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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-05-07 TPD ENVISION WINDWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I HEARING TRANSCRIPT MAY 7, 2010 PLANNING DIRECTOR INITIATED RESOLUTION A regularly advertised hearing on the ADOPTING “ENVISION DOWNTOWN HILO 2025: A COMMUNITY-BASED VISION AND LIVING ACTION PLAN – 5-YEAR ACTION PLAN UPDATE” AS A GUIDE FOR THE FUTURE OF DOWNTOWN HILO was called to order at 9:08 a.m. in the County of Hawai‘i Councilroom, County Building, 25 Aupuni Street, Hilo, Hawai‘i, with Chairman Rell Woodward presiding. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Rell Woodward, Dean Au, Zendo Kern, and Ishibashi. STAFF PRESENT: Molly Lugo (Deputy Corporation Counsel), BJ Leithead Todd (Planning Director), Norman Hayashi (Planning Program Manager), Daryn Arai (Planning Program Manager), Jeff Darrow (Staff Planner) and Maija Cottle (Staff Planner). And approximately 42 people from the public in attendance. ABSENT AND EXCUSE: Takashi Domingo and Stephen Ono INITIATOR: PLANNING DIRECTOR a. EnVision Downtown Hilo 2025 5-year Action Plan Update. b. Resolution Adopting “EnVision Downtown Hilo 2025: a Community-Based Vision and Living Action Plan – 5-year Action Plan Update” as a Guide for the Future of Downtown Hilo. WOODWARD: Item No. 1. Initiator is Planning Director, Resolution Adopting “EnVision Downtown Hilo 2025: a Community-Based Vision and Living Action Plan – 5-year Action Plan Update as a Guide for the Future of Downtown Hilo. Staff. GAGORIK: Good morning, Chairman Woodward and Planning Commissioners. WOODWARD: Good morning. GAGORIK: My name is Susan Gagorik. I am a long range planner with the County of Hawai‘i Planning Department. ALEXANDER: Good morning Chairman. My name is Kylie Alexandra and I am on contract with the Planning Department as a community planning assistant for EnVision Downtown Hilo 2025. Thank you. 1 EXHIBIT A GAGORIK: What I’d like to do today is basically to give you a short overview; and then Kylie and I will both go up to the podium to do a short power point presentation; and then we’ll come back here, and then we’ll able to answer any questions that you have today. So if I may begin, back in 2004 in the basement of Haili Christian Church the Downtown Hilo Improvement Association and the Planning Department invited a whole bunch of people to come and talk story and to look at community visioning. We invited a planner from British Columbia, Cherie Enns, and we did a workshop and allowed people to really start visioning and creating ideas. And we asked three questions. We asked what was great about Downtown Hilo, what is not so great, and what are your dreams? And what we heard that day and what we have heard in the past and today is that Downtown Hilo is a gem, it’s a very special place. You know, there are things that still need to be fixed, it has a lot of old buildings that need to be repaired, but it has heart and soul. You know, it’s a very special place that people want to come to, and to share and talk story, and to shop. Five years ago I came before the Planning Commission with Alice Moon and we asked for your favorable recommendation of the EnVision Downtown Hilo Plan. It passed by Council resolution in November 2005 and now today we are back here before you five years later. So what has happened in the last five years? We had begun to really start the implementation process with the Vision Plan. And to be honest with you implementation is not an easy process. It’s often that process that’s eliminated from most plans, and which is why a lot of plans sit on the shelf. It involves really bringing people together to look at the vision and to look at strategic steps that we all need to take to move forward. So subsequent to the adoption of the plan you’ve seen, you know, four communities come before you with Community Development Plans. All of them have also tried to do the communication visioning process to begin to articulate what the community wants for the future. And that was a really strong step the Planning Department took to really begin this broad-based community planning process. So what I’d like to do now is go to the podium, and we’ll do a brief presentation for you. Okay, if you look at the power point, it’s a little awkward for a lot of you in the audience but at least the Commissioners have the main view. You have before you the EnVision Downtown Hilo 2025 5-Year Action Plan Update. You also have a resolution that is before you asking you for your favorable recommendation and to forward this request to the County Council. So where is Downtown Hilo now? If you look at this map, you’ll see that it’s pretty much a contained area. It’s bound by the Bayfront area, Ponahawai Street, Wailuku River and Kapiolani Street. So it’s a small contained area that’s approximately 124 acres. Okay, a little bit background again. Like I mentioned earlier the Plan was adopted in 2005. It used an inclusive approach to planning, which meant that we did community outreach. We had multiple workshops over that period of a year and a half. There were 571 workshop participants, a lot of community questionnaires and polling, including approximately 725 questionnaires that were actually from inserts in the Hawaii Tribune. It contained a 20-year overarching vision and 2 EXHIBIT A a 5-year action plan. And when the plan was actually created it was the first plan that had been developed in almost 30 years. A lot of our community plans have occurred over the past, but a lot of them also sat on the shelf. There are many lessons learned about how do you move forward with an action plan. And as time passes, of course, there’s new information. And conditions change in the community so it’s an evolving plan. The Five-Year Action Plan Update - if I may briefly just describe the three parts. There’s Part 1 which is a timeline and overview of the Action Plan; two is the actual Action Plan Update; and three is a reflection section about VisionKeepers and an outline for the next steps. So what’s new in the Action Plan that we have? There are new columns. One of the key portions to the Action Plan is that it does identify lead solution partners. We have sustainability measures, we describe the actions as types, and we have project start and status. There are also colored icons to differentiate between the focus area and a new column to differentiate when an action has started and whether it has been completed. There is also a link to second pages that when this plan is put on line you’ll be able to see updates. So this is a visual rendering of the plan itself. It has a focus area topic, it has strategies, and has individual actions and columns to differentiate status. So the content and the changes that are before you basically have been including some grammatical corrections. Over the last five years we’ve worked with lead solution partners, and we’ve had their input, and we’ve incorporated a lot of their suggestions. There are also new strategies because with time, you know, things change. A lot of new ideas that weren’t thought of back then have now been included in the plan; and there are also new actions. And community involvement was a major component of the constant changes, a lot of the ideas and revisions were presented at each stage during the process. Criteria for inclusion is we always met with community groups, such as lead solution partners; and they have been identified in the plan as people who will carry forth the plan. So as you can see community involvement formed the foundation for the changes and additions. ALEXANDER: I’m going to speak briefly now about that community involvement process. The VisionKeepers formed in January 2006 as a volunteer implementation committee. Their mission is to energize, guide, inspire and strengthen partnerships within the community to implement the plan. Over a five-year period they held 47 meetings and contributed to EDH 2025 in a variety of important ways. In partnership with the County of Hawai‘i Planning Department, the VisionKeepers produced two progress reports which provide updates on the implementation process. They produced an implementation guide which says there are advice and lessons learned from other committees that are overseeing implementation of a community plan. They co-hosted two town meetings and they participated in a number of public events, as well as they gave presentations to community groups to promote implementation of the plan. And they also helped to coordinate the sustainable design assessment team program, which was a program awarded to Downtown Hilo by the American Institute of Architects in 2009. At present in recognition of the current economic challenges, the VisionKeepers are evolving from a committee model to a network model. We are in the process of reconnecting with past members to establish a VisionKeeper’s network, which will no longer meet monthly but rather will communicate primarily by email as needed. 3 EXHIBIT A Lead Solution Partners take the lead for implementing action in the plan. We now have 41 committed lead solution partners, which are a combination of County agencies and community organizations. Over the past four or five years we have held nine meetings with our lead solution partners. These meetings are typically focused toward a particular purpose, such as planning of the town meetings. And they also afforded lead solution partners the rare opportunity to network with each other, and they encouraged the sharing of information and resources. Four separate action plan review workshops were held to finalize the Action Plan Update with our lead solution partners. But these meetings also included potential partners, as well as students from a variety of schools in the Hilo area. And we also worked in partnership with the Hilo Downtown Improvement Association to implement “Easy Wins”. And “Easy Wins” are small visible projects that are relatively inexpensive and involve the community. And some examples of “Easy Wins” include the installation of hanging baskets on the decorative land posts, the installation of interpretative signage at Kalakaua Park and at the Naha Stone at the Hilo Public Library, and the revitalization of Liholiho Park. So these are just a few images from the two town meetings that were held in 2007 and 2008. Town meetings are particularly important for on-going community engagement during the implementation process. And we used a variety of outreach methods for the town meeting, including mailings, email networks, posters around Downtown Hilo and radio announcements and interviews. And between the two town meetings almost 500 participants from the community attended. And these are images from the Sustainable Design Assessment Team Program. The purpose of this program was to look at implementation for the EDH 2025 Plan from the perspective of the environmental, economic and social wellbeing of downtown, It was coordinated by the American Institute of Architects, the Planning Department and the VisionKeepers; and it included two public meetings and two working group session for our implementation partners. And these photos were taken during those events. So one of the strengths of the implementation process is that new groups and individuals continue to become involved. And I’d like to briefly introduce the vision concepts. The vision concept is a series of five drawings that bring Downtown Hilo to life through enhancements, or through potential enhancements, to existing civic and open spaces. It adds to the written action in the EDH 2025 Plan by providing that visual representation. And these were developed by a local artist, Charles Snyder, based on input that was gathered at the first action plan review workshop. So this is one of the vision concept drawings showing Bayfront and Wailuku River, and we have Kalakaua Park, the intersection of Ponahawai Street and Kilauea Avenue, and the Hilo Farmers Market on Market Day, and Mamo Street and Kilauea Avenue. And so, again, these illustrations just show how Downtown Hilo could look in 2025 with the implementation of some of the actions in the Plan. It’s not set in stone. It’s like, I say, merely a visual representation of the plan, bringing it to life so that people can see these drawings and have a common sort of visual conception of how the plan could look or how downtown could look in 2025. 4 EXHIBIT A GAGORIK: Okay, so as we tried to explain in our presentation, you know, this has been a collective process. Community visioning and action planning is an on-going process. The Plan itself is a plan. It’s about 1200 pages, but it’s not everything.What really happens oftentimes, as what happens in meetings, is the real action takes place outside of the plan itself. When people get together they collaborate, they partnership, and they work together to move forward. So you have received from us, the Planning Director, a copy of the resolution. You have a copy of the Action Plan Update. There are some non-substantive minor amendments, including the vision concept to the plan. And we ask for your favorable recommendation to forward the Resolution and the plan to the County Council. Are there any questions? WOODWARD: Yes, I had one, Ms. Gagorik. When this was initially presented two months ago, there were two parts. One was the resolution. And then the other was amendments to Chapter 25, which is really the nuts and bolts; and I guess nuts and bolts has been deferred to a later meeting. And so we’re asked to send a recommendation regarding the concept, but the actual amendments to Chapter 25 will be dealt with in the future? GAGORIK: Right. WOODWARD: Okay. GAGORIK: What happens normally is when you do a community vision and action plan it begins to compile and bring the collective voices together, it identifies the actions that people want to work on. But the real action planning, like I mentioned earlier, often occurs separately. And one of the key components of any action plan is that you really move forward to making regulatory changes. But we understand that regulatory changes should really be a separate action. And today we’d like you to review the action plan as itself, you know. And the actions for ordinance changes or any other regulatory changes are a separate action. WOODWARD: All right, any questions from -? Commissioner Kern. KERN: More of a comment. I was, had the opportunity to be part of the steering committee when it originally formed for this Action Plan, and I got to see how challenging it was. And I just wanted to say to Susan that you did a really laudable job. It’s awesome. I commend you for what you’ve done, because working with that many folks and that many ideas is very, very challenging; and to keep going for so many years, very commendable. So I think it’s great, and good job. Thanks. And, also, the drawings, I think those are great. I think they give a nice illustration; and hopefully Downtown Hilo will look that beautiful one day-. GAGORIK: Yeah, and, again, they’re conceptual. But they’re meant to stimulate people so that when you see an action in picture form you’ll hopefully want to start working on it so that you can see it help come to reality. WOODWARD: All right, thank you. Any other questions? Okay, seeing none, thank you, ladies. We do have seven people signed up from the public to testify on this matter. And we’ll call forward the first four. We have four seats and four microphones. So if you’ll come up as 5 EXHIBIT A your name is called, have a seat and we’ll swear you in. First is Tommy Goya. Next is, I’m having a hard time reading this, first name is Coran. MANAZO: Coran Manazo. WOODWARD: Manazo. Okay, thank you. MANAZO: You’re welcome. WOODWARD: Alice Moon and Caleb Yamanaki (sic). All right, good morning. Welcome. If I can get you to raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth today before the Windward Planning Commission TESTIFIERS: I do. WOODWARD: Very good. And we’ll start with Mr. Goya. If you’ll speak into the microphone, give us your name and address, and then you’re free to begin your testimony. And, please, again, three minutes. GOYA: Aloha Chairman Woodward and Members of the County of Hawai‘i Windward Planning Commission. My name is Tommy Goya. My home address is 1665 Akolea Place here in Hilo, Hawai‘i. As a VisionKeeper I am proud to be a part of this community-based planning process. I thank the many individuals and organizations that have given their input over the years to help us identify what they feel are needed to retain this very special place for many generations to come. Through this process we have established a trust among the wide range of participants that is essential to keeping the vision alive. It should also be noted that a number of County decision-makers actively participated in this collaborative building process. My testimony today is directed to the previous testimony offered to the Commission at its March 5, 2010 meeting by Mrs. Charlene Masuhara, Hilo High School Key Club Advisor, and Ms. Megan Kurohara, Hilo High School Key Club member and EnVision NOW Chairperson. During that meeting they passionately described their interests and participation in the planning of the 5-year Action Plan Update.We are sorry that they are not able to join us today to further describe how much they have learned in the process and how we have inspired them to take action NOW. Over the past twenty years I have worked closely with the Hilo High School Key Club as their Kiwanis Club Advisor and had strongly recommended, excuse me, had strongly encouraged their involvement in activities that will help them build a good foundation of community service. It is through their participation in the EnVision Downtown Hilo 2025 planning process that EnVision NOW evolved. Today, Megan Kurohara and others in the Club are spearheading work projects and activities in Downtown Hilo. This year Envision NOW coordinated a number of Sunday morning projects that included “refreshing” the planters, cleaning windows and walls, pulling weeds and picking up trash, and “adopting” Liholiho Park. Other activities are forthcoming to get more youth involvement in shaping their future. 6 EXHIBIT A What we as VisionKeepers of EnVision Downtown Hilo 2025 learned from them is that their participation in the planning process is meaningful. They appreciated that they were involved in an inclusive process and that their voices were heard. They also demonstrated that they are willing to take on action items and make a difference NOW. They too want a safe, clean and family-friendly Downtown Hilo. I ask you to please read the entire document. There was a lot of work involved in preparing and summarizing a lot of the community input. We believe that it will serve as an excellent planning guide for a sustainable Downtown Hilo, a vibrant setting that all stakeholders can be proud off. And I thank you for this time. WOODWARD: All right, thank you. Any questions for Mr. Goya? Okay, seeing one, Ms. Munazo (sic). And if you’ve already submitted written testimony, we do have that, so if you could just summarize the written testimony we’d appreciate it. It will help move things along. If you’ll give us your name and address, and you may begin. MUNAFO: Sure, thank you. My name is Koran Munafo. WOODWARD: I still messed up your name. th MUNAFO: That’s all right. It happens all my life. I live at 15-1477 39 Avenue, Orchidland. And I am the Director of a newly formed grass roots non-profit organization, Hawai‘i Community Collective; and our goal is to connect people and community resources for wellness. I have a long-standing love of downtown. I’ve loved downtown since I’ve lived here for ten years; and I‘m committed to helping and doing what I can to make it a better place for everybody. Our organization is a committed lead solution partner to three sections, three actions in focused areas, strengthening, sustaining our community. We are establishing a visible community volunteer service program; we are helping to establish a youth committee, and we hosted and organized a community celebration of family day. My familiarity with the EDH 2025 Plan is actually borne from my involvement pretty much from the inception, first through the Hilo Downtown Improvement Association. I attended all EDH town meeting events. I attended the SDAT Program and all LSP gatherings. And I have a first-hand knowledge on the amount of efforts that the EDH team put into the involvement of community stakeholders. They did a tremendous amount of work and it was very inspirational what they did to involve diversed groups in the community to get their input. They also were a very crucial element in the grass roots formation of our organization and in the guidance and support of our formation of our community volunteer service program. And I’m extremely grateful for their guidance and input, and having that resource available to our organization to put that together. You know, there’s the saying that you plan for change or you get the change that comes naturally; and I think that that’s absolutely true. Plans like this are really important for our community because if we don’t have a guide to put everybody on the same page how can we plan for the change that we want to happen? How can we get the outcome that we wish to see? And how can we involve everybody’s input and wants, needs and communications in making 7 EXHIBIT A this plan become a reality and making downtown a better place for everybody? So I think that’s really crucial. And, you know, another thing about the EDH Plan is that it’s crucial to taking steps to facilitate and maintain the communications, wants and needs between government and the community. I think that’s a major, major thing that we have a big disconnect between how do we communicate what the people in the community want with what the government can actually implement? And how do we communicate, how do we facilitate those communications and facilitate those understandings between this is what we want, this is what’s possible, this is what we can make happen together? So I’d just like to give my support to them and give my propsto the people in the EDH team because they really do work hard for this. And thank you very much. WOODWARD: Thank you. Any questions for Ms. Munafo? Okay. All right, Alice Moon, if you’ll give us your name and address and then you may be begin. MOON: My name is Alice Moon, and I am representing the Hilo Downtown Improvement Association whose address is 329 Kamehameha Avenue. And we have provided a written testimony that I believe you have a copy of. So in recap of that, I just would like to say a big thank you to, again, Susan Gagorik and the EnVision Downtown Hilo 2025 team, all of the people who have been involved over the years. And the DIA is here to support the Update of the Living Action Plan. We concur with the overarching vision and appreciate the County and the VisionKeeper’s efforts. Over the last five years the DIA has been working to implement several key actions; and the plan has helped to lead various County agencies to step up their efforts to improve conditions in Downtown, much as Koran has indicated. The Plan has helped to promote a more collective effort and has broadened the basis for community involvement in downtown. We look forward to continuing as a lead solution partner. The DIA will support all efforts, public or private, that lead to the reinvestment and revitalization of historic Downtown Hilo, and to the promotion of its role as a center for community and commercial activity. The DIA has been involved in that effort for over 50 years. We’d like to thank you for providing the opportunity to comment on this worthwhile effort and we look forward to continuing to create the community’s vision for our historic town. I would like to add that having been involved in this from the very beginning it’s hard to believe that only five years ago we came to present the original plan to you, and here we are again with an update. It’s also the anniversary, upcoming anniversary, of the 50-year anniversary of the tsunami that devastated our town. It was one of the things that prompted the organization of the Downtown Improvement Association. Rhetorically speaking, I’d like to ask how many plans have there been since then and how many opportunities have there been for those of us in the community to provide input like this? I don’t 8 EXHIBIT A think there have been any. This is a real groundbreaking plan. And we’ve heard comments, and this is from a personal as well as professional aspect, we’ve heard comments that the community needs to step up to help downtown, that the businesses need to step up to help downtown. We’ve heard this from various sources. And I’d like to say that this is the opportunity; and the community is stepping up, as witnessed by the people that are testifying here in favor of this. EDH 2025 is this wonderful opportunity for those of us who have zero to little financial capacity to support these efforts. But we got plenty social capacity, cultural capacity and volunteer capacity. And we’re all looking at this as, wow, how wonderful for us to be able to be involved in this process, usually determined by developers and landowners and property owners. A community usually does not have a say in these types of projects and plans. So this is real key to continuing our efforts. I’d like to conclude by, again, thanking the Planning Department, particularly Susan Gagorik and Kylie Alexander, for continuing this effort. And I hope that the rest of the community understands how important it is for those of us who cannot financially contribute to the resources of downtown. We have a lot more to offer. It stimulates community involvement in such a positive way. I really encourage you to accept and approve this update. Mahalo. WOODWARD: Thank you. Do we have any questions for Ms. Moon? Okay, seeing none. Mr. Yamanaka. YAMANAKA: Hi, Caleb Yamanaka, Yamanaka Enterprises. I represent some landowners in Downtown Hilo, including my family. You know, this is a, it’s a nice plan. It’s a very, very flawed plan. I’ve been on both sides. I’ve sat on the VisionKeepers and I participated in this process. And well, I got three minutes, I could go on all day. The first thing is the landowners. Whether or not people like landowners or not, they have a vested interest in Downtown Hilo and seeing Downtown Hilo succeed. But in this process the landowners have been excluded. Two, I think the detriment of the plan, because it doesn’t address any sort of economic factors. All it is flowers, very pretty and very nice, but it does not address any sort of economic viability of what the plan is asking. And that is something that the landowners and developers can help with. They can help assess the economic viability for Downtown Hilo to produce some of the products that are being asked for. One of the items that are of concern to me in the managing growth section of this plan, it’s on page 28. It says we will align existing regulatory codes with the 2025 vision. They mention the vision is a collection of wants from the public. That’s great, that’s what a vision does. It collects wants, it tells you what we want. But it does not address with any consideration the impact, good or bad, of these wants on the implementation of the code and how it affects Downtown Hilo’s development. I think not asking the question of economic viability is a big failure in the process; and this plan does not address that. They talked about implementation, that they’re implementing the plan already. There’s no strategic implementation plan. How can any sort of large-scale development -? We’re talking about over 100 acres in Downtown Hilo, with lots of 9 EXHIBIT A owners, lots of different personalities, lots of different lot sizes. How can you get about implementing a strategy with no strategic implementation plan? It’s very piecemeal at this point. There’s a thing here from the Brookings Institute and I didn’t make any copies for everybody. But, you know, there’s 12 steps to revitalizing downtown areas. The first step is a plan. The second step is strategic implementation, developing a strategic implementation of that plan and figuring out the viability. The third part, and I won’t go all to step 12, is the formation of private and public partnerships with an emphasis that it has to be private and public, not the other way around. Public should not be driving what goes on downtown. It needs to be a private-public partnership. And this is something that I think is where this, we’ve got the vision, it’s great. But, you know, the next steps, and we’re skipping steps, is what I guess my point is here. I’ll go on. Here’s a specific issue that I have with the plan -- Strategy 2.2, protect significant view corridors, including views. The original plan said that the VisionKeepers would set up a committee to first establish a digitized photo inventory of existing historic viewplanes. Second would be to protect and restore significant view corridors. And third, third was to - well, no, no, I’m sorry, I’m getting off the track – was to form a committee to kind of look at the existing building heights and view corridors. Well, that has been changed. Now they’re just saying we’re going to amend the building heights with no, no action taken on their own plan. You know, a smart way to do things – let’s look at view corridors, let’s form a committee, let’s identify view corridors, let’s document them and let’s see how we’re going to, you know, either protect them or not protect them. Instead of doing that, which is part of their own plan, the VisionKeepers, what they’re putting forth right here is let’s just amend the existing Building Code, building height limitations. We’ve seen it with the Ordinance that was mentioned earlier that has gone through. It’s just a heavy-hand approach and not even following their own, their own plan that they laid out. So five years from now we’re going to come here, and they’re not going to follow a lot of these plans and just going to say, well, this is what’s going to happen. I don’t know where this comes from, if there’s any discussion. I was a VisionKeeper. These kinds of questions have never been discussed in a VisionKeeper meeting that I’ve attended. I don’t know that there has ever been a vote on it. I think it’s something that comes, I’d only guess where it comes from. But I know that it doesn’t come from a vote based upon pure discussion at the VisionKeeper level, not in my experience. I mean, someone could give me some minutes or notes and show that I’m wrong, but I really doubt that that would happen. Okay, I kind of ran through everything I had to say. Well, as I mentioned, we have a plan here. It’s a nice plan. But I think that some of the actions that are being put forth need to be really looked at, because we’re talking about implementation. And it’s already coming across, design guidelines which will not come before you, it’s going straight to the County Council, it’s already in the process, along with the Ordinance that will be coming up in front of you in two months. These are implementation procedures with no strategic implementation plan. I would ask that you not pass this update and require that the VisionKeepers produce a strategic implementation plan on how they’re going to accomplish these things and what are the economic viabilities of what they’re proposing? Thank you. 10 EXHIBIT A WOODWARD: All right, thank you. Do we have any questions for Mr. Yamanaka? Okay, seeing none, you folks may be seated. We have, it has grown to eight now. So we have four more people signed up to testify. If we could have them come up and have a seat; and we’ll swear them in. Monika Mallick, Aaron Lee, Jeff Melrose, and Keith Dela Cruz. Okay, good morning. If I could get you to raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth today before the Windward Planning Commission? TESTIFIERS: I do. WOODWARD: Very good. We’ll begin with Ms. Mallick. And if you’ll give us your name and address and then you may begin your testimony. MALLICK: Good morning, my name is Monica Mallick. I am at PO Box 47, Papaikou, 96781. I am here to represent myself and a growing list of landowners. To date we have about 25 people who will be coming forward to testify in front of the Council and in front of you all at a later date. They just couldn’t be here today. I believe this whole process is really flawed because it did not include the landowners who are the real stakeholders downtown. Although I think it’s lovely to spend the taxpayer’s hard earned dollars and go out to elementary schools and ask children what they would like to see in Downtown Hilo, it’s very important that we keep in mind – we have to go forward, change is inevitable, we also have to keep in account what construction jobs would be lost, what this would do to the increased tax rolls, as well as the lack of real safety downtown at night. And the few meetings that I attended with the Downtown Improvement Association, one thing that we were all in agreement with is that housing would be a good thing downtown. Right now we only have low income housing; and that leads to a lot of the trouble that we see on the street. People are getting rolled for their wallets coming out of the Emerald Orchid. There’s sexual activity going on in parking lots. These types of things can be easily remedied and have been remedied in properly revitalized downtown areas throughout the country. What we would like to see is a healthy balance with, you know, a low-, a medium-, and a high-end housing situation which will only go forward when we increase the density. This is the only place in East Hawai‘i where we have high density urban. Now there’s a lot of movement to keep Ag Ag. And I’m here to tell you there’s going to be a big movement to keep Urban Urban, because, really, it’s the only place that we can increase density under the current zoning. I don’t know about these community meetings and, you know, all those happy dappy feel good stuff, cause I wasn’t invited; and I own 1.6 acres of old Hilo Hotel downtown. And I have other people like Fred Koehnen, Nancy Cabral, the Takase’s, who were also not invited. So unfortunately it looks like by design certain landowners were excluded; and those would be the ones that are like me that are going to say I will not allow my private property rights to be taken from me just because you went out and did a, you know, gave some food away to a bunch of elementary kids. Okay? To take the height reduction from 120 feet to 60 feet really I find it criminal. I mean where do you go and want to expand the urban core so that an outside developer will come in and say, oh, yeah, Hilo great, these guys will take your height away? And then what’s next? What’s going to 11 EXHIBIT A be taken next? So I’m here to say that I oppose this; and I think we need to include all of the landowners as stakeholders in this and not just people who, you know, are not landowners and stakeholders. Okay, thank you. WOODWARD: All right, thank you. Do we have any questions for Ms. Mallick? Commissioner Ishibashi? ISHIBASHI: Thank you, Brother Chair. In regards to the notification of the landowner, the landowner is an important facet of that whole plan in downtown. So you’re telling me you were never notified of any meetings or invited to any meetings at -? MALLICK: I was invited to a meeting a couple of months ago, but this has been going on for 5 years, and -. ISHIBASHI: So prior to -? MALLICK: Correct. And I have 25 other significant landowners who would say the same thing, that they were not notified. So I have written a letter to Kylie Alexander asking her to provide me with -. They keep saying that we have buy-in from landowners. And I’ve asked the question, could you please tell me who those landowners are; and I’m still awaiting a response. Because we are the people with skin in the game. ISHIBASHI: Okay. So I don’t know if staff can answer that, if we had any invitations or notices, cause I thought at the last meeting we did have some communication to the landowners. WOODWARD: Well, we’ll offer that, the opportunity to respond at the end of the testimony to the representatives. MALLICK: Yes. And the other thing is, I mean, the other question I’ve asked, I sent an email requesting several things. One is I’d like to know how much of our taxpayer’s dollars were spent on something in downtown, excluding the real stakeholders. Yes, of course, the community’s wants and desires are important. Do you think we invested in downtown cause we don’t care about downtown? We are the ones that have put our money in the game here; and we have been excluded. And, you know, we are not going to stand by not having our questions answered. We want to know which landowners, and we want to know who with any knowledge of revitalizing a small downtown area like Hilo has participated in these happy meetings where everyone is like, oh, yeah, let’s just take their property rights away. WOODWARD: With regard to your question about cost, the cost of the plan itself, is that what you’re asking? MALLICK: Yes. I would like to know how many people were employed, for how long, and how much of our taxpayer’s dollars have been spent on this study which very clearly states that it is to manage growth. Other cities, I’ve done a lot of research on other towns that have gone into the revitalization process, and one of the main things in their mission statement is to do everything to not impair value of the properties in the downtown area. Whereas, if you look at 12 EXHIBIT A this thing they put together, there’s nothing in here. Just like Caleb Yamanaka just testified, there’s nothing to be said to protect the economics of the situation. It’s all anti-growth. WOODWARD: Okay. MALLICK: Thank you. WOODWARD: Well, thank you. We will allow time for a response to those specific questions. And, let’s see, next Aaron Lee. LEE: Good morning, Commissioners. WOODWARD: Morning. LEE: My name is Aaron Lee. I’m here mainly as a concerned citizen, although -. WOODWARD: If you could give us your address, please, sir. LEE: Oh, 1355 Kaneki Place here in Hilo. I’m here mainly as a concerned citizen, although I do work with a couple of landowners fairly closely. I guess my main concern with this process is that really regardless of what you’ve heard this morning -. DARROW: Can you hold the mike closer? LEE: Oh, that work for you? DARROW: Yes. LEE: Okay. The community really has not been involved, or at least not a good cross-section of the community that utilizes Downtown Hilo. Let’s see, I took a quick look at the survey on-line for which there were, you know, maybe 140 participants. This was done at the Palace I guess in September of 2008. So about three years into the process they took a survey. I’ve spoken to people who were there on-line. Twenty percent of the respondents were 18 or younger, some in -. You know, I personally don’t feel comfortable with that large of the sampling being children, really. I was looking at the way that people found out about the survey, only 28 out of 140 or so participants found out about it through traditional media – newspapers, radio. That, you know, makes me question how this was advertised, whether it was really put out to there get all of Hilo involved or maybe they just put up some posters around downtown, maybe have a mailing list they sent to. I’m really not sure. I’ve also requested all of the information regarding EDH 2025 VisionKeepers sign-in sheets. I’d like know how many distinct individuals were involved. Cause I see there were 571 workshop participants. I don’t know if those are 571 individuals or if they just totaled up all the names on the sign-in sheet. I’ve asked for agendas, all that stuff. I’m just looking at the number of respondents. If you add the 725 from the questionnaire that was responded to to the 571 workshop participants, not counting any sort of cross-over there, you know, that’s almost 1300 people, that’s probably about 3 percent of a metro 13 EXHIBIT A area of Hilo. I think that’s just too small a sampling and not really representative of the demographics of downtown and who uses the services. Also, personally, I, you know, I think this is, I think it’s a good idea as far as like real community, community organizing or really helping to do nonprofit work, just volunteer work. I think that’s a great idea. But I think as far as making any part of, you know, any real part of the construction of the development process as far as the guidelines, which I have a copy of here, there are 55 pages of guidelines thought up by basically the same people. There are notes in here where they don’t even know what it means. I mean I’ve got, well, I’ll make all my information available to you over the next week or so. Hopefully I’ll get the stuff I’ve requested from Planning and then you can get a real good idea of what has gone on here. So, I guess, my main issue with this as a private citizens, it’s just that people weren’t involved as it has been portrayed they were. I have an email that says one of the testifiers earlier was contracted by EDH to keep some of the records. So I think that should have been disclosed upon testimony. You know, I think it should at least be put off until everybody can get a clear idea of who was involved and, you know, what questions were raised, what was discussed at meetings, so we can really get a clear concrete idea of everything. And that’s what I ask you to do. Thank you. WOODWARD: Thank you, Mr. Lee. Do we have any questions for Mr. Lee? So your question for them was sampling biased, that is whether there was, the sample was effected so that the outcome was determined? LEE: Yeah. And I think, really, I think this was, I think the survey was used as a way to justify whatever they had come up with for the two or three years before the survey was taken. I was born and raised here. I moved to California for three years. I came back about mid-2005, at which time I went down to Planning to see what was happening downtown. I was told about EDH 2025 and there was a whole table of solution partners and all this.And I was a realtor at the time, and I remember the HIBR (Hawaii Island Board of Realtors) was one of the lead solution partners. So I asked them about it, and they weren’t really involved. I mean someone probably asked them if they wanted to be involved, they said yes, and then they were put on as a lead solution partner. But there was no real interaction or involvement there. I’ve spoken to several realtors about this since then and they have issues with it. And, also, just looking at the VisionKeepers, I was looking at the website yesterday, and I think half of them are employed by the County. And I think, you know, I think for a community board, or group, or whatever this is, it’s definitely some sort of Advisory Council. I think for half the members to be employees of the County is, could be questionable, especially because, you know, you’re talking about Planning who, Susan is from Planning and, you know, these are planning issues. I just, I think it really should have been more of a community thing. That’s about it. WOODWARD: All right, well, thank you. Any further questions for Mr. Lee? Okay, Jeff Melrose -. 14 EXHIBIT A MELROSE: Good morning, Commissioners. WOODWARD: Good morning. MELROSE: Good morning. Jeff Melrose, 1405 Waianuenue Avenue. I’m really here to talk as an individual, as a professional planner. I do wear a couple of hats in this conversation. I do chair Downtown Improvement’s Planning and Government Affairs Committee; and I have sat for much of the last two years in the VisionKeepers as DIA’s representative, it’s probably three years now. So I attend these meetings frequently. I don’t have a vote because they don’t give DIA a vote, but we sit as a party that attends meetings frequently. So I’ve actually walked the walk for some time in this conversation. And, you know, I hear the conversation about notification, and the like. And, frankly, I don’t know if you could have lived in Hilo and been awake and reading newspapers and seeing posters on the wall and seeing news in different places that didn’t invite you to participate in this process. And I personally went to people in this community and at this table to say, please, you need to get yourself involved in it. It took quite some time to happen; and it doesn’t really happen. Truthfully, it’s frustrating for landowners and for people who are working every day to come to meetings and listen to lots of people talk in very generalities about the future, you know, because it’s really -. Let’s get down to the facts. Facts are, what really makes plans happen is a detailed penetration into the conversations. And I think that’s hard to get in large gatherings, it just is. But I do admire the process in that it did gather a lot of public agencies and others, you know; and I think Susan and the VisionKeepers kind of kept that, their feet to the fire to keep moving things along. So, all to the good. If I look at the plan itself though, my reaction is I would call it planning light, that it, there are 44, 45 or 50 strategies and 149 actions. There’s no priorities. There’s no, you know, specific boil-down pivot points, tipping points. And you would think after a period of this conversation and then in a five-year update you’d actually get that, you’d get to a tipping point. You start to say, well, these things will make the big difference. But, instead, they’ve added on additional -. There’s a bell there for everybody; and the bells are wrong, you know. Each new piece, you know, you’re going to hit all the bells. The good question is what are you really trying to accomplish. So I think that’s the, that’s the shortness in the plan. And I just. as the lay folks who are going to review plans, I think the challenge is where’s the bar, you know, what are we looking for out of community-based planning? We’ve got five different community plans now coming up in the wake, you know, around the development of this one, each one different. You know, some of them being real constructive, really hitting good points, others kind of dabbling around the edges. And I’m just hopeful that we as a County come up with clarity about what good community-based plannings are. This process has excelled at the process of engaging the broad community. It has yet to find its feet as it’s related to engaging the community, the business and the landowner community, and that’s what you’re seeing today. And they probably would not be here today if it didn’t also be forced by timing to put the zoning ordinance on the table, which really drew people into this issue because it was talking, now we’re talking about real rights. So I’m really glad they’re here, I’m really glad the tension is in the room. My hope or my expectations in this process or my hope for it is that we need to use this energy today to get the next good thing happening. There’s 15 EXHIBIT A more development in downtown today than there has been in thirty years, there’s more investment going on in downtown, there’s more paint going on walls. And it may not feel that way sometimes, but it’s true. And I want to keep that momentum going. I don’t want to create a schism between public and private. That’s of no value. We need to engage and harness the passions that are coming from the land side, from the landowner’s side, to keep moving better in downtown; and that’s what I think. And the plan to me is almost secondary to it. I really want to see the process keep moving forward and using everybody’s best energy. And I don’t think we’re far off on that process, I really don’t. WOODWARD: Any questions for Mr. Melrose? KERN: Yeah, I have a question. WOODWARD: Commissioner Kern. KERN: Mr. Melrose, I know you have a degree in planning and quite a bit of knowledge in that area. In your opinion what would it take to get it? You said it’s almost there. What would it take to get it right there? MELROSE: Well, I guess what I’m, I’m making the distinction there, not to what it would take to get the plan there. But, plans are only intended to instill actions, right? I’m more interested in the actions. I’m much more committed to what we do than what we write down. And I think there’s really good connective energy, you know, brought, community stuff. I really appreciate Tom Goya and the process that those folks have been going through and with the kids. That’s good stuff, you know, it really brings heart and soul to downtown. I don’t think anybody is against that. The plan is a different piece. I’d have a longer conversation. I’d really like to sit down and set strategy, what are your five top items, you know, what are the five things that will make a difference? That would be a good challenge; and I think it can be a challenge going forward. It doesn’t have to be done now. But I, my statement is about what do you get, how do we keep the action moving to get the right thing to happen and take advantage of the moment that is today? The plan is almost less than the key issue to that, in my view. WOODWARD: Mr. Melrose, that’s basically what I was kind of getting at when I asked the question about we’re having the resolution now and the nuts and bolts later. Are you in support of the plan as it exists now or -? MELROSE: You know, I don’t know -. It’s a resolution right? WOODWARD: Right. MELROSE: It’s a statement of general direction. If it is used as the club to drive our zoning ordinance that is not necessary or somehow starts to create the wedge, then, no, don’t use it that way. If it’s a reflection of a sustained effort to have a communication about downtown and capture, you know, some key essences,then that’s okay. I mean I think it does that and it 16 EXHIBIT A becomes a vehicle for that. But if it is going to be let me go back to Plan 27 and say what’s this, you know -. I don’t think that’s the way this plan operates, nor should it. So I think that’s up to the Director and the staff as to how they use such a plan. But I don’t think that -. You know, I’d like to say, you know, five years from now this plan or two years from now you could really be focused on key issues and really know what those key things were. So you could direct the County as to where it’s next dollar went or what next key thing could make the next difference. And that, I don’t know that you can get it pouring through 149 actions without clear priorities in them. So that prioritization I’ve said many times in the process, focus, focus, focus. But it has had a hard time focusing because it keeps wanting to ring new bells. And that’s okay if you put up with it with so much period of time. Maybe I have, maybe I’m brain dead already and the landowners can’t do that; and I don’t blame them for not being able to, frankly. WOODWARD: All right. Thank you, Mr. Melrose. Any other questions for Mr. Melrose? Okay, Mr. De La Cruz, if you’ll give us your name and address; and then you may begin your testimony. We have your written testimony so if you can just sort of paraphrase that and then give us the meat of your argument, sir. DE LA CRUZ: Keith De La Cruz, 91 Halaulani Place. I’m a parent and owner/manager of the Hilo Farmers Market. We have been in business since 1988 starting with just four farmers. Today we have over 200 small businesses who call the farmers market their home. We cater to several thousand customers per week and occupy over 70,000 square feet of downtown real estate. Our mission statement is: to provide a flexible, indoor and outdoor direct marketing outlet for Big Island farmers, food producers, retailers, artisans and crafters; promote and develop sustainable organic Big Island agriculture; and provide a safe, accessible, village based market environment. In keeping with our mission, I was fortunate to be asked to join the EnVision Downtown Hilo 2025 Steering Committee in 2004. Since then until now, it has been a once in a life time learning experience to see firsthand how dreams of a community are formulated, debated, engineered, and then reformulated and finally engineered into reality. I am not an architect or an engineer, nor do I have any formal training in government affairs. I consider myself a new dad and an everyday kama‘aina who has had the golden opportunity to voice my opinions and give my 2 cents worth into this process. Along with others of our community whose ages ranged from 9 to 92 and whose origins spanned the globe, we have all been able to voice our visions.It is through this diversed group where we have been able to piece together a quilt of ideas and notions of how we would like to see Hilo in 2025. It is this public fabric of ideas and the commitment to our families and community to grow wisely through public collaboration which propels the importance of the EDH 2025 plan. I support the EnVision Downtown Hilo 2025 Plan and its 5-year Action Plan Update, and I ask the Planning Commission the same for its support today. I would like my son Koen who just turned 2 yesterday to be able to see and live these visions realized by the time he graduates high school. I can only hope that most of these visions are implemented, making his time in Hilo a much better place to live, work, and play. Thank you. WOODWARD: Thank you. Any questions for Mr. De La Cruz? Okay, seeing none, you folks may be seated. Thank you for your testimony. We do have one other person that has signed up from the public to testify. We’ll have her speak; and then we’ll allow the applicant another 17 EXHIBIT A opportunity. Eileen O’Hara? Okay, good morning. If I can get you to raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter now before the Windward Planning Commission? O’HARA: Yes, I do. WOODWARD: Very good. If you’ll give us your name and address and then you may begin. O’HARA: My name is Eileen O’Hara. My address is 15-2782 Papio, Pahoa. WOODWARD: All right. O’HARA: All right. I am speaking today on behalf of the VisionKeepers, having served on the VisionKeepers from its inception. And I think Mr. Melrose asked a really good question – what is this update trying to accomplish? And I think his own response was to instill action. Giving some history, as you all know, this process started a couple of years before the plan was adopted in 2005, with stakeholder meetings that were widely publicized and attended not only by public, representatives of public agencies, but also by representatives of private agencies and members of the community. And that two-year process evolved into the initial plan. And the reason for the update is to keep it current, to keep it responsive to economic conditions, keep it responsive to changes in the community. And so it was envisioned that there would be an update every five years. This is simply the plan; and it should not be confused with other actions that the plan might encourage or call forth, such as code changes, design guidelines for Downtown Hilo. Those will move forward on a separate track and in different actions because they involve a different response from the community. This is a community-based plan and it has involved a large amount of stakeholders. It is not based, the update is not based on a single survey. It’s , based on five years of public meetings, activities such as the SDAT that we did with the American Institute of Architects, and other actions that are all incorporated in this update. So it reflects a lot of public input. I had some questions about some of the comments made about invitations and funding. A lot of the funding that the VisionKeepers depended upon to pull this action forward has been through grant monies acquired through private foundations; and there wasn’t a lot of money for the entire process. So on one hand I hear, you know, how are tax dollars being spent. On the other hand, you know, there weren’t notices sent out, invites. All of this cost money, having staff cost money. So I think that what the VisionKeepers have accomplished with the help of staff time provided by the County Planning Department has been truly phenomenal. As I said I served on the Committee from the inception. And when we first formed there were 15 VisionKeepers, 3 of whom were landowners in Downtown Hilo. There might have been more, but this is to my recollection. There were only 3 that were representatives of government agencies. So the rest were representatives of businesses and non-profit organizations that operate in downtown. And one of our lead solution partners, the lead solution partner, who has the most actions attributed in the action plan is the Downtown Improvement Association. It is not a government agency. It represents business owners downtown. We wish, we always hoped for more involvement from landowners, and we did reach out and try and get that involvement. It takes a while for something like this to catch on in the community. And maybe it takes 5 years for everyone to 18 EXHIBIT A really know this is happening and to get involved. And I think it’s a great thing to leave on the table. I think this plan is really good, should be moved forward, and that this process continues. This is EnVision Downtown Hilo 2025. So we still have quite a few years left to bring about the implementation and to continue to vision for the benefit of our community, both on its economic level, its social level and its environmental level. So thank you very much. WOODWARD: All right, thank you. Do we have any questions for Ms. O’Hara? Okay, we have one last person. I guess it’s the last one other person signed up to testify, Kawehi Stevens. Good morning, sir, if I can get you to raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth today before the Windward Planning Commission? STEVENS: Yes, I do. WOODWARD: All right, very good. If you’ll give us your name and address, and then you may begin. STEVENS: My name is Kawehi Stevens. My address is 318 Kinoole Street, Suite 5, Hilo, Hawai‘i. I represent Lindseys, LLC. We’re a family operation. We own some pretty significant properties in Downtown Hilo.I addressed the Commission at the last meeting. Namely, we own the Canario Building in Downtown Hilo, right below the Palace Theater. We own the Farmers Exchange Building between L&L and Sack N Save. We formerly owned the Western Auto Building until we sold it to McDonalds. We also own KVC in Kalapana, the former Verna’s Drive-In; we own PVC in Pahoa. We own a residential dwelling on Barenaba Lane right across from us; and we also own another residential dwelling in Kaimu. So it looks like we own about $10,000,000 worth of real estate. And you would think that with that kind of a portfolio that the EnVision people would see to it that we attend these meetings. And it looks like to me that we were intentionally excluded from these meetings. We are here to improve Hilo. I was born and raised in Hilo. I come from the largest family in the State of Hawai‘i between the Lindseys, the Bells, the Lincolns, and the Purdys. We create jobs in Hilo, we create carpenter jobs, we create plumbing jobs, we create electrical jobs. And you would think that they would include us in their decision-making process. And we’ve never been included, never been included. And I question why. The previous testifier claims that it takes money to advertise. It doesn’t take money to run PSAS. You can run PSAS on the radio for three. That doesn’t take money. You can do posters, posters are free.There’s a lot of ways to get the word out. How can you exclude somebody that owns in excess of $10,000,000 worth of real estate? How could that be possible? The process is flawed and they’re taking our property rights away. It’s as simple as that. And it has gotten to the point that we’re so frustrated with the system; and that’s what prompted us to sell the Western Auto Building. I testified once before, the purpose of purchasing that property is that we wanted to put a condominium complex there. All we wanted was five or six floors, that’s all we wanted. We were going to provide two floors of parking, much needed in Downtown Hilo, one for a commercial space, three or four floors of condos, which is something that’s really needed in Downtown Hilo. When I took that vision to the Planning Department, oh, my God, you need a special permit for that. Why would I need a special permit for that? The limit is 120 feet, why would I need a special permit? I don’t understand. I really don’t understand. The process is flawed; and the whole, the manner in which they came about, what’s 19 EXHIBIT A before you, is flawed. So I’m here to say that I think it should be tabled until we as landowners, and we as stakeholders, until we have a chance to voice our opinions. That’s all I have to say. WOODWARD: Thank you, Mr. Stevens. Do we have any questions? Commissioner Au? AU: Yes, I do have a question. I see here Mr. Stevens that you are on the stakeholder participant list for a meeting or a workshop on October 9, 2009. Can you just talk about your involvement now from that time? And is that when you started getting involved in this process? STEVENS: I was in and out of the process. But there were a lot of things, there were things that went on at the meeting, the manner in which the meetings were run that I got frustrated with, so I chose not to go. Things were put on the table. And what we were told at that point, we don’t discuss that here, we don’t discuss that here. I would get invited to a meeting, I show up the meeting, another person would say, oh, I’m surprised to see you here. Oh, well, I was invited. Oh -. In other words one person invites you and the other person doesn’t know you’re there. So it got to the point that I felt uncomfortable so I stopped going. So I stopped going. WOODWARD: Any other questions? Okay, seeing none, thank you, sir. Now if we can give Susan Gagorik a chance to respond to some of these. We had some questions raised. Obviously I’m sure you’re aware about the invitations, participation by landowners, which one participated, a question as to the cost of the plan and the sampling of the community, the reliability and representation, how representative the sampling was. Those are essentially the questions, and the question of whether VisionKeepers is, in fact have County employees. Those are all questions. So shoot at whatever you want. GAGORIK: Okay. I think before I answer some of the questions I’d like to basically mention that there were several people that testified on multiple issues that I think are kind of confused. The ordinance was also brought up today; and that is not on your agenda for discussion. There were other processes that are going outside of this subject application, such as guidelines, that is not part of your agenda today. And also, I think the OIP request that was mentioned, Office of Information Practices, where an individual requests government records, that is a separate process that is occurring with the Planning Department in terms of answering those specific questions that were raised about the project itself. In terms of community participation and stakeholder involvement, as I mentioned earlier, this process started in 2004. It has been on-going till today, 2010; and there were multiple opportunities for people to be involved. We did several mailouts to landowners; and the landowner’s names are given to us from the Real Property Tax records, so they are the current owners that we received names for. We did mailouts for those. Over the period of the last five, six years, you know, again, there were multiple opportunities, different venues, different events. We did outreach by flyers, we did outreach by email, we did mailouts. And, you know, what’s interesting is that when you do come to these events, and we did several polls. A lot of the polls that we took we asked people how did you hear about this? And a lot of them are word of mouth. And that’s kind of like typical Hilo, you hear things from other people. But we did do a lot of different ways of outreach. We did mailouts, we posted things on billboards, we even did a survey where we inserted it into the Tribune Herald so that we could reach a wider variety of 20 EXHIBIT A people. So in terms of reaching out, we did do multiple different venues. We involved the landowners, we involved business owners and the general community. And I need to say that, you know, you can invite people but it’s a choice when you choose to participate; and we cannot force people to participate. And I’m glad that there are landowners out here today because now they’re getting involved. And as Jeff Melrose earlier said, too, you know, everything evolves and moves forward; and perhaps during implementation on certain actions we’ll have more landowner involvement. But, again, looking at the plan itself, the plan is a moment in time. It captures the process, it captures, you know, different actions. But implementation, again, will move on its own. Each action will begin its own work. People will gather, they will talk about what needs to move forward and they’ll work on that particular action. It doesn’t occur in the plan itself. th And then I’d like to also say because it is a process there really is no 11 hour that people can get involved. It’s an on-going process, that people continue to become involve as they hear about it. There are actions going on. There are a lot key agencies and there are organizations that are lead partners that are moving forward things. They can always join in with that agency or with that community organization and help to make downtown a better place. Was there any other specific questions? I know there were questions about how much money, but that’s all the OIP requests. That’s separate from this public hearing itself. WOODWARD: The one other question, and I don’t know if you’re at liberty to answer this -. But what was brought up is that half the employees of VisionKeepers, half the people in VisionKeepers are employees of the County. GAGORIK: The VisionKeepers consists of community individuals and organizations. And the staff would be myself, Kylie, and we have a recorder, that’s Marlene; and those are the staff for that project. We also had a representative from the Department of Research and Development, Alex Frost. He was a strong component of the process for community participation. WOODWARD: But the volunteers in VisionKeepers are not largely members of, or employed by the County? GAGORIK: No. And, again, remember that this group called the VisionKeepers is not a County committee. They are a volunteer organization outside. So they’re not advisory to the County and have no capacity in terms of making recommendations. And their primary role, again, is not like the action committees. I don’t know if you’re familiar about the Community Development Action Committees, they are County groups. The VisionKeepers are shepherds and their primary role is to promote the plan, to create opportunities for people to be involved so that the plan could reflect a more comprehensive and collective vision. WOODWARD: Okay, thank you. And -. ALEXANDER: Yes. WOODWARD: Yes, Ma’am. 21 EXHIBIT A ALEXANDER: Thank you. I’d just like to add briefly to Susan’s remarks. First of all with regard to the VisionKeepers, in the action plan update in front of you in the acknowledgement section it does list all the members of the VisionKeepers that have been involved. And over the past five years there were a total of 25 community members that volunteered on the VisionKeepers Committee, and then a total of four staff that Susan mentioned. And I’d also like to talk about the community involvement process over the past few years. And with regard to the first town meeting that was held in 2007, that was the first public meeting held since the plan was adopted in 2005. And so we really recognized the importance of that event. And for that town meeting, invitations were mailed out to landowners that were on record with the Real Property Tax Office in Downtown Hilo. We also mailed invitation to our implementation partners, as well as State and County officials. Invitations were hand-delivered to businesses in downtown; and we also emailed the invitation to numerous community members, hundreds of community members that are on the EDH email list, as well as the email list for the DIA. And so we did take an extensive effort to reach out to broad sections of the community to encourage their involvement at that first town meeting. And then with the second town meeting in 2008 we looked back to the first and we realized that, as Susan mentioned, involvement goes primarily through word of mouth. And in order to reduce cost as well as paper we relied on that word of mouth and also on our email list. And so we emailed flyers to all our community members, and we also worked with the DIA on that and our implementation partners. And we also encouraged them to then through the network with their email list to send a flyer out. And then as we had mentioned we had posted in downtown and other locations, and we also went on the radio to promote the event. So the two town meetings were two critical avenues for the wider community to get involved. And then as people become involved and then they are on our email list, and then it’s easier to keep them updated as to future events that are on-going. But realize that there is a time for everyone to get involved. And so we’re encouraged that that process is continuing. And then I’d just like to reinforce that there were two additional public meetings that were held through the sustainable design assessment team program. And so there were other opportunities there. And then when the action plan review workshops were held in the latter part in 2009 we hired Alice Moon on contract with the Planning Department, and this is prior to her being hired with the DIA. And she assisted us with outreach for those meetings, and I know she undertook an enormous effort to get people to those meetings. And then lastly in January of 2010 we held a number of open house events; and we had the Action Plan as well as the EnVision Concept on display at places like the Farmers Market and the Palace Theater, as well as outside the Planning Department Office here and the Hilo Public Library. So I just wanted to mention some of those specifics so that you know that we did undertake an enormous effort over these past few years to invite people in this process; and we encourage everyone to get involved in this process. So, thank you. 22 EXHIBIT A WOODWARD: All right, thank you. Do we have any questions for Ms. Gagorik or Ms. Alexander? Okay, seeing none, thank you, ladies, you may be seated. Madam Director, do you have anything to add? LEITHEAD TODD: No, you folks have already received the communication from me that we’re seeking withdrawal of the ordinance on the height reduction. WOODWARD: Yes, okay. All right, well, the issue before us today is the resolution. Does anybody care to make a motion? KERN: I just want to clarify again, this is probably the fourth time of clarifying, that this is just to update the plan, to say that we got this new information and we’re updating it, and this is the information that we gathered? And this has nothing to do with changing of ordinances or zoning and anything else? Is that tripled confirmed? WOODWARD: It actually, my understanding, and I’ll ask Molly to correct me if I’m wrong -. But we are sending a recommendation actually to Council. Council will then act on the resolution. The resolution is not an ordinance. The resolution is a statement of principle -. KERN: And that’s to update -? WOODWARD: And guide. KERN: Right. And that’s to update the plan, not make significant changes? WOODWARD: Right. There were no substantive changes. KERN: Right. WOODWARD: Is that correct, Molly? LUGO: My understanding is that the plan has been updated and you’re voting today to send either a negative or favorable recommendation on the update that has been prepared and presented. WOODWARD: Okay. And the Director has mentioned that the question of the height ordinance has been removed. So, anybody would like to make a motion? KERN: Regarding the EnVision Downtown Hilo 2025 Community-Based Vision and Living Action Plan – 5-year Action Plan Update with the non-substantive amendments, I move that it be approved, or a favorable recommendation be sent. And this is based upon it not directly affecting the property owners and the stakeholders at this time, it maintains a vision, it’s updating the plan, it’s moving that forward. And I’ll have a lot more to say about that, which we can get into later possibly. And we need a second. That’s it. 23 EXHIBIT A WOODWARD: Okay. I think to keep it clean, if we could just have a motion to send a favorable resolution; and the rest of it could be addressed in the discussion, if that would be acceptable. KERN: Motion to send a favorable resolution. WOODWARD: Recommendation. KERN: Recommendation. ISHIBASHI: Second. ISHIBASHI: Okay, second. All right. Then we can open it for discussion. Who’d like to go first? Commissioner Kern. KERN: Yeah, this is a challenging one. We’ve seen this, I think, a few times now with these community plans coming through. And there’s action from the community, there’s stakeholders there. And at a certain point this all comes together. And now the rubber is beginning to meet the road, greater than it has in the past two years, which in my opinion it’s a stimulus to really get everybody else involved. Folks have said they haven’t been involved yet or they want to get more involved, to get involved before there are drastic changes made so everyone does have the time and the opportunity to put forth their ideas on how they want to see it. Cause I think that’s so important to have the stakeholders, the landowners involved in it. Because really, I mean, it’s kind of like one of those things – can’t we all get along? I mean we all kind of want the same thing. I think we all want a beautiful Downtown Hilo, we want there to be economic vitality down there and a great place for kids and families and everyone else to enjoy. And if it’s a clean beautiful place and people are enjoying it that’s going to be good for property values, it’s also going to be good for businesses. So that’s my opinion with the broad vision of the plan. It’s a stimulus to get everybody more involved. And the other changes that are coming up in the future, that’s a completely different matter. And we’ve heard a lot of testimony on that, and we’ll deal with that at that time. So, so far, that’s what I have to say. Thanks. WOODWARD: Thank you, Commissioner Kern. Just one point of information that the Commissioners are aware of but I didn’t bring this up to the public – We do have to have four votes. This is a seven-member body. Even though we only have six seats filled two people are not here. To have any action we need four, which is essentially a unanimous vote. Does anybody else have anything further as far as discussion is concerned? Okay. I’ll put in my two cents worth. I think we’ve heard some concerns, some concerns about participation, some concerns about how representative some of the sampling was. But I think we’ve also heard, and from people who have been in this field for a long time, that the basic process is good. There may be some slight flaws in the plan but the plan is a guideline. It is not the nuts and bolts, and that’s why I brought that up when Susan Gagorik was presenting the information. Today we’re acting on a general guideline and whether that is worthy of support, not specific matters of ordinance, not specific nuts and bolts. That’s coming later. And I think the one thing that I see that is positive is that we have gotten, whether it was done the right way 24 EXHIBIT A or not, it seems like we have now gotten all the stakeholders involved. And so that’s what I look upon as positive in this situation. So, any other comments? Okay, seeing none, let’s take a vote. COTTLE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Commissioner Kern? KERN: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Ishibashi? ISHIBASHI: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Au? AY: Yes. COTTLE: And Mr. Chairman? WOODWARD: Aye. COTTLE: Okay, the motion passes, four to zero. WOODWARD: All right, very good. We will send a favorable recommendation to County Council. The discussion ended at 10:35 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Sharon M. Nomura, Secretary Windward Planning Commission 25 EXHIBIT A