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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-10-05 Windward Exh B (Item #2 Hana U'I LLC) WINDWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAI`I HEARING TRANSCRIPT OCTOBER 5, 2023 A regularly advertised hearing on the application of HANA U`I LLC (PL-SMA-2023-000034) was heard at 9:20 a.m. in the County of Hawaii Council Chambers in Hilo, 25 Aupuni Street, Hilo, Hawaii with Chair Dennis Lin presiding. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Dennis Lin, Louis Daniele III, Lauren Balog, John Cross, Wayne De Luz. and Chantel Perrin. ALSO PRESENT: Suzanna Tiapula, Esq. (Counsel to the Commission), Jean Campbell, Esq. (Counsel to the Planning Department), Zendo Kern (Planning Director), Clinton Mercado (Planner), Alex Roy (Planner), Janice Hata(Zoom Host), Maija Jackson (Planning Program Manager), and Melissa Dacayanan-Salvador (Commission Secretary). And four public members in the audience. APPLICANT: HANA U`I LLC (PL-SMA-2023-000034) Application for a Special Management Area Use Permit to construct a primary farm dwelling, an additional farm dwelling, conduct agricultural uses (Ulu Orchard), and related development on 7.35 acres of land situated in the Special Management Area. The subject parcel is located along the makai side of Hawaii Belt Road along a private access easement, approximately 1,300 feet south of the intersection of Leopolino Road and Hawaii Belt Road, Kamae`e & Wailua Government Tract, North Hilo, Hawaii, TMK: (3) 3-1-001:008. Secretary's Note: [indecipherable] indicates that there were technical and/or internet difficulties, which made the conversation inaudible. LIN: Okay, moving on to application or agenda item number 2. Applicant is Hana U`I, LLC, application PL-SMA-2023-000034. Application for a Special Management Area Use Permit to construct a primary farm dwelling, an additional farm dwelling, conduct agricultural uses, an ulu orchard, and related development on 7.35 acres of land situated in the Special Management Area. The subject parcel is located along the makai side of Hawaii Belt Road along a private access easement, approximately 1,300 feet south of the intersection of Leopolino Road and Hawaii Belt Road, Kamae`e and Wailua Government Tract, North Hilo, Hawaii, TMK: (3) 3-1- 001parcel number 8. So, at this time I see that there's two (2)testifiers signed up. So, I'll first call up, actually, I'll swear both of you in at the same time and then we'll start with Diane after that. Okay, so if the testifiers please both come up please. [A male and female from the audience approached the testifiers table] Please raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter now before the Windward Planning Commission? MALE AND FEMALE AT TESTIFERS TABLE: I do. 1 EXHIBIT B LIN: Okay, before speaking please state your name, the area you reside in and, yep, okay, so then, we'll start with Diane Marshall. So,just press the button right there and the light will turn red. MARSHALL: Okay. LIN: So, go ahead. MARSHALL: Diane Marshall and I live in Laupahoehoe. LIN: Okay and you have three (3) minutes for your testimony. MARSHALL: Okay. LIN: Go ahead. MARSHALL: First, a little bit about me. Why I feel qualified to support Martha Edwards and John Kocol's SMA application. In order to live more sustainably. In 1999 my husband and I bought land and built one of the first certified green homes in Florida complete with edible and native landscaping. Twenty-four(24)years ago, there was limited information on how to build and live sustainably. So, when we finished our home, we started a non-profit organization to teach others. The organization Green Living and Energy Expo which became Green Living and Energy Education partnered with the County Extension Service electric and water utilities and other non-profit organizations to bring in speakers from the around the country to lead workshops and an annual sustainability fair. For that work the Council for Sustainable Florida gave us a sustainability award. We also opened our home for annual American Solar Energy Society Public tours and tours by students from Florida International University and the University of Miami. In addition, I've been a master gardener in three (3) counties including Hawaii County. We met John and Martha who were very like-minded. They opened a sustainable pet hospital for which they received a Green Building award and soon after built a sustainable home whose design and usage helped preserve the character of their coastal community. It featured native and edible landscaping, food waste composting, solar power, and catchment. These efforts were not just for themselves by building a sustainable and storm resilient pet hospital. They provided the community with a safe place for their animals before, during, and after tropical cyclones. In building their green and storm resilient residence, John and Martha worked with County and State agencies to protect the near shoreline from runoff and degradation and to restore and maintain native habitat for endangered and threatened shore birds, marine life, and plants. Their close collaboration with the local utilities to create and expand the sustainable use of water and electricity in their business and residence significantly will reduce the demand on utilities which has proven especially important during hurricanes and climate change related heat temperatures, higher heat temperatures. John and Martha's strong belief in stewardship, sustainability, and protecting the local ecosystem led them to share their knowledge. They became speakers at green events, opened their homes to the public, and to professors and students studying sustainability and the environment. For decades both 2 EXHIBIT B have been active members of conservation organizations such as Save the Turtle, Izaak Walton League, Garden Club of the Upper Keys and Save Our Loggerhead Organization. Now in Hawaii, they have already become members of the `Ulu Cooperative and have started their library on native plants, canoe crops, and Hawaiian history and culture. Their proven track record of respecting fragile ecosystems and of being advocates for sustainability in the environment and strong community assure me that John Kocol and Martha Edwards will take their kuleana seriously and be exceptional stewards of their Hawaii property, the `aina in general and their local community. Thank you for your time. LIN: Thank you. Commissioners any questions for the testifier? Okay, seeing none. Thank you for your testimony. I'll now move on to John Hammerstrom. HAMMERSTROM: Aloha. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today and thank you for volunteering to be Planning Commissioners. There's a lot of work involved with that. My name is John Hammerstrom. I live in Laupahoehoe. I'm a member of the Community Emergency Response Team in Laupahoehoe. I'm also a certified Master Gardener. To establish my credentials, my wife and I are creating a new Agra Forest in Laupahoehoe and have a grant to remove waiwi and restore native plants as part of the Pulelehua Project. Specifically we've removed 2,000 waiwi and will soon plant at least 90 mamaki, `akolea, `opuhe, and olona to attract the endangered Kamehameha butterfly. The botanical name is Vanessa tameamea. I've known the applicants for many years and during which time I witnessed their stewardship of another sensitive area, the Florida Keys. Where they removed exotic and invasive plants and stalled native flora,protected marine resources, and invested time and treasure toward their community sustainability goals. With regard to their Special Management Area permit I submit that you would be hard-pressed to find a couple more willing and able to protect, preserve, and restore the natural resources of the coastal zone of Hawai`i as stated in the 1975 SMA Act. They understand that it will embody aloha `aina. I strongly recommend you approve their application. Thank you. LIN: Thank you for your testimony. Any questions for this testifier? Okay, seeing none. Thank you very much. At this time, are there any other testifiers for this agenda item? Okay, anybody on Zoom? HATA: No testifiers on Zoom. LIN: Okay, if not. Commissioners may I please have a motion to close public testimony? DANIELE: I move to close public testimony. LIN: Okay, so moved by Vice Chair Daniele. PERRIN: I second. 3 EXHIBIT B LIN: Seconded by Commissioner Perrin. All in favor to close public testimony, please say aye. COMMISSIONERS; Aye. LIN: Any opposed? Okay, public testimony is now closed. Okay, if I could bring up staff, Alex Roy. ROY: Good morning, Chair, Commissioners, Director. Today, I'm presenting the SMA Use Permit application 2023-000034 for Hana U`I, LLC, Mr. Kocol. Here's a location map showing, you can see the red star there, it's the property just north of Hakalau Bay and the Hakalau Beach Park makai of the Hawaii Belt Road. The applicant is requesting to plant, cultivate, and maintain a 3.25-acre Ulu Orchard. He'd like to construct a single-story, three (3) bedrooms, 3 baths, 2,910 square foot single-family residence, that's the main dwelling. He would also like to construct a single-story, two (2) bedrooms, 2 bath 1,500 square foot additional farm dwelling. Take note that the applicant is working to get that additional farm dwelling agreement and has applied for that already and that's working concurrent. You might have noticed that there's a condition in the SMA that of course the SMA needs to be approved first and then the additional farm dwelling. Additional development includes a 1,200 square foot storage shed, farm equipment, pump house, chicken coop, pool, and other related development for the agricultural purposes. The existing gravel and paved roads located on the property will be utilized for the project to minimize grading and paving. I visited the site and Mr. Kocol and myself walked around and it's quite evident that there's some remaining mill pavement and roadways and the project has changed to take advantage of that. So as to not add more grading and paving. So, he is trying to utilize pretty much the structures that are there including a three-walled storage structure that SHPD reviewed and stated that they were actually happy that he was using it for its intended use which was agricultural storage for sugar cane operations in the past. Water will be provided via a private well and then he has to get an individual wastewater treatment for the structures. The County zoning you can see is primarily Agricultural-20a, so Agricultural 20 acres. You have some Industrial, Light Industrial which actually includes the park area and then below that in the yellow is Residential. The primary subdivision that he is located in is the A-20a. State Land Use hopefully you can see it okay, mostly Ag with the typical coastal boundary being Conservation. As you can in the blue there of course south in the development is Hakalau that's Urban. The applicant is not doing any work in the Conservation district. When you visit the site the boundary of the Conservation district is the top of the pali and so it's a steep cliff which really wouldn't be difficult and would be challenging to develop. So, but he's staying right out of that Conservation district so, no work will be occurring in the Conservation district. LUPAG shows that primarily Important Ag Lands. So, it's good that this project is going to be utilizing that and producing the ulu farm and then as typical for this coastline we see the Open zoning designation along the coastline. There's Conservation which includes the river area and then remnants of Industrial and then of course Low Density Urban for Hakalau. 4 EXHIBIT B This is an aerial photograph an older one. At this time it was really overgrown and there was some sweet potatoes and ginger being grown on the property. As you can see there, there is some rows. The development for this area and the subdivision is typically just large single-family residences with very little agricultural use. So, this applicant is looking to take advantage of that agricultural opportunity along with putting his single-family residence. You can kind of see the cliff how it kind of wraps around. This was a strange one for the SMA because the shoreline where the setback, the shoreline setback then it moves into not a shoreline and so, but Mr. Kocol has thankfully stayed out of that and extended himself well outside the setbacks for side yard and for the shoreline. Again building on that cliff area would be difficult. This is an aerial photograph and showing the mill in full operation. You can see on the right-hand side, I kind of outlined the property roughly. What you do notice coming down the hills are old flume structures or at this time flume structures. There's remnants of that that are left over along the cliff side. But take note of how much agriculture was being conducted right at the top there where Mr. Kocol plans on doing his work. You can see that it was all sugar cane and then the bridge which is still there. This is just another aerial photograph showing the trace of the private road access and a little bit of the subdivision. So, you can kind of see what's going on in that area. A lot of large single-family residences with typical landscaping but very little agricultural use. So, this applicant is willing to take it a step further and build his home but also produce something that's I think would be helpful for the state and for this County. Here's a site plan. Take note this was updated slightly to take advantage of those paved areas and roadways that were existing. So, it's a little different than what you saw in the report. Mainly it's just moving the blue square is the additional farm dwelling and the carport and the shed kind of had been moved over again to take advantage of that existing paved road and roadways that are existing. And then the red outlined of course is the single-family residence for the applicant and his family. Here's a planting site plan. So you can see that majority of the property will be planted with ulu. There's a long stand of hau that is along the top of the pali, and he's working to try and control that although difficult. He's going to try to control that. As we all know hau could be very challenging to control but he's doing his best and has already started to limb and trim to try to open that property up. Also, take note makai of the single-family residence of the main house they're going to be planting vetiver grass not only to help stabilize the shoreline but to provide some other opportunity for crops. Just north or I guess just above the blue square is that walled structure where he will be utilizing. That was the part of the old mill structure and he'll be utilizing that as part of the agricultural operations. So, here's a site photo. Generally this is approximately from the center of the parcel looking makai. You can see off on the right-hand side the hau, his trying to control some of that. There's a lot of history of development and very minimal upkeep. So, a lot of overgrowth and they're discovering things as they get down into the property, which is typical. I did that on my property. So, it's slow but sure and step by step moving to open this property back up. But I visited the property. We walked the whole thing and so far, I didn't notice any environmental issues, any drainage issue, the shoreline is a steep cliff as typical, no impacts down there and a lot of the work and construction will be well away from the shoreline. Here's like just kind of turned around looking mauka. You can 5 EXHIBIT B see the neighboring property with the palms trees. This is kind of the corner of the property and roughly where the house will be going but this is just looking mauka from the center of the parcel. Here's a shot of that three-walled structure. So you take note of that dark area that's that paved area and then I'm parked. You can see the work truck parked on the driveway and there was pavement kind of all-around to support that old agricultural uses and Mr. Kocol might be able to address more specific sites on the property that relate to that. But the idea again is to which I'm very supportive of and the Director is very supportive of not having to utilize what you've got there instead of digging more or paving more. Let's try to get that, so it's going to take some work to uncover some of that but so far, so good and his redesigned to take advantage of those structures that are already there. So, this is the one that will be used for ag storage also. A quick shot looking north along the Hawaii Belt Road and on the right-hand side is the entrance to that private road that I showed you and then again looking south on your left-hand side is that private road. So, it's a large intersection, easily accessible with a slow and slow end and a slow out. At this time the Director's recommendation for PL-SMA-2023-000034 is approval with stated conditions. I can take any questions. LIN: Okay, thank you Alex. Any comments or questions from the Commissioners? Vice Chair Daniele. DANIELE: Yeah, could you just, you know when I was reading the report you were talking about bunkers or vaults that you guys found. Can you talk about that a little bit. I'm just, yeah, you found some concrete structures underground, vaults I think you called them in the report. ROY: Oh, yeah, he might be able to address that. DANIELE: Okay. I'm just— ROY: Yeah, this was the main structure. DANIELE: Okay. ROY: That SHPD called out and there was some remnants of the flumes. DANIELE: Okay. ROY: Things like that but he might be able to speak to some more specific. But these are the ones that SHPD called out as far as being historic. DANIELE: Alright, okay. LIN: Okay, any further questions? If not, Alex, I have a question. ROY: Yeah. 6 EXHIBIT B LIN: When we look at the SMA areas we always look like erosion probabilities right, so, in this specific area since it was used for agricultural use in the past and how, is there some kind of study or some kind of data that's provided by the state or that the County might have that shows probability of soil erosion off the pali. ROY: We're actually working on that right now for two reasons. One is the riparian areas which are left out of the SMA and then the shoreline areas especially along the Hamakua Coast. The data right now, one of things we're looking at is to improve our rules to take into account some of the studies that we're looking at. The State doesn't have I consider us the forgotten isle when it comes to State studies. Big Island is often left out of a lot of that so, we've taken it upon ourselves to start looking at not only erosion, coastal erosion but hazard potential which I think is what you're talking about. So, when the applicant approached us with this project it was good to see that they were moved back, and I had that discussion with the applicant about coastal erosion and they understood that. Excuse me, and you can look up the coast and they can look up the coast and see and you can see right next door if you look down way down in the right hand, far right-hand corner you can see that's a very sharp escarpment. Which means that's eroded recently. There's some vegetation and the same here you see that bare soil. So, erosion is predominant along which is typical for these kinds of areas. So, right now the State hasn't provided anything but, we take it upon ourselves to one push people back as far as we can and inform them of the hazards that relates to coastal erosion and then provide them with information with recent or nearby erosion. But, in the long run the State, the County is working towards coming up with for one example would be instead of the typical 40-foot minimum shoreline setback in an area like this we may say for every 1-foot of cliff height you would need to be 1 1/z feet back. So these are ideas that we're still kind of working through but we're gathering data to try to improve our setbacks in these areas where it's not so clear and where sea level rises not so much the influence on shoreline erosion more upland impacts. LIN: Thank you, Alex. ROY: Sorry, it's a long — LIN: Yeah. You know,just one thing that I think we as the public we think about these areas. ROY: Yeah, no — LIN: Right, especially if it's been excessively farmed or used in the past, I think there's just my understanding or layman's understanding of this. [indecipherable] ROY: It's understandable and the idea is to try and really look at the hazard potential. So, not just shoreline or poly erosion but all the hazards that would be associated with which mean slope failure related to high water, rain events, or even earthquakes and things like that. So, again we try even though the minimum is 40 we often are really pushing people to move back as far as possible and then provide them with that kind of reasoning and evidence not just"oh, we just 7 EXHIBIT B want you do it but here's why". And this applicant been very amenable to that and understands. I think understands the issues for coastal erosion. LIN: Okay, thank you very much Alex. Alright, seeing no other comments or questions, I'll move. Oh, go ahead Commissioner Cross. CROSS: I've worked this land, the specific land in Mauna Kea Sugar for about 30 years and we used to do aerial observations sites every 6 weeks to look at the cane. This area, north of Mr. Kocol's area is probably one of the sheerest, steepest coasts I have seen along Mauna Kea Sugar. I have seen many landslides which usually occurs after an earthquake and the ocean is being all brown. For your future studies I have photographs of this specific area north of Kocol's area. ROY: That would be helpful. CROSS: With these big dirt and stained ocean because of the sloughing of that. ROY: Yeah, we've seen 30-35 feet lost in one event. The issue we face with shoreline erosion is a lot of people looking for a rate of change which is difficult when it's episodic. So you get all of a sudden boom, then 100 years you could maybe not get anything. So, that's hard sometimes to relay to an applicant. Like, look I get it, it may not look like, but you could, and you could lose a lot very quickly and so, that would be very helpful, that kind of information. So, yeah, I'll talk with you after about that. Yeah, we try to inform people that it's not, it's hard sometimes to see the differences and see the changes but, it can be pretty bad very quickly and that could be challenging. LIN: Thank you. Any other questions? Okay, if not, thank you Alex and I'll bring up the applicant now. [A male and female from the audience approached the testifier table]. If you could please raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter now before the Windward Planning Commission? MALE AND FEMALE AT TESTIFIER TABLE: Yes, we do. LIN: Okay, if you would just press, press the button there, the mic should be red. FEMALE AT TESTIFIER TABLE: I do. LIN: Okay and then speak directly into the microphone, state your name and the area you reside in and whom you represent, and have you received the background and recommendation reports from the Planning Department? And do you agree with the recommendations including the proposed conditions? KOCOL: Got it, okay thank you. Good morning, commissioners, and staff. My name is John Kocol, this is my wife, Martha Edwards. We are the applicants, and we are representing ourselves. We have, I believe the question was reviewed the material and are very well 8 EXHIBIT B aware of everything. I did notice one minor error, a typo. The additional farm dwelling unit square footage area is 744 square feet. LIN: So, if we could correct that for the record, 744 square feet additional farm dwelling. Thank you. KOCOL: As a statement, I'd just like to say we're honored to be here today. We're delighted and excited about this project and I'm really, really excited about it. So, I'm happy to answer any questions that you all might have. The question that Commissioner Daniele came up with the vaults. I think I can take a stab at that and then also what I've learned in my research about the sloughing and the shoreline erosion. It's been real fun doing the historical research on all of this and even the due diligence before we bought our property to figure out what is this stuff and what it was used for and what other buried treasures are here. So, and actually, with the help of Commissioner Cross who I had no idea sat on the Planning Commission 6 months ago when we started this. Found out that this was an area where independent growers brought their cane in to get weighed and put on the flume and we believe those vaults that we're talking about were the scales that the trucks pulled on to. Which is,personally, maybe I'm a nerd for that kind of detail but I think it's all fascinating. Regarding the shoreline erosion. It was hard. I talked to people at the Office of Coastal Conservation and Lands about this and they didn't have any good real profound data. They did direct me towards a US Geological Survey Study that was done in conjunction with the University of Hawai`i and the data, you have to interpret it because it's a very limited sample. But, from the best that I could determine the catastrophic sloughing would basically equate to about eight(8) inches a year and my interpretation to that was catastrophic was worst case scenario. I know we can't predict mother nature, but it was the best data I could find. So, when I learned that we moved the house back, as far back as we possibly could and if that data somehow holds to be true, we've got about 240 years before the house would be in jeopardy and that's really the best data that I could find. LIN: Thank you. Any other questions from Commissioners? DANIELE: Yes, I. LIN: Vice Chair, go ahead. DANIELE: I'm looking at the site plan right now and so you're 119 feet from the cliff there, from the pali. KOCOL: Um' can we pull up the plan? DANIELE: I have it at Page 23 in my report. That's what I'm looking at and it's a site plan of the main dwelling. Yeah, there you go, there you go. Okay, so I mean obviously your house is setback far. Right, like you said 200, yeah and then in front of all of that is where you're planting the grass [indecipherable] — 9 EXHIBIT B KOCOL: Although confusing there is, that's the distance to the 40-foot setback. So, if you add 40 feet to that the number is 159. DANIELE: Okay and then in front of that you're planting — KOCOL: Excuse me Commissioner, am I interpreting that correctly. ROY: Yeah. DANIELE: Yeah, okay. Okay, good. Then in front of that you'll be planting that grass to avert any erosion or try to mitigate it as much as possible. KOCOL: Correct. DANIELE: Yeah, okay and I'm not familiar with that grass. Can you kind of explain what that is. KOCOL: Quite frankly neither are we. DANIELE: Okay. KOCOL: What we have learned about is that it's used to stabilize the pali and I'm not, I would like to do something productive with the land and because of its location there's very limited you could do. So, my wife is a veterinarian and we had explored the idea of using it as a, it's a very high-protein grass. What little that I know about vetiver is that the roots are harvested for different homeopathic therapies and things like that. But the grass can be used as a high-protein livestock feed. So, my thinking right now in lieu of having a better an idea was if we could harvest vetiver and find a market for it maybe for horse folks and things like that and that would really serve 2 purposes. We could really help stabilize the pali and have something that might be productive from it. That's our current thinking. We're still learning. DANIELE: Yeah, cool. Do you know how tall that gets? I'm just curious. KOCOL: No, I do not. DANIELE: Okay. LIN: Thank you. Any other questions, comments? If not, I have a question. KOCOL: Sure. LIN: So, the next slide showed a planting plan, right, and you're planting ulu all around the property. KOCOL: That's correct. 10 EXHIBIT B LIN: I'm not familiar with the ulu plant itself but, for the plants and trees that I've seen they grow to be pretty darn big. I'm interested about the root structure of these plants or these trees because I don't know how deep they go into the soil and if we're already looking at historical possible erosion. I don't know how that would impact this property especially if you're planting along that slope area. So, that's just out of my own curiosity and that's, and I don't know if you guys would have an answer or but that would be just my personal question would be. KOCOL: Sure, I've got a lot to learn about all of this. I do know that any kind of orchard root structure is going to be better than raw crops in terms of erosion and many plants do help preserve the soil condition. Our farm plan regarding the size of the trees is that they are pruned down to a height of 15 to 18 feet in a canopy diameter of 25. So, the trees are planted on a 30-foot centers so that they could be as productive as possible. So, from what I've learned about ulu farming, you don't want them to get real big. You're going to produce more fruit if they don't. It requires more maintenance and more effort. So, the plantings along the pali that butt up against the ulu, that whole side of the pali is heavily vegetated right now and I see no signs of erosion there. The only erosion we've seen was at the vertical face that's to the north there where the vetiver would be. So, I actually think considering our options this would be a really good one for soil stabilization and once the orchard is planted the grounds are not going to be disturbed. LIN: Thank you. Any other questions or comments. If not, do I have a motion for action? DANIELE: I move that the application for Special Management Area(SMA) Use Permit Docket No. PL-SMA-2023-000034 be approved based on the Planning Director's recommendation, which shall be adopted. LIN: Okay, it's been moved by Vice Chair Daniele. Is there a second? PERRIN: I second. LIN: Seconded by Commissioner Perrin. Any discussion or comments on this motion? If not, staff roll call vote. ROY: Vice Chair Daniele? DANIELE: Aye. ROY: Commissioner Perrin? PERRIN: Aye. ROY: Commissioner Balog? BALOG: Aye. ROY: Commissioner Cross? 11 EXHIBIT B CROSS: Aye. ROY: Commissioner De Luz? DE LUZ: Aye. ROY: And Chair Lin? LIN: Aye. ROY: Motion carries six to zero. LIN: Okay. Thank you and you'll be notified about the Commission's decision in writing. KOCOL: Thank you very much. LIN: And we need more vets on this island, if you're going to go back into practice (laughing). The item ended at 9:56 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Melissa Dacayanan-Salvador, Secretary Windward Planning Commission 12 EXHIBIT B