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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-05-20 EXHIBIT A Hualalai PC PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAII HEARING TRANSCRIPT MAY 20, 2005 HUALALAI ACADEMY, INC. A regularly advertised hearing on the application of was called to order at 10:04 a.m. in the King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel, Islander Room, 75-5660 Palani Road, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, with First Vice-Chairperson Hannah Springer presiding. PRESENT:Rodney H. WatanabeABSENT & EXCUSED: Fred Galdones Jeffrey McCallWilliam R. Graham Rene€ SiracusaAllen Salavea Andrew Iwashita C.KimoAlameda Hannah Springer Ivan Torigoe, Deputy Corporation Counsel Chris Yuen, Deputy Planning Director Norman Hayashi, Planning Program Manager Phyllis Fujimoto, Staff Planner Jeff Darrow, Staff Planner Kiran Emler representing Department of Public Works And approximately 30people from the public in attendance APPLICANT: HUALALAI ACADEMY, INC. Amendment to condition no. 3 (increase in enrollment from 210 to 360 students) of Special Permit No. 1011, which allowed the development of a private school and related improvements on approximately 14.785 acres of land situated within the State Land Use Agricultural District. The property is the existing site of the Hualalai Academy School situated on the west (makai) side of the Kealakaa Street ƒ Hao Kuni Street intersection, approximately 2,300 feet north of the nd Kealakehe Elementary and Intermediate School Complex, Honokohau 2, North Kona, Hawaii, TMK: 7-4-8:64. SPRINGER:I€d like to call this meeting of the Hawai i County Planning Commission back to order. Weare now on agenda item number 3, the applicant Hualalai Academy, Inc. An amendment to condition no. 3, an increase in enrollment from 210 to 360 students of Special Permit No. 1011, which allowed the development of a private school and related improvements on approximately 14.785 acres of land situated within the State Land Use Agricultural District. The property is the existing site of the Hualalai Academy School situated on the west (makai) side of the Kealakaa Street ƒ Hao Kuni Street intersection, approximately 2,300 feet north of the nd Kealakehe Elementary and Intermediate School Complex, Honokohau 2,NorthKona,Hawaii, TMK: 7-4-8:64. Mr. Darrow. EXHIBIT A 1 DARROW:Thank you Madame Chairman. Good morning Commissioners. If I may direct your attention to the location map. The area of this application is in the north Kona district of Hawai i. More specifically we are looking in the area near Palani Road. Palani Road is identified by this white line running in a north-south direction. The application is at the end of Kealakaa Street, which is identified-, this white line running off of Palani Street. The area more specifically is identified with a blue dot. Just for your information the colors represent zoning. The darker green shades represent Agricultural 1-acre. The lighter shades Agricultural 5-acres and the brown zoning identify Multiple Family Residential and lastly the yellow represents Single Family Residential zoning. The Applicants in this case, Hualalai Academy, Inc. are requesting an amendment to their Special Permit, Special Permit 1011 to increase enrollment from 210 students to 360 students. Previously Hualalai Academy received a Special Permit of October of 1998 to allow the establishment of a private school and related improvements. In August of 2001, they received an amendment to their permit to allow an increase of enrollment from 150 students to 210 students. If I could direct your attention to the site map that has been submittedbytheapplicants.Thepurpleshadedareasareexisting;theredshadedareasor outlined areas are proposed in the future development. The existing area includes an existing ball field. It includes 6 classroom buildings, 1 restroom building, an administrative building and also an assembly building. The future proposed development includes another new ball field as well as an 8-room classroom building, gymnasium, library and also a caretaker equipment th building. Presently the school accommodates grades kindergarten through 11 grade. Next year th they will be adding a 12 grade to the facility. At this time the enrollment is 207 students. Conditions to mention- Condition number 2. We will be requiring that the applicants continue with their approved carpool policy and plan and also to be able to work towards increasing the amount of students and staff that utilize the plan. Condition number 3 will limit Hualalai Academy to 360 students. And Condition number 7 will require the applicants to comply with the requirements set forth by the Department of Water Supply. We have made an addition to this condition; I€ve passed those out to the Commissioners. Basically it is requesting that the applicants also submit to the Planning Department as well as to the Department of Water supply aannualreportoftheirwaterusage.TheDirectorhasinformedmethatwewouldliketoalso add to this condition, limiting the Applicant specifically to 14 water credits. So I will be drafting up a short addition to that. At this time the Applicants are limited to the water consumption that is allotted to them, which are 10 units. They have been allotted 4 additional units that they will need to pay the facilities charge for and then it will also limit them to- if they€re able to obtain additional water credits that they will be able to limited to that amount. The Planning Department has received numerous letters of support for the application. The Planning Director is recommending that this application be approved by the Planning Commission. Are there any questions? SPRINGER:Staff? All right Commissioner Siracusa. SIRACUSA:Have there been any letters in opposition? DARROW:Not to my knowledge. SIRACUSA:Thank you. EXHIBIT A 2 SPRINGER:Other questions of Staff? Seeing none I would like to invite the Applicant or the Applicant€s representative to come forward. And also many of you have signed in to testify and there may be others who have recently arrived who wish to testify on this matter. If you all could raise your right hands at this time I€ll swear you in and then we€ll collect your names at the time of your testimony. So all those who intend to testify please raise your right hands at this time. Do you all swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter now before the Hawai i County Planning Commission? TESTIFIERS:I do. SPRINGER:Thank you all. Beginning with you Mr. Lim could you state your name and address for the record? LIM:Thank you Madame Chair. Steven Lim representing Hualalai Academy. Thankyouforentertainingthisrequest.We€reherewithalotoffriendsandsupporters,soI won€t mention everybody but we do have Felicity Johnson who€s the Principal. Mr. Rick Steger who€s the President of the Board of Directors and Sarah Crawford, who€s back there and a lot of other supporters. I think probably the best thing to do is to have our public- I guess our project supporters testify and then I€ll come on and address the actual planning issues. If that will be okay? SPRINGER:Fine Mr. Lim. I€m going to read through then the list of names as I have before me. Felicity Johnson. If you could come forward to the table I think we have 2 seats. Maybe Jeff, could we move a couple more seats up please? Thank you. Felicity Johnson, Rick Steger, Delaney Ross and Erik Luchsinger. Delaney is that you on my far left? If we could begin with you. Could you state your name and address please for the record and when you€ve done that, can you give us your testimony? ROSS:Okay. SPRINGER:Thank you. ROSS:My name is Delaney Ross and my address is P.O. Box 4960 in Kailua- Kona, HI 96745. SPRINGER:Thank you. You may proceed. ROSS:Good morning Planning Commission members. Thank you for allowing me to speak to you today. My name is Delaney Ross and I have been going to Hualalai Academy since kindergarten. I am now in 5th grade and 10 years old. Both my brother and sister have gone to this school from the beginning. When my brother was in 5th grade there were only 2 students in his class. When my sister was in the 5th grade there were 11 children in her class. Now that I€m in 5th grade there are 19 kids in my class. My brother is now is college th at UH Manoa and my sister is in 10 grade at HPA. They had to go to Waimea for high school becauseHualalaiAcademydidnothaveone.IamhopingtogotohighschoolhereinKonaat Hualalai Academy. I love Hualalai Academy because it has taught me to have a sense of self EXHIBIT A 3 worth, respect for others, leadership skills and many more skills that I will need as I become older. Hualalai Academy has helped my family for over 9 years. Thank you again. SPRINGER:Thank you Delaney. Are there any questions for the testifier? Seeing none. Erik, could you please state your name and address for the record then give us your testimony? LUCHSINGER:My name is Erik Luchsinger and my address is 75-5591 Hienaloli Road, house #4, Kailua-Kona, 96740. SPRINGER:You may proceed. LUCHSINGER:Good morning Planning Commission. My name is Erik Luchsinger. I am thth 13 and I am an 8 grader at Hualalai Academy. I have been going here since 7 grade. I am also the student council president. I moved to Hawai i 2 years ago and as soon as I moved here I came to Hualalai Academy. The first class I signed up for was an algebra class and it has taught me much more in the 2 years that I€ve been here than I would have learned in my school in California. It€s very hands on and instead of- like if we need to find out the circumference of something instead of using a circle on a piece of paper the teacher will bring in a pie. And we€ll do calculations on the pie and then we€ll eat the pie and it€s way more fun than just a textbook. My favorite subject is History and the History classes here are also very good. Instead of just textbooks we build bridges like the ancient people might have built them andwe also write lots of papers and it€s very, very fun. I really hope I€ll be able to continue my great learning experience at Hualalai Academy into high school. And if you let us build the High School buildingI€llbeabletoandthatwouldbegreat.ThankyouPlanningCommission. SPRINGER:Thankyou.Commissionersarethereanyquestionsforthetestifier? Thanks Erik. Ma€am your name and address please. JOHNSON:My name is Felicity Johnson. My mailing address is 74-4966 Kealakaa Street, Kailua-Kona. I am the Principal of Hualalai Academy, the founding head so it€s very special to me. We€ve been around since 1985 as a member of HPA€s Kona campus and we broke away and became independent in 1995 starting with 45 students in Pualoa Road and had to find somewhere to go. So we found this beautiful site beneath Hualalai. And we were called Hualalai before we even knew we were going to move to that mountain so it was very special. We are utilizing half of the campus- we€re about 7-1/2 to 8 acres. And we have completed our phase 1, K-8 students and we suddenly found there was a great need for a high school and we thth went into a 9 grade. And we were asked can you have a 10 and so on. And before we knew it there were more students wanting to come to our school than we are able to accommodate at this moment. There€s a great need actually in Kona for high school we€ve discovered. Historically speakingwehavediversity,wehaveupto25%ofourstudentseveryyearitseemsfinancialaid, and we€re hoping to grow that as we grow. We€re still very young; we€re 10 years old. And I€m veryproudlywearingourT-shirtwhenwemovedtoournewsitein2000.Thediversityofthe student body and our program we take pride in, we hope to keep that going. And the diversity goesupoutintoourneighborhoodofKealakehe,whichwe€realsoapartofthatcommunity.I EXHIBIT A 4 really would like our students to speak about the school I think they say more than I can possible say but if you have questions I€m really happy to answer them. Thank you. SPRINGER:Commissioners questions for the testifier? Ma€am we appreciate the academic need- of interest to me is traffic issues however. And, is the school prepared to follow their stated program for traffic mitigation? JOHNSON:Yes of course. SPRINGER:Thank you ma€am. Questions? Seeing none, thank you. Sir if you could please state your name and address for the record. STEGER:My name is Rick Steger. My address is 73-4376 Hiolani Place, Kailua- th Kona, 96740. I€m the parent of a 5 grade at Hualalai Academy and I€m also the President of the Board of Directors of Hualalai Academy. First of all as a parent my son has attended Hualalai Academy since kindergarten. I€m very satisfied with the program. He€s actually in the same grade as Delaney and I would just like to say that I have nothing but good things to say about the academy. Speaking on a technical issue I€ve been asked to make comments about the water allocation. First of all, we were not aware that we were using more than our current allocation. This was just brought to our attention about 2 weeks ago. Now the minute that I was aware that we were using more I immediately shut off all the irrigation to systematically look at how much consumption was really domestic consumption by the school and how much was irrigation. And so, after monitoring it on a daily basis the actual domestic consumption of the school is 657 gallons per day. That is about 12% of our current allocation is for domestic consumptionandtherest,theoverusagewasallinirrigation.SincethenI€vesystematically added back the irrigation for the ball field and the irrigation for the school and we€re currently operating at around 4,900 to 5,000 gallons per day. So we€ve been able to cut our consumption to be within our current allocation. We are though, going to be in contact with the Department of Water Supply to address the issues that they have for purchasing additional units if necessary. And I feel confident that we can maintain the consumption of the school within the allocation or even maybe a small increased allocation even with the 360 students. With increase to 360 students the consumption for domestic use, that is the school use will be around 1200 gallons, which is still well within our allocation and that allows I believe adequate water for the landscaping and irrigation. Thank you. SPRINGER:Commissioners questions for the testifier? I have a question. Is your landscaping fully installed or will it continue to have needs as the build out occurs? STEGER:The landscaping now is currently fully installed for the phase 1. The ball field is installed and the landscaping around the buildings were actually required as part of the permitting process so we installed them. But we are going to switch over to dry landscaping. We actually have engaged the irrigation guy and the landscaping contractor to come back in and we€re looking at what we can maintain and if there€s any portion of the land- current landscaping we can€t maintain we€re going to switch it over. And, any future landscaping will have to be dry landscaping. EXHIBIT A 5 SPRINGER:Thank you sir. Commissioners any questions? Commissioner Siracusa? SIRACUSA:Regarding your irrigation system at present is it a drip irrigation system or is it another type? STEGER:We have a combination of both. There€s part drip and there€s part rotary heads. Example, for the ball-field it€s all the rotary heads. They€re on water sensors. The ball field is currently on a water sensor. The water sensor is being installed for the administration and the assembly building. But we have a combination of all types of systems both drip and rotary head. SIRACUSA:Well the drip irrigation is very conservative of water usage and so you might you might want to consider besides xeriscaping that your new landscaping to put in the drip type. STEGER:Yes ma€am I agree. SIRACUSA:And that will cut down your water usage considerably. SPRINGER:Thank you Commissioners any further questions? Commissioner Iwashita? IWASHITA:Sir, the notice of the water usage, are you referring to the May 13, 2005 letter or are you familiar with that letter? STEGER:I have that letter in front of me sir. IWASHITA:Okay. Have- I don€t know if you can speak to this but the- one of the conditions being proposed by the Director is an amendment to number 7. Have you seen that? Basically a requirement to comply with the Department of Water Supply€s requirements. STEGER:I haven€t seen the condition number 7. I believe that Mr. Lim will address that specifically. IWASHITA:Okay thank you. STEGER:I would like to say though that in following this letter the 7,200 gallons which would be our total allocation if we purchase 4 more units is well within any expectations that I have of the water usage for the site. SPRINGER:Commissioner any follow-up? Thank you. Other Commissioners any questions for the testifier? Thank you sir. The next 4 testifiers we€d like to call- Representative Josh Green, Alec Lievens, Grace Akazawa, Shiloah Watai. Beginning on my right, Representative Green if you could state your name and address for the record, then proceed with your testimony please. EXHIBIT A 6 GREEN:Sure thank you very much. My name is Josh Green. I€m a family physician here in town. My local address is P.O. Box 390028, Keauhou, 96739 and my address is on Alii Drive. Esteemed Commissioners and Director thank you for letting me testify today as a private citizen on behalf of Hualalai Academy€s proposal. I really just wanted to come and give a couple of brief statements in support and I also wanted to give my perspective as a State Representative but I don€t want to state that this is representing the position of the Legislature. I€m in support as an individual because I€ve found these good people to be very engaging from an academic standpoint and I think they€re valuable to the community. That€s the first and foremost reason I want to see them stay in Kona. What I€ve seen is an important nexus between both development and our fundamental infrastructure needs growing very rapidly here in Kona. We€re outstripping our abilities to educate our children to some extent. And I think this is a good opportunity to have a school that€s really going to help us prosper from an academic standpoint for our children as we go forward with new needs. Whether it€s psychologists or doctors or nurses or lawyers, I think this is going to help us to keep our local people educated andjustplainhereinKona.AndIreallycan€temphasizeenoughthatwhatI€veseenasI€ve talked to the community is that people want as many different opportunities whether they€re public schools or private schools, charter schools, which are perhaps somewhere in between. An opportunity to educate their children and a choice. As to the infrastructure needs I think that we€ve all been extremely aware of our infrastructure needs where roads and traffic are concerned and water. So I just am totally grateful to the community for continuing to bring up these issues. I think that that€s- this is yet of course another piece of the puzzle, both the need for education as infrastructure and how we€re going to attend to those needs from a traffic standpoint. But I€ve been pretty content by the way they€ve engaged the problem. And so I don€t want to linger cause I€d rather have the students talk like someone said before. I do think that€s more valuable. But just as a local citizen I wanted to give my strong support for their proposal. Thank you. SPRINGER:Thank you Representative Green. Commissioners any questions for the testifier? Seeing none. Thank you. Sir could you give us your name and address for the record please? LIEVENS:Hi my name is Alec Lievens and I live in Kailua-Kona. I want to thank thth the Planning Commission for letting me talk. I am in 8 grade and I€m hoping to go to 12. I am 14. What I like about Hualalai Academy is the trust. I can say what I want to say and go wherever I want freely with the trust of the- of teachers. And I can choose my classes. I have been going to this school for 8 years and I€ve seen it grow so much. This school is like a home away from home. I care about this school. This school is, is so important to me, I do lots- It€s so inspirational to me I do lots of community service because of it. So the other people who come to this school can see how great it is. Plus the more people who come to this school would make this school grow both physically and financially. I have pride in the school because of great teaching and teachers. I probably wouldn€t know half the things I know today if it wasn€t- if I went to a public school. That is why I would like to increase the number of students at Hualalai Academy. SPRINGER:Thank you sir. Commissioners any questions for the testifier? Seeing nonethankyou.Ma€amifyoucouldgiveusyournameandaddressandthenproceedwithyour testimony. EXHIBIT A 7 AKAZAWA:Hi my name is Grace Akazawa. My address is 73-4706 N. Kona Belt Road, Kailua-Kona, 96740. SPRINGER:You may proceed. th AKAZAWA:Goodmorning Planning Commission Members. I€m a 9 grade student and this is my second year at Hualalai Academy. Before I came to Hualalai Academy I attended Kealakehe Intermediate. For me Hualalai Academy is special because of the lessons you learn from and the people surrounding you. Everyone treats each other with kindness and respect and they€re always willing to help you even if you don€t need help; they€re like a second family. There€s a wide variety of classes to choose from that include hands-on learning and the teachers help you, like I said, even when you don€t need it. But, it€s good. We have classes like drama and fencing and it provides children with confidence and they have fun while they€re learning new things too. The atmosphere of Hualalai Academy is an all around positive learning environment that is critical for students and it has helped me learn and grown throughout the 2 years that I have spent there. Thank you. SPRINGER:You€re welcome. Thank you. Commissioners any questions for the testifier? Thank you. Ma€am you€re next. WATAI:My name is Shiloah Watai and my address 74-895 Kealakehe Street, Kailua-Kona, HI 96740. I am a student of Hualalai Academy. I am here testifying in behalf of my school in support of a Special Use Permit amendment that will allow us to increase the maximum number of students at our campus from 210 to a total of 360 students. I live in one of the public housing complexes called Jack Hall Housing. I graduated from Kealakehe th Intermediate School and had the opportunity to attend Hualalai Academy as a 9 grader because of their financial aid program. Hualalai Academy has been good to me. The teachers are excellent and I know that they care for me and my education. If we are granted this Special Use Permit to increase our attendance the children in our neighborhood will havethe same opportunity as me to attend this private school. Itis important for me to attend this school because my grandparents always tell me that my social skills are excellent but now I need to learnexcellentacademicskills.Yes,thisiswhattheteachersandstaffofHualalaiAcademy provides me. I also love the feeling after Mr. W€s class because I have no brains. Mahalo for listeningtomytestimonyandpleasehaveconsiderationfortheyouthofourcommunity. SPRINGER:Thankyou.Commissionersanyquestionsforthetestifier?Seeingnone, you all may step back now. Thank you all. I€d next like to call Elaine Watai, Brian Tu, Jim GreenwellandAnnPeterson.Yournameandaddressandyoumayproceed. WATAI:MynameisElaineWatai.IliveatJackHallHousing,74-895Kealakehe Street, Kailua-Kona, Hawai i 96740. SPRINGER:You may proceed. EXHIBIT A 8 WATAI:Aloha. In behalf of the Kealakehe Neighborhood Watch, Board of Directors and members I am in support of the Special Use Permit amendment for Hualalai Academy, a private school located in our neighborhood of Kealakehe. The school is requesting that they be allowed to increase the maximum number of students at our campus from 210 to 360 students. A few years ago Mrs. Felicity Johnson, Principal of the school and a handful of staff members called us to ask permission to meet with our Board. Their purpose, to obtain our permission for them to come into our community. Unbeknown to them at that time, the way of our culture has always been to request permission before one enters one€s home. We sat together in our humble meeting place at Jack Hall Housing which was our halau also used as our storage room. They introduced their school and made commitments to our community neighbors at that time. They have fulfilled all, and more of their commitments to our community to this date. One of our concerns at that time was how can we, as low-income families be able to send our children to their school? They promised to establish a financial aid fun that would enable our children to become part of their student body. They annually implement fundraisers, enabling ouryouthtoattendHualalaiAcademy.Theyhavefulfilledthatpromiseasyouhaveheard.My adopted granddaughter is now attending her first year at the academy because of financial aid, and so are several other children in our neighborhood. Every year since they have come into the community they provide our public housing children, families and kupuna, Christmas gifts. Fill our kupuna€s wish list, just like a generous Santa Claus. They adopt not one, two, but four or five families and furnish them with gifts that we would not be able to attain ourselves. Last year they even provided families whose husbands were in Iraq. Christmas gifts for the children and spouses left behind. Their teachers, staff members, and parents are all hard working people, earning a living just like us in the public housing areas. But they sacrifice their time and their monies to provide our community with extra wonderful blessings. They provide us their playing field for soccer, baseball, community fairs and so forth. We don€t have a center to do nice parties or recreational activities. They, through collaboration with others built a beautiful facility called the Ridge Building. And yes, they share that with our families. From Mrs. Johnson to Auntie Robin to Uncle George to Auntie Linda to Uncle Eric to my niece Janine who now has the opportunity to be employed there we are all one big ohana. Their standards are of the highest esteem. They continue their perseverance to cut academic excellence. Their integrity and commitment to our youth and our families are not to be questioned. They have made commitments to the community of Kealakehe and have fulfilled every commitment. They are not the cause of extra traffic in our area, on the contrary. They come quietly into the area, drop off their children, pick up their children and respectfully join the rest of us who live there and suffer the woes of traffic problems caused by other factors. We will stand behind the Hualalai Academy in support of raising their attendance from 210 to 360 students. We need more Hualalai Academies in West Hawai i. Please grant them this Special Permit amendment. Mahalo. SPRINGER:You€re welcome and thank you. Commissioners are there any questions for the testifier? Commissioner Siracusa? SIRACUSA:Yes, Auntie Elaine I just wanted to say that it€s good to see you here and thank you for your work with Solutions. EXHIBIT A 9 SPRINGER:Auntie Elaine, are you testifying personally or on behalf of the neighborhood watch? WATAI:Personally and on behalf of my neighborhood watch. In fact, Auntie Margaret is here. Thank you. She was one of our Board members, thank you for coming. SPRINGER:Sir, if you can give us your name and address and then give us your testimony. TU:My name is Brian and I live at 74-4969 Kealakaa Street, Kailua-Kona, Hawai i 96740. SPRINGER:You may proceed. TU:GoodmorningmembersofthePlanningCommission.MynameisBrian th Tu. I am 10 years old and I€m a 4 grader at Hualalai Academy. I€ve been attending Hualalai Academy since kindergarten. I like my teachers and all my friends who I study together with. I learn many things from my wonderful teachers. I have a lot of experiences from them. We have many special programs to enjoy every day. I do appreciate our school atmosphere; it is very peaceful and safe. Our parents and ohana help a lot for school events all the time. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful school to go to every day. I am planning to go to Hualalai Academy until high school. Also we have a community festival that is coming up to share the time with our neighborhoods and our school students. The community festival is one of my favorite events. It€s a good way to have fun with our Kealakehe neighborhood. Thank you so much for listeningtomeandIappreciatethisopportunitytosharemyexperienceofmyschoolHualalai Academy. Thank you again and have a great day. SPRINGER:You€re welcome and thank you for testifying. Commissioners any questions for the testifier? Thanks again. Mr. Greenwell. GREENWELL:Good morning Madame Chair, members of the Commission. My name is Jim Greenwell. Address is P.O. Box 4220 Kailua-Kona. I represent Palani Ranch and the school is on property that€s been in our family for a few generations. I just wanted to comment in support of this application that I think our community is a better place for having Hualalai Academy as a part of it and seeing it€s vision fulfilled. No one school is perfect for all children but the breath and the variety of opportunities is key. We happened to kind of cross paths with Hualalai Academy I guess about 8 years ago and they were in a dilemma. We€ve kind of been watching them grow and struggle to get their feet on the ground and find a home and fulfill their vision. And we were able to fortunately work out an arrangement where we could provide them that home and now we see their vision being fulfilled, hopefully and with our support today. Schools like this need believers. And I€ve never seen such a group of believers starting with Felicity, the various chairs of their Board, their parents who come and go but they always seem to have a coterie of very supportive helpful parents, the community that surrounds them and the children themselves. Just go on campus and see it. Go to one of their events. It€s- a lot of sweat equity has gone into this, a lot of belief. And they need others like us to believe in them and to EXHIBIT A 10 support them in this vision and we encourage your favorable consideration of their application and spirit. Thank you. SPRINGER:You€re welcome and thank you Mr. Greenwell. Commissioners any questions of the testifier? Thank you. Ma€am your name and address and then your testimony. PETERSON:Aloha I€m Ann Peterson, 77-180 Kekai Place, Kailua-Kona, 96740. I€m here representing PATH, People€s Advocacy for Trails Hawai i, that€s an organization formed in 1986 to address safety concerns on our roadways and trails. We started doing safe routes to school studies in 1999 and we did a very comprehensive study of the Kealakehe area. I first just want to say that I think you see how important this school is to our community. I just want to talk about the traffic issues. We have gone in there. We did- there€s about 4,000 students in this ahupua'a with the 5 different schools there. It€s a very active area with students. And what we found is that, you know it€s almost counter-intuitive but the busier a place is, the safer it is. You knowiftherewasjust1or2kidsyouknowit€snotquiteassafebutwhenthere€shundredsand actually thousands here the awareness is greater. And, so I don€t see the traffic as a problem. And there will be more cars coming in here that€s you know- that€s inherent. The one thing I do want to say is if Kealakaa ever becomes a through street, I think we need some traffic calming on that road if that€s going to be a connector road. And, hopefully that will be in the plans, if that ever happens but I just want to really speak in support of this. If there€s any particular questions, please let me know. SPRINGER:Thank you. Commissioners any questions for the testifier? Seeing none, thank you, you may all step back. At this time I€d like to call Kathy Buoncristiani, Heidi Koop, Ginger Towle and Eric Von Platten Luder. Beginning at my right, if you could please state your name and your address and then proceed with your testimony. BUONCRISTIANI:Great, thank you. Good morning. My name is Kathy Buoncristiani. My address is 78-128 Ehukai Street, Kailua-Kona, 96740. So good morning. I am here representing the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort and Spa and my position at the resort is Director of Human Resources. I am here today to support the proposal by Hualalai Academy to expand the number of students allowed to attend the school. It can almost go without saying that the visitor tourist industry provides one of the stronger sources of revenue for the island of Hawai i. In a global market adaptation of the ever-changing needs and demands of the business requires that we create and provide a unique experience with the need to grow and to meet those changes we must attract leaders who can take up these challenges. And in today€s market leadership is not a place or a position, leadership is a process which values continuous education. As many of you know the unemployment rate on the Big Island is quite low. When I last checked it was 2%- it was less than 2%. Candidates who are recruited for leadership positions keenly explore the educational options when they consider a move to Kona. Our internal associates are employees who advanced from the front line and find themselves now eligible for a more developed position also make corresponding changes in their family€s educational options. In the 4 years that I have worked as a Director of Human Resources in the Kona area, consistently the most popular school of choice is Hualalai Academy. The Kona community needs leaders. I ask that the Hualalai Academy be allowed to expand it€s student population. Thank you for your time and consideration of this request. EXHIBIT A 11 SPRINGER:You€re welcome and thank you. Commissioners any questions for the testifier? Thank you. Ma€am if you could give us your name and address please? KOOP:My name is Heidi Marie Koop, P.O. Box 486, Captain Cook, 96704. I would like to ask the Planning Commission to grant Hualalai Academy€s request to the County Council for further variance to increase the number of students at the Kealakehe campus. The most important resource of the community is it€s children. Building a strong community and offering a variety of educational alternatives in Kona ensures that the education is a bridge to a future that supports a generation with the vision, with the knowledge, skills, and love for our community. Hualalai Academy provides a very much-needed alternative educational opportunity for the children in Kona. The growth of Hualalai Academy is a great benefit to the entire community by providing educational diversity. As one of the founders of Kona Pacific Waldorf School I strongly encourage each of you to vote for that requested variance. I also wouldliketoreportthattheBoardofKonaPacificWaldorfSchool,whichoffersanalternative school to 80 children has unanimously voted to endorse Hualalai Academy€s request to the County Council for further variance. As a neighbor island administrator of child and family service I can report that my contact with the public schools demonstrates on a daily basis how overwhelmed the administration and teachers of the public schools are by the demands of the variety of the families in this community. Alternative schools are necessity to support the health th and growth of this community. As a parent of a future 9 grader in the fall I ensure that the families in Captain Cook who have their children attend Hualalai Academy will be a consorted effort to carpool to help the traffic situation. We are very conscious about the needs of the traffic in Kona. Thank you for your consideration allowing Hualalai Academy to offer our children the much needed excellent education in Kona. Thank you so much. SPRINGER:You€re welcome and thank you. Are there any questions from the Commission to the testifier? I just have a question for the Director based on the testifier€s testimony that I would just like to clarify for all of us. Does this decision making- does decision making end here or does it go on to the County Council? YUEN:This vote is final here by the Planning Commission. SPRINGER:So the vote today is the final vote on the matter. Just for that clarification, itdoesnotgoontotheCouncil.Thankyou.Ma€amifwecouldhaveyourandaddress. TOWLE:Goodmorningeveryone.I€mGingerTowle.Myaddressis75-5788Nele Place Kailua Kona Hawai i. My granddaughter has gone to Hualalai Academy since she was a kindergartner; she€s now a ninth grader. I wrote a letter in as a grandmother explaining the excellence of the school and so forth but my appearance here to day is to support this and how desperately this school is need and other schools of this caliber. And I was hearing little rumblings about traffic but what you have to understand, people are going to drop their children off at some school whether it€s up the street or around the corner and I think that we should never, never hamper education because of traffic. We need to figure out how to calming for the traffic or something like that. And if there€s a couple of cranky old men my age just don€t pay any attention to them. Cause the last time there was some of this, and I thought this is ridiculous EXHIBIT A 12 our future is our youth. And I have worked with Elaine Watai at Kealakehe and so forth and this is the star of our community. And as this young woman said, we need more education facilities such as this and I can€t think of anyone better to continue this with expanded enrollment than Hualalai Academy. Thank you. SPRINGER:You€re welcome. Thank you ma€am. Any questions for the testifier? Thanks. VON PLATEN LUDER:Aloha and good morning. I€m Eric Von Platen Luder. My address is 75-632 Makalauna Place, Kailua-Kona, HI 96740. And I€m here today to represent the Kona Kohala Chamber of Commerce. There€s written testimony in support of this measure that you have but I wanted to reinforce that with a personal visit to the Commission. From- I think you€ve heard from everybody here all of the great things that the school does and all of the wonderful things that it provides for the community and for the students. And I would just like toreallyreiterateKathyBuoncristiani€sletteronwhichtakesintoaccountthebusinessaspectof how important a school like this is to attract leaders and successful businesses and keep leaders and successful businesses in our communities. So many times we have families moving out of town because the number one most important thing to them is the education of their children. And so many times some of our top leaders, top residents even and even many of us who have grown up here, many of our best friends who grew up here as well, have moved out of this community so their children could go to school in a place, for whatever reason, they thought would be better than the school€s that are provided here. So I just want to reiterate that it€s extremely important for a school like this to exist within our community. Right now in private high schools, there are probably over a thousand families who have their students or their children in private high schools within this area- in this community. Many of them are driving, speaking of traffic, are driving everyday, commuting in cars to Waimea to go to Hawai i Preparatory Academy or Parker School. So we€re putting a lot of our children on the streets for long, long drives to achieve an education their parents perceive as one that is necessary for them for whatever reasons, which I think is an important thing to think of. So we really shouldn€t have these children driving on the road at you know 15, 16 years old, 30 or 40 miles round trip everyday. As well as, coming from Kealakekua, it€s even farther. So the capacity for high schools especially in the alternative education areas within our community is, sorely needs to be expanded and I really just want to support that. And on behalf of the Kona Kohala Chamber of Commerce let you all know how important we all feel it is. SPRINGER:Thank you. Commissioners any questions for the testifier? Seeing none, thank you all and you may step back from the table. The last person who has signed up to testify is Sarah Crawford. If you could please give your name and address and your testimony. CRAWFORD:Sure, thank you. Aloha. My name is Sarah Crawford. My address is Box 552 in Holualoa. I am Board Secretary of the school. I am a parent at the school. I€m a business owner in the community and I am also the informal campus architect. So, if you have any questions about the build-out to be, let me know please. I just wanted to say a couple of things; I don€t want to repeat anything that has been said in great detail before. First of all, I want to reiterate although we have come to you in the past in 1998 when we had no campus and we were given, we did not request but we were given a cap of 150 students. We did not plan on that that EXHIBIT A 13 was an idea that was presented at the hearing. We came back in the year 2001 and asked for a cap of 210 with the idea that that would help us with the build-out for just phase 1. So we always knew we would have to come back to you. We have asked for you at this time- or asked you at this time to give us a cap of 360 students, which sounds like a tremendous increase. But it is to be gradual. It is to be instituted over a period of 10 years. So that is one thing I really wanted to underline for you. It is not an immediate increase to 360 students next year. Secondly, and by the way, we don€t plan to come back anymore for this campus. So, this may be our last hearing. You may not see our faces again for a long long time. Till we have another campus somewhere else for something else. But that€s a different issue not an issue for this campus. Then I also wanted to say that most of our increase in the next 10 years will be in the high school ages. And they will probably, in terms of the traffic what we€re trying to do as we have put into our documents, we€re trying to stagger our hours so that we don€t conflict with the students on the street from the- students down the street actually the Kealakehe Intermediate and Kealakehe Elementary. We are planning with our high school students when we have a building forthemandtheyarefullyensconcedinthatbuildingwearehopingtohavethemcomelater than everybody else. So that we once again are not competing with the other cars on Palani Road and specifically also with the commute traffic. And that€s about it. If you have any questions for me, if you would like to hear more about the campus please let me know. SPRINGER:Thank you. Commissioner Alameda question? ALAMEDA:Thank you Madame Chair. Just going back to your earlier point on the not needing to come back again. So, do I understand that the 360 students, that that proposed infrastructure that will- the 360 students will max that out? CRAWFORD:That will max out that campus yes. ALAMEDA:Okay, thank you. CRAWFORD:Thank you. SPRINGER:Other Commissioners questions for the testifier? Seeing none, you may step back and we have a late request for another testifier. I believe it€s Kimberly Jackson. Did you get a chance to be sworn in with the rest of the group? JACKSON:No I did not. SPRINGER:Okay if we can go back and do that. Could you please raise our right hand? Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter now before the Hawai i County Planning Commission. JACKSON:I do. SPRINGER:Thank you. If you could state your name and your address and then proceed with your testimony. EXHIBIT A 14 JACKSON:Thank you very much for your time. Kimberly Jackson. My address- 71- 1834 Puulani Drive, Box B22, Kailua-Kona, 96740. And again I do thank you for your time. I€m an attorney in town and I got the call and got here as fast as I could but I€m also a parent at rd Hualalai Academy. I have a child whose in 3 grade. She€s been there since kindergarten and I€ve been driving in since she was 2 years old as far as that traffic area cause she was at Montessori Preschool as well. So I know that the rush hour and how it has all grown. But again on the traffic issue if she isn€t at Hualalai Academy we€re in Kealakehe school district or for high school we would probably be going to HPA and be adding to the Mamalahoa issues. And I am on the Mamalahoa Traffic Safety sub-committee and the Kailua-Kona Traffic Safety Committee, so I know the big issues. But we€d be coming anyway so there€s no difference really in the traffic. But I strongly support Hualalai Academy€s petition to expand especially for the high school. Hoping it can get together great for her high school years and have been very, very happy with the school. Very dedicated teachers. There€s a lot of parent involvement. I€m quite involved with the school and it€s just been a really, really great experience for my daughter. She hasn€t been in public school so I can€t compare, but she€s- I€ve been just thrilled with the education and with the staff and think that it€s a wonderful opportunity and addition to Kona. And really if we€re not going there we€re hitting the roads for HPA and then it€s going to be a- it€s going to make my life we€re interesting so- anyway, thank you for your time. SPRINGER:You€re welcome. Thank you Ms. Jackson. Are there any questions for thetestifier?Thankyou.YoumaystandbackandwehaveanotherrequestfromJoyceClarke. You were in the room did you get a chance to be sworn in with the other testifiers? Thank you if you can give us your name and your address and then proceed. CLARKE:I€m Joyce Clarke. My address is P.O. Box 695, Kailua-Kona, Hawai i 96745. And, good morning. And I€d like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak. I€m a junior at Hualalai Academy and I€ve been studying there for 2 years and I really love it. Hualalai Academy really saved my education and my passion for learning and knowledge. Without it I feel I would be really lost. It€s enhanced my passion for learning and with the leadership of Felicity it€s literally provided me a stage on which to develop my theatrical skills. And I came from a small private non-traditional Waldorf School and willingly I did attempt a year at Konawaena High School. And I was really excited to join a bigger high school with a lot of students but coming from the Waldorf School I didn€t fit the traditional standard large public school system and I really couldn€t find my niche or my place to be. And so, Hualalai Academy is really an alternative for students as myself. And it€s not only a school but it€s a family and it really accepts it€s students with open arms. And I look forward to being part of the first graduating class in 2006 and intend to further my education in New York at the University of Ithaca. And I€d like to thank you again and hope you accept our request to increase our student population size. SPRINGER:Thank you. Are there any questions for the testifier from the Commission? Thank you, you may stand back. That€s the last testifier- PUBLIC:Madame Chair? Can I ask a question? If you want 20 more people to come up (inaudible). EXHIBIT A 15 SPRINGER:That€s certainly the pleasure of the citizen. And as you can see we have received a number of testimonies in support. Commissioner Siracusa posed a question if there had been any testimony against the proposal and the answer was that there had been none. So if there is no one more who cares to come forward we can return to the business of the Planning Commission and thank you all for attending. You€re welcome. Mr. Lim would you come back to the table. LIM:Thank you. SPRINGER:You€re welcome. LIM:We€ve received the copy of the Director€s background report and recommendations and we have no comments. We understand that there are some amendments to a proposed condition relating to water. I think that the issues have been well addressed by the witnessesthathavegonebeforeandsoIhavenothingtoaddunlessyouhavequestionsforme. SPRINGER:Commissioners?CommissionerSiracusa? SIRACUSA:Mr.DarrowmentionedthathewantedtoinserttheNumber14Ibelievein the amendment item Number 7 or obtain additional 14 water credits, I believe is the way I heard it? DARROW:We have worked out a rewording of the condition so- SIRACUSA:Shall we work that into the- into the motion and is that agreeable with you Mr. Lim? LIM:I€ll do a short discussion before and I forgot, I€m sorry. I wanted to acknowledge that the support of the Kona Traffic and Safety Committee whose headed up now by Mr. Joel Gimpel he€s been here all day. And he decided he had submitted testimony as Exhibit I to our application. But, moving on to the water issue- we understand that the Department of Water Supply has informed us that the project site currently has 10 water units I guess they call it. And that we could get an additional 4 more, maximum off the existing system. And that the Director has proposing language to require that we pay for those additional 4 if we use them. And I think that€s acceptable to the Hualalai Academy. So, I guess I€ll let Mr. Darrow state the condition that€s proposed. DARROW:Thank you Mr. Lim. The- we€ve reworded the condition from the condition that we had passed out previously. The new wording for Condition number 7 would be as follows, The Applicant shall comply with the Department of Water Supply requirements. The Applicants shall limit water consumption to 14 water units or water credits allowed by their water allocation. If the Applicants can obtain additional credits they may increase their consumption and match their credits. The Applicant shall pay 4 facility charges and all facility charges for any additional credits. The Applicant shall report annually in writing on their water usage with a copy being sent to the Department of Water Supply. EXHIBIT A 16 SPRINGER:Commissioner Siracusa? SIRACUSA:Yes, I wanted to ask Mr. Lim how that sits with him? LIM:That€s consistent with our understanding. SIRACUSA:Thank you. SPRINGER:CommissionerWatanabe. WATANABE:I guess, I€m looking forsome clarification because I€m looking at Mr. Pavao€s letter and the 77,000 he was requesting really is the equivalent of 14 credits at 5,500 each and so I€m wondering if he has to pay for 14 credits or 4 additional? YUEN:Underthiscondition,theyhadtopayfor4additionalandIdidspeakwith Deputy Water Manager this morning, Quirino Antonio. Their situation is that they have a maximum of 14 available credits for the property or 14 available units. They have paid for 10. They€re using- they have been using well over the 10. What the conditions as worded says is that they have to pay for the facilities charge for 4 more to go to the 14 that they have. We€re not making them pay for 14 more, cause actually they don€t have the units, they don€t have the allocation for 14 more. Then, the condition is that they have to hold their consumption to the 14, which is 8400 gallons a day. And they- if they can obtain more units of water then upon paying for those additional, pay new additional facilities charges they can increase their water consumption to match whatever the number of units that they have. There is a possibility that the water situation will open up somewhat in the area in a few years. The department does have a big project to bring down more water into the general area with a new pipeline. That€s 2 or 3 years down the road before that gets done. SPRINGER:Thank you Director Yuen. Follow-up? WATANABE:No that€s good. SPRINGER:Thank you Commissioner Watanabe. Commissioners are there any other questions either for the Applicant€s representative or the Planning Director? Commissioner Siracusa? SIRACUSA:I€m ready to make a motion if that€s timely? DARROW:Madame Chair if I could interject? SPRINGER:Mr. Darrow? DARROW:It€s been requested by our represented from the Department of Public Works if we could make a change to the existing condition number 4. They want to shorten the condition and delete portions. What we would do is delete the condition and reword it EXHIBIT A 17 accordingly, shortening it to state: Access to Kealakaa Street shall meet with the approval of the Department of Public Works.‚ And the rest of the condition would be deleted. SPRINGER:Thank you Mr. Darrow. DARROW:Thank you. SPRINGER:Director Yuen do you have a comment? YUEN:No if that€s what DPW wants that€s fine with us. SPRINGER:Thank you. Commissioners any further discussion on this item before us? Seeing none, Commissioner Siracusa. SIRACUSA:Thankyou.InthematterofHualalaiAcademy,SpecialPermitNumber 1011, amendment to Condition Number 3, I move that we approve the request with the amendment to- as shown here, including the recommended change to Condition Number 4, made by Public Works and the addition to Condition Number 7 as read into the record by staff Mr. Darrow. SPRINGER:Thank you Commissioner Siracusa. Is there a second? WATANABE:I€ll second. SPRINGER:Seconded by Commissioner Watanabe. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, Mr. Darrow we€re ready for the- I€m sorry, Commissioner Iwashita? IWASHITA:I just wanted to make a comment on the record and I really appreciate all the testimony from all of the supporters of the school and fully acknowledge the excellence that the school is achieving. I have a- I just wanted to put on the record the following statement for everyone to consider, (tape cut off) excellent public education is necessary for realizing our Jeffersonian Democratic ideals. Thank you. SPRINGER:You€re welcome. Thank you for that addition and thoughtfulness. Is there any further discussion on the matter? Seeing none, Mr. Darrow, we€re ready for the roll call vote. DARROW:Thank you Madame Chair. Commissioner Siracusa? SPRINGER:Aye. DARROW:Commissioner Watanabe? WATANABE:Aye. DARROW:Commissioner Alameda? EXHIBIT A 18 ALAMEDA:Aye. DARROW:Commissioner Iwashita? IWASHITA:Aye. DARROW:Commissioner McCall? MCCALL:Aye. DARROW:And Madame Chair. SPRINGER:Yes. DARROW:The motion passes 6-0. SPRINGER:You€ll be informed in writing of this decision. DARROW:On behalf of Hualalai Academy thank you very much. SPRINGER:You€re welcome. Thank you all for coming. The discussion ended at 11:09 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Lynette Sanemitsu, West Hawaii Secretary EXHIBIT A 19