Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-03-15 Leeward Exh A - LUPAG Pahoa LEEWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I HEARING TRANSCRIPT MARCH 15, 2012 PLANNING DIRECTOR INITIATED AMENDMENT A regularly advertised hearing on the TO MAP 15 OF THE LAND USE PATTERN ALLOCATION GUIDE MAP was called to order at 9:42 a.m. in the West Hawai‘i Civic Center, Community Center, Building G, 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Kailua-Kona, Hawai‘i, with Chair Geraldine Giffin presiding. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Geraldine Giffin, Lani Bowman, Richard Nelson and Thomas Whittemore ABSENT AND EXCUSED: Brandi Beaudet, Thomas Hickcox and Wayne Iokepa ALSO PRESENT: Jeff Darrow (Staff Planner), Maija Cottle (Staff Planner) and Noriko Sauer (Commission Secretary) And no one from the public in attendance. 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. GIFFIN: The first agenda item is an application submitted by the Planning Director. The application is initiating an 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 and amended by Ordinance No. 06 153. It will, it is suggesting changing the land use designation for Pāhoa Village and the immediately surrounding areas, Pāhoa, Puna, Hawai‘i. Maija? COTTLE: Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning, everyone. COMMISSIONERS: Good morning. COTTLE: So we have, all of the items on the agenda today have been initiated by the Planning Director. And this first item is an amendment to the General Plan, and the reason that the Leeward Planning Commission is hearing this item is because any amendment to the General Plan needs to be heard by both Windward and Leeward Planning Commissions. The amendment is a change to the General Plan LUPAG Map for the Pāhoa Village area. And the reason that the Director is initiating this change is that the land use designations in that area have not been changed, or amended, since the Puna Community Development Plan was adopted back in 2008. The Puna Community Development Plan laid out some land use goals and vision for how the community wants Pāhoa to develop. Mainly, they want to see a higher density village center where there is a mix of different housing choices, multi-family housing, as well as commercial businesses mainly in the village core of Pāhoa. And they also want to limit development along Highway 130 1 EXHIBIT A and the Pāhoa Bypass. So the changes that we are suggesting to the LUPAG Map are taking those goals into consideration. And this is a land map for Pāhoa that is included in the Puna CDP. You can see there is the Kea‘au- Pāhoa Road running along the top side of the slide, as well as the Pāhoa Bypass, and then you see Pāhoa Village in this area here highlighted in red. Mālama Market, if you are familiar with the area, Mālama Market is right here, and then the new fire station and police station are out on Kea‘au- Pāhoa Road. So the CDP wants development to be focused within the town boundary here, which is shown with the dotted line, and you can see that both of those areas are primarily away from the Bypass, centered along old Pāhoa Village Road. This is the existing LUPAG Map for Pāhoa Town. Again, old Pāhoa Village is in this orange area, which is the Medium Density Urban, and then you have Pāhoa Village Road running through here. There are some smaller agricultural lots in this area here, and then you have Mālama Market in this area shown with the crosshatch, which is Urban Expansion. Medium Density Urban allows some commercial development, as well as single-family residential, multi-family residential. Low Density, which is the yellow, allows primarily residential, single-family residential development. And then the Urban Expansion, which is the crosshatch, allows a wide variety of zoning; it can even include light industrial. So you can see that there is quite a bit of Urban Expansion currently around the outer area of Pāhoa Village, which opens up a lot of the agricultural land on the outskirts of town to potential light industrial development. So we want to, the Director is suggesting changing that, and I’ll just go through the changes here. The first change which is shown as A-1, which is this blue crosshatch, is taking Urban Expansion out of the area makai of the Bypass and changing that back to Extensive Agriculture. There are quite a few larger agricultural lots in this area here. And the goal of this change is to discourage light-industrial and commercial development along the Bypass, so that the Bypass can continue to function as a high-speed roadway. The second change is in this little area here, which is near the new Longs Drugstore in Pāhoa, and it’s changing this area here along Kahakai Boulevard from Urban Expansion to Medium Density Urban, which would still allow some commercial development in this area. And then the third change again is removing the Urban Expansion on the mauka side of the Pāhoa Bypass and changing that to Low Density Urban, which would allow some single-family residential development, and then just south of the high school – the high school is located here – changing this area also from Urban Expansion to Low Density Urban. The fourth change would be right along the Pāhoa Village Road; it would be extending the Medium Density Urban all the way up towards Mālama Market, so that commercial development and higher density residential development could occur along Pāhoa Village Road. And then the last change is in this area out mauka of town along Apaa Street. And I should just note here that the new transfer station is located in this area here. So we want it to change this from Low Density Urban to Urban Expansion, so that more of the light industrial uses for Pāhoa can be focused closer to the transfer station and away from the residential and commercial development in the town center. These are just descriptions of the LUPAG designations. Again, Low Density allows some single- family residential or duplex housing. Medium Density Urban allows some higher density housing; you can do multi-family apartments. Also, you can do a little bit of commercial development as well in Medium Density Urban. And then the Urban Expansion designation opens the area up to light industrial zoning and actually heavy industrial zoning as well. And with that, that concludes the presentation. Obviously, since the Director initiated, she is recommending a favorable recommendation. Are there -. 2 EXHIBIT A GIFFIN: Commissioners, any questions of Maija? Lani. BOWMAN: You know, the Low Density Urban along the Bypass, I’m not familiar with the access if it’s a federally funded, but if it did get developed, would the access to the lots be from the old Pāhoa Road or would it be from the Bypass? COTTLE: Are you talking about this Low Density here? BOWMAN: Yeah. COTTLE: There is actually a road that goes from Pāhoa Village Road out to the Bypass, called Post Office Road. BOWMAN: Okay. COTTLE: And there is access off of Post Office Road. These lots on the corner here are actually pretty large lots, so they would be getting their access from Post Office Road. DOT may allow some, you know, single-family residential driveways onto the Bypass, but from what we usually hear from DOT is they discourage commercial driveways onto the Bypass. BOWMAN: Okay, thank you. GIFFIN: Any other questions of Maija, Commissioners? Okay, no questions. Do I hear a motion? COTTLE: Madam Chair? GIFFIN: Maija. COTTLE: I just want to add one more thing. GIFFIN: Sure. COTTLE: The Windward Commission heard this amendment at their last meeting and they voted to send a favorable recommendation to the Council. GIFFIN: Thank you. So on that new information, do we have a motion? BOWMAN: I move that we send a favorable recommendation to the Council for the amendment to Map 15 of the Land Use Allocation Guide Map of the County of Hawai‘i General Plan, as amended. GIFFIN: Do I hear a second to Lani’s motion? NELSON: Second. GIFFIN: It’s been seconded by Dickie Nelson. It’s been moved by Lani Bowman and seconded by Dickie Nelson that we send a favorable recommendation to the County Council for the amendments to Map 15 of the LUPAG Map of the County of Hawai‘i General Plan. Any discussion? Hearing none, Maija, we are ready for a vote. 3 EXHIBIT A COTTLE: Okay, thank you. Commissioner Bowman? BOWMAN: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Nelson? NELSON: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Whittemore? NELSON: Aye. COTTLE: And Chair Giffin? GIFFIN: Aye. COTTLE: Okay, the motion passes, four-zero. GIFFIN: Thank you very much. The discussion ended at 9:54 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Noriko Sauer, Secretary Leeward Planning Commission 4 EXHIBIT A