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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-02-07 Windward Transcript Mauch PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I HEARING TRANSCRIPT FEBRUARY 7, 2013 AUSTIN MAUCH (SPP 12-146) A regularly advertised hearing on the application of was called to order at 9:41 a.m. in the County of Hawai‘i, Aupuni Center Conference Room, 101 Pauahi Street, Hilo, Hawai‘i, with Chairman Dean Au presiding. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Dean Au, Ronald Gonzales, Wallace Ishibashi, Raylene Moses and Stephen Ono STAFF PRESENT: Ivan Torigoe (Deputy Corporation Counsel), B. J. Leithead Todd (Planning Director), Daryn Arai (Planning Program Manager), Maija Cottle (Staff Planner), Jeff Darrow (Staff Planner), and Sharon Nomura (Secretary) Approximately 11 people from the public were in attendance. APPLICANT: AUSTIN MAUCH (SPP 12-146) Application for a Special Permit to allow the construction and operation of a certified kitchen for the processing of kukui nuts on a one-acre parcel situated within the State Land Use Agricultural District. st The subject property is located along the southwest (mauka) side of 31 Avenue, approximately half way between Paradise Drive and Maku‛u Drive, Hawaiian Paradise Park Subdivision, Puna, Hawai’i, TMK: 1-5-017:081. AU: Second application would be Austin Mauch, Special Permit 12-146. Staff presentation? COTTLE: The next application is a request for a special permit. The applicant is Austin Mauch, and the subject property is located in the Hawaiian Paradise Park Subdivision in the Puna district. You can see the property outlined in red in the middle of the slide. And we have Highway 130, the Keaau- Pahoa Road running in a north/south direction to the middle of the slide. And the property is located about half way between Paradise Drive and Maku‛u Drive, and it’s on the makai, I’m sorry, the mauka st side of 31 Avenue. The property is zoned Agricultural one-acre and almost all of the lots in the area are one acre in size. The General Plan designation for the property is Rural, which does allow for some community and commercial businesses; and that’s shown in the kind of light mustard color. And then this is the Puna Community Development Plan. The property is shown with a dot in this general area here. You can see that it’s located outside of any of the proposed preliminary village centers. This is an aerial view of the property. Again, the property is outlined in red. And this photo is actually st a little bit old. I think it was taken in 2010. So you have 31 Avenue running north/south through the st middle of the slide. And then you have the driveway off of 31, and the applicant’s dwelling, and then there’s a driveway that extends to the rear of the yard. And there is an existing storage building in the back of the yard in this general area here that’s not shown on the slide. So most of the nearby 1 EXHIBIT B nd properties are either vacant or developed with farm dwellings. There is a church on 32 Avenue in this area here that received a special permit many years ago. The applicant is proposing to establish a certified kitchen for processing kukui nuts into traditional Hawaiian seasoning ‛Inamona and also kukui nut oil. There are some kukui nut trees on the property. But the reason that the applicant needs a special permit is because he’ll be bringing kukui nuts on to the property that are grown off-site from nearby farms and processing them on the property. If he was growing all the kukui nuts on his property and processing them on site, then he would not need a special permit according to the State law. It would be an agricultural processing facility. But in this case he does need a special permit. So he’s proposing to create a 320-square foot addition to the storage building structure, and the certified kitchen would be in that addition. The storage building would be used for separating and sorting of the cuts and the kitchen would be used for cleaning and roasting the nuts. Now this is going to be basically like a family-run business. The applicant and his family would be the only employees. And he will sell the final product off-site so there will be no retail activities on the property. And hours of operation will be from Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. st This is a site plan that the applicant submitted. You have 31 Avenue on the bottom of the slide, and then you can see the driveway with the existing dwelling, and the driveway to the rear. This is the existing storage building; and then the addition for the certified kitchen would be in this area here. And the Director is recommending approval of the special permit with conditions. Are there any questions? AU: Questions for staff? Okay, can I have the applicant -? ONO: I have. AU: Sure, go ahead, Commissioner. ONO: I’m sorry. You were going to ask a question? AU: No, no. Go ahead, Commissioner Ono. ONO: Just out of curiosity, over the months of meetings, we’ve been having these special permits for this particular area for several activities. And I’m just wondering the concern about the Director’s comment about parceling. Isn’t there a central location? I thought in one of the meetings we had that there was supposed to be a central location for industrial, industrial development, or industrial use, I’m sorry. COTTLE: Yes. So the Puna Community Development Plan calls for locating industrial uses, light industrial uses, in this area at the bottom of Kaloli Drive, and then more commercial and community uses in this village center at the top of Kaloli, and then also this area here in the middle of Maku‛u Drive. This particular application and a lot of the ones that you’ve been seeing for certified kitchens are family run businesses. They’re usually not doing retail activities on the property. So, you know, 2 EXHIBIT B these village center areas are, the whole purpose of them is to have people come to the village center and be able to do a variety of shopping. So they’re oriented more towards the retail commercial uses. ONO: I guess my concern is that as we move on into the future, supposedly, these are supposedly residential developments. And so if these were grandfathered in as a business, I wonder what kind of impact that would have on future developments, residential developments, in the area? COTTLE: Well, the subdivision is not actually a residential subdivision. It’s an agricultural subdivision. So even though it has kind of a rural/residential character, the zoning laws say that the purpose of the lots are to be used for agricultural uses primarily. ONO: And agricultural use is something like a kitchen? COTTLE: Something similar to this, yeah. ONO: Thank you. LEITHEAD TODD: I want to comment that it’s further complicated because, you know, we have County zoning which is Agricultural one acre for most of this, but you also have State Land Use classification which is Agricultural. And it’s a pre-1976 subdivision so they do have a right to build a residence on it. I think the long-range goal was to try and go more towards Rural designation and the Rural State Land Use Classification. But Rural is kind of a mixture of Agriculture and Residential. Part of the difficulty with some of the Puna Community Development Plan is that in some of the areas where they want to target certain types of growth, particularly the larger 20-acre parcels that are all owned by the Watamulls, and since, you know, subdividing and starting to sell these lots, there has been absolutely no movement by that property owner to do anything with those lots, despite the original intent that those 20-acre parcels would be where you have commercial and/or industrial developments. So, you know, and what we’ve also said in our prior applications when they’re not right next to each other, they’re in different areas, they’re different property owners, is that usually what you have is community support for the prior permits that we’ve had. In this one, what’s a little unusual is this is a permitted use if they were just doing the kukui nut that they grow on the property. It requires a special use permit because he’s bringing stuff in from off-site, which in the future the law may change to allow that kind of use because it is an agricultural use of the property, it’s processing a locally grown agricultural product into a, and in this case, a traditional product, ‛Inamona. It’s a relatively small operation. And let me say that in a sense that, you know, 320, was it 320 square foot with the other thing? And my understanding is that it’s probably the immediate family, if I recall correctly, that’s going to work on this. So you don’t have that issue of, you know, 20 or 30 workers driving to a site to work. So it doesn’t generate the kind of traffic that was envisioned in these village centers in the development plan. 3 EXHIBIT B AU: Okay, thank you. Any more questions for staff? Okay, will the applicant please come forward. I need you to raise your right hand. Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth on this matter now before the Hawai‘i County Planning Commission? A. MAUCH: I do. AU: Before we get started, have you read the Planning Department’s background report and recommendation? A. MAUCH: Yes, I have. AU: And are you okay with that? A. MAUCH: Yes, fine. Thank you. AU: Okay, okay. Please state your name and where you reside. st A. MAUCH: Austin Mauch. At, residence is 15-1856 31 Avenue in Keaau. That’s at the residence we’re discussing-. AU: Do you have anything to say, or any questions from Fellow Commissioners? A: MAUCH: Not at this point. AU: Okay. So this is oil you’re producing? A. MAUCH: Oil and ‛Inamona, yes. AU: What is ‛Inamona? Excuse me? A. MAUCH: It’s a seasoning that’s used in poke, a traditional Hawaiian seasoning, used throughout the State. AU: Oh, okay. LEITHEAD TODD: If you eat much of it, it gives you the runs. A. MAUCH: Yeah, you need very, very little. LEITHEAD TODD: It’s a good laxative. AU: So what do you do, you just crush the nut out and it turns into oil and that’s the product? A. MAUCH: The oil is a different process I use, sir. It’s a screw machine that presses the oil into high pressure. ‛Inamona has to be roasted. The nuts are roasted in just a regular convection oven. And 4 EXHIBIT B then it’s, once it’s roasted it has to be ground up into the texture that everybody is used to. So it’s kind of, it’s a ground nut, basically. That’s all it is, nothing outside, generally. AU: Any questions? Commissioner Ono? ONO: Thank you. Could you kind of give me an idea as to what’s the end product? I’m trying to read this -. And I thought it was just merely washing the nut to be, ready to be shipped out, the whole kernel, rather than -. You’re talking about doing some kind of processing? A. MAUCH: The end product is just the raw kukui nut is roasted in an oven. ONO: So you’re going to have a -? A. MAUCH: There would need to be an oven on-site, yeah. ONO: What about this oil thing? I’m not familiar with that. A. MAUCH: The oil is, it doesn’t need to be cooked. It’s just the raw, the raw kukui nut is pressed. There’s a lot of oil in the nut. And that oil is used, not as a food product, but it’s used more for cosmetic use. ONO: And anything else you hope to be developing with this? A. MAUCH: We don’t have anything else planned at this point. There are byproducts like the shells could be used for mulch, and that kind of things. But that’s not -. ONO: I really am curious more about kukui nuts more than anything else. Are there any other uses for the kernel itself, I mean, that you could develop? Like you were saying oil, you know, for the poke area? A. MAUCH: As a food product I’m only aware of as a seasoning. It doesn’t have a lot of food value. Like you said, or someone said, you can’t eat very much of it. So it’s just a light use. The oil has other uses. It’s used in the cosmetic type products. Hair, things like that. ONO: So you have no plans to look at developing in that, the kernel in that way? A. MAUCH: Just oil which I’ve mentioned, yeah. ONO: Excuse my curiosity cause your application just brings back memories when I first started teaching and I had that kukui nut in the, well, it was good. So I’m kind of looking forwarding to this. Thank you. A. MAUCH: Thank you. LEITHEAD TODD: Just to give you a little bit background. Traditionally the kukui nut was dried and strung on a stick of some type, was used as a candle by Hawaiians because of the quantity of oil in 5 EXHIBIT B the kukui nut. And so when it was dark within a house you would have a stick that would have a series of kukui nuts on it. And they would ignite it and then as the flame, you know, moved down, it acted like a Hawaiian candle. The ‛Inamona is the, you know, before they got really fancy with poke, the traditional ingredients for poke would have been ‛Inamona, rock salt, chili pepper, maybe a little of onion. And then it got real fancy and now get all kinds of stuff. But that’s the ingredient that I grew up with. And it was also used to somewhat medicinally. If you had problems, if you ate some kuikui nut it could help loosen your system up. The oil as it’s produced is used in cosmetics. There is some use in combining it with aroma, different aromas, to use as a massage oil. And there is some interest in trying to use kukui nut oil as a cooking oil; but that’s very limited right now. But people are constantly exploring what you can do with the oil, partially because it’s a native product here in the islands; and mostly because I think it’s a growing fascination with different types, you know, of, people don’t want to just use corn oil or vegetable oil or canola. They’re always looking for something else. But limited market, probably a niche, and I think the biggest growing use is the cosmetic area, as well as, you know, people wanting to use native products for massage therapy. ONO: If I may? AU: Go ahead, Commissioner Ono. ONO: I’m hearing the comments from the Director. I guess what I’m looking at is your application is strictly to process the oil and after that distribute that and have someone else do all the other products that she was mentioning? A. MAUCH: Yeah, I don’t have any plans to further develop beyond that. ONO: Okay. Thank you. AU: I have a question. Has the Paradise Park Association contacted you, have they commented to you at all? A. MAUCH: I spoke to them by phone, as well as I sent them a letter as was requested here. They haven’t had any further input with me. They have had, I was told other certified kitchens they’ve allowed so they didn’t seem to have any problem with it. AU: Commissioner Ishibashi? ISHIBASHI: I have a question regards to cracking. What is your process? How you’re going to crack this, these nuts? A. MAUCH: It’s not a big operation. So the machinery involved is pretty small. There’s something that’s used for mac nuts for small farm operations. It’s just a, it’s kind of like a hammermill, whatever. 6 EXHIBIT B It does create noise which, that would be contained within the building. It’s just the nut basically, and it cracks the shell. AU: Any more questions for the applicant? Okay, thank you very much. Okay. At this point we have one person to testify. So Suzanne Rayhew, please come forward. RAYHEW: Thank you. Good morning. AU: Please raise your right hand. Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth in front of the Windward Planning Commission? RAYHEW: I do. AU: Okay, thank you. Please state your name and where you reside before you get started. RAYHEW: My name is Suzanne Rayhew and I just -. AU: Can you speak into the microphone. RAYHEW: I’m Suzanne Rayhew and I do live in Hawaiian Paradise Park. I’m here actually to represent one of my clients who just had a question, actually, not a complaint or anything, but a question about the noise the cracking may cause. He has tenants who live near who have heard something and they weren’t sure if it was going to continue as it is, or maybe you get worse. I have learned just in the last few minutes about the machine, so I don’t see that it would get louder. But I’m wondering, I notice on the application that there’s an existing building where the cracking and deshelling will occur. The kitchen will be added on the side of that. But from what I understand the deshelling and cracking will still take place in the existing building, which is where the tenants are hearing the noise. So I guess I just wanted some clarification to send back to my client as to possible future of the noise. AU: All right, could I please, let’s have the applicant come forward. Okay, in Condition No. 3 it does say at the end, “The extent of landscaping along the project site boundaries shall be sufficient to reasonably mitigate visual and noise impacts upon nearby residences on adjoining properties.” So what do we have going on your property right now? Do we have trees? Do we have some kind of noise -? A. MAUCH: There are some trees. There are additional, one of the requirements is that more landscaping needs to be added. But, also, I think most for the noise factor is the building will be, you know, totally enclosed so there won’t be any noise coming from inside the building. AU: Okay, Ms. Rayhew, can you show us on the map maybe where exactly your client’s rental property is? RAYHEW: Okay. AU: You’re going to have to speak into the microphone, please. 7 EXHIBIT B RAYHEW: He’s actually. AU: Please speak into the mike. RAYHEW: That one, yeah. Well, I’m not sure which of the tenants -. That’s Michael’s and his property, and he has tenants in both properties, so, in both buildings. AU: Okay, okay. And -? RAYHEW: Maybe the one family, I’m not sure but I -. AU: So it’s not the adjoining property? RAYHEW: No. AU: It’s the, a nearby residence? RAYHEW: Nearby it. AU: Okay. So, Mr. Mauch, it seems like there are trees and your cracking of your machine is, is it on the right side of the screen of the building or the left side -? Or where is the building? That’s, the smaller structure is your -? A. MAUCH: It’s, it’s not shown currently. It’s in the back there. AU: Oh, okay. So you have an existing 384-foot structure, square-foot structure, and you’re going to add on a 320-square foot structure on the side. And this addition that you’re proposing to build, that’s where you’re going to put the cracking machine? A. MAUCH: The addition is the kitchen. The existing building needs to be, as stipulated, it needs to be all brought up to Code, fully enclosed, and so forth. AU: Okay. So during your renovation, during the enclosure of the building, that should help with the noise? A. MAUCH: Yeah. I don’t expect even the closest neighbor would be able to hear anything. AU: Okay. Commissioner Ishibashi? ISHIBASHI: So your current cracking machine is, you’re just going to use the same machine? A. MAUCH: Yes. ISHIBASHI: That was my concern in regards to the noise, cause if you’re going crack mac nuts it’s kind of noisy. But this is mac nuts. It’s easier to crack kukui versus mac. It’s easier to crack. But my 8 EXHIBIT B question now is in regards to how much you’re going to bring in? How much additional nuts from outside you plan on bringing? You have a grower, or by the bags, by the trucks? A. MAUCH: There are people from around the island basically that come. Some have private farms, you know, with existing, some leaseholders that have farms that already have some kukui nut trees. It’s not generally grown as a large commercial product. ISHIBASHI: I commend you for this project because it’s traditional, it’s a good product. But that was my concern, was in the noise to the neighbors and -. A. MAUCH: Yeah. I am clearly concerned about it. This is the first I’ve heard of an issue that any of my neighbors have had, so I’m kind of surprised. But I’ll do everything I can to make sure that that’s not an issue for anyone. AU: Okay, any more questions for the applicant or the testifier? GONZALES: I have a question. AU: Go ahead. GONZALES: Actually just more of a confirmation. Any of this cracking of the noise is only going to be between 8 and 5 Monday through Friday, correct? A. MAUCH: That’s right. GONZALES: All right, then. Yeah, that seems reasonable. AU: Okay, any more questions for the testifier? ONO: Yes. AU: Commissioner Ono. ONO: I’m sorry. I’m having difficulty here again. Your application is to develop a kitchen but the concern is about the noise of the cracking. I think you answered but I didn’t hear it. Did you say there’d be some modification for the cracking portion of your development, the area that’s going to be cracking the kernel, the nut? A. MAUCH: The existing building that’s there needs to be permitted. That’s one of the conditions in here, it needs to be permitted and brought up, make sure that everything is according to Code. And it’s -. ONO: So we’re expecting some kind of modification to the portion that’s going to be cracking the nuts so that we can muffle the sound of the -? A. MAUCH: Yes. 9 EXHIBIT B ONO: And, of course the other thing though is, I guess because of the comment here, 8 hours of cracking nuts is going to be disturbing I think, if, you know, it’s consistently loud so that you could hear two properties away, that’s for me, to hear that you’re not adjacent to the property but one lot away, that to me is rather disturbing. So if you saying you’re making some modification on that, then I hope that’s okay with you. LEITHEAD TODD: If you look at the aerial, I don’t know whether they’ve put any trees, but it looked like it you had cleared, bulldozed the back area. And we are going to be requiring some kind of landscaping between the building and the edge of the property. ONO: If you notice the property between -. LEITHEAD TODD: Yeah. ONO: I think if I’m seeing it correctly -. LEITHEAD TODD: It seems to have a lot of trees. This is an old aerial, so we don’t know what’s on the ground right now. ONO: Oh, I see. LEITHEAD TODD: But we would require landscaping close to that, to the edge of the property to help mitigate with noise. MOSES: Mr. Chair -? AU: Go ahead, Maija. COTTLE: May I add a little bit more to this. I’m sure Mr. Mauch is going to work to get appropriate landscaping planted to buffer the noise a bit. But I’ll just also remind the Commission that this is agriculturally zoned property; and on agriculturally zoned property it allows a variety of noisy uses – tractors, -. LEITHEAD TODD: Roosters. COTTLE: Yeah, roosters; and there’s a State law protecting the right to farm. So -. AU: Thank you. Any questions for the applicant or testifier? Okay, thank you very much. RAYHEW: May I just add one -? AU: Please, go ahead. 10 EXHIBIT B RAYHEW: I just want to say that Mr. Lynch does support, support your business. He’s actually kind of excited about it being there. So I don’t see trouble in the future. He was just concerned about his tenants. A. MAUCH: Yeah, right. I understand. I’m concerned about my neighbors too and I want them to be happy with everything. So, it’s, I’m glad you mentioned it. So I’ll be very conscious of that. RAYHEW: Thank you. AU: Okay, well, thank you. Thank you very much. Okay, ready to entertain a motion? Commissioner Moses. MOSES: I move that the application for Special Permit 12-146 be approved based on the Planning Director’s recommendation and proposed conditions. AU: Thank you. Is there a second? GONZALES: Second. AU: Okay, thank you. Yeah, that is my district. I live in Puna, in HPP. I am a very proud landowner of Hawaiian Paradise Park. So, you know, anything that comes to my subdivision, you know, I’m well aware of what’s going on. And I’m very interested to see if the HPP Association had contacted you, that’s why I asked. Because they’re for some and against some projects. But yeah, I think this is a good thing. You know, it’s a low impact to the community. And as long as the community doesn’t eat too much of it then they’ll be fine. Any other discussion? ISHIBASHI: I commend you on providing this business. I think it’s important we keep these traditional products alive. So, yeah, I support this. Thank you for bringing this up. AU: Thank you. Maija, go ahead. COTTLE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’ll take the vote. Commissioner Moses? MOSES: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Gonzales? GONZALES: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Ishibashi? ISHIBASHI: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Ono? ONO: Aye. 11 EXHIBIT B COTTLE: And Mr. Chair? AU: Aye. COTTLE: Okay, motion to approve the permit passes five to zero. AU: Thank you very much. You’ll be notified in writing. A. MAUCH: Thank you. The discussion ended at 10:21 a.m. Respectfully submitted. Sharon M. Nomura, Secretary Windward Planning Commission 12 EXHIBIT B