HomeMy WebLinkAboutPL-REZ-2022-000033 J. GIMPEL TESTIMONY 10.09.23_v1 From: .A 0 L-T e am!
To: LPCtestimony
Subject: Testimony re Kona Three LLC for October 19,2023 Meeting
Date: Monday,October 9,2023 12:08:07 PM
Attachments: Royal Vistas Oral Draft Oct. 2023.odt
Dear Members of the Leeward Planning Commission,
Following and attached is testimony regarding Kona Three LLC,s application for a 10-
year time extension for the Royal Vistas Subdivision that I intend to present at your
October 19, 2023 meeting.
Aloha and good morning. I am Joel Gimpel, a member of the Board of the Pualani
Estates at Kona Homeowners Association, a subdivision of 362 single-family homes
several hundred yards north of the proposed Royal Vistas Project. I note that there
are many testifiers here today, and that written testimony covering a variety of issues
raised by the request for another time extension has already been provided, I intend
to focus on the traffic concerns and CRC's recommendation.
First, we believe that the traffic counts submitted by the applicant are woefully
inadequate because they were taken during times when the COVID pandemic had
begun to cause a significant decrease in visitors and business operations that
resulted in greatly reduced traffic on Highway 11. Further, they don't adequately
account for greater traffic volume that would result from other proposed developments
in the area, such as the Pua'a Development and Suffolk Investment applications for
commercial and multi-family residential development on 30 acres mauka of Highway
11 with the main entrance at Puapuaanui St. Applicant used a 1% rather than a 2%
growth rate.
Nor do the studies adequately deal with the fact that the needed improvements to
Highway 11, which include widening to four lanes by the state from Henry Street to
Kamehameha III Road, is neither planned nor funded, and is therefore uncertain for
the foreseeable future. It's most disconcerting that applicant's response to concerns
expressed regarding some of the existing deficiencies of Highway 11 are not the
responsibility of applicant to correct because they're "outside the scope of this
project."
Furthermore, the direct access to Highway 11 from the development would be a non-
signalized intersection, which will result in traffic delays and is inherently unsafe.
The unanimously approved report of the CRC, prepared following nearly three hours
of expert testimony and thorough discussion, clearly indicates that the proposed
development, for which a ten-year time extension for completion of Condition I is
sought, will likely have substantial impacts on historical and cultural assets on the
subject property, and that the area should be preserved in perpetuity as a historic
property. My wife and I, long-time residents of Pualani Estates, as well as the Board
of Directors of Pualani Estates in Kona, wholeheartedly concur and urge your
approval and adoption of the CRC's report and recommendations.
We also object to the application because too much time has elapsed and too many
changes have occurred since this project was first proposed more than 15 years ago.
It's time to go back to the drawing boards.
Aloha and mahalo for your kind attention and careful consideration. I'll be happy to
respond to any questions.
Joel Gimpel & Janet Rae
75-628 N. Mea Lanakila PI.
Kailua-Kona, HI 96740
808/325-4991