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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-05-12 TCORWIN PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAII HEARING TRANSCRIPT MAY 12, 2005 CANDEE CORWIN/TERESA A regularly advertised hearing on the application of REYNOSO (SPP 04-014) was called to order at 8:05 p.m. in the County Building, Councilroom - Room 201, 25 Aupuni Street, Hilo, Hawaii, with Second Vice-Chairman Hannah Springer presiding. PRESENT:Hannah Springer ABSENT & EXCUSED: Fred Galdones C. Kimo Alameda Bill Graham Andrew Iwashita Jeffrey McCall Allen Salavea Rene€ Siracusa Rodney Watanabe Ivan Torigoe, Deputy Corporation Counsel ChristopherJ.Yuen,PlanningDirector Norman Hayashi, Planning Program Manager Phyllis Fujimoto, Staff Planner Jeff Darrow, Staff Planner And approximately 5 people from the public in attendance. APPLICANTS: CANDEE CORWIN/TERESA REYNOSO (SPP 04-014) Application for a Special Permit to allow the establishmentof a 2-bedroom bed and breakfast establishment and a massage wellness operation within an existing single family dwelling situated on 5.06 acres of land within the State Land Use Agricultural District. The property is located along the north side of Opihikao Road, Kaueleau Farm Lots Subdivision, Kamaili Homesteads, Puna, Hawaii, TMK: 1-3-10:1. SPRINGER:We€re on Agenda Item No. 3. The applicants are Candee Corwin and Teresa Reynoso. It€s a Special Permit 04-014. It€s an application for a Special Permit to allow the establishment of a 2-bedroom bed and breakfast establishment and a massage wellness operation within an existing single family dwelling situated on 5.06 acres of land within the State Land Use Agricultural District. The property is located along the north side of Opihikao Road, Kaueleau Farm Lots Subdivision, Kamaili Homesteads, Puna, Hawaii, TMK: 1-3-10:1. And if there€s any correction on any of that language, I accept it willingly. SIRACUSA:Kamaili. They€ve left out the okinas. SPRINGER:Jeffrey, you€re going to give us the staff presentation? DARROW:Thank you, Madam Chair. If I may direct your attention to the location map, the area of this application is the Puna District of Hawaii. More specifically, this is going 1EXHIBIT D to be in the Opihikao area. This line traveling in a north-south direction is the Pahoa-Kalapana Road. And traveling east is the Opihikao or the Kamaili Road. The area of the application is identified by a red dot. This is directly located right on Kamaili Road, approximately a half mile from the intersection, with its intersection on the Pahoa-Kalapana Road. The applicants in this case, Candee Corwin and Theresa Reynoso, are requesting a special permit to establish a two-bedroom bed and breakfast and a one-bedroom massage wellness center within their existing two-story 5-bedroom dwelling. This is located on a parcel that is 5.06 acres in size. Referring to the site plan submitted by the applicants, this would be Opihikao-Kamaili Road. They have a driveway that accesses Opihikao Road. The existing two-story dwelling is identified here in red. They do have open permits for a proposed game room and a proposed ohana dwelling. They also have a water tank. We did receive comments from the Department of Health regarding their concerns with the large capacitycesspool.Thoseconcernswereaddressedbytheapplicants,andthatwasinaletter submitted to the Planning Department. At the December 17, 2004 meeting we had a request from Commissioner Siracusa if the applicants could notify property owners within the Kaueleau Farm Lots Subdivision, which the applicants did; and we have received several letters from property owners within the Subdivision. One of them is Stephen Freedman and the other is Susie Osborne. The Planning Director is recommending that this request be approved by the Planning Commission. Are there any questions? SPRINGER:Commissioners, any questions of staff? Commissioner Siracusa. SIRACUSA:Well, I know the answer but I want to ask these questions so that the other Commission Members can get the benefit of that information. Would you explain about how that map does not reflect what is really on the ground in terms of Kamaili Road and that it€s continuous, it€s not at the end of the road there, and about steepness of slope and the runaway truck ramp. DARROW:There are pictures that have been sent around to the Commissioners. It has pictures facing mauka and makai of the area where this application is located. And in regards to steepness, I€m not an expert as far as the road steepness; but we haven€t received any comments relative to, that I€m aware -. SIRACUSA:Yes, you have. Yes, you have. DARROW:Oh, I€m sorry. SIRACUSA:Susie Osborne. DARROW:Oh, okay, I meant as far as from Departments. As far as on the ground, it appears that the actual Opihikao Road differs from what is actually on the ground. On the ground we have the location of the applicant€s parcel identified here in red. The Opihikao- Kamaili Road actually continues up and meets with this road. But on paper, it actually comes down and meets, this is like a little cul-de-sac there. As far as how that came about, I€m unsure. SPRINGER:Other questions of staff? 2EXHIBIT D SIRACUSA:Well,I feel that staff did not address my question accurately or adequately. And if it€s all right I€d like the other Commissioners to note the letter from Susie Osborne and the last paragraph on the first page where she discusses the steepness of the slope, and the condition of the road, and the limited visibility. You can€t really tell from the photographs how steep that road is. And I might even be, even consider asking for a site visit because I think it€s just really important as a safety issue. SPRINGER:Were you going to read something for us? Were you going to read something? SIRACUSA:Well, if the Commissioners don€t want to read it themselves, I can read it into, It is apparent to me that the County has not remembered or considered the steep grade of the Opihikao Road and understood the exact location of this property. This poorly maintained CountyRoadisfrequentedwithpotholesandnumerouscarsovertheyearsthatlayoffthesharp and steep edges of the narrow winding road attest to the hazardous driving conditions of this road. The road is very steep with sharp curves and the property lies just above the runaway truck ramp€. There is limited visibility from the driveway to the road that people fly€ down frequently crossing over the center line due to the narrow and sharp angles of the road. I personally, have been almost hit as a result of a youth speeding on the frequent slippery conditions.‚ Blah, blah, it goes on from there. But you get the idea that from the driveway down, maybe I should just question the applicants and let them describe that. SPRINGER:Okay, at the time that we call them forward. Do you have any other requests of staff? SIRACUSA:No, not at this point. SPRINGER:Commissioner Watanabe, and followed by Commissioner Alameda. WATANABE:I€m at a loss. I€m not sure how much the steepness of the road is really impacted by a two-bedroom bed and breakfast that is anticipating very minimal traffic. How does that change anything? SIRACUSA:I can address, I can answer that if he wants. SPRINGER:If we can get into that during our deliberation. I think that Commissioner Siracusa had asked the staff if they could make a clarification for her, and she wasn€t satisfied with the clarification. So right now we€re just holding our comments to the staff€s presentation. Commissioner Alameda. ALAMEDA:Thank you, Madam Chair. SPRINGER:You€re welcome. ALAMEDA:Jeff, you mentioned just the term open permit. And pardon my ignorance, but what is that? 3EXHIBIT D DARROW:It€s a permit that has been applied for but not finalized. The actual existing dwelling is constructed and has received a final permit. These actually, which you€ll be able to see on the picture there, it looks like there€s some footings on the ground, but nothing has been actually constructed yet. Permits are open for these particular structures. ALAMEDA:Thank you, Jeff. SPRINGER:Commissioners any other questions of staff? Thank you. At this time, will the applicants come forward please. Are both going to be testifying? CORWIN:Yes. SPRINGER:Will you please both raise your right hands. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter now before the Hawaii County Planning Commission? CORWIN:I do. REYNOSO:I do. SPRINGER:And in sequence of your presentations, could you please give your name andaddressintotherecordandthengoforwardwithyourtestimony. CORWIN:My name is Candee Corwin and I€m at PO Box 1504 in Pahoa. Our physical address is 13-1265 Opihikao or Kamaili Road, depending on, that€s kind of an unclear thing as well, in Pahoa. It€s kind of interesting cause, you know, concerns and some oppositions have already arisen. So I€d just kind of like to try to kind of give you a history of how we came to this and try to clarify sort of what we consider to be the minimum scope of this project as a two-bedroom bed and breakfast and one room for massage, and then maybe address some of the concerns that we€re aware of. Teresa and I, about a year and half ago I was here doing a workshop; and Hawaii is a place that we thought about living but we weren€t really looking for a place. So the day before we left the island we just kind of saw this place on the side of the road and, you know, thought we€d try to go take a look at it. And we were able to actually visit the property, and we just like fell in love with it; and them boom, you know, we just felt very called to be here. And, you know, we hadn€t looked at any other places, done any research, didn€t realize there was even a subdivision we lived in, anything. So, you know, it€s a lot of naivete perhaps and ignorance; but we felt very strongly about being here and, you know, that the way would open for us to create a life here. So we purchased the property, I think escrow close like March of last year. And I do massage and, you know, other office type of, you know, different kinds of things. Teresa has been a pediatrician and an adolescent medicine specialists. So in actually moving to the island we felt that, you know, it was kind of least financial risk for me to come here myself and kind of try to begin to get kind of maybe a traditional office job or something like that, and then Teresa would kind of come later once I kind of had an income going and we could get more settled here. So I just want to kind of put that out. And I applied, you know, in the span of like four months or so, I applied for over probably 50 jobs, you know, with absolutely no success. And doing the bed and breakfast was something that -. You know, we loved the idea just in purchasing this home. 4EXHIBIT D And we didn€t plan to kind of proceed with the application until Teresa was here, because it just seemed like it was going to be an overwhelming process; and, you know, but I kind of got to that point where I had to so something. So we kind of began this process and submitted our th application like September 30 of last year. And then kind of like had a five-month delay in actually coming to this hearing point. So, anyway, I just want to speak to us coming upon this property, it€s a huge home, you know, for the two of us. Having a bed and breakfast is something that we thought about doing for a long time; and for many years it was kind of like where we€re going to live. And this just was, you know, it€s a soul-calling for us, really. And when we visited the property the previous owner who was the original builder was present and clearly spoke to, it€s a two-story house. It€s kind of like built on a hill. So they built the initial living space, you know, on the upper floor, and then later kind of completed half of this lower floor with two kinds of mirror-image guestrooms. And he clearly, you know, spoke to us about ideas that he had to have a bed and breakfast here but he had never followed through with it. So we were like wow, this is great, it was just, it just seemed like an ideal place for us. And, you know, I think we probably sort of assumed that whoever was in the community, because we understood that, you know, he was a very friendly guy and had a lot of parties, and, you know, people would have known about this. And because it is such a, to us, a very small scale thing, wehadnoidea-.Youknow,wewerejustkindoflookingforawaytousespaceinourhome and make a living, and kind of get started here on the island. So -. SPRINGER:Ma€am, maybe I can help you. Have you received the background report? CORWIN:Yes. SPRINGER:And -. CORWIN:Oh, I know, it€s just that we have some opposition to the project, some of which I€m aware of and some of which I€m not. And so I just kind of wanted to, I don€t know, am I not speaking to, directly to -? Maybe I€m saying too much? SPRINGER:Yeah, I think the background of your arriving here is, perhaps, extraneous to the application. But if you feel that you need to express it, if you can tie it into the application, please. CORWIN:Okay. I apologize if this is all kind of extraneous. SPRINGER:Sure. CORWIN:So, anyway, we just had, whatever, we just wanted to use the space in our home in the same way that we would house, you know, family, and friends, and guests. So all we were proposing to do is to use these two guest rooms that are on the lower level of our home to house guests. And there are two queen beds in each room so that would be potentially four guests per room, or a total of 8 guests. Generally probably one or two persons would be in a room; and then, because I do massage, I just wanted to legitimize that as well. And so I at the same time kind of added this permit to use one room in the home to do massage. And maybe some of the language, you know, it€s not going to be a huge operation; and I think there€s some concern about that in the community that it€s going to develop into a huge commercial operation. 5EXHIBIT D The other thing I wanted to say is thatthe proposed structures were structures that the previous owner had plans for. He has drawings and, you know, was planning to build these two structures. So we simply put it on our site plans so that, you know, that those structures are there, the permits are open. But we€re not proposing to use any of that other space for the bed and breakfast. So, I don€t know, I wanted to kind of speak to some of the concerns that I€m aware of. Let me just say this, we had no idea that anything was a problem. We didn€t hear anything from anybody up until we were suppose to have that first hearing in December. But we were, you know, on the mainland for holidays and so we weren€t able to attend that meeting. But, apparently, Commissioner Siracusa requested that we notify everyone in our subdivision that we€re doing this thing. So it turns out that€s a great idea. We just had no idea that what we were doing was going to cause any concern or trouble for anybody, because it just seems like nobody would even noticewhat€sgoingon,really.We€rejustwantingtolegitimizeourselves.Sowesentthe letters. And one person called back and, you know, we kind of discussed some concerns that the neighbors might have about what was going on; and we were just like absolutely in shock about this and very upset, cause we were just so excited and inspired about doing this. And so we did proceed to get phone numbers and try to contact everybody in the community. I did have some conversations with people, followed that up with a letter, you know, kind of inviting people to contact us so that they could discuss their concerns with us and we could clarify exactly what we€re doing. And we also recently, you know, welcomed all of the members of our community to come over and to visit, and so on and so forth. So I just want to put that much out there; and maybe that€s enough for now. Thank you. SPRINGER:Ma€am, your name and address. REYNOSO:Yes. Okay, I€m Teresa Reynoso and I live with Candee. My physical address is 13-1265 Opihikao Road in Pahoa, and mail box for mailings is PO Box 1504, Pahoa. WATANABE:I wonder if you can speak into the microphone. REYNOSO:I€m sorry. Okay. I just want to, I want to keep my comments short because Candee has already made several points. But I just want to make it clear that, you know, we are intending to have a two-bedroom bed and breakfast. We€re not proposing to develop a resort of any kind, and we want to use one of the rooms upstairs for Candee€s massage practice. We also use that as our sort of business computer area as well. So that€s what we€re proposing to use. These other structures, like Candee mentioned, were proposed by the previous owner and we€ve sort of inherited the permits. They are open. We are not including that for the bed and breakfast. I think two rooms are enough. My other source of income will actually be, once I start my medical practice here on the island -. I€ve recently been licensed in the State of Hawaii, had a medical license in California for 6EXHIBIT D 20 years, so I€m hoping to do that at least part-time. No further comments on my part right now. Thank you. SPRINGER:Commissioners, any questions for the applicants? Commissioner Siracusa. SIRACUSA:Thank you. First of all, I want to say that the reason I had asked staff to contact you about notifying the rest of the people in that little subdivision was the fact that, number one, being a small subdivision I knew it wouldn€t be a terrible burden to do so and, number two, the fact that you€re right at the beginning and no matter what happens at your place it€s going to affect everybody inside. And so I want to thank you for, cause you didn€t have to. It was simply a request; and I want to express that I appreciate your having done that, and appreciate your having contacted the people in the community in other ways. I have nothing basically against the wellness center or a bed and breakfast in Ag land. My big concern is that Opihikao hill and where your driveway comes out. Now you have some photographshereand-. CORWIN:Actually,IthinkthoseweretheonesthatJefftook,butweactuallytook the -. SIRACUSA:Well, Jeff, then maybe you could tell us the one looking mauka was that taken at the driveway? DARROW:At the driveway. This is looking mauka at that driveway. And this is looking makai. SIRACUSA:Looking makai. There€s a good, yeah, that I know. There€s a really good line of sight from makai. But the mauka shot is rather, I thought, misleading somehow in terms of the pitch and the slope of the hill. CORWIN:May I just mention, if this is an issue, we also took lots of pictures of this because we knew it was going to be a concern. So if you people want to look at the pictures, I€d love to pass these around as well if that€s okay. DARROW:If it€s okay, we€re going to make this part of the record? CORWIN:That€s fine. DARROW:Okay. Thank you. SIRACUSA:I know that coming out of that little subdivision because you haven€t been going all the way up the hill, you know, and building up a speed, it gets much steeper after your driveway. Is that correct? CORWIN:About 1,000 feet or 2/10 of a mile past beyond our driveway, yes. 7EXHIBIT D SIRACUSA:And I know that I personally have found that I had to really gun the motor just to get all the way up. And if somebody were coming out at that point to, say, head down the hill towards the beach or something, it could have been, I could have stalled out. What bothers me a lot is that when you€re coming down the hill it€s very curvy and it€s hard to control the car even in second gear. And I€m afraid that additional traffic that would be generated by, say, eight guests and any number of people coming to the massage would be just enough extra traffic to create accidents, where before we had only close calls. That€s my big concern, is public safety. Would you like to address those concerns, please. REYNOSO:Yeah, I can address some of those. What, and I would invite you all at some point, you know, maybe drive by the house and see for yourselves what the grade is like. I thinkit€sverysteepinitially.We€relocated.5miles,exactly.5milewhenyoucomeoffof Highway 130 onto Opihikao Road on the left side of the road. So we tell whoever comes to visit us, you know, check your odometer, it€s .5 miles; and they have no trouble finding it. We have enough clearing, I think, in the front outside of our fence that you have a very clear view looking up and then looking down, makai. And, you know, I know that public safety is an issue. But I feel like, you know, are we going to get penalized because the road is steep and winding and, you know, we€re going to get denied, you know, this kind of a living that we€ve chosen? SPRINGER:Thank you, Ms. Reynoso. Commissioner Siracusa. SIRACUSA:Yeah. I just want to say that if you were to move your driveway further down the road, you know, towards the entrance to the community, I thought it would be a lot safer. SPRINGER:Ms. Reynoso. REYNOSO:Yes, thank you. I would not have a problem with that, but I think the neighbors have an issue with the driveway being closer to their private road. And if people miss our driveway that they€re going to drive down the private road, which is an unpaved road; and it has been made very clear to us that they would prefer that we not have guests go down that road; and that€s fine with me. I mean, I have no problem. I respect people€s privacy. But I think moving the driveway further, closer to the rural road might be a problem for the neighbors. SPRINGER:Ma€am, Ms. Reynoso, is that the Kamaili Uka Road? REYNOSO:Yes. SPRINGER:Thank you. Commissioner Siracusa, continue? SIRACUSA:No, it€s just that I have this vision of, you know, somebody coming out of the driveway getting ready to head makai and meanwhile somebody coming down at the same time from the Kalapana Highway and not being able to stop down in time and crash, bang, boom. 8EXHIBIT D And it seems to me that the more traffic is generated the more the chances are increased that that sort of thing might happen. CORWIN:May I say something? SPRINGER:Proceed, Ms. Corwin. CORWIN:I just want to say that I appreciate the concern and the safety, of course. And like Teresa said, I€m, we€re just kind of concerned that, you know, we€re kind of going to get penalized or be held responsible for the safety of the road. And, you know, of course, I care about people, ourselves, our guests, but I don€t felt that we should be held responsible for that necessarily. And, personally, you know, I haven€t had any problem with it. It is very steep and winding coming down the initial 3/10, I guess, it would be, 3/10 of a mile. And it€s kind of a roughroad,sopeoplekindoftendtogotothemiddleoftheroadandstraddleitthatway.But when you get down to about the 3/10, which as I tried to show on these pictures, which is approximately 2/10 up from where we are or 1,000 feet, the road smooths out. It€s not a rough road. I don€t see people driving down the middle of the road or anything. And it kind of, you know, it definitely levels out somewhat. It€s still going downhill but it kind of goes like this, it kind of rolls down. And then where we€re located, you know, through the trees you can see our home, that€s also on some of these pictures. The double solid line turns in, one line turns into a dashed line. You know, we have some reflectors; hopefully, we would have some signage or something. And we tell people exactly half a mile. I mean, if you€re watching your odometer, you can€t miss it. So as far as locating our property, we don€t really feel that that€s problem. And coming out on the road, I understand your concern; and there€s, you know, somewhat limited vision there. But I just want to say I€ve been here for a year and I haven€t had any problem with that. And, you know, from watching the traffic it can be from, you know, 5 cars or less an hour coming and going up and down that road to maybe 15 or 20 at the most an hour, you know, depending on what time of the day. And I just also want to clarify like the 8 guests -. You know, there will probably one car, we were thinking of like families or something like that to be able to accommodate four people in a room. So I can€t imagine having more than two cars there for the guests. And I would expect to be doing most of the massage for the guests, and maybe one or two additional cars a day. SPRINGER:Thank you, Ms. Corwin. Commissioner Siracusa, do you have any follow up? SIRACUSA:I just wanted to thank her for clarifying some of that. SPRINGER:Mr. Director, you€ve heard the comments on the, perhaps, the sight distance and the steepness of the road. Do you have any comments on that with regard to this rather modest application? YUEN:Well, scale is everything. And we€ve looked at bed and breakfast as being of such a small scale in terms of additional traffic that we haven€t imposed any kinds of requirements for improvements. I mean you can€t say never. If somebody were, a bed and breakfast in Waipio Valley, for example, where you have to go down the Waipo Valley Road, I 9EXHIBIT D would not recommend that. But I don€t know this property, looking at the pictures it doesn€t, it€s not an ideal situation, it€s not the best road, it€s not that bad. Returning to the question of scale, you€re adding probably two vehicles to the traffic. It€s not a traffic problem per se. And it is a public road that visitors can get in the rented cars and decide to go down and drive down, and residents can drive down and use all the time. So, and we€ve, the Department has consistently recommended in favor of bed and breakfasts. We do look at it as a way or people being able to take advantage of a visitor economy in a direct manner on a very low impact and low key basis. So that€s, we€ve recommended this. And I don€t see, although it€s not the best road, the pictures that I see don€t make me feel that it€s a terrible hazard, that we€re putting a visitor in imminent harm by having to drive to this location. SPRINGER:Thank you. Are there any questions either for the applicants or the Director from the Commissioners? I have a question, Mr. Director. Looking at the letter from Stephen Freedman where he suggests threeconditions,I€mwonderingifyouconsideredthose?They€rethattheownersshallbe prohibited from erecting any sign on their property indicating or advertising the presence of a commercial establishment on the site; two, vehicle and pedestrian access to the subject property shall be exclusively from Opihikao Road; and that the owners be required to advise all customers and visitors that they are not allowed to drive or walk in the private roads or property in the subdivision. I think that was what the applicants brought to our attention in anticipating some opposition. YUEN:The signage, it seems to me that it€s useful to have some kind of small sign on the property that helps people find it. If the idea is to avoid inconveniencing the neighbors, then it€s, although the mileage is a useful indicator here, if you have a small sign, people know that€s where you are and you don€t pull into the neighbor€s driveway by mistake and ask then, knock on the door and bother them when they€re having dinner. So I can€t support the signage -. The one about not walking on the private road, that€s really up to, I defer to the applicant. It seems, I think it€s being a little pickey on this part of people, to tell you the truth, to say that visitors to a neighboring bed and breakfast shouldn€t walk on their road. But, I€m not enthusiastic about putting it in as a condition. If the applicants don€t mind and this person wants it, I don€t have a big problem with it. I€m personally not going to recommend it. SPRINGER:And it appears as though your driveway is clearly off of the Opihikao Road. YUEN:And then the question of the access, their only access is from the Opihikao Road, so that doesn€t seem to be an issue. SPRINGER:Okay. Commissioners? Thank you, Mr. Yuen. Commissioners, any questions of the applicants or the Director? No one has signed up from the public to testify on this matter. Is there anyone who cares to do so? Thank you. Commissioners, we€re ready to entertain a motion. 10EXHIBIT D ALAMEDA:I€ll make a motion. SPRINGER:Commissioner Alameda. ALAMENDA:Regarding applicant Candee Corwin and Teresa Reynoso, Special Permit 04-014 to allow the establishment of a two-bedroom bed and breakfast and a massage wellness operation within an existing single family dwelling, I move that we approve this special permit, along with the Department€s recommendation and conditions as noted within. IWASHITA:Second. SPRINGER:Seconded by Commissioner Iwashita. Is there any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, Jeff, we€re ready for the roll call. DARROW:Thankyou,MadamChair. SPRINGER:You€rewelcome. DARROW:CommissionerAlameda? ALAMEDA:Aye. DARROW:Commissioner Iwashita? IWASHITA:Aye. DARROW:Commissioner Salavea? SALAVEA:Aye. DARROW:Commissioner Siracusa SIRACUSA:Nay. DARROW:Commissioner Watanabe? WATANABE:Aye. DARROW:And Madam Chair? SPRINGER:Yes. DARROW:The motion passes five to one. SPRINGER:Thank you, thank you for your patience. CORWIN:Thank you. 11EXHIBIT D REYNOSO:Thank you. SPRINGER:You€ll be informed inwriting of tonight€s decision. The discussion ended at 8:41 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Sharon M. Nomura, East Hawaii Secretary 12EXHIBIT D