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Home My WebLink About2023-03-21 HCDP Minutes DraftMitchell D. Roth Mayor Lee E. Lord Managing Director Zendo Kern Director Jeffrey W. Darrow Deputy Director County of Hawai‘i PLANNING DEPARTMENT HAMAKUA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE Aupuni Center • 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 3 • Hilo, Hawai‘i 96720 Phone (808) 961-8288 • Fax (808) 961-8742 Hawai‘i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer Page 1 Tuesday, March 21, 2023 1 DRAFT Meeting Minutes 2 CALL TO ORDER 3 Chair Tawn Keeney called the Hamakua Community Development Plan (HCDP) Action 4 Committee (AC) to order at 5:00 P.M. Quorum was not established at this time. At 6:17 P.M., 5 quorum was established with the arrival of a fifth member. This meeting was held online via 6 Zoom, and in-person at the Honokaʻa People’s Theatre. 7 ROLL CALL 8 AC Members Present: Tawn Keeney, Nicolette (Niki) Hubbard, Brad Kurokawa, Robert 9 Nishimoto, Desiree Cruz (arrived at 6:17 p.m.) 10 AC Members Absent-Excused: Carol Ignacio and Crystal Kua 11 County Staff: April Surprenant, Planning Program Manager 12 County Officials: Deputy Corporation Counsel, Suzanna Tiapula 13 14 ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA: None 15 16 ANNOUNCEMENTS: 17 1. Hāmākua Action Committee Recruitment: 18 Chair Keeney made an announcement about the 2 open seats for the Hāmākua CDP AC, and 19 the applications the Mayor is reviewing. 20 APPROVAL OF MINUTES: 21 This item was taken out of order, immediately following Agenda Item #1, after quorum was 22 established. 23 Chair Keeney motioned to approve the January 10, 2023, minutes. Seconded by Vice-Chair 24 Hubbard. Motion passed unanimously with a voice vote (5-0). 25 PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS: 26 1. One member of the public provided oral testimony: 27 www.planning.hawaiicounty.gov/ CDP@hawaiicounty.gov Page 2 Community member Phaeton Keeney, representing herself, testified on Agenda Item #1. She 28 noted that she was glad to move to a renewable future and hoped that we would move away 29 from biomass and towards clean zero emission sources. 30 2. One member of the public provided written testimony: 31 Community member Tina Stiteler, provided written testimony on Agenda Item #1. 32 See Communication No. 2023-06 – Tina Stiteler Comments Regarding Hawaiian Electric here: 33 https://records.hawaiicounty.gov/WebLink/1/edoc/122699/Communication%20No.%202023-34 06%20Tina%20Stiteler%20Comments%20RE%20Hawaiian%20Electric.pdf 35 BUSINESS: 36 1. Presentation by Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) and Hawaiʻi Energy: 37 This item was taken out of order, immediately following Announcements on the agenda. 38 Quorum was not established at the start of the presentation but was established before 39 the presentation concluded. 40 Representatives David Kurohara and Marc Asano from HECO, and Gracen Ghen from 41 Hawai'i Energy shared information about Hawai'i Powered, Integrated Grid Planning and 42 Hawai'i Energy rebates and resources. 43 See presentation slides on renewable energy sources here: 44 https://records.hawaiicounty.gov/WebLink/1/edoc/122700/Communication%20No.%20245 023-07%20HECO%20and%20Hawaii%20Energy%20Presentation.pdf 46 Community member Richard Robert Bidleman questioned if Puna Geothermal was 47 generating hydrogen to be used for buses, if hydrogen powered vehicles were being used 48 on the island, and where the hydrogen was coming from? 49 Representatives from HECO informed that Puna Geothermal was not using their energy to 50 create hydrogen; their contract with HECO is to supply power to the grid. They also 51 informed that there was a hydrogen bus on island used by the County but did not know 52 the current status of it being used at this time. They clarified that electric buses were 53 being used. Mr. Kurohara also informed that the Hawaiʻi Natural Energy Institute (HNEI) 54 does have a hydrogen station, in Kona, where they produce and that is where the 55 hydrogen bus mentioned was filled. 56 Community Member Troy Pearson questioned if HECO was looking into investments that 57 have long-term impact on toxins in our environment as the current photovoltaic solar cells 58 use a lot of plastic and when they are not in use anymore, they produce a lot of toxins. 59 For large scale solar projects, HECO doesn’t develop solar project, but they do partner 60 with developers or third parties to buy power from them. In their contracts, they make 61 sure there’s proper end-of-life treatment of the facility when it is retired. He believed 62 even at the state level, recycling programs were being looked at for those types of 63 materials. 64 www.planning.hawaiicounty.gov/ CDP@hawaiicounty.gov Page 3 Community member Richard Robert Bidleman questioned what efforts HECO were taking 65 to encourage clients to install solar and put electricity back into the grid. 66 Mr. Asano informed that there are different programs for customers and customers are 67 always able to self-consume any electricity that they generate. He noted that they work 68 with the Public Utilities Commission developing some of those programs, but ultimately 69 the commission approves them and any compensation. Mr. Asano informed that they 70 expect to release newer programs with additional customer incentives to provide services 71 to the grid in the near future. 72 Further discussion was had on the concern of affordability of electricity for residents as 73 the question of how HECO planned to address that was raised. Mr. Kurohara 74 acknowledged the increase in oil costs that impacted everyone’s bill in the past few years. 75 He informed that, in the past, the law required their company to purchase power from 76 independent power producers at the cost of oil. Some of those contracts have been 77 amended and others are to be reviewed and renewed to a fixed rate to eliminate that tie 78 to the cost of oil. Mr. Kurohara stated that as they add more renewables to the grid scale 79 projects, the cost of electricity will stabilize and start lowering over time. 80 2. Hāmākua Action Committee Meeting Schedule Discussion: 81 Members of the AC discussed creating a meeting schedule for the remainder of 2023. 82 It was noted that Council Member Kimball was not able to make meetings on the third 83 Tuesday of each month and one committee member was not able to make it on the 84 second Tuesday of each month, so the committee considered moving dates. Chair Keeney 85 also considered meeting to coincide with the Hāmākua Times submission due date before 86 the 20th of each month. 87 Chair Keeney proposed a cadence of hybrid meetings on the second Wednesday of each 88 month. Seconded by Committee Member Cruz. 89 Passed with 4 votes aye (Hubbard, Keeney, Cruz, Nishimoto), 1 abstain (Kurokawa), 0 votes 90 nay. 91 3. Subcommittee Report Back to Action Committee: 92 Designated subcommittees provided updates to the Action Committee regarding their 93 progress. 94  Waipi‘o Wahi Pana (section 4.9.6, action items 16-20): 95 Committee Member Kurokawa had nothing to report at this time 96  Housing (CDP Section 5.2 – Community Action #25): 97 Vice-Chair Hubbard informed that she would provide a report at the next meeting 98  Lehua St. Subdivision (Honokaʻa) Infrastructure SubcommiƩee (section 5.5): 99 Community Member Robert Bidleman commented that many who utilize Lehua Street 100 are driving too fast and jeopardizing the neighborhood safety. He informed that a 101 petition to the County to install speed bumps has been started as he felt that would be 102 the first step to ensure the street is safe for pedestrians. 103 www.planning.hawaiicounty.gov/ CDP@hawaiicounty.gov Page 4 4. Action Committee Project Discussion: 104 Members of the AC discussed forming more subcommittees. 105 Chair Keeney noted that they should clearly define what County policies they are 106 advocating for and whether the subcommittee is for a specific action or subject. He asked 107 what the scope was of the subcommittee on Waipiʻo Wahi Pana as the sections that 108 mention Waipiʻo also include Mauna Kea, so clearer definition is needed. Committee 109 member Kurokawa will report back at the next meeting. 110 Chair Keeney stated that there are 130 Policies that the AC could advocate towards. He 111 expressed that orienting their actions to support those would lead to more proactive and 112 more fulfilling AC work. 113 Chair Keeney proposed forming the following ten subcommittees: 114  Land Use and Development 115  Agriculture 116  Infrastructure and Transportation 117  Access Open Space Roads Trails and Coastline 118  Natural Environment 119  Health Safety and Education 120  Commerce and Econ Development 121  Wahi Pana (Waipiʻo and Mauna Kea) 122  Preservation and Revitalization 123  Community and Government Relations (Communication) 124 He acknowledged that taking issues as they come may be desired, but subcommittees 125 could form focus groups for specific problems that arise. 126 Chair Keeney motioned to create the 10 subcommittees, but not take discussion at this 127 time. No second was heard. Motion did not move forward. 128 Vice-Chair Hubbard asked the Chair to clarify on the other two items on the agenda 129 regarding the Open Space Subcommittee and Public Restroom subcommittee ideas. Chair 130 Keeney did not make motions. 131 Community member Robert Bidleman commented that the committee he was on started 132 out and then dwindled. They cannot tackle all issues, so they may not be very big but if 133 you have interest, create the committee. 134 Community member Indy Rishi Singh stated that he supports subcommittees and wants to 135 have volunteers. He hoped to find ways to make community feel involved and provided 136 ideas of offering food at meetings from local vendors. He also mentioned Regenerative 137 Civics. 138 Community member Pam Elders commented that she likes committee structures 139 coordinated with the CDP. She advised that they need to be proactive not reactive. 140 Community member Diana Cantu-Reyna informed that she was a registered nurse and 141 would like to proactively address issues, not run to catch up. She would like to discover 142 www.planning.hawaiicounty.gov/ CDP@hawaiicounty.gov Page 5 how to engage community members to stay involved. She also suggested that the AC 143 source community members who have experience in meeting facilitation, to help move 144 the meetings along 145 Community member Whitney Valez, a Hāmākua Ag Coop board member, questioned how 146 they can engage with the process. She provided an idea to send a survey to members, 54 147 farmers, to gather feedback from farmers on what is important to them. 148 5. Action Committee Community Outreach Strategy: 149 Members of the AC discussed strategies to increase meeting attendance and ways to 150 better engage with the Hāmākua community. 151 Chair Keeney briefly shared that he would try to get into the Hāmākua Times and would 152 try to explore social media. 153 Community member Robert Bidleman commented that maybe the AC needs an example 154 of an item that they could work on in order to spark interest to form a subcommittee. 155 156 COMMUNICATIONS: 157 Chair Keeney shared that AC members could review the communications at their leisure. 158 1. Communication No. 2023-03 Public Access & Coastline Preservation Flyer – Toni 159 Withington 160 2. Communication No. 2023-04 Hāmākua Agricultural Plan (2006) 161 PROPOSED AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING ON APRIL 12, 2023: 162 Community member Indy Rishi Singh shared that he hosted a Civic Action rally at Hakalau, 163 which centered around farming, education and health care. He noted that they came together 164 and shared they all agreed they needed to focus on community gardens and tie that into 165 health. 166 Committee Member Hubbard noted that this ties into section 6.2, strengthening local 167 agriculture and suggested discussing at the next meeting. 168 169 ADJOURNMENT: 170 Committee member Nishimoto motioned to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Chair Keeney. 171 Motion passed unanimously (5-0). 172 The meeting was adjourned at approximately 7:15 p.m. 173 These meeting minutes and all related documents are available in the Planning Department’s 174 Hāmākua Community Development Plan Action Committee folder via the County of Hawaiʻi 175 Public Documents Repository. These documents may also be requested from the Planning 176 Department by calling (808) 961-8288 or emailing cdp@hawaiicounty.gov. 177