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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-12-20 SKCDCP Meeting PacketMitchell D. Roth Mayor Lee E. Lord Managing Director Zendo Kern Director Jeffrey W. Darrow Deputy Director County of Hawai‘i PLANNING DEPARTMENT SOUTH KOHALA 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 Monday, September 18, 2023 1 DRAFT Meeting Minutes 2 CALL TO ORDER 3 Chair Smith called the South Kohala Community Development Plan (SKCDP) Action Committee 4 (AC) to order at 5:03 P.M. This meeting was held via the zoom interactive video platform. The 5 onsite location to view this meeting was in the Waikōloa School Library. 6 ROLL CALL 7 AC Members Present: Ruth Annette Smith (Chair), Julia Ann Alos, Kevin McLaughlin, Bill Sanborn, 8 Karen Anderson, and Tristie Licoan 9 AC Members Absent-Excused: Mark Gordon and Peter Hendricks 10 County Officials: Deputy Corporation Counsel, Keyra Wong 11 County Staff: Bethany Morrison, Maryam Palma, Talmadge Magno (Civil Defense Administrator) 12 Members of the public: Members of the public attended the meeting in person and via Zoom. 13 ANNOUNCEMENTS: 14 Maryam gave a review of the meeting protocols: 15 PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS: Written testimony may be submitted via email at 16 cdp@hawaiicounty.gov or in person at the Hilo or Kona Planning Department, up to two (2) 17 business days prior to the meeting (see the Notice Section below). In addition, members of the 18 public may provide oral testimony at the meeting on any of the agenda items. To register for 19 access to the Zoom meeting please email cdp@hawaiicounty.gov. With discretion of the Chair 20 of the CP Action Committee, comments may be made either during the public comment portion. 21 of the agenda or just prior to the relevant business item and may be limited to three (3) minutes. 22 in length per agenda item 23 Bethany Morrison gave an update on the General Plan. Stated that the online draft of the 24 General Plan launched today. The public can submit comments online until November 20, using 25 an interactive comment system. The planning department will be hosting scheduled events to 26 gather input, as well as doing presentations at community meetings and other events upon 27 invitation. You can email generalplan@hawaiicounty.gov for more information. Chair Smith 28 www.planning.Hawaiʻicounty.gov/ CDP@Hawaiʻicounty.gov Page 2 asked about CDP treatment in general plan update. CDPs were reviewed in preparation for 29 General Plan updates, implementation is included in the implementation section. 30 APPROVAL OF MINUTES: 31 Committee Member Anderson made a motion to approve the October 24,2022 minutes. 32 Seconded by Committee Member Licoan. Motion passed with 6 votes aye, 0 votes nay. 33 PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS: 34 David Olajos gave public comment asking about a second access road and if there is an option to 35 use municipal bonds to fund it. Chair Smith gave an update on the current status of the proposal 36 for a road related to Waikōloa Heights. 37 Cindy noted that there is a County process each year, someone in the Mayor’s administration 38 proposes what goes into bonds from the County each year. Also explained how improvement 39 districts process works (Where all the TMK’s within the district pay for the improvement in their 40 property taxes, which does require voter approval) 41 Julia commented about Waikōloa Heights having an obligation to build the second access road, 42 but no further information is available at this time. 43 BUSINESS: 44 1. Emergency Preparedness: Discussion on the effectiveness of implementation of the 45 Emergency Preparedness Plans. 46 a. August 8th, 2023 Wildfire 47 Mary Wainwright gave public comment explaining that she has a petition to request for 48 construction of a second access road. Mary stated that she has been receiving many comments 49 from residents regarding this issue. She also wants to be sure that the developer is held to their 50 commitment e.g. by having money in an escrow account. Mary also asked a question regarding 51 fire breaks. Julia replied that Tim Richards said he would get a list of fire breaks together for 52 maintenance. 53 Pam North gave public comment via email which was read by Maryam. She recommended 54 installing sirens, a second access road and evacuation plans. Pam mentioned a bus route to 55 connect the village to the Waikōloa Beach resort area. Also recommended having some buses 56 parked by the Waikōloa school so they could help in an evacuation. Currently parents are 57 required to pick up their children from the school. 58 Mitch Richardson gave public comment asking if there are any plans for planned burns to help 59 reduce fire load? Elizabeth responded that she would provide more information later in the 60 meeting. 61 County Staff Talmadge gave comment on this topic. Civil Defense’s role is to coordinate the 62 County’s response to emergencies/natural disasters, from training and prep to response and 63 recovery. Processes are governed by FEMA rules to qualify for FEMA funding and support. Must 64 www.planning.Hawaiʻicounty.gov/ CDP@Hawaiʻicounty.gov Page 3 follow FEMA-defined “Mission areas.” Noted that Multi-hazard Mitigation plans are updated 65 every 5 years and update starts this year. (This is a FEMA Requirement) The above listed plan 66 lists a variety of projects related to the mission areas; projects listed in the plan can get federal 67 funding. Waikōloa priorities need to get into the plan during regular plan updates, which starts 68 this fall. 69 Talmadge described what “coordinating” means in terms of working in the EOC (Emergency 70 Operations Center) Clarified that HFD is responsible for wildfire response and has the incident 71 command at the scene; Civil defense provides operations support. Described how preparations 72 go for an event that can potentially be seen coming (E.g. fire conditions, hurricane) and 73 preparedness for individuals for unexpected events (E.g. earthquake) 74 Regarding the recent fire: there was a notice of fire, EOC was activated, call to the Mayor, phone 75 tree calls start going out, start working event (coordinating operations, incident action plan (IAP) 76 Fire department called the evacuation, police went door to door and drove around with audible 77 announcements. 78 Regarding Evacuations: decision is the responsibility of the senior officer on the ground, e.g. fire 79 or police. Once it’s called then the decision is formalized in a mayor’s emergency proclamation. 80 Evacuations start off voluntary until the Mayor’s proclamation and then it’s a mandatory 81 evacuation. Regarding the Mauna Kea situation, they determined they would shelter in place 82 with defensive water use. This decision was made by the fire battalion chief. 83 Tristie noted that communication with employees during the event was broken, so there is an 84 effort to put in place a new system to ensure communication with employees at the resort; 85 Tristie explained some of how the Mauna Kea resort management and security were not 86 prepared for an event with road closures, so some work is being done to handle these additional 87 types of situations. 88 Question from the public asked about Waikōloa Village evacuations? Chair Smith explained the 89 current situation with the emergency evacuation road and that there have been some practices. 90 91 Question from the public asked about communications at Mauna Kea during fire, social media 92 sites on phones provided better information. Follow up question, what happens if cell phones 93 aren’t working? AC member Bill noted that Civil Defense has separate communication and asked 94 how it is integrated: Talmadge noted that they do have a separate “land mobile” system with 95 different frequencies, the coordination is done by people at the EOC since the systems between 96 the departments are not interconnected. There is a backup system where key staff have “AT&T 97 FirstNet” which prioritizes their calls on the network, there is also amateur radio as a possible 98 backup. AC member Karen agreed that the community should work to get the second access 99 road on the project list for the updated Multi-hazard Mitigation Plan; also that it should go into 100 the General Plan. AC member Julia noted that they should provide our second access road report 101 to the Civil Defense. 102 AC member Bill commented on tsunami evacuations creating challenges, such as getting people 103 out of resorts and up to Waikōloa Village and then sheltering those people in the village. 104 www.planning.Hawaiʻicounty.gov/ CDP@Hawaiʻicounty.gov Page 4 Elizabeth from Hawai’i Wildfire gave an update: “Ready, Set, go”, first, preparation: have a plan, 105 replace combustible materials with non-combustible, remove debris. Be aware, sign up for Civil 106 Defense messages, watch for fire conditions and be ready. When a fire situation comes up, leave 107 early to be clear of possible evacuation; can come back later if it’s ok. For formal notifications, 108 developing a system of alerts so that there will be some info (e.g. green level), then more serious 109 information (e.g. yellow level and orange level), then emergency information (red level); Civil 110 Defense terms: Advisory, Watch, Warning (correspond to yellow, orange, red) The new system 111 mentioned above is from “Everbridge” and people can sign up. Noted that Waikōloa Village is in 112 the minority in having a second evacuation road in Hawai’i; many communities don’t have a 113 second road out. Regarding prescribed burns, haven’t typically used it here in Hawai’i due to 114 conditions and personnel availability; some testing Maui, but not preferred here at this time (one 115 other reason is that mostly we have grass and then the grass quickly comes back) Mayor has just 116 created an interagency working group to address fire safety etc. 117 Public comment: David (from Waikōloa school) is on safety committee for school and asked if 118 there is an evacuation plan and if he could get access to it. Cindy noted that there have been 119 efforts over the years to put together a community plan for disaster preparedness/response, and 120 the current version should be shown to the County to see what can be done with it. Julia noted 121 that this plan has been submitted to Civil Defense and the County but no action. 122 b. August 2022 Mānā Road 123 124 2. Permitted Interaction Group (Subcommittee) Updates: 125 a. Hawai’i Island Tourism: 126 Has not yet met, AC Member Tristie had an update; she got the draft 2020-2025 plan from 127 Frecia Savalos for us to review. 128 129 b. South Kohala CDP Review 130 On hold 131 c. Waimea Preservation 132 AC member Bill explained that Waimea was founded as a corporate town (i.e. a Parker built 133 town) Working on a framework to make a list of what the community wants to see preserved in 134 Waimea. Bill suggested that using the PONC system is a good way to get input from the 135 community to the County about what should be preserved. Bill said they had a community group 136 meeting on this topic and plan to have another. 137 d. County Roads and Bridges 138 i. Waikoloa Heights feasibility study, and second access road possibility. 139 MOU signed by developers and adjacent landowners for feasibility study; public will receive 140 further notifications as updates occur; developer working on engineering plans. Cindy added 141 that there is a discussion about how the road will intersect with Queen K and Public Works is 142 www.planning.Hawaiʻicounty.gov/ CDP@Hawaiʻicounty.gov Page 5 involved in the discussion. State DOT has also been involved and did note that there was a 143 stated requirement that it not align with the Puakō Rd. Public comment by Michael 144 Konowicz: Director Kern said that the developer must bear the cost of the road, and the 145 road must be built when some trigger condition is met (i.e. when some certain numbers of 146 homes are built), but that has not been communicated. Also gave ideas for how to get 147 creative on getting the road built sooner. Noted that the original approval for Waikōloa 148 Heights says that the developer will include fire breaks and use fire-resistant materials, 149 asked Planning to check on this. Public comment from Tiga Kailimai online, from Kailapa 150 community, Her and other HOA board members are CERT certified; she noted that there are 151 no evacuation routes in her community. Noted they have a pavilion and are working on a 152 bigger pavilion with facilities for shelter. AC Member Karen mentioned a concern from 153 Puakō about the possibility of the road coming into the Puakō community, as some people 154 might drive down that road and have nowhere to go. AC Member Bill asked about the Puakō 155 evacuation road (at the end to Mauna Lani), which Karen explained is paid for by Puakō 156 community and locked with a gate that must be opened by a member of the Puakō 157 community (only 3 people have the code) 158 ii. Waikōloa intersection traffic control plans. 159 AC Member Kevin commented that the roundabout is not the preferred solution, and we 160 really need something now, not nothing until the roundabout is eventually done in the 161 future. Mike Konowicz spoke to mayor, said something could be changed, but no 162 commitment, suggested to send a letter. Motion: AC send a letter to the mayor to urge 163 moving forward on a traffic light now (instead of a roundabout later) Bill made the motion, 164 Tristie seconded the motion. Kevin commented to not include the roundabout. Bill 165 commented to include in report. Scott, Bill, Tristie, Ruth Karen: Aye, Julia: Nay 166 iii. Proposed roundabout at Lindsey Rd and Kawaihae Rd 167 Additional note from Bethany: Hulu street evacuation road getting some surfacing 168 improvements. 169 AC Member Bill also noted that we should consider if we should continue the other 170 subcommittees or end them if activity is not going to happen. 171 3. Puakō water and wastewater systems update. 172 To be updated at next meeting 173 174 4. Kawaihae potable water discussion 175 Cindy explained that Kawaihae needs water, they get water from Kohala Ranch and don’t have 176 good water pressure (couldn’t fight a fire with it, for example) Cindy also noted that Kailapa 177 doesn’t have evacuation plans if there is an emergency, they’ve asked for evacuation mauka. AC 178 Member Kevin asked about possible follow up actions: Cindy said that it is challenging to get 179 water from Lālāmilo down the road to Kailapa/Kawaihae as it requires bigger pipes. Cindy said 180 www.planning.Hawaiʻicounty.gov/ CDP@Hawaiʻicounty.gov Page 6 that they could make a new well up above Kailapa and have their own water. OHA just got 181 $350m for projects, so Cindy suggested they work on the water proposal, but this is in DHHL; 182 chair of commission is also exec director of DHHL, and they have to propose it. AC Member 183 Karen said do whatever it takes to get on the list. 184 Public comment from Cathy said that she is concerned about fireworks, and use of illegal 185 fireworks. 186 James announced next South Kohala traffic safety meeting schedule. 187 PROPOSED AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: 188 Proposed meeting on Nov. 13, Details TBD 189 November 8, 2023 Mayor will be guest at Cindy’s Meeting. 190 191 ADJOURNMENT: 192 Committee Member Sanborn made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Motion seconded by 193 Committee Member McLaughlin. The motion passed with 6 votes aye, 0 votes nay. The meeting 194 was adjourned at 7:02 PM 195 These minutes and all related documents are available in the Planning Department’s Kaʻū 196 Community Development Plan Action Committee folder via the County of Hawaiʻi Public 197 Documents Repository. These documents may also be requested from the Planning Department 198 by calling (808) 961-8288 or emailing cdp@Hawaiʻicounty.gov. 199