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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-07-21 Leeward Exh A - Innovations LEEWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I HEARING TRANSCRIPT JULY 21, 2011 INNOVATIONS PUBLIC CHARTER A regularly advertised hearing on the application of SCHOOL (AMENDMENT TO SPECIAL PERMIT NO. 1262) was called to order at 9:40 a.m. in the West Hawai‘i Civic Center, Community Center, Building G, 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Kailua-Kona, Hawai‘i, with Brandi Beaudet, Chair Pro Tem, presiding. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Brandi Beaudet, Thomas Hickcox, Wayne Iokepa, Richard Nelson and Thomas Whittemore ABSENT AND EXCUSED: Lani Bowman and Geraldine Giffin STAFF PRESENT: Margaret Masunaga (Deputy Planning Director), Daryn Arai (Planning Program Manager), Jeff Darrow (Staff Planner) and Deanne Bugado (Staff Planner) And approximately 15 people from the public in attendance. APPLICANT: INNOVATIONS PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL (AMENDMENT TO SPECIAL PERMIT NO. 1262) Amendment request for a 4-year time extension to Condition No. 3 of Special Permit No. 1262, which allowed the establishment of a public charter school and related facilities on 5 acres of land situated within the State Land Use Agricultural District. Condition No. 3 requires that a paved parking lot be provided for the school. The applicant is requesting an additional four (4) years to pave the existing gravel parking lot. The property is located along the east (mauka) side of Queen Ka‘ahumanu Highway, approximately 1,500 feet north of the Queen Ka‘ahumanu Highway– rd Hualālai Road intersection, Pua‘a 3, North Kona, Hawai‘i, TMK: 7-5-10: portion of 1. BEAUDET: So the first application that we will look at this morning is through Innovations Public Charter School, amendment to Special Permit No. 1262. Deanne Bugado will be doing the presentation for this applicant. BUGADO: Thank you, Commissioners. Good morning. This is the Innovations Public Charter School, Special Permit amendment to Special Permit No. 1262. This was approved by the Planning Commission, April 22, 2005. The location of the charter school is noted in bold black. This is Queen Ka‘ahumanu Highway and this is Hualālai Road. And the zoning in the area is Ag-5. There is some Ag-15 zoning to the east. There is Ag-5 to the north, Ag-15 further north. There is some RM-4 and some Ag-1A to the south. The General Plan designates the area as Urban Expansion. There is some Medium Density Urban to the west and some Important Ag Lands to the east. The Community Development Plan, it’s smack in the middle of the Puaa-Waiaha Village Transit Oriented Development circle; however, there is also a policy, because this application never came in for a change of zone and the approval was prior to the Community Development Plan being adopted, the application does not need to actually come in for any approval or compliance with the Transit Oriented Development type of development. Policy PUB-6.6 also identifies the important role of schools, so it supports the application for charter schools in Kona community. 1 EXHIBIT A The proposed amendment is to permit the continued use of gravel parking for the parking lot until June 4, 2015, or four additional years. The gravel parking lot in question is this area right here on the site plan. And just some pictures of the current gravel parking lot. The Planning Director’s recommendation is to approve the amendment to Special Permit 1262. Are there any questions? BEAUDET: Any questions from the Commissioners for staff? Will the applicant and representative please come forward? Thank you. Could you please raise your right hand? Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter now before the Hawai‘i County Leeward Planning Commission? WOERNER: I do. BEAUDET: Thank you. Could you please state your name? WOERNER: Barbara Woerner. BEAUDET: Thank you. You can begin your testimony. WOERNER: Well, first, I would like to thank the Planning Department for recommending approval of our request. We are in the process of purchasing additional four acres added on to the school campus. And we will eventually have a different access road into the property, which is why we are requesting to have the gravel parking lot that we are currently using continue to be gravel until we get our additional piece of property and do our master planning. By looking at the map, we enter on your left off of Queen K Highway and come up, our parents come up and they do a loop around – I’m not very good with this (PowerPoint laser pointer), you press the red, all right – so you come up the road this way, our parents enter the gravel parking, and then they exit back out onto Queen K Highway. So that’s working well for us. When we purchase, next month we are getting ready to close on the four-acre parcel up here, and there is going to be a permanent road that is not off of Queen K Highway where our parents will be able to bring students to school. And at that time we are going to be putting in a parking lot on that upper four acres. So charter schools don’t get funding for facilities, and to pave the parking lot would be very expensive for us. We are not opposed to paving it; we’d like to pave it, but we don’t think that’s going to end up being our final location for the parking lot. So that’s the reason for our request. And I do have one more request on the recommendation from the Planning Department; Item 19 was the extension clause and it was eliminated, and I’d like to request that one extension be added back on to the condition, so that -. Our intent and our desire is to have the parking lot paved in four years, but we have to put a road in in order to do that. It’s got to be a connector road over to Hualālai. And we have full intention of doing that; we are working with the developers in the area to make sure that happens. But, as you know, in Kona sometimes things go a little more slowly than you anticipate. So if we could have one more extension there, the option to have one more extension without having to go through this process, where the Planning Director can take a look at it and decide if it’s a worthy request, we would appreciate that. BEAUDET: Any comment from staff on the request? 2 EXHIBIT A ARAI: The reason why we supported a four-year -. Understand the original request was to pave the parking lot within two years of occupancy. We are supportive of four years simply because we understand the efforts and time necessary to secure property gain necessary access rights. But as would many other uses that come before you, the typical minimum requirement is that your parking be paved; there is no such thing as gravel being an acceptable type of paving surface unless it’s a very, extremely low-volume type of use, say, like a bed-and-breakfast operation where you have only two or three cars. So we feel that four years is more than adequate time, because I think anything beyond that, it starts to get a little difficult for us to justify when other types of uses that generate maybe the same level of traffic are compelled and required by the Commission to pave their parking lots. We understand the situation and you are making, you know, a diligent effort to provide alternate access, but we do believe four years is a reasonable time frame. I may want to take this opportunity to also note that Mrs. Woerner mentioned that they could acquire the property next door to provide access to Hualālai Road, but she also mentioned the possibility of locating the parking onto that adjoining property. We were not made aware of that earlier. So I would like to express our concern that it probably will fall outside of the scope of their original Special Permit, which would then mean that in order to place the parking lot on the adjoining property, should they be successful in securing title to that property, they would have to come back before the Planning Commission to amend this permit in order to encumber the proposed parking area. WOERNER: And we are well aware of that, so we’ll be back here soon. ARAI: And we enjoy working with you, so hopefully it’s not that much of a burden. BEAUDET: So would that make you agreeable to the condition as stated? WOERNER: Yes. BEAUDET: Thank you. Any further comment or questions from the Commission? I have not received the list of any one person from the public who wishes to testify. I’d like to ask if there is still someone out there who wishes to testify, please come forward now. Okay, thank you. With that, I’d like to ask for a motion. NELSON: Mr. Chairman, I move to approve the amendment request for a four-year time extension to Condition No. 3 of Special Permit No. 1262, which allowed the establishment of a public charter school and related facilities on five acres of land situated within the State Land Use Agricultural District. BEAUDET: Do I hear a second? IOKEPA: Mr. Chair, I second. BEAUDET: Staff? BUGADO: Commissioner Nelson? NELSON: Aye. 3 EXHIBIT A BUGADO: Commissioner Iokepa? IOKEPA: Aye. BUGADO: Commissioner Hickcox? HICKCOX: Aye. BUGADO: Commissioner Whittemore? WHITTEMORE: Aye. BUGADO: Commissioner Beaudet? BEAUDET: Aye. BUGADO: Chair Beaudet, the motion passes with five approvals. BEAUDET: Thank you. WOERNER: Thank you. The discussion ended at 9:55 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Noriko Sauer, Secretary Leeward Planning Commission 4 EXHIBIT A