Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-07-23 TDOUTER LEEWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I HEARING TRANSCRIPT JULY 23, 2010 DOUTER COFFEE CO. HAWAI‘I, INC. A regularly advertised hearing on the application of (SPP 10-102) was called to order at 11:42 a.m. in the King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel, Ballroom I, 75-5660 Palani Road, Kailua-Kona, Hawai‘i, with Chairman Frederic Housel presiding. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Frederic Housel, Brandi Beaudet, Lani Bowman, Geraldine Giffin, Thomas Hickcox, Wayne Iokepa and Richard Nelson STAFF PRESENT: Brandon Gonzalez (Deputy Corporation Counsel), BJ Leithead Todd (Planning Director), Margaret Masunaga (Deputy Planning Director), Daryn Arai (Planning Program Manager), Jeff Darrow (Staff Planner), Maija Cottle (Staff Planner) and Kiran Emler (Department of Public Works) And approximately ten people from the public in attendance. APPLICANT: DOUTER COFFEE CO. HAWAI‘I, INC. (SPP 10-102) Special Permit to allow the use of an existing three-bedroom dwelling and its immediate surrounding grounds for special events such as weddings, seminars and corporate retreats. Overnight accommodations associated with the special events are also proposed to occur within the existing dwelling. The proposed use would occur on approximately 2 acres of land situated within the State Land Use Agricultural District. The property is located on the east (mauka) side of Mmalahoa Highway between the Palani Road junction and Hlualoa, just south of Huallai stst Memorial Park, Hienaloli 1 – Puaa 1, North Kona, Hawai‘i, TMK: 7-5-13: portion of 07. HOUSEL: The next one, the applicant is Douter Coffee Company. This is a Special Permit, 10-102: Special Permit to allow the use of an existing three-bedroom dwelling and its immediate surrounding grounds for special events such as weddings, seminars and corporate retreats. Overnight accommodations associated with the special events are also proposed to occur within the existing dwelling. The proposed use would occur on approximately two acres of land situated within the State Land Use Agricultural District. Maija, please do. COTTLE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The next application is a Special Permit application request. The applicant is Douter Coffee of Hawai‘i. The subject property is located about two miles north of the town of Hlualoa, and it’s located just mauka of Mmalahoa Highway. You can see the property on the slide. It is surrounded by a red outline, and Mmalahoa Highway, you can see, running in a north-south direction through the middle of the slide. The Special Permit request area would be approximately two acres in size, and it would be located in the area of the black dot. The current zoning of the property is Agricultural 5 acres, and you can see all of the other areas on the map that are green and light blue are also zoned Agricultural. This is the General Plan LUPAG Map for the area, and you can see the designation for the property and 1 EXHIBIT B surrounding properties is Important Agricultural Land that is shown in a light green. And this is the Kona CDP Land Use Map for the area; again, we have the subject property outlined in light green, and you can see that the property is outside of the Kona Urban area, which is this red line here, and the areas makai are the Urban area. And it’s located also outside of the Rural Transit Oriented Development area of Hlualoa, so it’s just designated as a rural area within Kona. The applicant is requesting to use an existing three-bedroom dwelling and its immediate surrounding grounds for special events such as weddings, seminars and corporate retreats. As I mentioned, the total permit area would be no more than two acres in size of a 107-acre parcel. And the applicant is also requesting to provide overnight accommodations and food service to guest staying in the dwelling, only in association with special events held on the property, though. The use would not involve developing the dwelling as like an inn or a restaurant; it would just be overnight accommodations for the special events. The applicant is also proposing to operate the special events between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. And they anticipate up to four events per day with likely no more than 75 participants at one time, with the exception of things like Coffee Picking Festivals or the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival – there would be more people attending those events. This is a site plan of a portion of the subject property. Again, the property extends further mauka off the map here, but the Special Permit area is contained within this dashed outline area. You can see the dwelling is located here. There is also a pool, a couple gazebos and a spa. This is the coffee milling and roasting area on the property. And then they have a paved driveway area near Mmalahoa Highway. This is a close-up view, again, of the existing dwelling, and most of the activities would take place in this general area here. And the Department is recommending that the Commission approve this Special Permit request. Are there any questions? HOUSEL: No questions? Thank you, Maija. Could we have the applicant and the representative? Please come up to the table here. Would you raise your right hand, please? Do you swear to tell the truth before the Planning Commission today on this matter? FUKE: I do. MIYAOKA: I do. HOUSEL: Thank you. If you could please state your name and address. MIYAOKA: My name is Kodo Miyaoka. My physical address: 75-5565 Mmalahoa Highway, Hlualoa. HOUSEL: Thank you. 2 EXHIBIT B FUKE: And again for the record, Mr. Chairman, my name is Sidney Fuke, planning consultant. My address is 100 Pauahi Street, Hilo, Hawai‘i. HOUSEL: Would you like to -. Have you received the background information? FUKE: Yes. We’ve received the background report and the staff’s recommendation, and we found them to be very comprehensive. And the applicant is also agreeable with the proposed conditions. I would just kind of like to give you a little bit of background as far as who really is the applicant. The parent company, Douter Coffee, is based in Japan. It owns and franchises over 1,000 coffee shops and restaurants primarily in Japan, although they do have some in other parts of Asia. I guess they will be the equivalent of, like, the Starbucks of America, but they are like the Starbucks of Japan. Back in 1980’s, the early ’80’s, they purchased, they began using Kona coffee as part of their overall production, and they found a need to purchase and get direct access to the coffee beans. So in 1989 they purchased about 60 acres of land, and they had, like, about 40,000 trees, and then in 1985, 1995 rather -. Eighty-five, yeah? MIYAOKA: Ninety-five. FUKE: Ninety-five, I’m sorry, 1995, then they acquired an additional area, which includes the subject property, which is about 107 acres. So all told today what they have is, they have control of about, like, 90,000 trees. They have a coffee processing mill, the drying facilities, so on and so forth. And what they want to do is, you know, the owner comes here every once in a while and so – I think the staff is kind of passing out, like, what the, there is a photo of the building and it has, like, a lot of historic things within it – and kind of want to make it available to the general public through these limited type of activities. If there are any questions the Commissioners may have, we’ll be more than happy to answer. HOUSEL: Commissioners, do you have any questions of the applicants? I had one question. How many people live fulltime on the property? FUKE: Mr. Miyaoka and his wife live adjacent to the house where they want to have, you know, this special events function. So basically, they are like the caretakers. There are also, like, four additional dwellings on the site that are currently used intermittently for farm labors. HOUSEL: And they are fulltime residents? FUKE: They are seasonal, right? I’m sorry. Why don’t you answer that? MIYAOKA: Fulltime residents, like, three or four people. And for the picking season, we have ten to 15 residents. 3 EXHIBIT B HOUSEL: Okay. One of the things I noticed in the conditions was that, regarding the wastewater system, there is currently a cesspool, is that correct? Does that serve all the residences? FUKE: No, there are individual cesspools for different structures. And the main dwelling for which this is being proposed, they do have a cesspool. There may be a need, you know, as you go for, like, a change of use for this facility, they have to go through the permit processing, and then the Department of Health may require that the existing wastewater treatment be upgraded from a cesspool to a septic system. HOUSEL: So all the dwellings would have to be connected to that system? FUKE: No. The other dwellings are located further mauka, so they have their own wastewater system. But only as it relates to this proposed facility, then it will probably have to be converted into a septic system. HOUSEL: Okay, thank you. BOWMAN: I have just a quick -. And I think I saw it in the background. The water use is, like, six times the allowed amount at present because of the irrigation? FUKE: Yeah, you know, I also checked with the Water Department the early part of this week to find out actually how much is being used, and primarily during the months of, like, August through January or February, that’s the time that they not only harvest but they also have the – what’s the term? The pulping. MIYAOKA: We do pulping, so mainly the water is used for coffee pulping. FUKE: So during that period, that’s the time that, you know, they need to wash the beans and rewash it after that, and so that’s when the heavy use -. I have this information and I’ll be gladly, you know, willing to make a copy for your staff. But for example, in October and November, they used on an average, like, 4,000 gallons per day, in February and March they used on an average, like, 2,050; so it begins to decline, and it goes down to 1,200 gallons per day, and then in April and May it’s only 700 gallons per day – that’s when they are not harvesting and they’re just using it for, you know -. BOWMAN: And this is on the subject property. FUKE: No, no, it’s on this property. So the heavy water demand is directly associated with the agricultural activities. So what he plans to do is, he still needs to address it with the Water Department, but what he plans to do is, like, he has two tanks in that area, one of which right now is being used – two tanks associated with the drying and the pulping facility – one tank right now is being used to fill up with the potable water, and he uses that and supplements it; another one is dry, so that second tank, what he proposes to do is to activate that by using a catchment system and hopefully then reduce the overall potable water consumption requirements. 4 EXHIBIT B BOWMAN: Do you know what the rainfall -. Is the rainfall high in that area? I’m sorry, my ignorance – I don’t live in Kona. FUKE: Right now, it’s dry. BOWMAN: Yeah, every place is dry. But traditionally you could -. MIYAOKA: Traditionally, from July through November or December we have many rainfalls, so I think we can pool the rainwater in the tank until we use it. BOWMAN: Okay, thank you. HOUSEL: Any other questions of the applicant? But I want to confirm that you are in agreement with the conditions as stated? FUKE: Yes, the applicant is. HOUSEL: Okay, thank you. We have three people – thank you, you can be seated – we have three people that would like to testify. I’d like to call you forward, please. Steve – sorry if I don’t pronounce your name right – Steve Rountree, Cal Lum and, it looks like, Sari Lassiter, would you please step forward, if you are here. If you could use the microphone, please, and if each of you could raise your right hand. Do you swear to tell the truth before the Planning Commission today on this matter? TESTIFIERS: Yes. HOUSEL: Thank you. I believe we’ll start on your right, my left. Could you please state your name and address, please? ROUNTREE: My name is Steve Rountree. I live at 75-5539 Hahai Street in Huallai Farms. LUM: I’m Cal Lum. I live at 75-5529 Hahai Street in the Huallai Farms. I’m sorry I turn sideways, but I only hear out of this ear. HOUSEL: Okay. LASSITER: Sari Lassiter. I live at 75-5528 Kealia Street in Huallai Farm Subdivision. HOUSEL: Thank you. If you’d like to proceed -. I’d like to remind you that if you presented written testimony, we have that in the record; so please don’t read it. If you could summarize in about three minutes, we’d appreciate it. Thank you. ROUNTREE: Yes. I’d like to express my extreme opposition to this Special Permit based on the noise pollution it will create. I base this on the area that we are in; it gets very humid, the 5 EXHIBIT B sound travels a long way. And I’ve had previous history of noise nuisance from this property of those associated dwellings that you were, they talked about their transit workers on. Up where we are at, it’s a climate, you know, the climate here in Kona, we don’t have closed structures – people sleep with their windows open. When they’re playing music, you know -. Their permit is directed at, it looks like, the wedding market. They stated four events per day, going into 10:00 p.m. at night with 75 people. Weddings have a lot of music, bands, noise. I mean, in agricultural area we have plenty of noise as is, which we are accustomed to – tractors, chainsaws, the business of agriculture. That tends to go on through the day and shuts off around 5:00 o’clock at night when people stop working. Having weddings, weddings that have music running, people having a good time, entertaining, you know, they are not thinking about the neighbors in the community that have to work, that want to enjoy the tranquil nature that we have right now. So basically -. And previous years, and it’s not been one incident, it’s not been two incidents, it’s been many times and different years where we had issues with noise from the workers from this property. I mean I can hear it inside my house with my windows closed, I mean, and that’s just a couple of workers having their music turned up too loud. Imagine the noise from a wedding that’s catering to 75 people – it’s going to be carrying out all over the place. It’s like, I didn’t move into an agricultural community to listen to a hotel environment right next door. So that’s my opposition that I wanted the council (sic) to maintain. Thank you. HOUSEL: Could you point out where your property is? ROUNTREE: I’m adjacent or more mauka to – thank you – on this map, I would be about right here in the community further higher. My residence is, like, right there. But I can tell you, in this area the sound travels. It’s very humid. We are up in the clouds most times in the afternoon the clouds are there. They asked whether it’s a rainy environment; yeah, it rains almost every afternoon this time of year up there. And in a humid area, the sound travels for long ways. But that’s where I live. HOUSEL: Commissioners, do you have any questions? I had one more question. Looking at your location, so your concerns are both the farm activity noise and -. ROUNTREE: No, no, (inaudible). SAUER: Please use the microphone. HOUSEL: Use the microphone, please. ROUNTREE: I’m not complaining about normal agriculture – that’s what I’m expecting. This having a change or a Special Permit, effectively you’ll have a hotel structure having weddings and band music after – that is what my objection is. It’s not to making money and having commerce in an agricultural environment; it is to having an exception there that’s not within a model of our community. I mean, we heard about the owner’s being Japanese interest; what is the community interest from this activity? I don’t see any community benefit from this noise pollution. It’s not like for the greater good in my opinion. For me, it’s, “business is business” is fine for agriculture but not a hotel. 6 EXHIBIT B HOUSEL: Thank you, sir. LUM: First, I’ll tell you where I live before you ask me. I live right there, right on the boundary. HOUSEL: Please speak close to the microphone. LUM: Is this on? HOUSEL: Yes, right. LUM: That’s where I live, right on the boundary. I’m very opposed to this because I’ve had many years of experience having to call over. Fortunately, at that time I knew the manager of the property, and I’d say, “Wally, you’ve got to get those guys to turn the music down because it’s killing me.” What people don’t understand is low frequency bass travels and amplifies itself the further you get from the source. Fifty feet from a car, you don’t hear as much bass as you would at 100 feet, okay. And we listen to it all the time. So fortunately, I was able to work around it. But for something like this from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. at night, having bands out there – I’ve played in bands myself, the major bands – no way, you know. I can open my window and hear someone talking on a five-acre property down one street from me almost. And I’m going to be listening to this all the time? Uh-uh. This is agricultural. I went there because I don’t mind agricultural chainsaws, chippers, all during the day, but constant, bringing Hard Rock Café out there? No way. I’m sorry, but I’m very opposed to something like this for the noise pollution factor. HOUSEL: Commissioner Bowman. BOWMAN: I have a question. Bands, because you said you have played in a band, do all bands use – pardon my ignorance – amplified -? LUM: Yes. In today’s world, all bands use amplification. I don’t care whether you are playing a guitar, you are playing synthesizers or what, what really carries is not the medium frequencies and up, it’s the lower frequencies. You put a synthesizer on playing the same beat, it’ll drive you nuts. And I can do it to you, you know. BOWMAN: Thank you. HOUSEL: I had a question. One of the conditions that’s in the documentation states that there will be no loud music after 7:00 p.m. Would that be -? LUM: What’s “loud?” Are they going to put a decibel meter -? HOUSEL: No amplified music after 7:00 p.m. 7 EXHIBIT B LUM: No, no, you don’t have to amplify it to get up passed 62 decibels. I can turn my stereo up and crank out 90 dB just out of my home stereo – louder, if I want. Okay? So the question then is, you’re going to say, “Well, fine, we are going to turn it down,” but now you have people other than the owner occupying the premises; who is going to enforce turning it down? How are you going to determine what’s too loud? You are going to call up a policeman to come up there? They are so busy now, “What? You want me to go up there because the guy’s playing his music too loud. I’ve got to chase this killer.” Okay? So there is no enforcement. HOUSEL: Thank you. Any questions, Commissioners? BEAUDET: I’ve got a question. HOUSEL: Commissioner Beaudet. BEAUDET: The concern of the loud music historically has been through the use of the property for entertainment or from the residence? LUM: It’s whoever is residing there. BEAUDET: Okay, so it hasn’t been through the activity of promoting entertainment for commercial use. LUM: Well, this is, if they were doing it, then it’s illegal, right, because the zoning, they are asking to be zoned for commercial use. So it’s just music being played pretty loud. But I’ve been fortunate; I say, “Wally, you’ve got to get your guys to turn their music down because it’s driving me nuts. It’s ten o’clock at night. It’s eleven o’clock.” Sometimes I go to bed at 7:30, but I get up at 4:00. Okay? And it’s, I don’t mind the chainsaws and the chippers – that’s what I bought into; I didn’t buy into Hard Rock Café up there. BEAUDET: My question is you are basing it off of -. LUM: Actual experience. BEAUDET: The activity of the residence on the property, not activity for entertainment. That’s my question. LUM: When you say “entertainment,” you are talking about -. BEAUDET: Commercial entertainment. LUM: Music, right? Sound. I should just say any kind of sound. BEAUDET: No, no, no, no, no. My question is specific. Your experiences have been through use of loud music from the residence or from commercial entertainment. 8 EXHIBIT B LUM: From the residence, not commercial inconvenience of chippers and chainsaws. BEAUDET: Okay. Thank you. LASSITER: I would like to second the testimony of the two gentlemen to my right. I live on this lot right here. The proposed entertainment area would take place around this house right here. I cannot express adequately, as was said, the amplification of any noise in an agricultural area. I can hear my neighbor’s toilet flush. I can hear conversations they have in a normal tone when they are out beyond their structures across five acres. It is a phenomenon I want to research with some scientific department at the UH – unbelievable. I, too, have heard the emanation of certain ethnic music played repeatedly over hours coming from this area. The gentlemen to my right are living in up in that area. I have just experienced a most traumatic effect with an individual adjacent to my property who was allowed to play music from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at night at decibels over 100 and 110. Again, maybe they were 50 to 60 under his porch. This is an agricultural subdivision. People are up early, they are in bed early. It is most inappropriate to bring a recreational, commercial activity noise into this arena. And I for the record want to state that I think the noise enforcement on the Big Island is pathetic. Noise pollution is intensely disruptive to one’s state of mind. Noise during the week is absolutely inappropriate, and to play any commercial loud noise as if one were on LuLu’s dance floor in an agricultural community passed nine o’clock, I think, is most inappropriate. Thank you. HOUSEL: Thank you. Commissioner Bowman. BOWMAN: I have a question. Just in your testimony, you mentioned that you had to listen to someone who was allowed – I’m sorry, I didn’t get it – allowed to play the music? LASSITER: First of all, I don’t see any concern for the issue of noise pollution. Decibel levels at property lines is not to my knowledge highly defined, meaning that, what are you going to enforce? And as Calvin said, I called the police three times on this neighbor, and their attitude – and I called them at 9:45 on a Tuesday, a Wednesday and a Thursday night, the decibel levels were well over 70, 70 to 110 – the police’s attitude was, I believe they needed to come, and that it was, oh, just music, and maybe one day they will be famous. And noting, it just, there was no, and the police, as Calvin said, he looked at me on the third time and he said, “You know, there are rapes going down in Kona.” And I apologized, but I was advised by the president of the association who is an attorney, to call the police. Well, the police would rather not have been there. So for us to have recourse against something that is very disruptive in a neighborhood that is probably inappropriate, we are left, honestly, without much defense at this point in time. HOUSEL: I had one question for you. In your testimony, you described several events, which the noise was unacceptable. Now, are you talking about specifically this property or other properties? LASSITER: Sir, yes, I remember about a year and a half ago coming from the area the two gentlemen have described, music late at night, and I assumed because I know the area – I’ve lived there for 18 years on that property – that that was coming from a structure on this said 9 EXHIBIT B property up in, up towards the north-east. Then my concern is – thank you for bringing this up – that if there is not consideration from these individuals for noise pollution at the evening, it is going to give other people in the area allowance to do as they wish, because there is now precedence. HOUSEL: Thank you very much. Commissioners, any further questions? Okay, if you’d like to be seated, please. Could we have the applicants come forward? Mr. Fuke, would you like to address these concerns? FUKE: We were already anticipating noise issue, and that’s one of the reasons why as part of the application we had already proposed certain type of noise mitigation. And what I just kind of like want to point out is, the areas that they are talking about as being, you know, the noise generator, they are essentially where the farm workers are living right now, and if that is the issue, you know, this is the man, so he would be in the position to control it. He lives right next to the proposed facility that they want to have converted for special events; so if there is any noise type of issues, I mean, you know, he can provide them the phone numbers and he can contact them, so on and so forth. The other thing is, you know, as the staff’s recommendation is, one of the conditions, two of the conditions relate to specifically to noise, and these noise conditions were something that we had suggested. Within the Agricultural District, the decibel level at the property line is 75, day and night. And this property is zoned Residential (sic). So more restrictive noise restriction, the noise decibel level falls in the Residential zone, and for the Residential zone, the maximum is 55 during the day and 45 during the night. So what they are kind of imposing upon themselves is to say we are not going to use Agricultural standard, we’re going to use Residential standard, and make that part and parcel of the condition. Now, in addition to that, we would also commit to not having any amplified activity, you know, beyond the certain time, whether it’s seven o’clock or it’s sunset, you know, whichever comes sooner. But the whole idea is to be sensitized to the neighbors’ concerns about noise. Now, on the level of enforcement, you know, this is a condition, and if there is, like, perceived or there is actual infraction of that, then I think this matter can be brought to the Planning Department and then ultimately to the Planning Commission. This is no different than I think, like, in one situation that the Liquor Commission currently faces right now down in Keauhou where they have neighbors complaining about the noise associated with certain activities, and there was a specific condition granted by the Liquor Commission related to noise, and so now that’s the issue. So if it’s made a condition, then I think there is appropriate recourse for the neighbors to complain and to bring it up to the Planning Director or the Planning Commission. MIYAOKA: Yes, I just feel sorry for the neighbors who are complaining for the noise. It’s probably coming from the workers. But I should give the notice to workers. I’ve been living in the property for three years, but I have not, I didn’t know that. So he said the ex-manager – he lived there over three years ago – so since I came there, I haven’t noticed any loud -. But I should be more careful. So I’m going to train the workers, especially nighttime – don’t listen to the loud music. So that’s my responsibility. I will be taking care of that. 10 EXHIBIT B BOWMAN: I just have a quick question. So you have not received any phone calls in the time that you’ve lived there. MIYAOKA: No, I have never received them. BOWMAN: Thank you. HOUSEL: Commissioners? How many events do you expect to have besides the Coffee Festival and the other single event you have? FUKE: Well, on a good day, especially like -. If you’ve seen the property, you know, on the photos anyway, so it’s really designed for, like, small weddings; maybe people, you know, fly from Japan, or locally, they want to get wedding over there. It’s not really intended to have, like, your reception facility really over there, but just use the grounds for wedding like how people would use – I’m just trying to think of – maybe certain areas, you know, maybe they will go down to Lili‘uokalani Park in Hilo and do the wedding ceremony over there, but the reception is held at some place else. So the facility at the house is not really designed to cater to, like, reception type. So if there is going to be any type of music – and Mr. Miyaoka can correct me – but as I understood it, it’s like, you know, you would have, during the wedding ceremony, you probably have maybe a small microphone, if you need it for the pastor, maybe some ukulele or guitar, you know, or an organist or something like that. So it’s intended to be very, more subdued type of entertainment, and not really like a night club activity like that, no. So if there are complaints there’re infractions to that, then, you know, he lives right next to it, so all they need to do is control it, I mean, just make a call and, you know, you’ll be able to exercise some controls over the noise. HOUSEL: Would the events be more likely to happen on the weekend versus weekdays? FUKE: I think it’s pretty much, like, maybe during the weekday. HOUSEL: Oh, during the weekdays. FUKE: Yeah, and you might have on and off, maybe, some weekends. Again, you know, what Mr. Miyaoka was looking at is, there have been a lot of requests from people from Japan, for example, they wanted to have like small family type of wedding. And if you know the Japanese style of wedding, they have, like, very small parties that just come, get wedding, maybe they eat lunch and, you know, off they go. And so, that is what he has in mind. So I can’t really say, like, whether they will necessarily come more on the weekends or during the weekday; it can be anytime in the course of the week. But it’s definitely during the day; it’s not like a nighttime type of activity. HOUSEL: So most of the activities would be daytime? FUKE: Correct. 11 EXHIBIT B HOUSEL: Okay. FUKE: So there are limitations in terms of the amplification requirement like, you know, you basically shut off at, like, 7:00. If you are going to have a seminar, for example, or a corporate retreat, you know, then they want to extend it up to, like, 10:00 p.m. that night. But if you have a seminar or a corporate retreat, you are not going to have, I guess you might have some music, but if you are going to have music, it’s not, certainly after 7:00 p.m., there’s not going to be anything electrified or amplified. BOWMAN: Okay, I guess you answered my question, because the overnight accommodations and food service would be then more for these corporate retreats and seminars. FUKE: Or for those families that would come in for the wedding and then, you know, they would -. If you are coming in from Japan, maybe you might have about, you know, three or four good friends, and so you’ll be able to stay over there and use the house. But it’s not intended to be like a restaurant, it’s not intended to be like a B&B where, you know, you call up and say, can I have dinner over there, no, or can I stay over there, no; it has to be all associated with the function. BOWMAN: Right, right, so it could possibly be the wedding. And I assume, you know, weddings in America, they get wild and crazy, but maybe Japanese are a little bit more subdued – I’m not sure. Thank you. HOUSEL: Is food prepared on the site? FUKE: There would be, there is a nice, as you saw in the photo, there is a nice kitchen area. So if there is a need for food service, then they would be preparing the food service over there. It would be still subject to their getting a permit from the Department of Health to be able to serve the food there. HOUSEL: Okay. Commissioners, any other questions? Thank you. If you would like to be seated. We have no further testifiers. I guess -. Would you like to make a motion to close the public hearing? GIFFIN: I so move. HOUSEL: Okay. NELSON: Second. HOUSEL: Second? Okay. All in favor? COMMISSIONERS: Aye. 12 EXHIBIT B HOUSEL: Opposed? Okay, our public hearing is now closed. Would someone like to make a motion? GIFFIN: I will, Mr. Chairman. I move that the Special Permit application, SPP 10-102, be approved along with the conditions that have been proposed by the Director, with particular consideration for Conditions No. 5, 6 – yeah, 10 was just my own – 5 and 6, and also that the information to the people that testified regarding the noise, what they considered to be very intrusive, that if there were, with the approval of this application, violations of any of these conditions, that the suggestion by the applicant be followed that, instead of simply going to the police, that they should be followed by complaints to the Planning Department. HOUSEL: Thank you. Do we have a second? BEAUDET: Second. HOUSEL: Commissioner Beaudet is second. Any discussion? I guess I’d like to make one comment. We all have to be good neighbors and, you know, if there are any noise or any other issues from next-door neighbors, then we need to take that seriously and we need to work together on that, so I would encourage you to do that. Thank you. Maija, would you like to take the poll. COTTLE: Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Commissioner Giffin? GIFFIN: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Beaudet? BEAUDET: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Bowman? BOWMAN: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Hickcox? HICKCOX: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Iokepa? IOKEPA: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Nelson? NELSON: Nay. 13 EXHIBIT B COTTLE: And Mr. Chairman? HOUSEL: Aye. COTTLE: The motion passes, six to one. HOUSEL: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Fuke. And you’ll be receiving the formal approval shortly. The discussion ended at 12:22 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Noriko Sauer, Secretary Leeward Planning Commission 14 EXHIBIT B