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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-06-17 PATRICK SPP0508 PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAII HEARING TRANSCRIPT June 17, 2005 A regularly advertised hearing on the application of PETER PATRICK/PATRICIA PATRICK, M.D. (SPP 05 08) was called to order at 2:25 p.m. in the King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel, Kamakahonu Ballroom, 75-5660 Palani Road, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, with Chairman Fred Galdones presiding. PRESENT:Fred GaldonesABSENT & EXCUSED: Hannah Springer Jeffrey McCallC. Kimo Alameda Rene€ Siracusa AndrewIwashita Allen Salavea William R. Graham Rodney H. Watanabe 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 7 people from the public in attendance. APPLICANTS: PETER PATRICK/PATRICIA PATRICK, M.D. (SPP 05 08) Special Permit application to allow the establishment of a Wellness Center and related improvements on 1/3 acre of land situated within the State Land Use Agricultural District. The property is located along the south (mauka) side of the Hawaii Belt Road (Highway 190), adjacent to the Puu Lani Ranch Subdivision, Puuanahulu Homesteads, North Kona, Hawaii, TMK: 7-1-5: portion of 45. GALDONES:Commissioners we are on agenda item number 5. Applicants are Peter Patrick/Patricia Patrick, M.D. SPP05-008. This is a special permit application to allow the establishment of a Wellness Center and related improvements on 1/3 acre of land situated within the State Land Use Agricultural District. Jeff? DARROW:Thank you Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon members of the Planning Commission. If I can direct your attention to the location map. The area of this application is within the North Kona district of Hawaii more specifically within the Puuanahulu area. This blue line travelling in a north well west, east/west direction is Mamalahoa Highway. This direction would be towards Waimea district and this direction would be towards the Kona- towards Kona. In this particular area we have the Big Island Country Golf Club as well as the Puulani Ranch Estates. The area of the application is directly across the entrance of the Big EXHIBIT D 1 Island Country Club golf course. It€s a one-acre parcel. The applicants Peter and Patricia Patrick are requesting a special permit to establish a Wellness Center on approximately 1/3 of an acre of the one-acre parcel. Looking at the site map submitted by the Applicants. This would be Mamalahoa Highway travelling in an east-west direction again directly across from the entrance of the Big Island Country Golf Course. We have the driveway connecting to the highway that comes on the east-west side of the property. And in the red area is identified as the proposed Wellness Center, which will be built in a traditional barn style. Within your application they actually have what appears to be a proposed layout for the barn. The, on the property at this time is an existing 3-bedroom, 2-bath house. There€s a large yard area. And the applicants again are proposing to construct a barn as well as a parking area for the Wellness Center. The applicants Patricia and, Peter and Patricia Patrick- Peter has a background in psychology and developmental disabilities as well as, he is a physical therapist. Patricia is a child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist with over 40-years of experience. The Planning Department had requested additional information regarding the definition of a Wellness Center and their proposed uses. ThiswassubmittedtousbytheapplicantsonMay26andismadepartofyourrecord.IfImay just read what they identify as a Wellness Center. It€s a place to gather and be guided on the path to self awareness and self actualization on a physical, spiritual and mental level using a variety of non-medical techniques which can include Shigong movements, meditation, dancing, singing, dream interpretation, walking, playing, interpretive artwork and textile therapy for the senses, eye, ear, nose and breath and it continues on in the letter. We, the Planning Department has received several letters of support from the applicants from people in the area and we€ve received one letter of concern from Mr. and Mrs. Whittemore, which is also part of your record. The Planning Director within the Recommendation had pointed out that there is no clear definition of a Wellness Center and therefore he has placed in the recommendation condition number 2 which recommends that the type and scale of the activities and the physical improvements to the property shall be in substantial conformance to the description in the application. Therefore in the future if these, if the Patrick€s were to sell the property and a new owner would come in they would not create a new use that would be under supposedly the guides of a Wellness Center but that the only activity that would be allowed there by this Special Permit would be very similar to what is being proposed today. There was within the letter from the Whittemores a concern regarding the driveway access and that has been handled under condition number 6, which requires the applicants to conform- that the connection, the driveway connection to Mamalahoa Highway be approved by the Department of Transportation. The Planning Director is recommending approval by the Planning Commission of this Special Permit. Are there any questions? GALDONES:Commissioner Siracusa? SIRACUSA:Yes I was noticing the letter from the Whittemores their item number 2, barn style structure to be constructed for the Wellness Center shall not be used for any other purpose than what has been represented in this application and yet this property is part of a State Land Use Agricultural District and I€m wondering if at some point in the future this property gets transferred to someone else does this mean that the barn cannot be used as a barn? DARROW:The- EXHIBIT D 2 SIRACUSA:And would that really be reasonable considering that it€s Ag land and that it is a barn? DARROW:Yeah, any type of animal husbandry or agricultural uses would be a permitted use and could be used within the barn. In regards to uses outside of what would be allowed within the district, let€s say somebody wanted to do a doctor€s office or a massage therapy clinic or something, they would have to come back before the Planning Commission. SIRACUSA:So then we really don€t have to be concerned with their suggestion number 2? It€s not applicable is that what you€re saying? Or does the Director want to respond to that? YUEN:I think our proposed condition covers this as far as the uses. The possibility that you raised is I doubt if that was the intention of the letter to prohibit the agricultural use of the barn if they weren€t using it for the activities allowed only under this SpecialPermit.But,ourconditionwouldbethatyesifyouweren€tusingitfortheWellness Center you could use it for- the allowed use in the Ag district just as you could build a barn and use it to keep horses or keep a tractor or store fertilizer or any other of the potential things that one might do with a utility structure in the, that are allowed in the Ag district. SIRACUSA:Thank you for clarifying that on the record. GALDONES:Any further questions Commissioners of Jeff? Seeing none will the Applicant or his representative please come forward? Mr. Lim why don€t I swear all the three of you in, in case they do testify. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter now before the Hawaii County Planning Commission? LIM/PATRICKS:I do. GALDONES:Could you please state your name and your residence address for the record? PATRICK, MR.:Mr. Peter Patrick. Our address is 68-1657 Hoohiki Court, Waikoloa, 96738. GALDONES:Thank you. PATRICK, MRS.:Patricia Carol Patrick, 68-1657 Hoohiki Court, Waikoloa, Hawaii. LIM:Good afternoon Mr. Chairman, Members of the Commission, Steven Lim from Carlsmith at P.O. Box 626, Hilo. GALDONES:Thank you. Mr. Lim have you folks received a copy of the background report and the recommendations? LIM:Yes we have and we have no comments or corrections. With regard to one of the conditions we do have a request for an amendment but I can touch upon that later. EXHIBIT D 3 GALDONES:Okay. Commissioners are there any questions of Mr. Lim or the applicants? Mr. Lim? LIM:Sir, if I could- I know that there was one request from the Planning Department Staff if I could try to in one sentence describe what a Wellness Center is. We submitted a very detailed description of what the activities would be on the proposed activities by Dr. Patrick and Mr. Patrick but in one sentence I€lltryto do this. I€ve read this to them, they thought that adequately described it but. A Wellness Center is a timeout place where individual psychotherapeutic and physical therapy techniques can be applied within a quiet agrarian environment that fosters the healing process. In one sentence. Essentially what, what you see are 2 very experienced individuals. They will be making their home at this subject property; it€s a one-acre site and approximately 1/3 of it will be used for the healing activities. They€ve been doing this for many years. Both are very accomplished both in psychotherapy and physical therapyandthemartialarts,allofwhichgetsplayedintotheirtreatmenttechniques.For instance Mr. Patrick is well known in terms of his physical therapy treatment for children and he will be utilizing 1 or 2 miniature horses. They€re about 30-inches high and 3 feet long, something like that. PATRICK, MR.:Like a big dog. LIM:Yeah and probably smaller than my dog but. For an example that they gave me one of the exercises rather than submitting the patients to the boring repetition that you have to do with weights and things like that. He€ll take someone that has trouble with grasping motions and the technique that he would use is to have them grasp a carrot and put it over and feed the horse and to do that in a controlled method and he will be guiding them. And that€s the type of therapy that they espouse, which is a little bit out of the standard physical therapy office. You know utilizing that type of technique and also Dr. Patrick will be using things like sand play and if you need to know what that is I think she described it a little bit in the submittal. But these are non- these are I would say not your mainstream type treatment techniques, which have been working very well for them. Our request on the condition was an amendment to condition number 5, which is the hours of operation and the limitation on participants. The hours of operation are as represented in our application are fine and only with respect to that last sentence which addresses the workshops of 1 weekend per month limited to 5 participants. We would request that that number of participants be increased to 6. The reason for that is that most of these treatment modalities will be done either in pairs or in trios. So to have the 5 was awkward. So they€ll be using, usually they€ll go individual or pairs or trios so 6 would be the request that we would ask of the Planning Commission. But other than that the other conditions that have been suggested by the Director are acceptable to the Applicant. GALDONES:Thank you. Commissioners any questions? Commissioner Siracusa? SIRACUSA:Well this isn€t exactly a question. Under your gardening projects, animal husbandry. I€ve had experience with all of these animals and I would strongly recommend that you delete goat because they can get, you might end up with a liability problem. Even females very often get into butting. And maybe substitute rabbits instead. EXHIBIT D 4 PATRICK, MRS.:Thank you. PATRICK, MR.:Thank you ma€am I already have a rabbit. LIM:They€ve worked very hard in the community and have obtained the written support of all the surrounding neighbors with the exception of Mr. Whittemore who I know is in the back of the room. I don€t know if he signed up to speak or not. Andwe€ve spoken with the Cleavers who are the property owners that are just inside off of Mamalahoa Highway. Their concern, we spoke with them this past week was that because of the existing garage when their guest would come into the current owner€s place they would have to come in and turn around in the Cleaver€s lot. And so once the proposed project goes forward they€re going to demolish the existing garage and provide for an additional, approximately 4 to 5 more stalls on the property so that should not be a problem. I think when we discussed that with them theCleaversfeltcomfortablewiththat.IknowthatMr.Whittemorehadwritteninwithone concern about installing landscaping buffer between the barn and the rock wall right where Jeff is pointing and we€re agreeable to do that. That was part of the plan in, in any event. GALDONES:Thank you. YUEN:Just on, I don€t, we don€t have any difficulty from the Director€s side as far as the number of people being 6 that€s quite reasonable. We didn€t put a landscaping condition on this because the types of things being proposed were not. And the type of building that we€re talking about is not that different than what would be simply allowed. So in- and particularly they€re proposing to put in this barn building and because you could put a very- you clearly could put a very similar building in a agricultural district or even a residential district we didn€t feel a need to have a landscaping condition that would screen that from passing view. And the other activities were, they€re all enclosed so this is a little different than an auto repair facility or a warehouse or a baseyard or something like that where, or even the, let€s say the Kamigaki Market that was just in front of us where you€re putting in a type of building that would ordinarily not be found in that kind of district. If they want to, we don€t have a problem with including that as a condition especially if the applicant is willing or planning to do it anyway but that€s why we didn€t put a landscaping condition in this application. GALDONES:Thank you. There being no other comments. We did not have anybody sign up for, to testify but is there anyone here from the public wishing to testify? Okay, seeing none. Commissioners before I call for a motion Mr. Lim are there any closing remarks? LIM:No, I think they€ve done a very good job with the neighbors. They went out and spoke with everyone and got those letters of support almost unanimous as you see in your record. And those are from people that are right around the project. I think the neighbors have welcomed the project and we ask for the Planning Commission€s support. Thank you very much. GALDONES:Okay. Commissioners it comes with a recommendation for approval by the Planning Commission with an amendment to condition number 5 that the number of EXHIBIT D 5 participants be changed from 5 to become 6. Chair is prepared to entertain a motion. Commissioner Salavea? SALAVEA:Just to clarify, are we, for Director Yuen are we going to include a- GALDONES:Landscaping? SALAVEA:Landscaping, amend or requirement or not? YUEN:That€s not in our current recommendation and I€m still- we€re not, if the Commission wants to put it in I don€t have a problem with it. It would be a question of what you actually want as the landscaping condition though because we-. If you did it for example as a commercial versus a residential landscaping, commercial zone adjoining a residential zone there would be quite a bit of landscaping is required for that. So as it stands right now, there is no landscapingconditionhoweverthereisaconditionthatsaysthattheimprovementstothe property have to be substantially as represented in the application. So they are limited to a barn type building for their facility. SALAVEA:Thank you Mr., I just wanted to clarify whether or not that would be part of the recommendation. GALDONES:Thanks. Commissioner Graham? GRAHAM:Can I have a clarification also? I notice on the one we€re talking about increasing from 5 to 6 participants and that€s on the workshop that happens one weekend a month. But there€s no real condition anyway on how many people can come there to be part of the Wellness Center right? Or is there? I didn€t see one so I€m just, it almost feels like well you€d have a Wellness Center going with 10. If there are 10 people there on the weekend they€re part of the Wellness Center not part of the retreat. So it all just seemed a little confused. LIM:Okay, typically what will happen during the week are and these are all by appointment and typically what we€ll see during the week between 10 o€clock and 3 p.m. are anywhere between 1 to 3 to 5 people coming in for 1 hour at a time. And the number changes because typically what happens is the person being treated is maybe a child that is encouraged to bring their parents. So they€ll you know that family unit will be there for that 1 hour. So they€ll probably see between 4 to 5 groups during that 10 to 3 period. And during the weekend group treatments proceedings they€ll have anywhere between 2 to 6 people come in and it will be 1 weekend per month. And so that will be the limit of the use. It€s not a very intense use at all I think that€s part of the reason why the community supported the request. And this will be at their home and so they€ll be conducting all of the activities themselves. GRAHAM:Well that€s okay with me. GALDONES:Commissioners motion is in order. Commissioner Watanabe? EXHIBIT D 6 WATANABE:Okay. In the matter of Peter and Patricia Patrick Special Permit Application 05-008, I move that we approve based on the recommendations by the Planning Director with the modification to number 5 regarding number of participants and changing that to 6 from 5. I think thatwasright. SIRACUSA:Second. GALDONES:There has been amotion by Commissioner Watanabe and seconded by Commissioner Siracusa that the application by Peter and Patricia Patrick Special Permit Application SPP 05-008 be approved by the Planning Commission along with the Background Report and Recommendation and amendment to Condition number 5. Further discussion? Hearing none, Jeff? DARROW:Thank you Mr. Chairman. Commissioner Watanabe? WATANABE:Aye. DARROW:Commissioner Siracusa? SIRACUSA:Aye. DARROW:Commissioner Graham? GRAHAM:Aye. DARROW:Commissioner Iwashita? IWASHITA:Aye. DARROW:Commissioner McCall? MCCALL:Aye. DARROW:Commissioner Salavea? SALAVEA:Aye. DARROW:And Mr. Chairman? GALDONES:Aye. DARROW:The motion passes 7 to 0. GALDONES:Thanks Jeff. LIM:On behalf of the Patrick€s thank you very much. EXHIBIT D 7 GALDONES:You€re welcome. Thisdiscussionended at 2:48 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Lynette Sanemitsu, West Hawaii Secretary EXHIBIT D 8