyone else who comes up to testify today, by the way, that once you€ve said what you€ve had to say we can€t backtrack. So make sure you get it all out there, all the information you want. Because once we go on from you to the next person you won€t get a chance to add anything to your testimony. ALAMEDA:Anything else to add, Mr. Tallett? SIRACUSA:So do you have anything else to add? ALAMEDA:Yes, thank you, Commissioner Siracusa. 16EXHIBIT A th P. TALLET, JR.:Yes. Stated on my March 18 letter which was received by your Board, Numeral No. 2 does state that our property and other residents along Mokuhonua Stream will greatly suffer from the water if not managed. ALAMEDA:Okay. Thank you very much. Seeing no further questions, we really appreciate your knowledge of this area and your articulation. Thank you very much, Mr. Tallett. P. D. TALLETT:Thank you. ALAMEDA:Did you already state your name and address for the record? If not, please do so. P.N.TALLET:MynameisPaulN.Tallett,andyoujustmetmyson. ALAMEDA:Okay.What€syouraddress,Mr.Tallett? P.N.TALLET:Andit€s805KauhiulaRoadinHilo,Hawaii,andthephone number is 969-7753. ALAMEDA:Okay. I€ll make sure I€ll call you now, no. P. N. TALLET:I want to speak in favor of this rezoning application, No. 06-10, and No. 06-37 for the reasons that you have already been told. There will be greatly improved road entrance and widening of some of the streets, and probably repaving of most of it. There will be increased water improvements, including fire hydrants which we don€t have now. And I think you€re doing a wonderful job in reviewing this application and questioning all of the different aspects to it. I think you€re looking at the drainage problem which is a major problem throughout the whole subdivision, especially my son€s lot. I want to thank you very much for that. So I speak in favor of the motion. ALAMEDA:Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Tallett? Seeing none, thank you for your testimony. P. N. TALLET:Okay. And just for the record, this is my wife, Evonne Bjornen; and although we agree on most things, sometimes we don€t. ALAMEDA:All right. Ma€am, could you please state your name and address for the record. BJORNEN:My name is Evonne Bjornen. Last name is spelled B-, as in boy, j-o-r-n-en. And I live at 805 Kauhiula Road in Hilo, 96720, which is approximately a 25-acre macadamia farm, it is a running macadamia farm. I€m not coming in for rezoning or to sell any of my land. 17EXHIBIT A I am definitely in favor of this project. The downzoning from 25 lots to 10 lots definitely pleases me. The fact that the Plant-Masons and Mr. Olson are bringing up more water definitely is a big plus for me. When Brewer laid out this whole project, and I bought the land from Brewer, they did not have adequate water in there. We have had to put water pressure pumps, all sorts of things. We ran a big line going to our house, but that does not do us a whole lot of good. So this is going to be a plus for us. I personally feel the road is adequate as it is, including the entrance. And I know that I at one time saw Mr. Yuen out there personally checking that, too; and I think that he felt that the entrance was adequate. I think that for residential-agricultural use, the road is adequate, and for the new 10 lots that are going in there, too. The road is well paved, it€s a deep paving. The paving that is not adequate is not on the main road coming up. It is on my road, you know, which is the side road there. Kulana Kea is well paved; and I think it€s a 3-inch pavement, or whatever they call them; ours was not, you know. So we€reworkingonthattoo,youknow.TheroadsarestillownedbyBrewerinthere,by the way. So for anythingto have to be done to the roads, that€s going to have to be through Brewer at this point, cause theyhave never given the roads over, you know. I think the problem with the entrance came up atone of the last meetings we had in here and it was by Mr. Cardoza, who I think because of his heavyduty equipment which is not agriculturally related and huge trucks and all, that he wanted that to better his business. Now whether he will be able to continue having the business, which is above me, by the way, it€s above the main road, that remains to be seen in the future. I think, you know, it doesn€t other personally because we€re off to the side road. If I was on that main road, it would bother me tremendously. I think that some of his trucks which are quite large have problems making the turn, I do not. And I don€t think the entrance would be any problem for people of general residential. I€d also like to say that Cheryl and Bill Rosen called me this morning for getting the change in time about 5 o€clock. They own the property directly below the Plant-Masons. They are definitely in approval of this, too. So I€d like to speak on their behalf. And I told them to fax it all to Mr. Fuke to his office; and I assume it€s going to be waiting for him when he gets back today. ALAMEDA:All right, thank you very much. Any questions, Fellow Commissioners? Mr. Director? YUEN:Yeah, I have a question. Something you said brought up something that came up at the last time as well that I had forgotten about Kulana Kea, that it€s owned by Brewer. And Brewer is in dissolution so what is going to happen to the road? BJORNEN:Well, that is going to remain to be seen. We€ve having an association meeting. Bob Crudele is president of our association and he just sent me an email yesterday asking if I€d be home in July because he knows I want to be at all the association meetings. The Plant-Masons are coming in in June, so I wrote him. This is going to come up at the meeting, that€s why I€m saying this. They€re coming in on June 18EXHIBIT A th 4 themselves. So I suggested to him that he move the meeting up when the Plant- Masons are here so they are able to attend a meeting, you know, to -. So, at this point, nothing has been done. I€ve sent many emails to Bob Crudele asking him what€s going to go on. I know that I for one would love to see them, our own Kauhiuula Road, I would love to see them have to do something about repaving some of that before they get out. But I€m probably up a creek on that one, too. So we€ll probably have to have the property owners do that ourselves. So we don€t know, you know, in answer to it. I€ve asked by brother-in-law, Willie Tallett, what€s happening with the road; and he answers everything else but he hasn€t answer that. I believe that the Onomea Bay, that those people refused to take over the roads down there from Brewer, I hear though the grapevine. Do you know anything about that? YUEN:Not specifically, no. I do know that Brewer owns a number of roads. And I thought that there was a legal problem with them dissolving before they foundsomebodytotakeovertheroads.Icouldbewrongonthat.Doyouknowif,do the lot owners like yourself have an actual easement over the Kulana Kea Road? BJORNEN:I don€t know. Maybe my husband does because he has been more involved with his brother. P. N. TALLET:Yes. There is an easement and there is something in the deed that says that Brewer eventually will turn over the roads to the association when the association is formed. And the association has been formed now maybe two or three years and nothing has been turned over yet. So I don€t if they legally got around to doing it or have not. But it€s still a matter hanging in limbo. YUEN:So the deed says that Brewer can turn the road over to the association at some point? P. N. TALLET:They have the process of turning it over. YUEN:Okay. ALAMEDA:All right. Any further questions? Seeing none, thank you very much for your testimony. You may be seated. Will the applicant or its representative please come forward. Mr.Fuke, you€ve heard the testifiers and some of the questions presented by the Commissioners. Do you have any additional comments to make? FUKE:No. I think that all of the questions were asked and answered. I mean if there were additional that the Commissioners would have I€d be more than happy to answer. ALAMEDA:Commissioner Sircusa? SIRACUSA:Yes. Since Mr. Tallet came up and explained what was happening with the drainage there and everything, I€m wondering if we could add a little something 19EXHIBIT A to the first sentence in Condition H, which is direct water away from Kulana Kea Road, and make that direct water away from Kulana Kea Road and from neighboring parcels. So that not only do they do the drainage study, you know, for the neighbors but also make sure that something gets done to mitigate the problem also. 20EXHIBIT A 21EXHIBIT A 22EXHIBIT A 23EXHIBIT A 24EXHIBIT A