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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-04-08 NKCDP Minutes Final NORTH KOHALA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE MINUTES MEETING DATE April 8, 2013 TIME 5:03 pm PLACE County Facility (former Bank of Hawai‘i Building), 54-3888 Akoni Pule Highway, Kohala, Hawaii 96755 ATTENDANCE 1. Members Present: John Winter, Hermann Fernandez, Frank Cipriani, Jon Adams, Susan Fischer and Keone MacKillop. 2. Members absent: Collin Kaholo and Joe Carvalho Also present was Project Manager Rosalind Newlon from the Office of the Hawai’i County Planning Department. 3. Public Attendance: Jerry Kremkow, Faye (Faith) Yates, Dave Okamura, Roger Keller, Jesse C. Wells, Nelson Crawford, Toni Withington, Denise Nekrash, Wendy Kucera, Jerry Miller, Julie Miller, Bob Oba, and Donna Oba. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS. None. ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS: The Chair moved the administrative matters after Subcommittee Reports. NEW BUSINESS: 1. PRESENTATION BY HAWAII ELECTRIC LIGHT COMPANY, INC. (HELCO) UPDATE – HELCO representatives Dave Okamura and Roger Keller did a presentation on proposed substation improvements, to include equipment upgrades in Waimea which may affect North Kohala this summer. Mr. Okamura said that the upgrades will occur at the Waimea station which provides the only line that feeds North Kohala. Mr. Okamura said that the only way to do things safely is to de-energize the plant in order to upgrade equipment from the 1950’s. Mr. Okamura said that HELCO set up and scoped out the work about 3-4 years ago and had outages in 2010 and 2011. He said that HELCO would like to start the project in May or June, or may start after June. Mr. Okamura said that they need three outages for the work to occur and would like to know the preferences for the outages and the timeframes. Mr. Okamura said that HELCO is doing the project for reliability and for more redundancy. He said that HELCO will provide at least a one week notice of the outages by way of radio, civil defense, and inspectors will call certain businesses, and they will also use flyers, etc. Mr. Okamura said that HELCO would prefer that the three outages for the upgrades be held as close together as possible; for example, two nights in a row, and said if that is a hardship that other alternatives will be considered, such as having the outages one week apart. Mr. Okamura also suggested that they may schedule the outages on weekdays rather than weekends. Mr. Okamura and Mr. Keller responded to several questions from the public about the scheduling of the outages. Some of the questions from the public were about the proposed electric reliability loop for North Kohala, which was not on the agenda for this presentation. 1 2. REVIEW THE DRAFT PROCEDURES AND POLICIES FOR THE GROWTH MANAGEMENT SUBCOMMITTEE – The Action Committee discussed and reviewed the draft procedures and policies of the Growth Management Subcommittee. Hermann Fernandez also requested a list of applications that the Planning Department sends to the Chair. John Winter suggested a few changes; 1) instead of reviewing “all” land use applications, change to “review land use applications” (delete “all”); and 2) in the last sentence – the AC Chair will forward the information to the “appropriate” subcommittee member, and 3) when going to Kona to review files, change to “review pertinent files”. Hermann Fernandez said that he will update the Growth Management procedures and forward to Rosalind Newlon, Project Manager, in order to forward to the Planning Director for review and comment. REPORTS 1. NKCDP AC SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS Hermann Fernandez reported that at their last a. Growth Management: subcommittee meeting they discussed the role of the AC members and their function. Hermann said they also talked about the subdivision process, including tentative approval and final approval, and also the variance approval process. Keone MacKillop gave an update on the following sites: Hapu’u – b. Public Access: Kapanaia Cultural Corridor – the County has two letters of intent from land owners to sell to the public and the group is working with other owners; Kauhola Lighthouse- there will be a meeting on the draft management plan at the Intergenerational Center in a week; Halelua- a conservation easement is in process; Pahoa Beach – they are trying to get the public access trail squared away with Planning Dept.; State trail at Puakea Bay Ranch – there was an on-site meeting of state and county officials and access group in an effort to get the trail re-opened . John Winter provided an update on the meeting c. Parks and Water Improvement – that they had last week regarding water problems and said that spaghetti water lines, clustered meters, and length of lines were discussed. John said that water leaks cause large water bills, and said that the subcommittee is looking at ways to work with these issues. Susan Fischer said that she attended d. Power, View Planes and Erosion Control – the March 25, 2013 SKCDP AC meeting where Roger Keller and Pat Moore from HELCO did a presentation and that they will forward the power point presentation to her dissemination. Susan said in regards to the electric reliability loop that Phase 3 includes creating a loop to Mahukona in 2016, and Phase 4 includes Kohala Mountain Road in 2017. No report. e. Affordable Housing – Frank Cipriani reported on the following projects that the subcommittee f. Agriculture. is working on; Important Agricultural Lands (IAL) initiative – the subcommittee is working on disseminating information on the benefits of declaring land as IAL; 2 strategically sited lands – a 52 acre site at Ho’ea owned by DLNR is being looked at for an alternative energy proposal; the high school aquaponics program is ongoing; and agriculture water development – Frank said that there is no permit required to drill a test well. ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS: 1. Minutes of the February 11, 2013 meeting were reviewed and discussed by the AC Members. The minutes were unanimously approved with changes submitted by the AC members. The minutes of the March 11, 2013 meeting were deferred until the May 13, 2013 NKCDP AC meeting. John Winter, Chair, gave a brief update on AC correspondence procedures, and said that official AC correspondence must be on County letterhead, addressed to intended recipient with a courtesy copy to the Planning Director, and said the letter will be drafted and sent to Chair for signature without modifications by the Planning Department, and sent out by the Planning Department within two days after being approved by the Action Committee. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: Toni Withington made a statement regarding the Growth Management Subcommittee draft procedures and said it says all planning land use applications should be forwarded including administrative decisions such as Special Management Area minor permits and requests for residential exemptions from the SMA rules. Toni Withington made a comment regarding the proposed CIP Budget and said that $2.5 million is earmarked for North Kohala and that it would be coming up Friday before County Council and that it would be good to show support. Toni Withington also commented on a proposal for County Council videoconferencing for North Kohala referenced in the February 11, 2013 AC minutes and recommended that the AC members support videoconferencing to occur in North Kohala in the former Bank of Hawai‘i building. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Susan Fischer said that the Outdoor Lighting Ordinance update will be presented at one of the April 16, 2013 County Council committee meetings. AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: PONC presentation Administrative matters NEXT MEETING: Date: Monday, May 13, 2013 Place: County Facility (Former Bank of Hawai‘i Building), 54-3888 Akoni Pule Hwy., Kohala, HI 96755 Time: 5:00 PM ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business, Hermann Fernandez made a motion and Frank Cipriani seconded the motion to adjourn the meeting which was unanimously approved. The meeting adjourned at 6:25 pm. 3