Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-05-17 Leeward Exh A - Pink & Page LEEWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I HEARING TRANSCRIPT MAY 17, 2012 WILLIAM PINK AND PATRICIAPAGE A regularly advertised hearing on the applications of (SPP 12-133) was called to order at 9:37 a.m. in the West Hawai‘i Civic Center, Community Center, Building G, 74-5044 Ane Keohokālole Highway, Kailua-Kona, Hawai‘i, with Chair Geraldine Giffin presiding. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Geraldine Giffin, Thomas Hickcox, Wayne Iokepa and Thomas Whittemore ABSENT AND EXCUSED: Brandi Beaudet, Lani Bowman and Richard Nelson ALSO PRESENT: Ivan Torigoe (Deputy Corporation Counsel), BJ Leithead Todd (Planning Director), Daryn Arai (Planning Program Manager), Jeff Darrow (Planner), Maija Cottle (Planner), Terry Dunlap (Planner) and Noriko Sauer (Commission Secretary) And approximately 13 people from the public in attendance. APPLICANTS: WILLIAM PINK AND PATRICIAPAGE (SPP 12-133) Application for a Special Permit to allow the establishment of a two-bedroom bed and breakfast operation within an existing four-bedroom dwelling and two-bedroom ohana dwelling on 27,094 square feet of land situated in the State Land Use Rural District. The property is located on the west (makai) side of Māmalahoa Highway approximately 1,100 feet north of the Moku‘aikaua Road- Māmalahoa Highway intersection, Kahalu‘u-Keauhou 1 Houselots, North Kona, Hawai‘i, TMK: 7-8-015:015. GIFFIN: So this morning, contrary to the agenda, we will begin with the applicants, William Pink and Patricia Page. They are requesting a special use permit to establish a two-bedroom bed and breakfast operation within an existing four-bedroom dwelling and two-bedroom ‘ohana. It is my understanding that there has been a person who signed up to testify. So – hang on while I get my records in order – to give you more information on this agenda item, as I said earlier, it is an existing four-bedroom dwelling and two-bedroom ‘ohana dwelling, and it is on 27,094 square feet of land situated in the Land Use Rural District. And contrary to your background report, it is located in Kahalu‘u-Keauhou 1 Houselots in North Kona. Maija? COTTLE: Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning everyone. This next application is a special permit request. The subject property is located in the North Kona District in the Keauhou Mauka area. You can see the subdivision in orange on the slide. The entire subdivision is zoned Residential and Agricultural-.5 acre. You have the Kuakini Highway running in a north-south direction through the middle of the slide, and then Māmalahoa Highway comes off of Kuakini and heads north. The subject property is outlined in black, and it is a flag-shaped lot with access off of Māmalahoa Highway. The properties just to the west are zoned Agricultural-5 acres, which are shown in the light green. 1 EXHIBIT A This is the General Plan map for the area; the entire subdivision, as well as the subject property, is designated Rural, and just to the west lands are designated Important Agricultural Land. And this is the Kona CDP map, which shows the subject property as a red dot here on the bottom of the slide; you can see the Kona Urban Area is denoted with the thick red outline, and the subject property is located just outside of the Kona Urban Area. This is an aerial photo of the property. This photo was actually taken quite a while ago, so you don’t see the ‘ohana dwelling completed; you just see the house pad here in this location. But you have Māmalahoa Highway on the right side of the slide, and then the subject driveway coming off of the highway, and the main dwelling, and then the ‘ohana dwelling is located in this area. The applicant is requesting to establish a two-bedroom bed and breakfast operation. They would like to use one of the bedrooms in the main dwelling, which is a four-bedroom dwelling, and they would also like to use one of the bedrooms in the two-bedroom ‘ohana dwelling. And the applicants will reside in the main dwelling on the property and operate the B&B. This is a photo of the driveway and the main parking area; you have the main garage here and the main house behind that, and then there is an attached walkway off to a, I think it’s a one-car garage, and then the one of the units would be up above here that would be used for the B&B. This is again the main dwelling and then the walkway, the covered walkway, over to the attached garage and upper unit. And then this is a picture of the ‘ohana unit, the roof of the ‘ohana unit, in the back of the property; so one of the two bedrooms in this dwelling would also be utilized for the B&B. The Planning Director is recommending approval of the permit with conditions. And as Madam Chair noted, we just have the one correction to our background and recommendation report that the property is in the North Kona District, rather than North Hilo. I did pass out to you this morning a letter from one of the neighbors, Leslie and Loraine Miller, and there are two photos being passed around that were also submitted by Ms. Miller, that are supplemental to this letter. Are there any questions? GIFFIN: Commissioners, do you have any questions of Maija? Thank you. Hearing none, would the applicant please come forward. Thank you, Maija. Hang on. Will you please raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter now before the Leeward Hawai‘i County Planning Commission? PINK: I do. GIFFIN: Will you please state your name. PINK: My name is William Pink. GIFFIN: Thank you. Please be seated. PINK: Thank you. GIFFIN: I’m sure you have a few comments that you would like to add to what Maija has just said. So please go ahead. 2 EXHIBIT A PINK: Thank you. I’ll pick up the mike; I assume you need that in record. Yes, we are interested in running the B&B up here in Hōlualoa. We are fairly longtime residents of the Big Island – came here in 1997, lived up in North Kohala and ran a business in Waimea, left the island for a couple of years and came back – and this is our final home. We are retired, and so we are looking to supplement our income, and don’t want to get too large of an operation, something that’s manageable for two people in a retired capacity. And so we are looking to try and open an B&B with one of the bedrooms initially, and that would make our choices as we go along and see how it progresses and if its activity picks up and it’s of interest. The neighborhood is a beautiful neighborhood with coffee and mac nut orchards and that sort of thing, so it blends itself to the tourist trade for the island; so we thought we’d bring a little aloha by providing a more local residence for this type of activity. And then, should the business pick up a little bit and we at that point are interested in expanding, then the hope would be we could add another room. Now, we considered that in the ‘ohana. And the ‘ohana is, although listed as a two-bedroom, it really is a one-bedroom, master bedroom, with a small sort of studio bedroom, or more or less a den or an office; so it would really just be the single bedroom in that ‘ohana and the entire building would be used for that purpose, but -. So I’m looking to, hope, you can, you know, find approval to it, and we can start. Thank you. GIFFIN: Thank you. Commissioners, any questions of the applicant? Hearing none, so, Mr. Pink, if I understand you correctly, the one unit, or a bedroom, that you are considering to start with would be the ‘ohana? PINK: No, no, the home is constructed in the main structure, as Maija pointed out with the photograph of the hale and garage below it. And that hale is connected by a breezeway – you know, how the County allows sort of separate structures so long as they are connected – and that facility is set up that way so it has its own private entrance, its own private garage, and so that would be used for the B&B purposes. So the guest would actually get a parking garage, as well as the master suite above it. The master suite above it has a separate bath-shower-toilet area, master bedroom large size with the, its own separate lanai. GIFFIN: Okay. I think the answer to my question was yes, but that’s okay. Hearing none, no other questions, as Maija said, there is a member of the public, actually there are two of them, who has signed up to testify on this agenda item this morning. Mr. and Mrs. Miller, will you please come forward. I think we have two chairs there, so both of you may come forward. Leslie and Loraine Miller? MRS. MILLER: Good morning, Commissioners. GIFFIN: Good morning. Please be seated. MRS. MILLER: I’m Loraine and this is my husband, Les. GIFFIN: I kind of figured that. Would you two please raise your hands, your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter now before the Leeward Hawai‘i County Planning Commission? MR. & MRS. MILLER: Yes. GIFFIN: Great. Will you please state your name individually. Thank you. 3 EXHIBIT A MRS. MILLER: Loraine Miller. GIFFIN: Thank you. MR. MILLER: And Les Miller. GIFFIN: Thank you very much. Mrs. Miller, do you plan on deviating from the written testimony that you’ve presented this morning? MRS. MILLER: No, I just had it to keep myself on track. GIFFIN: Okay. Why don’t you go ahead and present it then? MRS. MILLER: Yes, thank you. I’d love to. GIFFIN: All right. MRS. MILLER: First, I would like to say we have never met the applicants in person; so we have no personality issues involved. We have been on this site since 1989, for over 23 years. Our issues are: They are asking for two only of six bedrooms to be a B&B in an, I thought it was agricultural but I hear it’s rural zone. The Pink’s property abuts us on the east side, across one half of the width of our farm. Their main view of ocean and sunset is over our 7.88-acre leasehold farm. Last year we even had many 25-year old mac nut trees removed to be a good neighbor to the former owners. So, we have been good neighbors in the past. In the past we have had horseback riders come through our farm, poachers looking for fruit, and the former owners had access to Walua Road through our farm and the Webber’s property. So access from this property from their property has been done for years. We have coffee, mac nuts and many varieties of tropical rare fruits, which would of a certainty be of interest to mainland vacationers. We sell our crops to survive. Mr. Pink assured us he has a million dollar insurance policy, which doesn’t help us one bit, if someone is injured. The land, as you know, is sloping to the west, is rocky and uneven, and Mr. Miller himself has had numerous falls when not riding his ATV. So, the Pink’s insurance policy is of no comfort to us. And we see no reason to grant this special use permit on this one piece of property with two, well, it’s actually three, houses on it, to accommodate a business in his home that could negatively impact our private life style. We are older and quiet, and work very hard, and we should not be positioned to have the burden of policing our farm. If this special use permit is issued to Mr. Pink, or to the property, we can foresee the permit extended to six B&B’s in the future. We say no to this request. Respectfully submitted from Leslie and Loraine Miller. GIFFIN: Thank you very much. I forgot to ask Mr. Pink; could you please take your seat back -. PINK: Sure. GIFFIN: So that we can focus on the Millers. 4 EXHIBIT A MRS. MILLER: Do you have any questions, please? GIFFIN: Yes, we do. Hang on. Commissioners, any questions of Mr. or Mrs. Miller whose letter she just read and you should have copies of? Maija, do you think you could put up the map of the location so that we can see her lot in relationship to the applicant’s request? Okay, so now, where are we speaking of in relationship to the Miller’s property? MR. MILLER: To the left. Right there. That’s an old photograph and those macadamia nut trees are -. GIFFIN: Mr. Miller, you need to use the microphone. MR. MILLER: Okay. That’s an old photograph -. GIFFIN: Yes, Maija said so. MR. MILLER: And where she put the pointer, there have been nine of those trees removed for Mr. Mueller who owned the property before Mr. Pink bought it. GIFFIN: Okay. We don’t have anything more current showing their structure or -? COTTLE: We don’t have any more current aerial photos, no. MRS. MILLER: I brought two photos that were taken yesterday -. GIFFIN: We have them. MRS. MILLER: Okay, thank you. GIFFIN: Thank you very much. We have them. Then she -. Mrs. Miller, you made reference to the number of homes that were on the subject property; in your letter you said two houses on it, and then while you were reading it, you corrected yourself and said three. MRS. MILLER: Well, we see that where he says he has the bedroom upstairs and the garage below as a third building unattached from the big one or from the ‘ohana. And my husband rides the ATV, and his father and -. His father lives in the ‘ohana, and then there is, the high building behind it is the one that he was referring to, which I didn’t include in the, with the two buildings, but it’s visible from our photo. GIFFIN: Thank you. Maija, can you give me some clarification on what she just explained? COTTLE: I believe she is referring to this detached garage and hale unit, one bedroom. But it is actually attached by a walkway, a covered walkway, and all of the structures on the property have been legally permitted by the Planning, as well as Building, Department. GIFFIN: Thank you very much. Commissioners, any other questions? HICKCOX: Madam Chair, I have one. 5 EXHIBIT A GIFFIN: Commissioner. HICKCOX: Is there an easement that goes from the subject property through your property? MRS. MILLER: No, there is not. No easement. MR. MILLER: No. MRS. MILLER: No. HICKCOX: So these people that were riding horsebacks, etc., etc. through there were trespassing. MR. MILLER: Yes. MRS. MILLER: Yes, they were. And the former owners had to ask the Webbers, who are our neighbors, for permission to do it, and they, as being good neighbors, said yes. So we did not stop them over the years. However, when, after removing all of these macadamia nut trees and being good neighbors, we felt like we had been, done our part for being good neighbors to them, and we don’t want anybody on our property anymore for, well, for liability purposes mainly. HICKCOX: Thank you. GIFFIN: Thank you. Any other questions of the members of the public, Mr. and Mrs. Miller? Hearing none, thank you very much. MRS. MILLER: Thank you for your consideration. GIFFIN: You’re welcome. Mr. Pink, would you please come forward. Hearing the testimony of the Millers, I’m sure there are some things you would like to add. PINK: Sure. The, I did, Mr. Miller and Mrs. Miller are very nice people and they did inquire through email to me, and I did respond by saying that we have no intention of trespassing, we have no intention of permitting our guest to trespass. Their concern was that, you know, whether or not we’d be able to control that and that sort of thing. The reason that we are suggesting we use the initial hale, the one that we were describing that’s attached to the main structure with the walkway, is because it’s behind fenced property. So the ‘ohana that Mr. Miller referred to, my father is living there. He is 90; I assume that, you know, he goes before I do. But if he does, then that would vacate the residence and allow it to be utilized for this B&B. But his property is also fenced, and so access through it, you know, they would have to jump a six-foot fence in order to get into his property to do that. He and Mr. Miller have spoken; he is very aware of Mr. Miller’s feelings towards trespassing, and is very respectful of that – myself as well. And on the main structure of the home on the upper level where this second hale is, our property rises six feet above with the solid lava wall and then it rises further another five to six feet above that; so guests that were on the residence would have to breach our fence or trespass through the backyard of the home and jump off of the six-foot wall from that area into Mr. Miller’s property. I, things happen, but I can’t believe that people, you know, engaged in the B&B are generally, the guests are not going to be doing that. I think they will be interested in the gardens and the flowers and foliage and that sort of thing, but I think they are more interested in the neighborhood coffee operations that do provide 6 EXHIBIT A tours, the art galleries in town and that sort of thing. So I would like to assure Mr. Miller that it’s, you know, people might do something, and, yes, please call the authorities and have them, you know, trespassing issues dealt with by local authorities. But we are not allowing anybody on our property, and I don’t intend to allow any of my guests to trespass through their property. So we don’t trespass on that property. And he is absolutely right; he is a good neighbor. He and Mr. Mueller, the original owner of the property and he were able to negotiate the removal of some trees that would be a view blocker in the future, in lieu of putting coffee in. And so I have no complaints with the Millers; they seem to be wonderful neighbors. And hopefully, we can, you know, come to an agreement to keep people out. GIFFIN: Thank you very much. Commissioners, any questions of the applicant? Mr. Pink, I just wanted to make sure that you are aware of the correspondence that we received from the Department of Water Supply, dated April 4 -. PINK: Yes, I am. GIFFIN: Regarding the amount of consumable water. PINK: Yes, that’s correct. I understand. GIFFIN: Okay. There was also another correspondence that I wanted to make sure you are aware of, and that came from the Department of Finance. PINK: Yes, I read that, on the taxation issues. GIFFIN: Yes, and how your classification could be -. PINK: Could be changed. GIFFIN: Yes. PINK: That’s correct. GIFFIN: Okay. PINK: And then finally, I did notice there is one from Health Department requiring, unless a special permit is obtained, that it is a continental style -. GIFFIN: Breakfast. PINK: Commercially provide -. GIFFIN: Breakfast. PINK: Yeah, thank you. GIFFIN: Okay. Hearing no other questions, do I hear a motion? Commissioner Iokepa. 7 EXHIBIT A IOKEPA: Madam Chair, I propose a motion to approve Special Permit Application No. 12-133, request to establish a two-bedroom bed and breakfast operation within an existing four-bedroom dwelling and two-bedroom ‘ohana dwelling on 27,094 square feet of land situated within the State Land Use Rural District. GIFFIN: Do I hear a second? WHITTEMORE: Second. GIFFIN: It’s been moved by Commissioner Iokepa and seconded by Commissioner Whittemore that Special Permit Application No. 12-133 be approved, along with the conditions that are stated on the last page of the Director’s recommendation, for the establishment of a two-bedroom bed and breakfast operation within an existing four-bedroom dwelling and two-bedroom ‘ohana dwelling on 27,094 square feet of land situated within the State Land Use Rural District. Any discussion? Hearing none, Maija? COTTLE: Thank you, Madam Chair. Commissioner Iokepa? IOKEPA: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Whittemore? WHITTEMORE: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Hickcox? HICKCOX: Aye. COTTLE: Madam Chair? GIFFIN: Aye. COTTLE: Okay, the motion to approve passes, four-zero. GIFFIN: Thank you very much. PINK: Thank you. GIFFIN: And you’ll be informed in writing of today’s activity. PINK: Thank you, Commissioners, thank you. GIFFIN: You’re welcome. The discussion ended at 10:00 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Noriko Sauer, Secretary Leeward Planning Commission 8 EXHIBIT A