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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-03-01 Windward Transcript PD Pahoa PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I HEARING TRANSCRIPT MARCH 1, 2012 A regularly advertised hearing on the PLANNING DIRECTOR INITIATED AMENDMENT TO MAP 15 OF THE LUPAG MAP OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I GENERAL ON THE LAND USE DESIGNATION FOR PĀHOA VILLAGE AND THE IMMEDIATELY SURROUNDING AREAS, was called to order at 9:24 a.m. in the County of Hawai‘i, Aupuni Center Conference Room, 101 Pauahi Street, Hilo, Hawai‘i, with Chairman Zendo Kern presiding. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Zendo Kern, Dean Au, Takashi Domingo, Wallace Ishibashi, Stephen Ono and Raylene Moses STAFF PRESENT: Ivan Torigoe (Deputy Corporation Counsel), B. J. Leithead Todd (Planning Director), Daryn Arai (Planning Program Manager), Phyllis Fujimoto (Staff Planner), Maija Cottle (Staff Planner), Jeff Darrow (Staff Planner), and Sharon Nomura (Secretary) And nine people from the public in attendance. APPLICANT: PLANNING DIRECTOR INITIATED Amendment to Map 15 of the Land Use Pattern Allocation Guide (LUPAG) Map of the County of Hawai‘i General Plan (adopted by Ordinance No. 05 25, amended by Ordinance No. 06 153) by changing the land use designation for Pāhoa Village and the immediately surrounding areas, Pāhoa, Puna, Hawai‘i. KERN: Applicant No. 2, Planning Director initiated amendment to Map 15 of the Land Use Pattern Allocation Guide (LUPAG) Map of the County of Hawai‘i General Plan for Pāhoa Village. With that we’ll go into the presentation. Maija. COTTLE: Good morning -. KERN: Good morning. DOMINGO: Good morning. COTTLE: Mr. Chair and Commissioners. This item is a General Plan Amendment and is being initiated by the Planning Director. And the reason that the Director is initiating this amendment is because back in 2008 the Puna Community Development Plan was adopted. And the land use policies and goals in that CDP don’t translate exactly to the General Plan. So this was an effort to bring the General Plan LUPAG Map more in alignment with those goals and policies of the CDP. One of the main policies of the CDP is to create a village center specifically for Pāhoa. It’s supposed to be a regional village center, as well as Kea‘au. Those are the two in the Puna district. So the idea of the village center is to create higher density uses in the town core. And then as you go out from the town core your densities become lower. So that was one of the goals of this General Plan Amendment. The other goal was to limit commercial and industrial development along the Pāhoa Bypass. You’ve probably seen comments from DOT as you reviewed applications; and their recommendation is usually not to have commercial driveways along their State roadways. So this is an effort to pull that commercial and industrial 1 EXHIBIT A development away from the highway and to direct it to the more mauka areas, behind like Malama Market and over towards where the existing transfer station is. So those were the three goals that we tried to accomplish with this Amendment. You can kind of see that in the Pāhoa Regional Town Center Map. You see that most of the development should be focused within this dotted area around the existing town center, and then also regional uses like where the existing Malama Market is, and then the new Woodland Center in this area here. You can see that they did not intend for this area around the Pāhoa Bypass to be developed. So this is the existing LUPAG Map; and, again, you can see the Medium Density Urban area where the existing town core is. Out from there you see the yellow color which is the Low Density Urban, extends all the way up towards Malama Market. And then you have the crosshatched area around that, which is Urban Expansion. And Urban Expansion you can see extends all the way to the east side of the Pāhoa Bypass. So what we are trying to do with the proposed amendment is to first pull the Urban Expansion area away from the Bypass. So you can see A-1; and it is kind of hard to see so you may want to follow along in your report, that map is a little bit bigger. You can see the blue crosshatched area on the east side of the Bypass. We are proposing to change from Urban Expansion to Extensive Agriculture. And I am just going to read to you what the Urban Expansion designation allows. It allows for a mix of High Density, Medium Density and Low Density, Industrial, and Industrial Commercial designations in areas where new development may be desirable but where the specific settlement pattern and mix of uses have not been determined. So typical zoning districts that are permitted in Urban Expansion areas are all of your Residential zoning, Commercial zoning, CN, CV, and then you get some Light Industrial zonings, ML, MCX, as well as Heavy Industrial, MG, as well as Open. So the Urban Expansion area really allows the most types of zoning districts. And you can see just the idea of allowing like a Heavy Industrial zoning district off of the Bypass or Neighborhood Commercial would introduce a lot of traffic into that area. So that is why we are proposing to eliminate the Urban Expansion designation from this area and change it back to Extensive Agriculture. And the second change would be in this area which is the orange crosshatch. It is in the area of the existing Malama Market and the Woodland Center, as well as the Pāhoa Auto Parts Store. And for that we are proposing to change from Urban Expansion to Medium Density Urban. So, again, that is pulling the Industrial zoning away from this area and just having it be more focused on commercial uses. And then the third change would be this area just west of the Bypass. There are quite a few residences in this area here. You can see this is Post Office Road. And then down here, these are both yellow crosshatches. This is just south of the high school of Pāhoa High School. We are proposing to change that from Urban Expansion to Low Density Urban, again, trying to pull commercial uses and industrial uses away from the Bypass. The fourth change would be this area from the existing Pāhoa Village extending all the way up towards Malama Market along Pāhoa Village Road. Currently, that’s Low Density Urban which doesn’t really allow a lot of commercial zoning districts. So we’re proposing to change that to Medium Density Urban which would open the area along the Bypass, I’m sorry, along Village Road to allow more commercial uses. And then lastly the area with this black crosshatch over the yellow, which is just a little bit north of Apaa Road and to the south behind town, we’re proposing to change that from Low Density Urban to Urban Expansion which would allow the more Light Industrial uses to be focused on, in this area of town closer to the existing transfer station here. And these are the descriptions of the General Plan designations. Again, Low Density allows mainly for residential, and very limited commercial. Medium Density allows for village commercial and meighborhood commercial, as well as higher density residential. Urban Expansion allows for quite a mix of uses. And then Extensive Ag is allowing for mostly agricultural uses. 2 EXHIBIT A So I just want to point out a few letters that we've received since we originally mailed your packages to you. You should have a letter from the Puna Community Development Plan Action Committee dated th February 14, it’s a two-page letter. And then you should have a letter from the State Office of th Planning dated February 17. They’re both letters of support. Are there any questions? KERN: Any questions for staff? Commissioner Ono? ONO: Yes. I’m not quite good with visuals as well -. But my concern is you’re mixing up a Light Industrial area with Residential; and my concern is traffic, I mean pedestrian problems. COTTLE: So you're talking about this area kind of behind town? ONO: No, the blue cross -, that very top? COTTLE: Yes. ONO: You’re saying that you want to convert that Industrial area to Low Density Residential? COTTLE: No. Actually this currently is Urban Expansion, which would allow some industrial zoning if a property owner wanted to zone it Industrial. And we’re proposing to change that to Extensive Agriculture. ONO: Oh, Agriculture. COTTLE: So it would be mostly Ag, Ag on the east side of the Bypass. ONO: And the very center of the diagram, you indicated a, right there, you’re looking at Light Industrial, Commercial area? COTTLE: Mostly Commercial, not Light Industrial. ONO: Okay. But surrounded by Residential? COTTLE: Yes. ONO: Yeah, that’s what concerns me in terms of traffic and pedestrian concerns. COTTLE: So the Lower Density Residential would be out towards Post Office Road here, which there are already quite a few larger lot residences out in that area. And then it would open up more Low Density Residential behind the High School. ONO: Okay. 3 EXHIBIT A COTTLE: And just, the idea was to allow the expansion of commercial uses that are already here in the Village to extend up just right along Village Road towards Malama Market. Pāhoa ONO: Okay. COTTLE: So the conflict between pedestrians and residences from the commercial business, it would still be mainly focusing on keeping the commercial businesses right along Village Road fronting Pāhoa Village Road. So eventually, you know, the CDP calls for curbs, gutters and sidewalks for Pāhoa pedestrians. As the land is developed pedestrians would be able to have those sidewalks. ONO: Thank you. KERN: Any other questions for staff? I’ve got a quick question. If you’ll give me an example, using Hilo for the example, could you give me an area in Hilo that’s zoned Medium Density Urban and then an area zoned High Density Urban? COTTLE: You’re talking about the GP designation, not the zoning? KERN: Yeah, or just an area that’s in Hilo that would be Medium Density that’s already built out and then an area that would be High Density. COTTLE: Okay, so the area along Kilauea closer to town is High Density Urban; and then as you go along Kilauea and Kinoole Streets further out towards Puainako, it becomes Medium Density. And then as you go even further out, it becomes Lower Density. KERN: Okay. Thank you. Any other questions for staff? Seeing none, Madam Director, do you want to make any comments to this? LEITHEAD TODD: The principal concerns that we had in the area was, you know, I think part of it is like when we had gone through the special use permit for the Charter School off of the Bypass. You know, they had gone through great lengths to have the students dropped off in town and then Pāhoa taken by bus to the Charter School because of the concern over left turn on the Bypass. And what we wanted to do was to try and prevent additional development along that Bypass that would then create more traffic along the Bypass, more turning, and particularly left turns. Cause, you know, this area has been noted, until the State comes in and does some improvements there, there have been a high number of accidents in this area. So you want to minimize left turns as much as possible. And so by taking the Urban Expansion on the Hawaiian Beaches side of the Bypass and taking it to Extensive Agriculture reduces the potential for those types of conflicts in traffic. And it’s also consistent with community vision in the CDP that tries to concentrate your commercial development along your Old Road, running from Village down, to the Malama Market area. PāhoaPāhoa And then we also recognized that as Puna is, in terms of population, probably the rapid, the fastest growing region in the State, you have a need not just for Commercial but you have a need for Light Industrial. You’re going to have a need for car repair because people don’t want to bring it in all the way into Hilo, you want to be able to drop it off. And you also want to try and create more job opportunities closer to home so people don’t have to commute to jobs in Keaau or jobs in Hilo. And ‘ 4 EXHIBIT A you’re surrounded by very large subdivisions which were created back in the seventies. So the vision is to try and create this commercial center but also provide a range of services and, at the same time, take a look at the traffic. You’ll notice that some of the Urban Expansion, I think, actually takes Urban Expansion away from where we have the police and fire. But as government, you know public buildings are allowed in any district. You can still, it’s still consistent that you can have the police and fire in your Extensive Agriculture. But it limits what else can come up next door to it because you really do want to avoid left turns as much as possible along that road, unless you either have roundabouts or some of the traffic calming signals or something to facilitate those left turns. And so that’s, that’s part of the rationale behind this, but also to try and make sure that we have enough space for future growth in this area, given what has happening in Puna. KERN: Thank you, Madam Director. Any other questions for Director or staff? Seeing none, thank you, Maija. Okay, there is nobody from the public signed up to testify for this application. So with that, anyone willing to entertain a motion? Commissioner Au? AU: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move to approve and send, excuse me, I move to send a favorable recommendation to the County Council for the amendment to Map 15 of the LUPAG Map of the County of Hawaii General Plan. ‘ KERN: Is there a second? DOMINGO: Second. KERN: Very good. Discussion? Commissioner Au. AU: Thank you, Mr. Chair. You know, I appreciate, Madam Director, and thank you staff for the presentation. These changes are, to me, coming from my district, these changes are a big effort to try and make the area safe; and I really appreciate that. And I just want to express my support to the Commission on these amendments. KERN: Just for a quick clarification on the motion, that’s based on the Planning Director’s recommendation with conditions? AU: With the conditions set forth. KERN: Okay, very good. Commissioner Domingo. DOMINGO: Yes, I’d just like to mention that with all the efforts of those people in the community who have put in so much time in formulating their regional plan this is, our action would further support their efforts for their community. And I think this amendment indicates the much-thought and efforts put into the plan. It reflects what is actually written in the development plan. And, hopefully, as these changes take place, you know, the community will grow in a more orderly fashion than it has grown so far. I strongly support this motion. 5 EXHIBIT A KERN: Any other discussion? I’ll chime in for a second here. Yeah, as I’ve said many a times over the past few years, the General Plan LUPAG Map does generally not serve Puna. And this is a great step forward, so I want to thank our Planning Director for this. needs this, Puna needs this, other Pāhoa areas in Puna need this. And I strongly support this as well; and thank you staff for doing a great job on this. That’s all for me. Any other discussion? Commissioner Au? AU: One thing, Mr. Chair, a question for staff. You know, I noticed we have a letter of support from the Puna Community Development Plan Action Committee. So you said there’s a second, there was a second letter in support. I don’t see that second letter; and I just want to know who it’s from. COTTLE: It’s from the State Office of Planning. It’s a one-page letter. AU: Oh, okay, I have it. Okay, okay, I’ve seen this one. Okay, well, you know, I’m just a little bit disappointed to not see more community out here. You know, I’ve attended the, I’ve attended some of these planning committee meetings and I’ve seen a lot of people talk about what they want and what they don’t want. And, you know, to me this is the time when they should come out. So, you know, what happened the last time when we approved, when we sent a favorable recommendation to the County Council, you know, there was an uproar from the community after that. And I just, you know, I’m just hoping that the community they did read and do understand these amendments. KERN: Madam Director? LEITHEAD TODD: We trotted out the proposal in kind of a draft form first to the Action Committee all the way back in August, and the meeting was well attended in . And then subsequent to that Pāhoa we did another presentation before the Action Committee and we also held a public hearing in Pāhoa, and these were also well attended. And I think with the exception of one individual who was concerned that, you know, he wanted to do commercial development right behind the high school, it was uniformly supported by members of the public. And I think one of the reasons you don’t see anyone here is because they’re comfortable with it and they support it. I think if they were unhappy with it that we would have more attendance here. But I am hoping that there will be some additional support when it gets to the Council, beyond just the Action Committee. KERN: Thank you, Madam Director. Commissioner Domingo? DOMINGO: I just want to know who are the major landowners in this particular area. LEITHEAD TODD: There are a lot of small lots along Road that are private. Some, you know, Pāhoa a lot of them are old-time families that have, you know, owned the land for a long time. When you get further out a lot of it is State land. The land closer to the Bypass, a lot of that is State land. The land in the Urban Expansion area, a lot of that is State land also. But you don’t have -. Like this is in an area where Shipman, you know, has property, so you don’t really have large landowners out here. It’s more small lots in those that are in private hands. But the biggest landowner in this area would be State of Hawaii. ‘ DOMINGO: I’m glad that you made the comments that you made with regards to the number of hearings and the community attending those hearings, especially with A-1, Urban Expansion to 6 EXHIBIT A Extensive Agriculture. You know, what we’re doing is we’re transferring, so to speak, transferring wealth from one area to another area. And if I had a property there then I think, you know, in the future what am I planning to do? LEITHEAD TODD: Actually a number of people who own property in that area that was going from Urban Expansion to Extensive Agriculture were in support of it, because they were farmers and they were concerned that if they had more Urban uses next door to them that eventually it would become a conflict with the farming that they’re doing. So because they want to be able to continue doing agriculture in the area, they were actually supportive. DOMINGO: More so that’s why I support this, this effort. KERN: Thank you, Commissioner Domingo. Thank you, Madam Director. Any other discussion? Seeing none, Maija. COTTLE: Thank you. The motion before you is to send a favorable recommendation to the County Council for the proposed General Plan Amendment. Commissioner Au? AU: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Domingo? DOMINGO: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Ishibashi? ISHIBASHI: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Moses? MOSES: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Ono? ONO: Aye. COTTLE: And Mr. Chair? KERN: Aye. COTTLE: Okay, the motion passes six-zero. KERN: You’ll be notified in writing. Thank you. The discussion ended at 9:47 a.m. 7 EXHIBIT A Respectfully submitted, Sharon M. Nomura, Secretary Windward Planning Commission 8 EXHIBIT A