HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-02-05 HCHA AgendaI^a
William P.Kenoi Grell Ilagan
MoVOr
Chairman
Dennis"Fresh"Onishi
tjJ Vice-Chairman
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County of Hawai i
HAWAII COUNTY HOUSING AGENCY
50 Wailuku Drive,Hilo,Hawali 96720
Phone: (808)961-8379 Fax: (808)961-8685
Hawaii Caaary Hawing Agenryh mmyrhrMgfrh'Hawaii Coamy C..r Members
MEETING NOTICE
DATE: February 5,2013
TIME: 9:00 a.m.
PLACE:COUNCIL CHAMBERS,Hawairi County Building
25 Aupuni Street
Hilo, Hawaii 96720
AGENDA
1. CALL TO ORDER
2. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS:
3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM:
January 8, 2013.
4. NEW BUSINESS:
A. Approval of a resolution authorizing exemptions of certain code requirements,
pursuant to section 201H-38 and section 46-15 of the HAWAII REVISED
STATUTES for the housing units to be constructed by Kidds Development
Corporation at Kumulani Gardens in South Hilo.
5. OLD BUSINESS:
None.
Hawaii County is an Equal Opportunity Providerand Employer
ADMINISTRATOR'S ORAL REPORT: The Administrator will provide a summary of progress at
Na Kahua Hale O Ulu W ini (The Homes at Ulu Wini)status and future. This will be followed by an
update on Kamakoa Nui model homes.
6. NEXT MEETING:
7. ADJOURNMENT:
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to Hawai'i Revised Statutes (hereinafter"FIRS")
92-3.5,the Hawaii County Housing Agency will be conducting this meeting via
videoconference. Agency members will be present at the following locations:
Council Room, Hawaii County Building, 25 Aupuni Street, First Floor, Room 1401,
Hilo, HI
Kona Council Chambers, West Hawaii Civic Center, 74-5044 Ane Keahokalole
Highway, Building A, Kailua-Kona, HI
If audio stream is lost between Hilo and Kona for more than a short period of time,the meeting
will be terminated.
Public Attendance via videoconference is available at the following locations until 4:30 PM or
later in the event public witness testimony has not been completed:
Council Room, Hawaii County Building, 25 Aupuni Street, First Floor,Room 1401,
Hilo, HI
Kona Council Chambers, West Hawaii Civic Center, 74-5044 Ane Keahokalole
Highway, Building A, Kailua-Kona, HI
Pahoa Council Office,Pahoa Marketplace, 15-2660 Pahoa Village Road,Room 304,
Pahoa, HI
Waimea Council Office, Holomua Center,64-1067 Mamalahoa Highway, Suite 5,
Kamuela,Hl
Note: If you require an accomodation or auxiliary aid and/or services to participate in this
meeting(i.e., sign language interpreter, large print, etc.)please call 961-8379.
If you we a lobbyist,you must register with the Hawaii County Clerk within five days of
becoming a lobbyist. (Article 15, Section 2-91.3(b), Hawaii County Code) A lobbyist means,
any individual engaged for pay or other consideration who spends more than five hours in any
month or$275 in any six-month period for the purpose of attempting to inf Renee legislative or
administrative action by communicating or urging others to communicate with public officials."
Article 15, Section 2-91.3(a)(6),Hawaii County Code) Registration forms and expenditure
report documents are available at the Office of the County Clerk-Council 25 Aupuni Street, Hilo,
Hawaii 96720.
SUMMARY MINUTES
Meeting of the
HAWAII COUNTY HOUSING AGENCY
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
January 8, 2012
The meeting of the Hawaii County Housing Agency (HCHA) was called to
order by Chair J. Yoshimoto at 9: 06 a.m. at the Hilo Council Chambers,
25 Aupuni Street, Hilo, Hawai i 96720
Agency Members Present Absent and Excused
Greggor Ilagan, Chair
Dennis "Fresh" Onishi, Vice-Chair (arrived at 9:28s.m.)
Jay Yoshimoto
Brenda Ford
Dru Kanuha
Zendo Kern
Karen Eoff
Val Poindexter
Margaret Wille
Staff Members Present Members of the Public
Stephen Arnett
Susan Akiyama
Noel Fujimoto
Sharon Hirota
Amy Self
Nadine Pomroy
STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS
None
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
Approval of the minutes of October 16, 2012 was held. The
approval vote went as follows:
AYES: J.Yoshimoto, D. Kanuha, Z. Kern, G. Ragan, B. Ford,
V. Poindexter, K. Eoff, M. Wille - 8
NOES: None
ABSENT AND EXCUSED: D. Onishi - 1
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NEW BUSINESS-
Item 4A- Election of Chairperson
AYES: J.Yoshimoto, D. Kanuha, Z . Kern, G. Ilagan, B. Ford,
V. Poindexter, K. Eoff, M. Wille - 8
NOES: None
ABSENT AND EXCUSED: D. Onishi - 1
Item 4H- Election of Vice Chairperson.
AYES: J.Yoshimoto, D. Kanuha, Z . Kern, G. Ilagan, V.
Poindexter, K. Eoff, M. Wille, D. Onishi - 8
NOES: B. Ford - 1
ABSENT AND EXCUSED: None
Item 4C- Overview of the Office of Housing and Community
Development Programs for the new Housing Agency members - No
Action taken.
ADMINISTRATOR' S ORAL REPORT
None.
ADJOURNMENT
A motion to adjourn was made by Mr. Yoshimoto and seconded by
Mr. Kanuha. The approval vote for adjournment went as follows :
AYES: J.Yoshimoto, D. Kanuha, Z . Kern, G. Ilagan, B. Ford,
V. Poindexter, K. Eoff, M. Wills, D. Onishi - 9
NOES: None
ABSENT AND EXCUSED: None.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:27 a.m.
Note: A complete transcript of them nutes is available at the
Office of Housing and Community Development.
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4. NEW BUSINESS
A.Approval of a resolution
authorizing exemptions of
certain code requirements,
pursuant to section 20111-38
and section 46-15 of the
HAWAII REVISED
STATUTES for the housing
units to be constructed by
Kidds Development
Corporation at Kumulani
Gardens in South Hilo.
9A. Approval of a resolution authorizing exemptions of
certain code requirements, pursuant to section 201H-38
and section 46-15 of the HAWAI I REVISED STATUTES for
the housing units to be constructed by Kidds
Development Corporation at Kumulani Gardens in South
Hilo
The County of Hawaii ("County") Office of Housing and
Community Development requests adoption of the
resolution authorizing an exemption of certain code
requirements, pursuant to section 201h-38 and section
46-15 of the Hawaii revised statutes for the housing
units to be constructed by Kidds Development
Corporation at Kumulani Gardens, south Hilo, Hawaii
covered by Tax Map Key 2-5-006: 061.
ACTION:
That the Hawaii County
Housing Agency approves the
form of the attached
resolution and recommends its
adoption by the Hawai i
County Council.
2115hasr
COUNTY OF HAWAII STATE OF HAWAII
RESOLUTION NO.
RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE EXEMPTION OF CERTAIN CODE
REQUIREMENTS,PURSUANT TO SECTION 20111-38 AND SECTION 46-15 OF THE
HAWAII REVISED STATUTES FOR THE HOUSING UNITS TO BE CONSTRUCTED
BY KIDDS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION AT KUMULANI GARDENS,SOUTH
HILO, HAWAI9 COVERED BY TAX MAP KEY 2-5-006:061.
WHEREAS,on September 21, 1981,Change ofZone Ordinance 716 became effective,
changing the district classification from single-family residential (RS-15)to single family
residential (RS-10) on the parcel covered by Tax Map Key 2-5-006:061; and
WHEREAS,the development of the original project stalled due to a lack of sufficient
water which resulted in the developer being unable to meet the deadlines specified within
Change of Zone Ordinance 716;and
WHEREAS,KIDDS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION is now the current owner and
developer of the 25-acre parcel and has secured sufficient water commitments for the project to
move forward for the construction of eighty-three (83)housing units on 10,000 square foot
single-family lots. Forty-three (43)of the housing units, equaling fifty-two percent of the total
project, will be affordable in accordance with Section 201 H of the HAWAII REVISED
STATUTES (HRS); and
WHEREAS, KIDDS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION entered into an agreement
with the County,dated December 20, 2011,to make Kumulani Gardens an affordable housing
project and satisfy the affordable housing requirements of both Kumulani Gardens and Hilo
Hillside Development,a development within 15-miles of Kumulani Gardens; and
WHEREAS,KIDDS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION will satisfy the affordable
housing requirements of Kumulani Gardens and Hilo Hillside by providing(43)affordable
homes, with ten(10) homes affordable to families earning less than eighty percent of median
income,eleven (1 1)homes affordable to families eaming below one-hundred percent of median
income, and twenty-two (22) homes to be affordable to families earning less than one-hundred
and forty percent of median income; and
WHEREAS, HRS Section 20111-38, in conjunction with HRS 46-15.1, allows the
County,with approval of the County Council, to exempt low-income housing projects from
certain code requirements to facilitate the development of the project; and
WHEREAS, KIDDS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION has requested that the
County exempt the property from certain code requirements to help reduce the cost of producing
the affordable housing; and
WHEREAS, should the developer not complete the affordable housing development, all
conditions of Ordinance 716 and conditions of Tentative Approval for Subdivision 00-000019
shall be complied with. This includes submittal of request for a time extension to both Ordinance
716 and Tentative Approval,as applicable; and
WHEREAS, the project will promote the goals contained in Section 201H-38 of the
HRS,and Chapter 2, Article 13,ofthe Hawaii County Code.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAII, that the
exemptions requested for the Property attached hereto as"Exhibit A"are hereby approved.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this resolution will take effect immediately.
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the County Clerk shall forward copies of this
resolution to the Honorable William P. Kenoi, Mayor,County of Hawaii; the Director of
Planning;the Director of Public Works and the Administrator of the Office of Housing and
Community Development.
Dated at Hawai`i,this day of 2013.
INTRODUCED BY:
COUNCIL MEMBER, COUNTY OF HAWAII
COUNTY COUNCIL ROLL CALL VOTE
County of Hawaii AYES NOES ABS Ex
Hilo, Hawaii BLAS
FORD
I hereby certify that the foregoing RESOLUTION as by HOFFMANN
the vote indicated to the right hereof adopted by the COUNCIL of the
IKEDACountyofHauai'i on
ONISIII
PILAGO
ATTEST: SMART
YAGONG
YOSHIMOTO
Reference:
COUNTY CLERK CHAIRPERSON&PRESIDING OFFICER RESOLUTION NO.
2
Exhibit A
Exemption List
Hawaii County Code:
1. Hawaii County Change of Zone Ordinance, Section 1, Condition B,
regarding increments:
Suspend all phasing requirements on the development of the
project. This will allow the housing units to be built in 1 phase
instead of 2.
2. Hawaii County Change of Zone Ordinance 716, Section 1, Condition
E), regarding curbs, gutters, and sidewalks:
Eliminate the requirement to construct concrete curbs, gutters,
and sidewalks and allow subdivision roads to be improved with
paved shoulders and drainage swales. This would be consistent
with the surrounding neighborhoods and would result in a
significant reduced cost for building affordable housing.
3. Hawaii County Fees
Exempt Subdivision Inspection Fee of 0.25% of subdivision
improvement costs; Building Permit Fees, and other County
Fees for the 43 affordable housing units only and not for any
market priced units. This will help reduce the costs of
producing affordable housing.
2117hor
TRANSCRIPT
Meeting of the
HAWAII COUNTY HOUSING AGENCY
Hilo, Hawai i
February 5, 2013
Agency Members Present Absent and Excused
Greggor Ilagan
Dennis "Fresh" Onishi
Dru Mamo Kanuha - (arrived at 9:09am)
Zendo Kern
J Yoshimoto
Val Poindexter - (arrived at 9:09am)
Margaret Wills
Brenda Ford
Karen Koff
Staff Members Present Members of the Public
Stephen Arnett Tim Reece
Susan Akiyama
Alan Rudo
Amy Self
Nadine Pomroy
Mr. Ilagan: Housing agency to my far right is Councilmember J
Yoshimoto, Councilmember' s Zendo Kern, Councilmember Karen Eoff,
and to my far left is Councilmember Margaret Wille,
Councilmember Brenda Ford, and I'm Councilmember Greggor Ragan,
the Chair for the Housing Agency, at this time we will call to
order the housing agency meeting, now it is the statements from
the public and I want to be advised that you have three minutes
per agenda item, I was account for the testifiers starting with
Waimea, good morning Waimea, do we have any testifiers?
Mr. Hirt: good morning chair, we do not have any testifiers for
the housing agency this morning.
Mr. Ilagan: Mahalo, Waimea. Moving on to Pahoa, good morning
Pahoa, do we have any testifiers?
Pahoa: Good morning Chair, no we do not have any testifiers for
your committee this morning.
Mr. Ilagan: Mahalo Pahoa, good morning Kona? Do we have any
testifiers?
Kona: Good morning chair, no we do not have any testifiers today
for your committee thank you.
Mr. Ilagan: Mahalo Kona. Moving to Ka' u, Ka' u do we have any
testifiers?
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Ka'u: good morning chair, no we don't have any testifiers here
in Ka' u.
Mr. Ragan: Mahalo Ka'u, and we have one testifier in Hilo and
we' ll start with Tim Reece. Morning Tim
Tim Reece: Aloha and good morning to you Mr. Chair and the
County, I got to get this straight here because this is a big
part of my testimony, Hawaii County Housing Agency, right now
you' re not councilmember' s, I mean technically and a part of
what I wanted to speak about was on your new business A, this is
approval of a resolution, well couple things here, there' s no
number and I've been trying to get information on this
resolution I finally got it here this morning seconds ago its
included in not an agenda but an agenda with a bunch of
addendums because I have the agenda right here and its not in
the agenda so now I find it on the table over here seconds
before the meeting, if you look at these authorizing laws I've
been telling this to the public and the County and the media at
large here and nobody seems to be catching onto it, but if you
look at the very law that is cited here as section H forty six
dash fifteen of the Hawaii Revised Statutes it is clear that
this body here is not suppose to be staffed by Hawaii County
Councilmember' s if you look at the conflict in there, they talk
about a County agency or an appointee of the mayor, how did you
folks get your offices here, I know I can' t ask you a question
but rhetorically do you all remember you got it by default by
being elected county councilmember' s you' re not appointed by the
mayor, you' re not picked by the mayor, actually what happened
was somehow you were able to run for two elected offices at the
same time, something that is prohibited under state election
laws its also prohibited by the county charter, however, you
didn' t not you people personally but the election information
the ballot did not inform the public that you would also by
default because years back a prior county council decided that
they would try to maintain control of all HUD monies and county
housing agency issues they said we will be from now on county
council will be the county housing agency so I'm going to urge
you to read forty six fifteen and look at the conflicts in there
when they talk about experimental and demonstration housing
projects the mayor of each county after holding a public hearing
on the matter and receiving the approval of the respective
council shall be empowered to designate areas of land for
experimental and demonstration housing projects, I should've
underlined the sections that are more relevant to it but you see
the part about the mayor appointing or designating the areas the
mayor of each county with the approval of the respective council
may designate a county agency or official who shall have the
power to review all plans and specks for the subdivisions
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development improvement of the land involved and construction
sale of homes thereon the county agency or official shall have
the power to approve or disapprove or make modifications to all
or any portions of the plans and specks. Now councilmember' s you
have to hear the conflict in there that you' re appointing
yourselves but the mayor suppose to appoint you he suppose to
put you in there and you' re also suppose to be experts in the
field you' re suppose to be social workers, housing officials,
real estate officials, sales officials, so you know let me see
if I can find the other part here that was really good you' re
going to recommend something to yourselves on this resolution,
county the charter talks about getting away from useless
redundancy so why is this silliness continuing, how come nobody.
Mr. ilagan: Mr. Reece, please summarize.
Mr. Reece: There' s my summary, how come nobody has had the guts
to look under this folly and if you want to relate that to why
we've been foundering in many ways with county housing it might
just be because how the board is comprised for comparison look
at two o h dash thirty eight notice how that is peopled its by
experts in the private community so man I thank you folks for
your service and I don' t mean man its habit thank you I
appreciate the work housing agency is doing, lets get back to
within the law though and do it right. Thank you.
Mr. Ragan: Mahalo, Mr. Reece. At this time we will end the
statements from the public and moving onto approval of the
minutes, may I have a motion to approve the minutes of January
eight two thousand thirteen.
Mr. Kern: so moved.
Mr. Onishi: second.
Mr. Ilagan: moved by councilmember Kern and second by
councilmember Onishi, any discussion? None. We' ll do a voice
vote, all in favor say aye.
Councilmember' s: aye
Ms. Ford: Excuse me do we have a clerk? Do we need a clerk for
this?
Mr. Ilagan: no we don' t. all oppose say no, none. Ayes have it
approval of the minutes for January eighth two thousand and
thirteen, moving on to new business, may I have a motion for
approval of a resolution authorizing exemptions of a certain
code requirements, pursuant to section two o one h dash thirty
eight and section forty six dash fifteen of the Hawaii Revised
Statutes for the housing units to be constructed by Kidds
Development Corporation at Kumulani Gardens in South Hilo.
Mr. Onishi: so moved
Mr. Kern: second
Mr. Ragan: moved by council member Onishi second by council
member Kern, any discussion? Councilmember Ford?
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Ms. Ford: Does anybody know what the resolution number is
because we don' t have one, how can you move a resolution into
life on the floor that has no number?
Mr. Ragan: I'm going to call up the director of housing, Mr.
Arnett, could you please step up?
Ms. Ford: I don' t know that Mr. Arnett will be able to answer
that question because all bills and resolutions need to have
numbers assigned to them. Its not in the laserfiche? And I have
several more problems with this. Go ahead if you want to ask,
well I have the floor so let me tell you all the problems I see
with it. First of all, Kidds Development is not in the original
ordinance, the original owner of this property has a different
name so I don't know there' s no information in the ordinance I
went back and actually pulled the ordinance that this resolution
by the way a resolution has no force of law and that's in our
council rules so I went back and looked at the original
ordinance which passed in nineteen eighty one this has been
sitting around for thirty one years and has never been cancelled
its still a live ordinance and it is actually in the code if you
look in the section referred to seven point nine you will find
this in the code we want to make a code change of any kind you
have to use a bill not a resolution. Secondly, this developer
has shown up apparently has purchased the property when you look
at the meets and bounds in the original ordinance you will see
that there' s thirty point five or I'm sorry there is
approximately thirty point zero zero one acres you look at the
resolution twenty five acres, what happened to five acres I have
no clue there' s nobody to explain that at this point, Secondly
we' re doing affordable housing outside of an ordinance remember
that a resolution has no force in law so if the developer
decides not to follow this and we wind up in court we have
something that has no force of law trying to enforce a law
that' s already on the books, Secondly, thirdly, or fourthly, or
something, when you look at the exhibit this exhibit all of
these things in this exhibit should have financial impacts
serious financial impacts and should be in the ordinance. If
we' re going to amend the ordinance you amend the ordinance, when
you suspend curbs, gutters, and sidewalks that' s something that
we put into all of our rezoning same thing if we' re going to
phase it or not phase it that' s in the thing and then lastly
Hawaii County fees their asking to be exempt from fees I don't
even know what fees these entail this is so nebulas and
grammatically incorrect as well that I can't tell what their
doing but there' s a financial impact to the county that should
be in the code or in the ordinance so it has the force of law so
I object to this entire proceeding I think we should have Mr.
Arnett withdraw this and take the code I mean the original
2124M p 4
ordinance seven one six and do our normal standard operating
procedure which is to ramsayer so that we can add or subtract
what we need. I yield.
Mr. Ilagan: Before you take the floor, councilmember Wille, I'm
going to have Mr. Arnett speak on the resolution, before you.
Ms. Wills: okay.
Mr. Arnett: This resolution is basically a two o one h exemption
resolution in essence two o one h gives any kind of a developer
for of typically affordable homes the opportunity to exempt
themselves out of certain things. Before you folks were elected
we had forrest city come before us with a whole laundry list of
two o one h exemptions for there project right below laiopua in
kailua kona the original two o one h exemption request was for
ninety three items we ultimately got it down to twenty something
but long story short is that the idea is to exempt themselves
from the code for certain items in this particular instance it
has to do with the building permit fees for affordable housing
which is a fairly standard thing that developers are requests in
order to keep the costs down for their affordable units and also
the inspection fees in this particular case their also asking
for swales to be allowed instead of curbs and gutters I did my
own little investigation by going out to the neighboring
communities to see exactly what we have in terms of swales and
gutters and the width thereof my first reaction was this is a
safety issue or could be a safety issue because we don't have
sidewalks for kids to walk along the streets but after seeing
how its done and neighboring communities sunrise ridge etcetera
the swales and I used the term swales because its nothing more
than an extension of the asphalt paving is quite wide and in my
opinion is generally enough that it is safe I felt okay with the
safety of this particular request. I'm going to defer to
corporation counsel with regard to whether or not this should be
an ordinance verses a resolution obviously I'm not a lawyer and
cannot really comment on whether it should or should not be an
ordinance verses a resolution but long story short this is
pretty much standard procedure in terms of a developer coming
and asking for exemptions from the code in order to have their
project be somewhat cheaper to build because we are indeed
creating affordable housing for people that will ultimately be
for sale at an amount less than what would be market. Now, Miss
Ford and I both agree that the code itself allowing for
affordable housing to be sold at hundred and forty percent of
the average median income is somewhat exaggerated I' ve never
agreed with that but nonetheless its never been changed so that
is pretty much where we are in terms of what the code is not to
say that I agree with it because I don't but nonetheless I am
stuck with it until such time as this body as council decides
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that this is what they want to change. So that' s my statement at
this particular point I would ask Miss Self to come and speak to
whether or not an ordinance is required verses a resolution if I
may ask Chair to allow that to happen.
Mr. Ragan: I'm going to, before we do that, I'm going to have
councilmember Wills speak. Go on.
Ms. Wills: Ok,Amy you can stay there and hang in there. Just so
you answer these questions at the same time. Let me say I share
Ms. Ford' s concerns obviously we all care about affordable
housing, I don't think that this meets the county standards for
affordable housing and appears to use the standards for the
state standards so if you look at the criteria for each of the
categories it does not appear to be what is in the county code
it appears to be in the state now maybe I just need an
explanation on that I would also I mean I tend to believe that
if exemptions are appropriate that we ought to be working on
those to make the norm and not where everything is by exception
but to the extent that there are exceptions it will be really
helpful for me as a beginner councilmember to say here is the
exemption here' s what it would require here is what we want to
do and why its okay let me say I'm very disturbed in many areas
of Waimea where the sidewalks are omitted, pedestrian safety is
probably my communities highest priority we have entire
subdivisions where you' re in and out of cars I don't necessarily
care that everything be paved be that but I just so you know I
am not okay with exempting and clearing where its not pedestrian
safety I don't mind lets make it a little narrower road or
whatever as long as it provides but that' s really important to
me I also want to just quickly say and I don't feel we can get
into this today but I have some of the same concerns as Mr.
Reece and I feel that we neeAto deal with that and I would like
someone to come speak to it and if we need to address it we need
to address it again I don't feel educated enough at this point
to speak on it but I share your concerns and it looks like a
real problem to me so I think we need to get it straight but not
here today so again Amy if you could clarify in-terms of county
affordable housing standards verses state and this is not when I
look at the county alignment it doesn' t line up and I'm not
going to be voting in favor at this time I'm all for affordable
housing I just don't want to be doing something the wrong way.
Thank you.
Mr. I lagan: Councilmember Kern?
Mr. Kern: Thank you, Mr. Chair, well first of all our numbers
for affordable housing are not really affordable I completely
agree on that and I think we should do something to look at that
but the way I understand this is that two o one h reso is one of
those things that have the force of law in effect of law in this
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situation HRS two o one h provides for doing the exemptions for
zoning via a resolution approved by the council so to me this is
an alignment with what we are doing this in not this is separate
then what Mr. Reece was talking about but this process that we
have right here is the process that we use and that is governed
by our HRS and it allows us to provide such a project be exempt
from all statutes, ordinances, charter provisions and rules of
any government agency relating to planning, zoning, construction
standards of subdivision development and improvement of land for
the construction dwelling there in so we do have this power we
do have this authority to do this I support this we do need more
affordable housing I wish it were more affordable the exemptions
I feel make sense when we talk about doing away with curbs,
gutters, and sidewalks on this project it does not mean that we
do not have wide shoulders that are paved, I think the best
example of that would be sunrise estates, sunrise ridge, its
very wide its friendly pedestrians can walk in there its
actually in some cases a little bit greener because you' re using
a lot less concrete and less man hours, less machinery, less
fuel being burned, smaller carbon footprint I don' t think it
should be the standard but in a situation like this I think it
does make sense because we are allowing that if we were just
going to do a twenty foot wide road and there' s rocks on the
side of it good luck I wouldn't support that but this is not the
case it' s the full width of the right of way the full width of
the road and it will have the shoulders for people to walk on
and it will be safe so this makes sense to me I will fully
support this and look forward to continue to work with the
housing agency. Thank you.
Mr. Ilagan: Councilmember Yoshimoto?
Mr. Yoshimoto: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ms. Self, before I say
anything did you want to add or provide any further information
to the councilmember' s that would help us in discussing this
issue?
Amy Self: Yes, and I'm sorry I'm not blinking at anyone,not
winking at anyone I have a scratched cornea, but I just want to
get through the six things that you had concerns with Ms. Ford.
Ms. Ford: Lets start with the resolution number that' s not
there.
Amy Self: I don't know who assigns the resolution numbers, I
don' t know if that' s, I don' t know, that' s something I don' t
sorry I don't know about that but I think the resolution numbers
probably would have to come from the agency, but you could check
with your clerk on that. I'm not sure, anyway, let me start with
the first item that you mentioned, was you were stating that
there is a different owner than the original ordinance that was
passed in nineteen eighty one well these ordinances affect the
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property not the owner so people can buy property that' s already
zoned for has already been rezoned it doesn' t matter it' s the
property that is rezoned not the owners the second one was that
you mentioned that reso doesn' t have the force effect of law
that' s if you look at the charter it says unless it requires
legislative actions or something to that effect so this is by
state law that requires that the legislative body of the county
approve or approve with modification or disapprove the project
by resolution within forty five days after you' ve received it so
you guys have forty five days to either approve, modify, or
disapprove and if you don' t take action in forty five days from
when you receive this its going to be deemed automatically
approved by state law. The third item was the difference in the
acreage if you look at the real tax map, web page at the TMK it
says that its twenty five acres, I don't know if the five acres
got subsequently subdivided out I don' t know the planning
director may be able to speak to that but the tax map key and
the real property tax is stating twenty five acres. The third
item, sorry the f(Wth item was, something about affordable
housing on I cant remember what you asWabout affordable housing
but this is an affordable housing project and the whole reason
for these exemptions the reason the state legislature passed two
o one h is to allow affordable housing projects that are
affordable housing projects and they have to qualify under state
law so those projects they want to be able to move quickly and
they are they can get exemptions from any county code, state
law, rules, all of these things as long as it doesn' t f(ffect
safety or health and all the exemptions that are listed here
affect safety or health the next item was a serious impact has
to be an ordinance no it does not, state law requires it to be a
resolution passed by the county council, the last item is, that
the fees are exempted and it will cause a financial impact to
the county there' s state law says that they can be exempt from
any county code and this is one of the I think this is under the
building right inspection fees so its by state law.
Mr. Yoshimoto: Ok, thank you, Ms. Self, Mr. Arnett do you have
anything else you wanted to add as far as information for the
councilmember' s?
Mr. Arnett: not at this time, no.
Mr. Yoshimoto: Okay, I noticed that the representative from
Kidds Development are not here, were they suppose to be here
this morning?
Mr. Arnett: Not to my knowledge, no. oo,,AA ry
Mr. Yoshimoto: Ok, my understanding cause iafe suppose to be
here to explain as far as, you know the things you mentioned
about the reasons for the exemption and things like that.
2124hnhp 8
Mr. Arnett: Susan just indicated that he did call yesterday and
has food poisoning and was unable to make it as a result. That' s
all I know.
Mr. Yoshimoto: Ok, for the councilmember' s information this is
in district two which I represent and I attended a community
meeting where committee members came and had an opportunity to
talk to this development the development representatives about
these exemptions and you know basically what it comes down to is
Mr. Kern is mentioned if you want to build affordable housing
how are you going to do it so its either requests his exemptions
to get it to a lower price or if you don' t then you have to have
a higher price and then we don' t know if it really becomes
affordable at that point so really what I wanted to do is have
them available to speak to that issue because its just a
question of numbers whether we can or cannot do in terms of what
we want to do, if the goal is to build affordable housing then
this is something that the council should consider if that is
the goal and I think that is, cause we need to have more
affordable housing then you got to weight it at what cost, is it
going to be a community that is reflected of the surrounding
area is it going to be consistent with the other homes and I
think it is but rather than me just telling you all this I
really would rather have Mr. Pappos and Mr. Lee I think were the
ones that came at the meeting because I attended that community
meeting I think it was in November December somewhere
thereabouts but anyway Steve you want to-
Mr. Arnett: They are the principles, Jim Lee and Jim Pappos yes
Mr. Yoshimoto: right okay, so I'm giving you the short summary
of what they told me and at the meeting that I attended where
community members there, but my preference of course if to have
them here so they can answer more questions directly cause I
cant speak on their behalf I'm only telling you what I heard so
I yield the floor at this time thank you.
Mr. Ilagan: Director, what would you like to see happen to this
resolution at this time?
Mr. Arnett: well to be honest with you, if hearing from the
developers that the principles involved which would be Mr. Lee
and Mr. Pappos becomes an important issue for you folks then I
would offer that someone make an amendment to stay this
particular resolution at this particular time becomes a question
of how critical it is to hear from those individuals but you
must remember that the clock is ticking with regard to approval
of the two o one h resolution I mean once it comes before the
agency the clock begins to tick forty five days thereafter its
deemed approved this was an amendment to the two 0 one h law
that was passed about two years ago I we actually wrote up a
letter in opposition to that particular amendment to the two 0
2129hnhp 9
one h law we felt that forty five days was just simply not
enough and in our experience with Kamakana ninety six exemption
request I think pretty much proved to us that forty five days
was not enough so I'm not going to say you should or should not.
Mr. ilagan: Mr. Arnett if we postpone this to the next committee
meeting, how many days do they have left?
Mr. Arnett: I don' t know. Alan?
Alan Rudo: Well the resolution has to be approved at council
this is only step one in that process.
Ms. Wille: we can actually have a council meeting.
Mr. ilagan: Hold on
Mr. Arnett: the assumption from my staff is its less than a
month.
Mr. Ilagan: less than a month
Mr. Arnett: yes
Mr. ilagan: and we still need to go through council?
Mr. Arnett: one reading at council, yes.
Mr. ilagan: one reading to council?
Mr. Arnett: yes
Mr. Ilagan: Now that one reading through council if we have the
developer here and if lets say its doesn' t go through because of
what we heard or then its done.
Mr. Arnett: theoretically what you could do is you could pass
this resolution today, you could require the developer to be
present at the council meeting where the resolution is on the
agenda and you could quiz them at that time and if the answers
that you receive at that particular council meeting were not
adequate for your decision making process you could vote it down
at that particular time but I would after giving it a second
thought I would think that since the clock continues to tick
that it probably is in our best interest to pass this today and
then at the council level make the decision as to whether or not
we continue to agree with this resolution and pass it or vote it
down at that time that would be my recommendation at this point.
Mr, ilagan: Thank you Mr. Arnett, since we do got time, I'm
going to continue the discussion and we did hear two opposition
and we did hear two support I'm going to start with the support
with councilmember Onishi?
Mr. Onishi: Thank you Mr. Chair, yeah its my first time so, so
Steve, so when do you folks receive this, the resolution or the
application? Can you come forward please and introduce yourself?
Mr. Arnett: This is Alan Rudo of my staff
Alan Rudo: Thank you Dennis, we' ve been working on this for
about two years on this the whole process and I also want to
point out that the developer did sign affordable housing
agreement and contrary to couple statements by councilmember' s
it does meet both the county requirements and the state
zlzahnhp 10
requirements as well we check it with both because they did do
affordable housing agreement with us its also going to be
building houses in the eighty percent and below bracket and in
between eighty and a hundred percent and then up to a hundred
and forty percent which is allowed by law, so they are going to
be doing it at the different brackets the affordable housing.
Mr. Onishi: So my other question was that so when do this cause
we have forty five days right in order to pass so
Alan Rudo: Oh it came to you when we posted from what my
understanding is when we send it for posting your considered
receiving it the day one the next day after we send it to you,
so then the forty five clock starts there.
Mr. Onishi: Ok, so
Mr. Arnett: That' s at council so, I'm going to stand corrected
by saying that the forty five days is not started until such
time as it gets to council that' s when the first day starts . So
I stand corrected.
Mr. Onishi: Ok so we' re talking about like today, now.
Mr. Arnett: no, today is the housing agency meeting not the
council meetings so until it gets agendized on the council
calendar.
Mr. Onishi: Oh, then the forty five days .
Mr. Arnett: then the forty five days starts, yes, so I apologize
for my ignorance.
Mr. Onishi: Just to let councilmember' s know that Mr. Arnett did
mention about Forest City and we did like he mentioned from
ninety three exemptions went down to like forty something and so
there is some time but it was surprising that the developer
didn' t come and talk to us individually because then we could
you know tell them our concerns and you know like how forest
city did, they came to meet the councilmember' s and we told them
our concerns and then they went back to try adjust and that' s
how I think the process was faster and easier for everyone
right?
Alan Rudo: Yeah, and that' s an excellent suggestion and I
thought they were meeting with, I know they were meeting with
the ones in the district, I thought they were meeting with
everybody too.
Mr. Onishi: yeah and cause you know when I look at this to it
mentions about Hilo Hillside
Alan Rudo: correct
Mr. Onishi: and also I guess that Kumulani gardens so that' s
like two separate projects?
Alan Rudo: right. Yes, under the code the Hilo Hillside is going
to have affordable housing requirement as well, but they can do
it offsite with fifteen miles under chapter eleven and they
chose to originally they could've done just lots too, to satisfy
2124hnhp 11
the affordable housing condition at Hilo Hillside and when
working with Kumulani they decided to actually build houses
cause its easier for us to get more affordable housing that way.
Mr. Onishi: so the affordable housing going be at this Kumulani
gardens?
Alan Rudo: yeah and its literally, I mean on the map it looks
like you could walk from one to the other but its you have to go
back down to Komohana and come back up the extension so they are
a little bit separate but there well within fifteen miles
radius.
Mr. Onishi: and maybe you could explain to the councilmember' s
where Hillside is Hilo Hillside?
Alan Rudo: Hilo Hillside is when you' re going up the Puainako
extension its on the left side of the highway where their
building where as right across the street is where you have the
upper extensions from sunrise this Hilo Hillside is considered
sunrise estates third subdivision and by the way with the
streets and whales that was one of the conditions that came up
and their building Hilo Hillside at all market units and their
doing the same type of streets with the wide twelve foot swales
and we did drive around to make sure that it met health and
safety issues .
Mr. Onishi: good, so, one possibility is for us to postpone this
to the next housing meeting and have the developer come and talk
to the individual council members that' s a possibility right and
then we wouldn' t be into that forty five days yet, correct?
Alan Rudo: Well I personally am not in favor of delays because
ultimately it cost more money with the financing and the
construction and then that' s turned out to be a bigger cost that
they pass on to the home buyers
Mr. Onishi: your lights off
Alan Rudo: Sorry we were you know been working on this and been
pushing for this for several years to move through all the
different processes including review by all the different
departments of the exemptions we actually received seven
exemptions requested originally and we were able to pair it down
to three critical needed to make this done.
Mr. Onishi: Ok so just a suggestion that you know it might be
where to make councilmember' s much more you know eased that they
get to talk to
Alan Rudo: Well I'm going to make that recommendation as soon as
we leave that they contact each of you because you know it is a
time of the essence and I don't want to delay this affordable
project I' ve been working on this project since you know two
thousand and ten.
Mr. Onishi: I see, ok thanks .
Mr. Ilagan: councilmember Poindexter
2124hnhp 12
Ms . Poindexter: yeah if I may if I could ask councilmember
Yoshimoto a question.
Mr. Yoshimoto: yes
Ms. Poindexter: direct impact comes within your district, what
was the feed back from the community members in your district
and did they overwhelmingly support this project or what
feedback from the community?
Mr. Yoshimoto: My recollection was they were supportive of the
project, they had some concerns about an access road that if you
look at the project they didn' t want the people from the
proposed subdivision to be driving through their subdivision and
but when you look at the layout it really looks like you know
they wouldn' t do that anyway because it just doesn' t make any
logical sense to do that but when you see I don' t know if you
have the map available but .
Alan Rudo: I don' t have the full map with me this subdivision
but I do that was the major concern was actually the traffic
flow and when they showed the traffic study done that it was
actually not flowing the direction that the people were
concerned about because to get to the highway you wouldn' t go
back around and down into the neighborhood which is what they
were assuming could happen and actually that subdivision had
been stubbed out for this originally so they were connecting to
what had been planned, it was a project back in nineteen eighty
one but there was no water that was the major reason this
project didn' t go forward they didn' t have water availability
until very recently.
Mr. Yoshimoto: so, to answer councilmember Poindexter' s
question, so the community, my recollection was in favor of it
but maybe someone help me I don' t think the exemptions were on
the table at that time cause I don' t remember the exemptions
being discussed at the community meeting. Steve or Alan did you
recall?
Mr. Arnett: since I wasn' t at that meeting I don' t really know
but I doubt it, I doubt that there were exemptions on the table
when you had your public hearing.
Mr. Yoshimoto: Ok yes to that' s I mean that' s my recollection so
that' s why I too wanted to hear from them just to see to have
them explain you know directly, but as the project itself I
think is a positive thing. ---------, sorry. Go ahead Ms .
Poindexter,
Ms . Poindexter: you know more and more I mean I'm hearing that
things may not the community may not have heard about the
exemptions and so I feel a little uncomfortable you know passing
this through I feel like we need a motion to postpone and bring
some of the people who are doing the project and then hearing
more a little bit more from the people being directly impacted
2124hnhp 13
by this project at this point and from what I'm hearing I'm not
feeling comfortable with it so I just wanted to share that with
you so I yield at this time.
Mr. Ilagan: councilmember Kanuha?
Mr. Kanuha: thank you Mr. Chair, as you heard we would like to
hear from the developers and ask them the questions so
definitely recommended for them to come the next time. As to the
postponement I don' t know what' s going to happen with that but,
technical question for the council staff, if there was if this
is appropriate to you in past without the resolution number I
don' t know if that was explained earlier or not but
Mr. Ragan: lets ask the question to councilmember Yoshimoto.
Mr. Yoshimoto: this is just a point of information for the
councilmember' s so staff has indicated to me that the process
works is once this passes out of committee and goes to the
council then it will be assigned a resolution number because we
didn' t have control over this document until it arrives to us so
it' ll have a resolution number after
Mr. Kanuha: currently, thank you I yield.
Mr. Ilagan: Councilmember Eoff.
Ms . Eoff: I agree with Mr. Kanuha that it would if it doesn' t
affect the forty five day time clock it maybe worth our while to
postpone it to the next housing agency meeting and what Chair
Yoshimoto said is my understanding to is because the housing
agency does function differently then our normal council
committees we don' t get these resolutions transmitted to us in
the same fashion as other things come to committee so they do
not get numbered until they come to the council which is
confusing because this one is actually I guess its because you
drafted it maybe quite a while ago maybe its on an old its got
the old voting block from the previous council too so I think
there' s this resolution may need to be resubmitted through the
housing agency in a different format and then once we do pass it
on to council it would be part of our numbering system at that
time so I would probably support a postponement I don' t know if
its time to make the motion but, okay there' s more discussion so
I yield.
Mr. Ilagan: we heard everybody on the floor and before we go
onto other councilmember' s I got a question for you, I was
wondering would you support a postponement to get everything
kind of organized or how do you feel about this?
Mr. Arnett: I have no problem supporting a postponement you know
obviously what we want to do is we want to come and make sure
that everybody who hears our resolution has satisfaction and
clearly theres not satisfaction this morning so I would support
a postponement if that' s how everyone else feels we' re not here
to try and ramrod any kind of exemptions down anyone' s throat
2124hnhp 14
we, I agree with councilman Yoshimoto that is it probably
appropriate to hear from the developers and let them tell you to
your faces exactly what they think should happen here and why
they are requesting these exemptions so to maybe make everyone
happier a postponement is probably appropriate so with that I' ll
yield.
Mr. Ilagan: At this time we do got other things on the agenda
and what I'm going to do is I'm going to entertain a motion for
a postponement for the next
Ms. Ford: Mr. Chairman, there' s several people on the council as
well as this agency who continue to try to stymie discussion its
inappropriate there are things wrong that we need to hear and be
it put into public and I would appreciate if we could go through
at least the second round and probably a third round before you
postpone it and stop and stop trying to stop us from talking
there are problems here and it is not fair to us or the public
to ignore these problems by just postponing this.
Mr. Ilagan: Mahalo councilmember Ford, at this time I will
entertain a motion for a postponement if anybody want to make
that motion?
Mr. Yoshimoto: so moved.
Mr. Kern: second
Mr. Ilagan: moved by councilmember Yoshimoto second by
councilmember Kern, and discussion on postponement?
Ms. Ford: Yes.
Mr. Ilagan: councilmember Ford?
Ms. Ford: no we shouldn' t postpone this, we should continue the
discussion because there' s other things wrong, there' s a cul-de-
sac here that violates the county code there' s all kinds of
things wrong with this, this could' ve been done in an ordinance
I haven' t had a chance to call Ms . Leithead Todd up, I' ve had a
conversation with her about it and everything you' re putting in
here should be in the ordinance. Miss Self has not answered the
question. Yes, she said she quoted out of the HRS and said that
we can do this by a resolution but our council rules are
different and we can have stricter rules here in the County than
the State and we need to discuss those things, I am actually in
favor of this and I'm going to vote no based on what' s going on
with this ramroding going on in this council .
Mr. Ilagan: I just want to mention that given this postponement
we will have time to discuss the issues that you have and
concerns with the developer so this postponement will actually
give us more time and actually sit down and clear out the issues
any other councilmember' s have a, I'm going to go with
councilmember Wille on postponement.
Ms. Wills: Thank you Chair, yes, just I want to make sure that
as we postpone this that are concerns are addressed when we meet
2124hnhp 15
next, so I think in terms of supporting a postponement its
important to state those so I would like verification on our
codes section eleven dash five c and d the new criteria for
income for credits I don' t read it as consistent you' re saying
its consistent with both state and county just please.
Mr. Kern: We need to be focusing on the postponement .
Ms. Wills: Okay, well I'm saying this will depend on whether I
vote for it or not. I also in terms of pedestrian safety I would
like
Mr. Kern: councilmember we do need to be talking about the
postponement and not the actual content of the reso.
Ms. Wills: I consider these together, I don' t see this as I mean
I think you can read it that narrowly I' ve got a couple let me
just say the developer did come to me and speak he did not speak
about any exemptions he did say there was community concern
about it
Mr. Ilagan: councilmember Wills, please
Ms. Poindexter: We' re discussing the, can I, can I
Mr. Ragan: hold on, hold on, please.
Ms. Wills: Okay, let me just finish and the planning do we not
do planning committees?
Mr. Ilagan: councilmember Wille, please, can we stay on
postponement?
Ms. Wills: okay, I see this is postponement but since you don' t
I' ll back off.
Mr. Ragan: Thank you, councilmember Poindexter?
Ms. Poindexter: I'm supporting the postponement because I think
we will have enough people here you know we' ll have the
developers I'm hoping that we will have some of the community
members who are being directly impacted by this project we will
probably have I'm sure, our director in planning, we' ll have the
people that we need here to have a full discussion so that' s why
I'm supporting the motion for the postponement to the call of
the Chair to be able to grab all the resources the information
that we need and I think it will give us time so we' re talking
about discussing the motion for the postponement in which I am
in support of, thank you.
Mr. Ilagan: thank you councilmember Poindexter, councilmember
Yoshimoto?
Mr. Yoshimoto: thank you Mr. Chairman, Ms. Poindexter makes good
points, I just wanted to make, remind everyone that the reason
why Mr. Pappos and Mr. Lee are not here we' re told is that they
had food poisoning last night so that' s something that' s
unexpected that just came up so its not like their avoiding us
or they don' t want to be here so I think the postponement makes
sense for many reasons, one because be want them here, two
because if they are these concerns that we' re going to raise we
2124hnhp 16
don' t want to restate them a second time we should wait till
there here and then we can do it all one time and it makes just
more sense rather than doing to twice and also to if anyone has
any concerns they can always contact the departments or
individuals directly.
Mr. Ilagan: councilmember Kern?
Mr. Kern: thank you Mr. Chair, regarding the postponement, I do
agree that we should have as much information as we can but I
feel that we do need to be careful on how we operate in this way
when people come in to do a project such as this or any project
they look at the tediousness in which it takes to go through
these processes and I've heard stories in the past that people
coming in that would actually have done really really great
amazing projects would' ve create a lot of jobs and they looked
at our process and they ran the other way and they said I' ll
never come back here again and so every time we postpone
something every time we drag our feet on something like this its
showing out there that other people that want to do projects
that this is what you' re going to have to go through and deal
with it now granted the developers did have food poisoning
that' s unexpected and I' d assume they' d probably be here, so I
think in this case it does make sense to postpone I don' t think
its going to kill the project but I just do think we need to
exercise caution in this because we are setting the stage for
what people are going to be seeing out there and what we will
and will not do and how it will affect of social economic
climate and our economy. I yield.
Mr. Ilagan: councilmember Onishi?
Mr. Onishi: thank you Mr. Chair, we could postpone this just for
two weeks right? So you folks could come back with the developer
but prior like Mr. Kern was saying but to me the developer
should' ve came and talk to everyone prior to today' s meeting
which most developers do come especially a certain project like
this so I'm thinking so, well it' s on the postponement . So what
I'm hoping is that I'm going to support the postponement because
I want the developers to come in to see the councilmember' s
within the next couple weeks to talk story and also as
councilmember' s can go and talk to the different departments to
make sure that they understand what' s going on and this and that
so I wish that its not going to be a one month postponement but
it will be in like two weeks . Thank you.
Mr. Ragan: just to clarify the postponement is onto the next
committee meeting and that will be I believe February
nineteenth? So this will be a postponement, excuse me, this will
be a postponement to the next committee meeting on February
nineteenth, since there is no discussion, we will take a I want
to do a voice voice vote and all in favor say aye.
2124hnhP 17
Councilmember' s: aye
Mr. Ilagan: all oppose say no
Ms . Ford: no its illegal.
Mr. Ilagan: Ayes have it, the resolution will be postponed to
the next committee meeting.
Mr. Onishi: Mr. Chair, you need to recognize the one no vote on
record.
Mr. Ilagan: I thought you only have to recognize the ayes?
Ms. Ford: please note in the record that I voted no because this
is illegal, thank you.
Mr. Onishi: yes
Mr. Ilagan: we have one no vote, ayes have it the resolution
will be postponed to the next committee meeting on February
nineteenth. Moving on to administrator' s oral report, Mr.
Arnett, now for the oral report do we have to make a motion to
close the file? Does it could I have a, do a report? At this
time we' re going to do a administrator' s oral report, Mr. Arnett
go on.
Mr. Arnett: thank you very much, I just want to point out one
thing that housing agency is really not a committee we' re the
housing agency so that' s just one thing that' s needs to be
pointed out to you all
Mr. Ilagan: please what' s the difference between an agency and a
committee?
Mr. Arnett: I don' t want to give you a specific definition of a
committee I think is I would actually defer to Miss Self to give
you that definition, but in essence I believe a committee is
formulated by the charter, is that correct?
Amy Self: The difference between this and your other committees,
the other committees that you have are your committees council
committees this isn' t actually, this is actually when you' re
part of an agency so you' re the housing agency in these
meetings, so the other committees like planning committee and
all those are actually council committees those are all the
council committees this however is not a committee it' s the
housing agency so you' re acting as the housing agency when you
have these meetings even though its on the same day as your
other committee meetings so you' re not the council right now,
you' re the housing agency.
Mr. Ilagan: Housing agency thank you
Mr. Arnett: thank you, just a brief update we have two projects
that are in the process of being a worked on at the moment one
is our Ulu Wini project we have thirty six units that are
nearing completion we in our office have applied for what' s
called project based voucher for those particular units which
allow HUD section eight vouchers to apply to the units
themselves not to individuals so if someone were to move into
2124hnhp 18
one of our brand new units and the those units are accepted for
project base voucher the individuals who live in those units
would receive a section eight subsidy of rental assistance on
that particular unit if they were to move out the voucher stays
with the unit and does not go with the individual which is
somewhat different then how section often times works, in other
instances section eight voucher go with the individual so they
can as they move from apartment to apartment to apartment the
voucher goes with them as opposed to it being with the unit
itself so we do intend to apply for project based vouchers for
the thirty six units that come on board probably sometime in the
middle of April or maybe the end of April depending upon how
quickly we can get the landscaping in, a landscaper was selected
yesterday based upon low bid that was specific landscaping based
among my conversations with my construction manager yesterday,
we hope to have the landscaping in and completed by April the
fifteenth so that we can have all of our brand new units
occupied with low income families at that particular point and
time. Our educational training facility is completed we have
some federal dollars in there that we need to remove we' re in
the process of doing that we actually received the letter from
HUD yesterday saying its they have given us our approval to
remove those dollars once done the food basket and habitat for
humanity as well as the police department will be tenants in
that facility and we' ll probably be saving the county at least a
hundred thousand dollars annually in commercial rents for the
police department as well as generating rents from both the food
basket and habitat for humanity that will probably go into a pot
for ultimate capital improvements to that building should it
fall into some kind of disrepair or maintenance. The other
project that we have is our ninety one home sites that are
available for sale at Kamakoa Nui in Waikoloa that project is
for sale at the moment my understanding is we have one buyer
confirmed that has been approved by the lender we knew from the
very get go that having qualified buyers for that particular
project was going to be a massive problem and has certainly
approved to be exactly that we habitat for humanity has been
approved to buy six lots so the caveat with habitat was is that
they are not allowed to build anything other than what we' ve
designed for those particular lots so they will build our homes
on our lots which will ultimately be their lots and I think the
sooner we can get that community built out and move onto the
next phase the better off we are. That pretty much sums up what
we have going at the moment our desire is to move into the third
phase of the vertical at Ulu Wini I' ve switched back from
Kamakoa to Ulu Wini we need twenty more units to be completed
before that project is completely and totally finished we' re
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short just a few dollars in terms of being able to do the IFB
for that particular project but when completed that entire
project will be ninety six units and hopefully we' ll have ninety
six families off the street and in some quality housing with
quality services available through either HOPE Services or
whomever the provider that is selected may be, we are excited at
the prospect of having that project get completed and moving on
to something different in terms of our affordable housing
issues. With that I will I' ll yield.
Mr. Ilagan: we have questions right now, councilmember, Miss
Wille .
Ms. Wille: councilmember' s fine, yes, can you tell me when you
said with Waikoloa that buyers are a problem, I just not sure
what that
Mr. Arnett: well in essence what we did Miss Wille was we gave
anybody and everybody who was on the list that was generated in
two thousand and seven and two thousand and eight back in the
days when Unidev was the developer they were the selected
developer by the prior administration there were a series of
seven lists that were generated based upon certain priority
issues before we actually went to sale to the public we decided
to vet all those lists to make sure anybody on that list was
either not interested in purchasing any longer or were and if so
could we get those people qualified to buy, we' ve gone through
that entire list and only one person off that list has been
qualified I think we only wound up with I think twenty who were
continued to be involved although we had a hundred and forty
seven on the lists to start with so where we are at the moment
is going to sale to members of the public and when I say members
of the public I'm not talking about snowbirds who move from
Minnesota I'm talking about workforce people who actually work
in the Waikoloa area that was with that whole project was
designed for was workforce housing its not low income housing
but workforce housing so the idea is to have people who live I'm
sorry who work in the Waikoloa area have housing in the Waikoloa
areas we can reduce the commute from wherever they may be be it
Ocean View be it Hilo be it Hamakua what have you so that the
commute time is less and the quality of life increases
significantly.
Ms. Wille: okay, well let me just ask you basically went from a
hundred and forty seven potential down to one and I mean that' s
what it sounds like but what are the key obstacles is it that
there' s a down payment that' s due and they don' t have it what I
don' t want to take a lot of time but I just want to start
thinking about this.
Mr. Arnett: I'm remissed off of the particulars in each and
every individual one because I don' t know the particulars I
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would be lying if I even offered any but our typical problems
have not been the down payment because down payment has been
between three and five percent based upon the program that we
deal with Wells Fargo Bank but typically its been credit scores
its been having to much debt it is also having too much
additional debt over and above what is would be considered I'm
sorry not debt but salary having enough income range to cover
whatever payments plus insurance and property taxes
Ms . Wille: I' ll cut you off just because I don' t want to take
the time but at some point I'd really like to work with this
work with you on this issue and understand that better. Thank
you.
Mr. I1agan: Mr. Onishi
Mr. Onishi: coucilwoman Wille that' s some good questions that
you have and for the four years that I' ve been here affordable
housing is one of the keys to our workforce and you know like
Mr. Arnett just mentioned about like credit ratings and you know
debt and this and that so maybe a possibility where you folks
can discuss later on is maybe like a rental kind of process or
instead of it being sold to these people because basically their
just buying the homes correct the land is not for sale correct.
Mr. Arnett: not true these are fee simple homes.
Mr. Onishi: oh okay.
Mr. Arnett: we changed that model initially the model was that
there' s all going to be a rental sort of like a Bishop Estate we
decided buy the land -----
Mr. Onishi: ah ok, ah ok
Mr. Arnett: and the building together so its all fee simple.
Mr. Onishi: oh ok ok, then well I guess yah cause of the cost
and because of you know the
Mr. Arnett: just so you folks know and if I don' t think its been
mentioned in this particular setting but we do have restrictions
and the restrictions are that somebody who owns or buys the
property must own it for fifteen years before they have one
hundred percent equity if they buy the property and sell within
fifteen years we have a formula where by they share any
appreciation with the county so if they buy the home tomorrow
for two hundred and fifty thousand and its worth four hundred
thousand and they sold it the following day they don' t reap a
windfall of the difference between the purchase price and the
sale price they are required to share that appreciation with the
County for fifteen years after they' ve lived in the home for
fifteen years the equity becomes theirs a hundred percent of
course the longer they live in the house the less they have to
share with the County.
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Mr. Onishi: and that' s program is kind of like how the state
housing project was correct? Where you know like say Puainako on
the right side.
Mr. Arnett: correct.
Mr. Onishi: right, they had I think was a ten year they had to
stay there or if not if they sold it or was either back to the
state or they had some kind deal that
Mr. Arnett: we opted to imclude an additional five years due to
the fact the we' ve you know the County has forty three million
dollars into this project and we just didn' t feel it fair that
any buyer be able to come in and buy at a lower price and then
reap a huge windfall we felt that the longer they lived in the
unit and the longer we extended the time that they lived in the
unit the better it was for everybody because we' re trying to
create a community where people sink roots where they don' t come
in and do a house and flip it that' s just not where we are.
Mr. Onishi: well maybe an option is just to look at renting
that' s a possibility to get at least people in that homes
already but thank you.
Ms. Wills: I just want to say I agree with everything
councilmember Onishi just stated I don' t know if there is any
option to switch any of these things over to rental and get
people in now but I' d perhaps this is something we could do in a
separate presentation and discuss that we' re at least I and at
least one other councilmember would be interested in
understanding this procedure more.
Mr. Arnett: let me also make sure that you understand that these
homes are not built we have four models that are built and the
plan is to build them as economy of scale so no more no fewer
than four at time and no more than twelve at a time so if we
have four buyers that commit and have their deposit become non-
refundable we then begin the process of building four homes but
the idea is that since they are not built, building homes for
rental use is probably not where we would like to go.
Mr. Ilagan: any further questions? None. Mr. Arnett, at this
current time may I have a motion to adjourn.
Mr. Kern: so moved
Mr. Onishi: second
Mr. Ilagan: moved by Mr. Kern and second by Mr. Onishi. All in
favor say aye
Councilmember' s: aye
Mr. Ilagan: all oppose, say no.
Me . Ford: no
Mr. Ilagan: we have one no the rest ayes the ayes have it we are
adjourned
Mr. Arnett: thank you all very much.
Ms. Ford: Miss Leithead Todd please.
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