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Home My WebLink About2005-12-02 TWOOD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAII HEARING TRANSCRIPT DECEMBER 2, 2005 A regularly advertised meeting on the application of VERNE AND LYNN WOOD (SPP 05-018) was called to order at 2:00 p.m. in the County Building, Councilroom - Room 201, 25 Aupuni Street, Hilo, Hawaii, with Second Vice-Chairman Kimo Alameda presiding. PRESENT:C. Kimo AlamedaABSENT & EXCUSED: Fred Galdones Hannah SpringerBill Graham Jeffrey McCallAndrew Iwashita Allen Salavea Rene Siracusa Rodney Watanabe Ivan Torigoe, Deputy Corporation Counsel ChristopherJ.Yuen,PlanningDirector Norman Hayashi, Planning Program Manager Phyllis Fujimoto, Staff Planner Jeff Darrow, Staff Planner And approximately 5 people from the public in attendance. APPLICANTS: VERNE AND LYNN WOOD (SPP 05-018) Continued hearing on the application for a Special Permit to allow a contractors warehouse and baseyard to facilitate the construction and servicing of water catchment systems on 40,075 square feet of land situated within the State Land Use Agricultural rd District. The property is located between 33 Street and Highway 130 (Keaau-Pahoa rd Road), approximately 800 feet northwest of the 33 Street Makuu Drive intersection, Hawaiian Paradise Park Subdivision, Keaau, Puna, Hawaii, TMK: 1-5-16:167. ALAMEDA:Okay, next on the agenda, applicants Verne and Lynn Wood (SPP 05-018). Keep in mind that this is a continued hearing on the application for a Special Permit to allow a contractors warehouse and baseyard to facilitate the construction and servicing of water catchment systems. Id like to turn it over to the staff for a description. Mr. Darrow? DARROW:Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon, members of the Planning Commission. If I can direct your attention to the location map. The area of this application is within the Puna District of Hawaii. More specifically, were looking at the HawaiianParadiseParkSubdivision.Thislineheremovingina,wellsayeast-west direction is Keaau-Pahoa Road or Highway 130. This particular location right here is 1EXHIBIT C rd Makuu Drive and Highway 130; and more specifically, we have 33 Avenue. The area of the application is identified with a blue dot. The applicants in this case, Verne and Lynn Wood, are requesting a special permit for the establishment of a baseyard to allow the construction, servicingandalso the storage of their water tank systems, as well as a proposed 3200 square foot metal warehouse building that will be located in this area. rd Identified on the site plan submitted by the applicants is 33 Avenue as well as the Keaau-Pahoa Road. The applicants will have a separate entrance to the area on the property which is identified approximately 24,000 square feet in size, with the entire rd property being approximately 40,000 square feet in size. From 33 Avenue they will have a separate entrance, and this will allow for a baseyard for the storage of the materials associated with the business, as well as gravel and sand. There is an existing dwelling on the property. The Planning Director previously had submitted a recommendation for denial. At this time the Planning Director has recently changed his recommendation for an approval; and that has been distributed to the Planning Commission Members. The conditions to bring to your attention include the standard five-year time limit for these particular special permits that have been approved in this particular area with the condition that if any appropriate zoned areas become available including these areas identified in dark green ortheOrchidlandTradeCenter,iftheybecomeopenoravailablefortheapplicantthat they would be required to move to a more appropriate zoned area. There is also a landscaping condition. There is a landscaping condition that the applicants will be required to place a heavy landscaping along the Keaau-Pahoa Road as well as landscaping for light industrial to abutting residential, for the other property boundaries. Additionally there is a condition that the applicants will not be able to access from rd Keaau-Pahoa Road, only from 33 Avenue, as well as additional conditions specific to this application. The Planning Director is recommending approval of this application by the Planning Commission. Are there any questions? SIRACUSA:Yes. ALAMEDA:Commissioner Siracusa? SIRACUSA:I have two questions. No. 1 is in the pictures that were passed around we could see from the highway that theres a chain-link fence fronting Highway 130, and Im wondering if the chain-link fence is set back from the property line so that the landscaping can be on the outside or is it right on the property so that the landscaping wouldhavetobedoneontheinside.Couldyoutellmetherelationshipofthatfenceline to the property line? 2EXHIBIT C DARROW:Im not exactly sure where that is. If there is enough room on the outside of that chain link to be able to place the landscaping, if we could, if we could defer that question to the applicant. SIRACUSA:Ill wait for Mr. Wood with the idea that if theres no room for landscaping on the outside I would want to suggest to him that he could paint that chain link fence either matt black or matt dark green so it wouldnt be so intrusive visually. I had a, possibly a correction to the revised recommendation; and that is on page 3, the second paragraph. It begins with However. The very last part says The Planning Commission supports an approval of the special permit with a limited life. And since we havent voted on this yet I believe that that should either be Department or Director. DARROW:Correct;andwellmakethat-. SIRACUSA:Andcantherecordreflectthatwemaketheappropriatecorrection there? ALAMEDA:So noted. SIRACUSA:So no one should think that this is a done deal already. ALAMEDA:Thank you, Commissioner Siracusa. Questions? Commissioner Watanabe? WATANABE:I have just one question for staff. And that will be, you know, with the limited life and this proposed storage facility, would that mean that in the event the five years expired or, lets say, some light industrial area became available, does that mean the building has to be removed, the warehouse? DARROW:It would be, depending on the use of the structure, I mean, it could actually be used as an agricultural facility. But within that five-year period, usually the conditions allow for an administrative time extension to be similar to the same period of time originally granted. That is true for all conditions except for Condition No. 2. They would have to come back to the Commission within the five years. At that time, if the use is going to continue, theyre going to need another approval from the Planning rd Commission. And one of the stipulations of that approval is that this particular 33 Avenue not only from, from Makuu Drive all the way to the last permitted special permit rd in this areaon 33 will have to be paved for them to be able to get a consideration for a timeextension.Thatjustbythisbeingpavedisntinitselfautomaticapproval.Its just -. They will not even be able to consider the time extension request without this particularroadbeingimproved. Butasfarastheuseofthestructure,iftheywereplanningoncontinuingitasabaseyard then it would probably most likely need to be removed. 3EXHIBIT C WATANABE:Thank you. ALAMEDA:Other Commissioners? Commissioner McCall. MCCALL:Yeah, Jeff, how many of these special permits have we approved now on that same stretch of that -? DARROW:On the same road? MCCALL:Where the same roadway -. rd DARROW:There have been, on 33 Avenue weve had four in the past. One is to John Gap which was Whitney Mango Trust. We have Walter Tavares. Im sorry, Whitney Mango Trust was also a baseyard operation fordrain pipes. Walter Tavares, rd which is located on the makai side of 33, was permitted there for an auto repair and tow business. We had Greg Plescia who came before us recently for a certified kitchen. He is also located on the makai side. John Gaps operation is four lots towards Keaau from this particular operation also along the highway. So weve had four. Additionally there was one in the past across the street and that was for Excavation Tech, Paul Andrade for another baseyard facility. MCCALL:Thank you. ALAMEDA:Other Commissioners, questions for our staff? Hearing none, thank you, Jeff. Will the applicant please come forward. Could you please raise your right hand. Do you affirm to tell the truth now before the Hawaii County Planning Commission? WOOD:I do. ALAMEDA:Thank you. Could you please state your name and address for the record. WOOD:Verne Wood, 2405 Kalanianaole, Apartment 207 in Hilo. ALAMEDA:Mr. Wood, did you get a chance to look at the recommendation made by the Department? WOOD:Yes, I have a copy of that. ALAMEDA:Okay. Are you okay with the conditions stated? WOOD:Theres one condition that I would like to ask about -. ALAMEDA:Sure. 4EXHIBIT C WOOD:When the time is appropriate. ALAMEDA:Now is the time. Go ahead. WOOD:I was just worried about Condition No. 8. The property was bulldozed by a D-9 30 years ago and ripped; and I havent seen any problem with any drainage issues. And I was just worried about getting a little top heavy on the expense of doing this project, especially on the basis that its a temporary permit. Now we have the expense of paving the road, and I know the Fire Department is going to ask me to do some special things. And Environmental Management Im not too concerned about. But Im worried that the expense of doing a drainage survey could be expensive. Ive encountered like on my project on Orchidland Drive, I mean, I think that cost me like $14,000 just to do the study. ALAMEDA:Okay. Id like to ask our Director if he has any comments or responseforMr.Woodregardingthatcondition. YUEN:WecouldamendittosayifrequiredbytheDepartmentofPublic Works. Im not sure how they would look at this building. We try to treat these the same as if you were getting zoning for a light industrial; and I think they would require this for a light industrial, if he were developing a vacant light industrial site. WOOD:That satisfies my position. You know, if Public Works wants that then -. If Public Works would require that then I recognize that as a necessity. I just was concerned as a condition even if it wasnt necessary the way its worded. ALAMEDA:Okay. Mr. Wood, do you have any other comments or questions pertaining to the Departments recommendations? WOOD:Not at this time, no. Thank you. ALAMEDA:Fellow Commissioners, do you have any questions for the applicant? SIRACUSA:I have. ALAMEDA:Okay, Commissioner Siracusa. SIRACUSA:This is back to the question I asked of Jeff originally about your fence lines and if theres a setback from the property line on the highway side. WOOD:I appreciate that question and the reason the fence is put where it is is because Im not sure which is the better choice. Its actually put so that a landscaped buffer could go on either side of it. And Im not sure whether cosmetics are better to 5EXHIBIT C have the fence on the outside of the buffer or whether its better to have it on the inside there. So it could probably go either way. SIRACUSA:Okay. I would put it to you that, for one thing, that we found that painting these chain link fenceseither in a matt black or a matt very dark green does tend to help disappear them; and so there is a much nicer background. If you have space to do it on the highway side, it would certainly improve the, though you might want to put your shrubbery, say, on the highway side and then the trees on the inside if youre going to put up some, say, palm trees or something to block the upper elevation views. WOOD:Were learning a lot about Rule 17 today, yeah. SIRACUSA:Yeah. WOOD:Icouldgoeitherway.Icouldpaintit-. SIRACUSA:Iwouldbewillingtodiscusslandscapedetailswithyouatany time, you know, like that. WOOD:I would appreciate that. ALAMEDA:Other questions, Commissioners? Commissioner Salavea. SALAVEA:Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can you clarify for us, I know in the background report and the recommendation it describes the difference between why the need for this special permit and what youre going to do, or the basic operation at Orchidland Trade Center. But can you describe for us in detail what is it specificallythe activities that youll be doing at the baseyard that is not permitted at the Trade Center. WOOD:The quick answer to that is that we would be basing gravel and sand and concrete products that we use in the building of the foundation for water tanks. Thats not actually permitted at the Orchidland Trade Center. The Orchidland Trade Center has more of a retail profile. SALAVEA:Okay, okay. Thank you very much. ALAMEDA:Thank you, Commissioner Salavea for that question. Other questions, Commissioners? Seeing none, this is a public hearing so we do allow opportunity for the public to provide testimony. Can I just ask our Corp. Counsel can Mr. Wood just sit there or does he have to sit down -? TORIGOE:He can sit there. ALAMEDA:Okay. You can stay there. Usually wed make you sit down, but thats all right. Commissioner Salavea, you had a question? 6EXHIBIT C SALAVEA:Yeah. Im not sure if this is appropriate for this discussion or this questioning time, but this is for Director Yuen. I get a little confused about what the uses of the industrial zoned area in Paradise Park are used or set aside for. It seems like theyre zoned, theyre there. I dont know about their availability, cost, and stuff. But why do we keep, you know, special permitting these lots when we should be putting them all in that, in my mind, in those zoned areas? Could you help me? YUEN:Yes. Actually there was a misstatement in the previous application that these were zoned. They were designated in the General Plan as industrial and that just happened in February 2005. So theyre potentially available for zoning; however the landowner has not come forward with that. There are infrastructure that has to be put in and we dont, theres not a clear timetable for when that would happen. The idea is to have a designated area and have people go there. You know, you have a light industrial area. And rather than have baseyards, warehouses, storage areas, these self-storage areas thatarerightnexttopeopleshouses,youknow,wheretheyareonspecialpermitsand you have one house here, and a warehouse on the next lot, and a house next lot, and a contractors baseyard in the next lot, there should be a developed area for this. So that was the idea behind it. But it isnt available right now. So thats why we continue to entertain some special permits for this sort of thing. SALAVEA:Okay, thats very helpful. Thank you. ALAMEDA:Thank you. Commissioner Siracusa? SIRACUSA:Yes. When, back in 98 when Vurich first applied for his original permit, the Paradise Park had just passed its master plan at that point. And, as a matter of fact, the first issue that came up before the Commission after that happened was Vurichs original application. So thats about when Paradise Park did its master plan. Prior to that when the subdivision was first developed, the developer which was Watamull at the time had set aside any number of large parcels for specific purposes. Some of them were for recreation, some were for educational purposes, and some where for commercial and industrial. But, lets see, Malamala Waldorf School is on one of those parcels, so thats the educational. The Hui Hanalike with their facility, the pavilion and the ballfield and everything is on one of the recreational parcels. Theres another recreational parcel th across the road on 17 which they have been considering for an ethnobotanical garden forever but havent done anything with. And so the one across from Vurich is one of the industrial parcels, dating back to that original developer plan. And if Ive misstated anything, Im hoping that the Director will correct me. But thats what I remember from years and years. ALAMEDA:Thank you. Director Yuen? YUEN:Thats fine, yes. ALAMEDA:Okay.Commissioners,otherquestionsfortheapplicant?Okay,at this time I would like to ask Sonny Weiss to come forward, please. You can have a seat 7EXHIBIT C next to Mr. Wood. Im going to swear you in and ask that you speak into the mike. Could you please raise your right hand. Do you affirm to tell the truth now before the Hawaii County Planning Commission? WEISS:I do. ALAMEDA:Thank you. Can you please state your name and address for the record, and then you may proceed with your testimony. WEISS:My name is Sonny Weiss. I reside at 13-181 Kaloli Drive. ALAMEDA:Okay. And you can proceed now. WEISS:Okay. I work for Verne Wood, as you guys know. And it would beveryconvenientcauseIlivereallycloseby,and,alsofourotheremployeesliveinthe area. We also do about 80 to 90 percent of all of our jobs right in that Puna area, the Paradise Park, Orchidland, and Ainaloa Subdivisions, so that part would make it very easy too. Im the construction manager so Ill be dealing with most of the operations there. ALAMEDA:Okay. Thank you, Mr. Weiss. Any questions, Commissioners, for our testifier? You have anything else to ask or to say? WEISS:Ill be very happy if the zoning went through. ALAMEDA:Okay. Thank you, Mr. Weiss. Seeing that theres no further testifiers -. Commissioner Siracusa. SIRACUSA:Yes, I have a question to the Director. You know, we have four rd special permits on 33 now, and if we pass this one that will make five; and yet were talking about down the line in five years time whats going to happen. They say they come, they all have to come back and request extensions and that would be done administratively; and then if there still is nothing for them, then they would come back before the Commission and then there would be a paving requirement. Now are we starting from the oldest permit then, or are we taking a mean between the oldest and the newest permits, or are we starting from when the most recent permit? I mean, because thepavingisgoingtoaffectallfouror,asthecasemaybe,fivespecialusepermits,but theyre all on slightly different timetables. So Im wondering procedurally how the Departmenthasfiguredonmanagingthat. ALAMEDA:Director,youcaretorespondtothat? YUEN:Well,itsagoodquestion.Theyreindifferentpartsofit.We hadnt talked about this, had we? 8EXHIBIT C SIRACUSA:No, but we cant exactly pave one little patch and then leave another bare, and then pave a patch, and then connect the dots down the line or something -. YUEN:Where are they in relation to, what I mean is that, whos the farthest one out and -? DARROW:The farthest one out is the one that was recently approved Greg Plescia. Walter Tavares was the first one that was permitted with the requirement to pave the road; and that was on June 20, 2003. So it has to be paved up to his point. Now there was one permitted prior to that, and that was Whitney Mango Trust. They didnt have the condition placed on them about the paving of the road; but later there is information in the file that they had agreed to be a part of that paving. And they also havealimitedtermlife.Sotheywillalsoafterfiveyearshavetocomebackbeforethe Commission and request a time extension. But as far as the distances, the first one would be four lots to Pahoa side or Keaau side of Mr. Woods property. That would be the first one that would come before the Commission. The second would be a little further Keaau side of that. And then, lastly, rd Plescia which is pretty close to the end of 33. I mean theres a little distance there but hes quite a ways down. And then, lastly, it would be Mr. Wood. YUEN:Does Plescia have a five-year and a paving on it? DARROW:Yes. YUEN:Okay. SIRACUSA:Im wondering about the logistics, is this, you know, how it would be managed not only timewise but also -. I mean, would the various applicants have to form a hui or something to, you know, arrange between them how they were going to share out the expense or, I mean, theres some problems, would have to, do we have any precedence anywhere else on the island for this sort of thing that we could look to? ALAMEDA:I wonder, maybe Mr. Wood would like to say something about the Directorsthinking.Mr.Wood? WOOD:Well,actually,theDirectorwouldntknowthis,butwehavekind of a community initiative currently and weve got some quotes. Andas far as CommissionerSiracusasquestion,Ianticipatethatpavingwillbedonelongbeforeany of these re-permitting issues come up. However, your question about the timeline is very valid.Becauseitwouldseemtomethatthedrainpipesolarapplicationwillcometoyou first because its already, I think, two years old. And so those will come in staggered. Butthepaving,Ianticipatethepavingwillprobablybedonewithinayear. 9EXHIBIT C SIRACUSA:That answers it for me, thank you. ALAMEDA:Thank you, Commissioner Siracusa. So, Director, you have anything else there? YUEN: As a general question, this comes up in a very similar way a lot of time in the sense of a developer will come in and be on a street and well put in a rezoning requirement that they improve the street. And its usually, the only fair way to do it is through an improvement district, but its often very difficult to manage that because people have different timeframes on what their going to do. I think well let it go for now and well work it out when the time comes. ALAMEDA:Thank you. Commissioners, other questions? Go ahead, Commissioner Salavea. SALAVEA:Just to follow up to your comment, Mr. Wood, who would be payingforthat?IsthatasmallhuithatyouhaveorthegreaterHPP? ALAMEDA:Sure,Mr.Wood,ifyoucananswerthat. WOOD:Currentlyitsahuiofaboutahalfdozentomaybe10lotowners on the street that want to see the street improved; and Im one of them. Ive been all in favor of going ahead with paving, you know, as soon as we can put the hui together. As Jeff has mentioned, the biggest problem we have now is with Gregs property. Its the last one, hes so far down that its quite a bit more money to get to his property. But as far as Wally Tavares place, we already have a quote for that; and we have enough parties interested that this particular hui, we should be able to get pavement to Wallys place probably within a year; and I think we all want to see that. It kind of improves the community. SALAVEA:Thank you, Mr. Wood. Related question, Mr. Chair? ALAMEDA:Sure, Commissioner Salavea. SALAVEA:For Director Yuen. For the condition to, as a condition to extend or apply for extension on the special permit, when did we start placing this particular condition on the special permit? YUEN:Was in the last few years. There have been quite, aside from this area, they are also the same on other areas. Cause part of the idea of even getting a set area going is if people can buy one lot and get a special permit thats good forever, why would they go to a designated industrial area. So that was part of the thinking behind doing this. And then at least it does enable somebody who is looking at it to say, well, there is this market of people who are on special permits that they would have to relocate if I did do a light industrial area. 10EXHIBIT C SALAVEA:Okay. And, sorry, I just -. ALAMEDA:Sure. SALAVEA:On the same note, I guess my interest would be to, I guess, make sure that the road infrastructure would be able to handle the increased traffic as the commercial activity expands and grows and also look out for, I guess, as a benefit for the neighboring residents that arent doing commercial that they get some benefit to their, from, you know, from having this higher use of land. So thats just my comment. And I think, if we can kind of stay consistent with at least asking for some of the infrastructure to be paid by the commercial coming in and help do some of the improvements, and its not all dependent upon the local like HPP, Paradise Park, greater community association or the County but maybe some smaller private interest groups such as Mr. Wood had mentioned. So, thats it. I just had a comment. Thank ALAMEDA:Thank you. I appreciate Commissioner Siracusa for bringing that up.Seeingthattheresnofurtherquestions,wecanaskMr.Weiss,youcansitdown now. Thank you for your testimony. And since Mr. Wood since youre already there, you can stay there. Do we have a motion before us? SALAVEA:Sure. I move that the application for Special Permit Docket No. SPP 05-018 in the matter of Verne and Lynn Wood be approved based on the Planning Directors recommendation and proposed conditions. ALAMEDA:Theres a motion made. And a second? SPRINGER:Second. ALAMEDA:Thank you. Motion made by Commissioner Salavea, seconded by Commissioner Springer. We have a question. Commissioner Watanabe? WATANABE:Just a friendly amendment. That would be inclusive of amendment to Condition No. 8 which included if required by Public Works. SALAVEA:Yes. ALAMEDA:Okay, so noted. Commissioner Springer? SPRINGER:And also to the narrative on Page 3, the correction from Planning Commission to Director. ALAMEDA:Okay, so noted. Let me check with Mr. Darrow if you have any questions? You got it? DARROW:Yes. 11EXHIBIT C ALAMEDA:Fantastic. Okay. Discussion? Seeing none, roll call. DARROW:Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Commissioner Salavea? SALAVEA:Aye. DARROW:Commissioner Springer? SPRINGER:Yes. DARROW:Commissioner McCall? MCCALL:Aye DARROW:CommissionerSiracusa? SIRACUSA:Aye. DARROW:CommissionerWatanabe? WATANABE:Aye. DARROW:And Mr. Chairman? ALAMEDA:Aye. DARROW:The motion passes six to zero. WOOD:Thank you, Commissioners. ALAMEDA:Youre welcome. Youll be notified in writing of this decision. The discussion ended at 2:31 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Sharon M.Nomura EastHawaii Secretary 12EXHIBIT C