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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-12-09 TMILNER LEEWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAIÒI HEARING TRANSCRIPT DECEMBER 9, 2009 STEVEN & LORETTA MILNER (REZ A regularly advertised hearing on the application of 09-106) was called to order at 9:42 a.m. in the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Hotel, AliÒi III Room, 69-275 Waikoloa Drive, Waikoloa, HawaiÒi, with Chairman Rodney Watanabe presiding. PRESENT: Rodney Watanabe Brandi Beaudet Lani Bowman Fdq`kchmdFheehm Frederic Housel Wayne Iokepa Aq`mcnmFnmy`kdy , Deputy Corporation Counsel BJ Leithead Todd, Planning Director L`qf`qdsL`rtm`f`+CdotsxOk`mmhmfChqdbsnq Norman Hayashi, Planning Program Manager Phyllis Fujimoto, Staff Planner Jeff Darrow, Staff Planner  Maija Cottle, Staff Planner JhDlkdq+DmfhmddqhmfChuhrhnm+Cdo`qsldmsneOtakhbVnqjr And approximately 13 people from the public in attendance APPLICANTS: STEVEN & LORETTA MILNER (REZ 09-106) Change of Zone from a Single-Family Residential-15,000 square feet (RS-15) to a Village Commercial-10,000 square feet (CV-10) district for approximately 1.16 acres of land. The property is located on the west side of Hw Road, approximately 420 feet south of the Akoni Pule Highway Î Hw Road intersection, KaÒauhuhu, North Kohala, HawaiÒi, TMK: 5-5-1 WATANABE: Agenda Item No. 1. This is a Steven and Loretta Milner, and this is a change of zone, REZ 09-106. Maija? COTTLE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good morning, everyone. COMMISSIONERS: Good morning, Maija. COTTLE: The applicants are requesting a change of zone from Single-Family Residential 15,000 square feet to Village Commercial 10,000 square feet for approximately 1.16 acres. And the subject property is located in the North Kohala District, pretty close to the intersection of Akoni Pule Highway and Hw Road. You can see the subject property on the slide outlined in black; itÓs actually the location of the currew Gym. And the current EXHIBIT A 1 zoning, as you can see on the slide, is Single-Family Residential 15,000 square feet; those are all of the dark yellow areas. And the areas in the pink are currently zoned Village Commercial 10,000 square feet, which is what the applicants are requesting. This is a General Plan LUPAG Map of the property. You can see that most of the property is designated Medium Density Urban. And the State Land Use Designation is Urban as well, which is shown in pink on the slide. This is an aerial photo that shows the existing gymnasium. There are actually two structures and a parking area, a paved parking area in the front and a grass parking area in the back. You can see some of the other commercial uses in Hw, and then there are residential uses towards the south. The applicants are requesting the change in zoning in order to allow offices on the subject property and in the existing structures; the Zoning Code does not allow offices in Single-Family Residential zoning. And the Department is recommending that a favorable recommendation be sent to the County Council for this request. WATANABE: Thank you, Maija. Fellow Commissioners, do we have any questions of staff? Seeing none, then I have one individual that has signed up to testify: Shaun McElhannon. Would you come to the table, please? Mr. McElhannon, may I swear you in? Would you raise your right hand? Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth now before the Planning Commission? MCELHANNON: I do. WATANABE: Thank you. And for the record, would you state your full name and address, and then you may begin your testimony. MCELHANNON: Donald Shaun McElhannon, 55-524 Hw Road. I represent not only myself but KC Lane Condominium Association, which is immediately adjacent to the property in question here. We consist of three homes and the Mormon Church, biggest house of worship in Hw, which previously sold the MilnerÓs property in question. My comments are these. It is an extremely congested part of North Kohala. We are on the line between commercial and residential; itÓs a very sensitive area. So we are real sensitive to what happens here. One of the problems is that we want to make sure become a nuisance as unfortunately the Kohala Village Inn has become. So we are very sensitive to the usage. The idea was floated about a preschool, which I think is inappropriate given the dangerous traffic area. And now for the first time IÓm hearing that there may be offices put in there in the small building to the left, which previously had offices anyway; I certainly have no objection to that. But since there are 50 possible uses in a CV-10, we really want the owners to be aware that Î for instance the kanaka maoli people who run, who manage this place, who manage it well, have told me that during parties, which are quite large because itÓs a gym Î that all parties will cease by 10:30 and there will be no alcoho if the CV-10 is granted, that that promise holds. EXHIBIT A 2 The other issue is parking. Ever since the present owners bought it from the Church, as good neighbors we have allowed some spillover. Immediately to this side of the gym is our driveway; it has been treated as a rollover parking for events at the gym. We can no longer allow that because of our liability insurance. And if it goes CV-10, there are so many more uses that they can put in there we simply cannot allow not only the parking but the patrons, especially children and young children, who stream across our driveway. And sometimes itÓs very difficult even to use it. So as of now we must ask the Milners to cease using our area as overflow parking. Everything mauka of the white picket fence, which is also our fence, please cease using that for your patrons and please have them not walk there, either; we really have a huge liability issue here. The third issue I have is that recently I made a complaint about a Zipline company being shoehorned in between the gym and the Kohala Village Inn. It was indeed found to be a violation. I have my copy of it right here. And the owner was forced to vacate all of those vehicles, and unfortunately they went right next door to these good people and had them break the same law and make the same zoning violation. So at present this property, which -. My wife does hula there. I bless this property. I donÓt want negativity in my community. But IÓve got to say this, is those people went right next door, and had these good folks break the same zoning law by having the Zipline people have their parking lot for their staff and their clients on this RS- 15 property. Now, you can solve that today by giving them CV-10 status; but what IÓm saying is for three or four weeks this property has been guilty of a zonin occurred next door. And I would like to feel that in the future that the law can be abided by. I would like to feel that the owners would be sensitive to not only the noise levels but to the traffic clash and letting us have exclusive use of our driveway. So the impact of this commercial property -. And they may say they want if for offices, fine, there are 49 other uses they can have in the future. We want to feel that, if possible, in perpetuity we can trust our neighbors that the good feeling continues, and that our property wonÓt be impinged upon and our peace wonÓt be impinged upon by having another chunk of the residential neighborhood become commercial. WATANABE: Okay, could you wrap up this -? Or are you done? MCELHANNON: Yes, sir. WATANABE: Okay, thank you. Well, fellow Commissioners? Ms. Giffin. GIFFIN: First of all, may I please have the spelling of your name? MCELHANNON: M-C-E-L-H-A-N-N-O-N. GIFFIN: Hang on just a minute. M-C-E-L-? MCELHANNON: H-A-N-N-O-N. GIFFIN: Oh, okay. And could you please Î maybe Maija can give you the pointer Î but IÓd like to see on this aerial photo or on another map where exactly is the property that you own or that you are speaking of, and where is that Mormon Church that you spoke of earlier. EXHIBIT A 3 MCELHANNON: Okay. Church is right here. Our property is right here. This is our private driveway that goes to our flag lot, comes in here, houses one, two, three, and the Church itself. Church put in this, which is basically our CPR, put in this road in 1998, paved it. Our insurance covers the road. Nine feet of it on the mauka side is awarded to the Lewis family so they can get to their flag lot, which is right back here, okay, but we hold insurance on the whole road and the whole 20 feet of it I maintain as the road master. So very often there would be affairs at the gym and there is a little parking on the street; there are 14 spaces here, staff usually parks back here, six or maybe eight vehicles, this is used for thoroughfare and now there is concrete thatÓs been poured right here that two or maybe three cars can fit. What usually happens is the overflow is, skirts our driveway. There is a little grass median strip here -. GIFFIN: Yeah, excuse me, I heard all that. But I wanted to ask you a few more questions. MCELHANNON: Yes, okay. GIFFIN: Did you, did I understand you correctly where you said that the Mormon Church is no longer a church, or is it still an operating church, a ward? MCELHANNON: No, this is very much an active LDS church. This is the previous Mormon Church -. GIFFIN: I see, so -. MCELHANNON: And when they moved here in 1998, it became part of became available and about, I guess, four years ago it was sold. GIFFIN: Okay. Now, in the old Mormon Church, which is the subject property -. MCELHANNON: Right. GIFFIN: Where, if itÓs not through your road, was their access from Hw Road? MCELHANNON: Access to where? GIFFIN: To the old Mormon Church, which is the subject property. MCELHANNON: The access pretty much, I believe, was where it is n GIFFIN: Okay, right off of Hw Road, right? MCELHANNON: Which is right off of Hw Road right here, yes. EXHIBIT A 4 GIFFIN: Okay, so your complaint about this private right-of-way that is used for the new Mormon Church, your property and another CPR lot really is not, I mean I donÓt understand your concern, if they have access through Hw Road. MCELHANNON: Our driveway and median area Î and the bumpers hang driveway are not permitting emergency access Î serves as overflow parking on an informal basis for this gym. WeÓve allowed it to happen because we wanted to be good neighbors, it was a Hawaiian Cultural Center, etc., etc. But we really canÓt let that happen anymore because of our liability especially with the CV designation. GIFFIN: Did the old Mormon Church have parking? MCELHANNON: Yes, it had parking, the same parking that you see now. There is pavement here, the rest of it is dirt or grass, informal Hawaiian style parking with 14 spaces in front, ten of which now from 8:00 in the morning until 6:00 in t Zipline people. GIFFIN: Okay, thank you. WATANABE: Yes, Mr. Housel. HOUSEL: I had one question. On the private road, is there a sign that notes that as a private road? MCELHANNON: We have our address posted there. I have been, weÓve been, IÓve been reluctant to have too many signs put up Î Fire Lane, Kapu Î you know, a sign saying that sort of thing. I wanted to maintain it informally. It says, ÐPrivate DrivewayÑ actually; we have a sign that says, ÐPrivate Driveway 55-524.Ñ HOUSEL: Okay. So the current sign says, ÐPrivate Driveway,Ñ is that right? MCELHANNON: Well, presently where it says it is not right at the road, at Hw Road, okay? It actually says it right there at the corner where their property touches the corner of our CPR, thatÓs where the sign is. HOUSEL: Okay, now, I think, if I hear you correctly, you are saying that you would rather people didnÓt park along that road, is that correct? MCELHANNON: Much rather. Right now a fire truck could not get through during an event at the gym where the parking -. There is diagonal parking all along here, and it not only blocks us but it blocks the folks on Banana Ranch Road. Emergency vehicles could not service either homeowners association. HOUSEL: And as long as that is a private road, I mean you would be entitled to put a sign up there to say, ÐNo Parking,Ñ right? EXHIBIT A 5 MCELHANNON: Well, I certainly would, and I certainly donÓt want to be in a car pull business, either. HOUSEL: Sure. Well, my suggestion to you is, since you do own t could put a sign there letting people know that you donÓt want them to park there. MCELHANNON: Well, I suppose weÓll have to do that. WATANABE: Do we have any further questions? Seeing none, thank you for your testimony, you may be seated. MCELHANNON: YouÓre welcome. WATANABE: LetÓs call up the applicants now Î Steven and Loretta Milner. IÓd like to swear you in, if I could. Would you raise your right hand? Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth now before the Planning Commission? S. MILNER: I do. L. MILNER: I do. WATANABE: Thank you. And before you begin, you know, your comme state your full name and address for the record, please. S. MILNER: My name is Steve Milner. I live in PaÒauilo right no P.O. Box 6573, Kamuela. WATANABE: Okay. Will your wife be providing testimony also? S. MILNER: Yes, if I canÓt answer any of your questions. WATANABE: Yeah, maybe you should for the record state your name and address. L. MILNER: My name is Loretta Milner, and I also live in PaÒauilo and the mailing address is P.O. Box 6573, Kamuela. WATANABE: Okay, great, thank you. Mr. Milner, have you received the recommendations from the Planning Department -? S. MILNER: Yes, I have. WATANABE: And have you had a chance to review the conditions because itÓs -? S. MILNER: Yes, sir. EXHIBIT A 6 WATANABE: Yeah, okay. And are you in agreement with the proposal as well as the conditions? S. MILNER: Yes, sir. WATANABE: No problems with any of that? S. MILNER: No, no problems. WATANABE: Then would you care to address the concern that Mr. McElhannon have mentioned and maybe specifically in regard to the no-parking. It seems that he references you as being a good neighbor in the past, so I assume that you all will be able to work this out. S. MILNER: Yes, I believe we can. And I believe I can assure him that I did not know about this overflow parking situation in the past. I, you know, frankly I never noticed that peop were using his driveway area for parking. Normally, we use Î this is paved parking in the front and we have grass parking along the side and in the rear Î usually if we have overflow, we usually make arrangements with the Inn; this is the Inn parking lot here and they have a large paved area, and we are usually allowed to use their area. We never intentionally parked any cars over here. If people use that, that was without my knowledge. And I can assure him that in the future I will prevent people from parking in this area. This is a private road. There is no access from this driveway into our property. The only access into our property is right here on the highway. If people did park there, they parked there and then walked over to the property. As, other things, as we stated, this building in the back is what we call a classroom building; it was used for a Bible school by the church. ItÓs composed of quite a few rooms Î I donÓt know the exact number, probably a dozen rooms Î which could be converted to use for small offices, and thatÓs what weÓd like to do. The gymnasium we will keep as a gymnasium. ItÓs been used for many years for community events. It has a gym floor with basketball nets, itÓs used for ping pong, basketball, hula, thereÓs also a stage in the building, which is also used for a various events. We basically are asking to continue the use that the building has been put to for the past 30~40 years. We are not changing anything; we have no intention of increasing or changing the usage of the buildings. Any questions? WATANABE: Fellow Commissioners, any questions? Mr. Housel. HOUSEL: The adjacent building where you said was classrooms that could be converted, or you do intend to convert that to office space? S. MILNER: ItÓs not really, I should not have used that word ÐconvertÑ because it is already divided up into small rooms, which could very easily be used as offices. Right now they are all pretty much empty. HOUSEL: I see. If you do decide to use that as offices, who would you rent the space to? EXHIBIT A 7 S. MILNER: We presently do rent it out on an hourly basis. We have one larger room that is used as a conference room. And we do rent it to community organizations that like to have meetings in the local community and they usually rent on an hourly basis. What we are thinking about doing is trying to rent it to some of those people on a more permanent basis, which presently isnÓt allowed. In fact, since itÓs residentially zoned, we are probably not allowed to use the gym as a gymnasium, but you know, thatÓs the use the building has been put to for many years, as I stated. HOUSEL: And how many offices do you expect will be there? S. MILNER: Probably between eight and ten. HOUSEL: Eight to ten. S. MILNER: Many of the rooms have partitions much like this room know, they are larger rooms, but they can be sectioned off into ten. HOUSEL: How many parking spaces do you currently have at the gym? S. MILNER: IÓm sorry, I donÓt really know that. Maija asked me that this morning. I donÓt know exactly and I have to check the Zoning Code to see how many feet are in a typical parking space. But this whole front area here is paved parking, handicap parking. HOUSEL: Is there any parking available behind the building or to the side? S. MILNER: Yes. ItÓs not, probably not legally parking because itÓs not paved or graveled; itÓs a grassy area. But we do use it for parking most of the time. HOUSEL: The only other question I had was this is, I believe, 1.1 acres total? S. MILNER: Correct, yes. HOUSEL: And you are asking for a change of zone to CV-10, which you intend to subdivide that? S. MILNER: No, we have no intention of doing that. We merely ask for that zoning because thatÓs the same as adjacent commercial properties. HOUSEL: Okay. Thank you very much. S. MILNER: YouÓre welcome. WATANABE: Ms. Bowman. EXHIBIT A 8 BOWMAN: Thank you. I just felt like, you know, I used to go to eve ago in that gym daily myself; so it has been used by the community for over 50 years. A couple questions, and I believe Shaun said there were 14 parking stalls in the front, and I know having used that gym when it is busy, it does get very congested. My question is about water. Now I know, I think, the reason your water was overous because the P&R has been using the gym, right, for the last three years? S. MILNER: That is correct. Also, IÓve discovered that I have a toilet that is constantly running and that needs to be repaired. BOWMAN: Okay. And I was going to ask, I believe there is a toilet for the gym and then for the -. Do you envision putting more restroom facilities in for your office spaces, or do you have adequate -? S. MILNER: No, we believe there is adequate, there are two bathrooms Î IÓm sorry Î there are two bathrooms in the small building out back, and just recently two bathrooms have been built in the gymnasium area Î IÓm sorry, I keep hitting that button Î up in this corner. We have no intention of putting any more bathrooms in. BOWMAN: Okay, that was my concern when I saw that you were up to like three or four units as opposed to one unit, so maybe low flush toilets or something could help. S. MILNER: Yeah, the new bathrooms were installed with low flush toilets here. BOWMAN: Thank you. WATANABE: Any -? Ms. Giffin. GIFFIN: I have a question of Ki Emler. Ki, with the proposed change how many stalls, parking stalls, and with the proposed use, would they have to have? And do they have enough space? EMLER: IÓm going to need to defer that question to the Planning Department who has jurisdiction over parking on commercial sites. GIFFIN: Okay. WATANABE: Maija? COTTLE: For the commercial uses including offices the Zoning Code requires one parking space per 300 square feet of gross floor area. GIFFIN: So that comes up to how many? COTTLE: Just approximately 20 spaces based on the structure in the back being about a half the size of the gym. EXHIBIT A 9 GIFFIN: Do they have enough space for that many stalls? WATANABE: Assuming that the earlier testimony was correct, you already have 14 existing in the front; then IÓm sure you can park -. GIFFIN: You mean on the road. BOWMAN: No, not on the road. WATANABE: Yeah, along the road, in front of the building along the road. GIFFIN: Along Hw Road? BOWMAN: No -. GIFFIN: Where? COTTLE: There is -. BOWMAN: ItÓs not on the road; the paved parking is right there and itÓs not on Hw Road. GIFFIN: I see. BOWMAN: There are bushes, trees between the road and the paved parking lot Î thatÓs the only paved, along, parallel to Hw Road. GIFFIN: Okay, because the rear area is grassy, right? BOWMAN: Yes. WATANABE: Yeah, so IÓd assume you could park at least six cars in the rest of the area. There is a quite bit -. BOWMAN: And then you have two handicap, so thatÓs actually 16 if you have the two handicap. GIFFIN: Okay. S. MILNER: Yes, thatÓs correct. Like I said, I donÓt know the exact number; I would have to measure. But itÓs, you can tell from the photo, this gray area is all paved and itÓs also paved around this end. And this was recently paved in order to give handicap access into the gymnasium through this door from here. GIFFIN: In the past your activities usually involved just 16 car loads of people? EXHIBIT A 10 S. MILNER: No. I have to be honest with you, you know, when we have a larg Î thatÓs why apparently we had this problem with spillover parking Î like I said, we park in this grassy area and this grassy area and also use the Inn next door. GIFFIN: And thatÓs sufficient? S. MILNER: Yes, it has been. GIFFIN: Okay, thank you. HOUSEL: I had a question for -. WATANABE: Yes. HOUSEL: Sorry. WATANABE: Go ahead. HOUSEL: Maija. Maija, do the Planning Department Rules state that a parking lot must be paved, or can it be a grassy area? COTTLE: I believe only in Agricultural zoning it can be grassy; so in this zoning district, they would need to be paved. HOUSEL: Okay, so the current paved area, which contains parking spaces, is not really adequate for the for all requirement, is that right? COTTLE: Not at this time. If they were to come in Î there is a zoning ordinance that would require that they come in for plan approval for the change of use to offices Î so when they submit those plans to the Department, they would need to, a condition of plan approval would require that they provide additional parking spaces that are paved. HOUSEL: Okay. Now, the 23 spaces that you stated are needed -. Is that correct? COTTLE: Approximately 20, year. HOUSEL: Okay. Would that include the office area also? COTTLE: ThatÓs actually for the office area. HOUSEL: Okay, so -. COTTLE: The gymnasium is, because itÓs so old, itÓs considered a use. So parking for that doesnÓt really factor in to a plan approval, if they were to come in for a change of use. EXHIBIT A 11 HOUSEL: I see, okay, thank you. WATANABE: Okay? Is everybody pretty much satisfied? Because we are running on on this. So do you have anything else to add? S. MILNER: Just a final comment that, you know, it seems that parking is the main concern. We have intended Î I know intentions donÓt mean much Î but weÓve always intended to pave this area in back and construct a driveway going to it. There is plenty space here for double-row parking Î in the front itÓs pretty much a single row Î but itÓs a matter of funding, you know, as you can imagine paving is very expensive. We would like to do that eventually, and it is in our long-term plans. WATANABE: Okay, very well. So if there are no other questions, you may be seated then. S. MILNER: Thank you very much. WATANABE: Thank you. Well, does anyone care to make a motion? Ms. Bowman. BOWMAN: I would just like to make a comment. As we know, and I just want to remind us, when something is rezoned Î I know you have good owne goes with the land, and it has always been my concern if itÓs CV GONZALEZ: Commissioner Bowman. BOWMAN: Yes. GONZALEZ: I think for you to have discussion you need to have a at this point Î IÓm sorry to interrupt you. BOWMAN: Oh, okay, I thought we were discussing. GIFFIN: Once a motion is made. HOUSEL: I think we need a motion first. BOWMAN: Oh, okay, IÓm sorry. I thought it was in discussion. WATANABE: What he is pointing out is we should have a motion. And I acknowledged you because I had asked for a motion and I thought that was what we were going to get. BOWMAN: Pardon me. Okay, sorry, I thought we were still discussing this. Thank you. GIFFIN: Would you like me to make a motion? EXHIBIT A 12 WATANABE: Yes, please, Ms. Giffin. GIFFIN: Mr. Chairman, I would like to move that a favorable recommendation on the change of zone request be forwarded to the County Council fo WATANABE: Okay, thank you. BOWMAN: Second. WATANABE: And there is a second, oh, interesting. Okay, well, we have a live motion to forward a favorable recommendation. You may finish your comments now. BOWMAN: Okay, sorry, IÓm sorry. My comments. And I realize tha area, but I would just, as IÓm finishing, that the zoning does go with whoever owns the land, and it is a sensitive area, as Shaun mentioned, too, and the other neighbors, so -. And I know you have been good neighbors and there is a really big parking lot. So I just would like to hope that, you know, everyone is amicable. And thank you. ThatÓs it. WATANABE: Any further discussion? Maija? COTTLE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Commissioner Giffin? GIFFIN: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Bowman? BOWMAN: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Beaudet? BEAUDET: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Housel? HOUSEL: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Iokepa? IOKEPA: Aye. COTTLE: And Mr. Chairman? WATANABE: Aye. COTTLE: Okay, that is six-zero; the motion passes. EXHIBIT A 13 WATANABE: Okay, so youÓve passed the first hurdle. And good luck with the Council. The discussion ended at 10:15 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Noriko Sauer, Secretary Leeward Planning Commission EXHIBIT A 14