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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-03-13 PCDP AC Minutes DRAFT BJ Leithead Todd William P. Kenoi County of Hawai‘i PLANNING DEPARTMENT PUNA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE Aupuni Center • 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 3 • Hilo, Hawai‘i 96720 Phone (808) 961-8288 • Fax (808) 961-8742 Hawai‘i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer Director Margaret Masunaga Deputy Director Mayor Tuesday, March 13, 2012 DRAFT Meeting Minutes CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Dan Taylor called the Puna Community Development Plan (PCDP) Action Committee (AC) meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. in the Kea´au Community Center with the following persons present: Action Committee: Madie Greene, Keikialoha Kekipi (arrived at 3:15 p.m.), René Siracusa, Patti Pinto, Dan Taylor and Oshi Simsarian. Excused: Barbara Bell, and Frank Commendador. Staff: Larry Brown (Planning Department, Project Manager), Elizabeth “Liz” Hultman-Salfen (Planning Department, Community Planning Assistant). Members of the public: 5 ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. Dan Taylor announced that René will conduct the Action Committee today. PUBLIC TESTIMONY (None at this time) APPROVAL OF MINUTES Dan Taylor moved to approve the minutes of February 14, 2012 with four noted corrections. Second by Dan. All voted in favor. NEW BUSINESS 1. Pāhoa Regional Town Center Steering Committee (PRTCSC): a. Robin Stetson offered a draft letter of support and recognition for the efforts of the PRTCSC to the AC for approval. b. Pattie Pinto moved to approve the letter as offered. Second by Madie. All voted in favor. c. Dan thanked Larry for his assistance to the community planning process. Dan sees that the Planning Department and the community’s are now collaborating with each other. d. Dan Taylor informed the AC that three communities are in the community planning process; Volcano, Pāhoa, and Mountain View. Volunteers will be needed to assist the Pāhoa Steering Committee to complete the plan and the AC should assist by encouraging others in the community to become engaged in this planning effort. 2. Land Acquisition at Wai´ōpae: a. Oshi Simsarian reported that she has attended two Vacation Land Board of Director’s meetings and the Board supports land acquisition for open space. Oshi attended the Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission (PONC) meeting where they were discussing how properties get onto the list. Oshi learned that priority goes to lands where there is a willing seller that will sell for the appraised value; letters of support; and people to maintain the open space land. b. Oshi is still looking at possible lands around Wai´ōpae Marine Life Conservation District as well as lands around Ahalanue Beach Park. c. Keiki reminded the AC that the previously approved improvements to Ahalanui Beach Park still have not been completed. 3. FY 2012-13 Capital Improvement Projects Budget: a. Public Testimony i. Jon Olson testified that Puna should expect a higher level of service. The last census shows that Puna’s population has grown and Puna should expect increased parks and infrastructure from the County. The County collects roughly $9 million per year just on the vacant lots in Puna for which it does not have to provide services, yet has not invested in the infrastructure that will be necessary to provide the services as those vacant lots become built out. Consistently, Puna has received a disproportionate share of expenditures for services and CIP expenditures. b. Larry provided an edited version of the 2012-13 CIP budget submitted by the Mayor to the County Council and a list of existing CIP appropriations to the AC for review and possible comment. c. Dan moved that he and Keiki will draft a letter to the County Council expressing support for the Ahalanue/Pohoiki Bay Beach Park in the CIP budget. Second by Madie. All voted in favor UNFINISHED BUSINESS: 1. Action Committee Implementation Priority List: a. Public Testimony i. Hannah Hendrick testified that she is encouraging conservation about organizing a Mountain View Village Center planning committee in three venues. She plans to organize an Upper Puna Talk Story event, talk about it at the Neighborhood Place of Puna meetings related to their one-stop shop plans to expand services in upper Puna and the Mountain View Gym and Recreation Center meetings. She is seeking guidance from the AC on how to identify people to play a leadership role especially on the mauka side of Hwy 11 where there don’t seem t be any community associations. b. René provided some history about the land referenced in Item #7 on the Priority List and suggested that it was not appropriate for the AC to call for acquisition of the property in order to provide public parking and to develop a farmer’s market. She 2 explained how the private landowner is already doing that, and was not consulted before this action was placed on the list. c. Dan moved to delete Item #7, Secure Land and Building Infrastructure for Community Farmers’ Markets from the Priority List. Second by Madie. All voted in favor d. Dan suggested that mass transit issues, specifically implementation of a hub & spoke system within Puna should be included in the Priority List. e. Madie moved that Dan and Oshi will work at adding Mass Transit – Hub and Spoke Program to the AC Priority List. Second by Oshi. All voted in favor f. Criteria for Prioritizing PCDP Actions: i. René suggested that trying to assign points to the actions on the Priority List in order to rank them was not necessary and perhaps might inhibit moving forward on a particular action that is more ready for implementation than another that might be ranked higher. ii. Dan moved to change the word “prioritizing” to “identifying” and to eliminate numbers in the parentheses that scored each project. Second by Oshi. All voted in favor. g. Jon Olson reported on his meeting with Tom Brown. i. The double-decker bus is on the job and the hydrogen buses should be on the road in two months. ii. Implementation of any Hub and Spoke system will require additional equipment and facilities and should be considered in future CIP budgets. iii. Ensuing discussion focused on the idea of developing a detailed mass transit plan for Puna that can be presented to Tom Brown for him to consider including in future MTA CIP budget requests. Dan, Steph, and Jon will draft a letter to the Mass Transit Agency regarding the Hub and Spoke program. AGENDA FOR NEXT MEETING: 1. Larry informed the AC of the request from Richard Koob, Director of Kalani Oceanside Village Retreat, to present his proposal for the development of a village center at Kalani. The AC expressed a preference to not agendize such a presentation until they have had a chance to review an actual application submittal to the Planning Department and to receive preliminary comments from the Planning Director on the application. 2. Suggested agenda items for next meeting include: a. Wai´opae Marine Life Conservation District update from Oshi b. Invite Bob Nishimoto from DLNR Aquatic Resource Division to speak to the AC-René c. Volcano Trails Corridor Collaborative-Paul d. Draft letter for support of Ahalanui Beach Park e. Draft letter for the Hub and Spoke program to Mass Transit Agency f. A representative from the Mayor’s Broad Band internet committee 3 4 ANNOUNCEMENTS: 1. Larry announced that applications for new Action Committee members are now being accepted and will be on-going. An updated application has been posted on the www.hawaiicountycdp.info website. He also announced that he will be recommending that Oshi be appointed to the 4-year term vacated with the resignation of Kelly Nafie. The remainder of Oshi’s one-year appointment will either be filled when a suitable applicant is identified or when the next round of three expiring seats come due for filling this fall. ANJOURNMENT: Dan moved to adjourn the meeting. Second by Keiki. All voted in favor. Meeting adjourned at 5:45 p.m.