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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-05-01HEARINGTRANSCRIPT-JOHN HABERMANN SPP14-159 WINDWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I HEARING TRANSCRIPT MAY 1, 2014 John Habermann (SPP 14-159) A regularly advertised hearing on the application of was called to order at 9:38 a.m. in the County of Hawai‘i, Aupuni Center Conference Room, 101 Pauahi Street, Hilo, Hawai‘i with Chairman Ronald Gonzales presiding. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Ronald Gonzales, Charles Heaukulani, Gregory Henkel, Wallace A. Ishibashi, Jr., Raylene Moses, and Stephen Ono. ABSENT AND EXCUSED: Myles Miyasato. ALSO PRESENT: Duane Kanuha (Planning Director), Margaret Masunaga (Deputy Corporation Counsel for the Windward Planning Commission), Amy Self (Deputy Corporation Counsel for the Planning Director), Jeff Darrow (Staff Planner), Maija Cottle (Staff Planner), Sarah Hata-Finley (Secretary), and Melissa Dacayanan (Planning Commission Support Technician). And approximately 14 people from the public in attendance. APPLICANT: JOHN HABERMANN (SPP 14-159) Application for a Special Permit to establish an auto repair shop on .91-acre of land situated in rd the State Land Use Agricultural District. The property is located on the southwest side of 33 Avenue, approximately 1,000 feet northwest of its intersection with Maku‘u Drive, Hawaiian Paradise Parks Subdivision, Kea‘au, Puna, Hawai‘i, TMK: 1-5-016:169. GONZALES: Next up is Agenda Item No. 4, John Habermann, Special Permit Application 14-159. DARROW: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Okay, our next applicant as mentioned is Mr. John Habermann. He’s requesting a Special Permit, and this is in the area of Puna. More specifically, we’re looking in the Hawaiian Paradise Park Subdivision that’s in the upper right hand corner. We have Orchidland down in the lower left hand corner with Kea‘au-Pāhoa Highway running in a northwest-southeast direction. It’s a little hard to see but the subject property is identified with rd a black outline, and this is right on 33 Avenue of the Hawaiian Paradise Park Subdivision. It also adjoins the highway. This is a closer up view. For reference, we have Kea‘au-Pāhoa Road rdrdrd running through the middle of the map and 33 running parallel, 33 Avenue. Access to 33 is provided through Maku‘u Drive and across the street, we have the Orchidland Subdivision. Just for reference, you’ll see these little dots with some writing on the map. Those were previous rd special permits in this area. We’ll focus mainly on 33. This area has kind of been transitioning into an area where special permits have been culminating (sic). So just for reference, we have a baseyard for a water catchment business. This was approved back in 2005 I believe. Then we 1 EXHIBIT D have next door to the applicant, we have a baseyard for a drainpipe and plumbing business, and this was approved back in 2002. Little further down, we have a baseyard for truck and trailers, and that was approved in 2008. And then across the street, we have a similar business, auto repair and towing business that was approved back in 2003. There is one more in the, that was for a warehouse and commercial kitchen but these, all these existing permits had a condition that rd if they were to be required to extend the life of their permit, they had to pave 33, twenty feet wide up to their property. So that was done and it brought it to just about this particular area so this particular applicant wasn’t able to extend their permit. Each one of these permits currently have a life permit which means that it’s not unlimited. It doesn’t run with the, the life of the land. There is a time on it. Mainly, in the beginning, it was five years, but currently they’ve been extending these to ten years. But again, they’re life permits, so that means that every ten years, they’ll have to come back before the Planning Commission. The intention was, is that because these businesses were more industrial in nature, that if there was an industrial area that were to be created within a four-mile radius, that these businesses would be relocated. But since then, it looks like this area may possibly be transitioned to become an area for those particular uses in the future. rd This is an aerial view. Again, we have Kea‘au-Pāhoa Road with 33 Avenue and Maku‘u Drive. The subject property with a red outline. You can see the particular businesses that are located in the general area of the subject property. The applicant is requesting a special permit to establish an auto repair shop on .91-acre of land situated within the State Land Use Agricultural District. The auto repair shop will include a 2,400 square foot metal building, ADA parking stall and loading zone, seven additional parking stalls, a 6-foot chainlink perimeter fence along with the required landscaping and planting screen. This is a site plan submitted by the applicant. For reference, we have the Kea‘au-Pāhoa Road rd that would be on the left side of the map, and 33 Avenue on the right side. You can see access as well as the proposed 2,400 square foot building and parking stalls. rd These are site photos. This is on 33 Avenue looking towards Maku‘u Drive. This is the drainpipe and plumbing business that’s currently next door. The subject property is on your right rd side. As you can see, the area has been paved. This is looking towards Kea‘au on 33 with the subject property on the left. And this is a view of the subject property. The Planning Director is recommending that the Planning Commission approve this special permit request with conditions. And, again, this will consist of that same ten-year life condition where after ten years, the applicant would need to come back unless of course something happens in the meantime. With that, that concludes our presentation. Thank you. GONZALES: Any questions for staff? Thank you, Jeff. Could we bring the applicant forward, please? Good morning. MIKKELSON & HABERMANN: Good morning. 2 EXHIBIT D GONZALES: Raise your right hands, please. Do you swear to tell the truth before the Windward Planning Commission today? MIKKELSON: I do. HABERMANN: Yes. GONZALES: Okay, use the microphones please. State your name and where you live and go ahead. HABERMANN: John Habermann. I live on 13-6540 Pāhoa-Kalapana Road down in ‘Opihikāō. GONZALES: Anything you want to say to us, something-- HABERMANN: Well, you mentioned the other auto repair shop there. It’s actually more of a auto body and they do some light auto repair work and then until we—now knowing those guys for awhile—I work with ‘em. They’re very, very nice. And so I might be adding to ‘em, I’ll be giving them a lot of work. And then I do a lot of different stuff that they don’t do. So I don’t see too much of a conflict with them. GONZALES: Very good. You read the Director’s recommendations, his conditions? HABERMANN: Yes. GONZALES: All okay with you? HABERMANN: Yes. GONZALES: Okay, very good. Anything to support? MIKKELSON: I’m here. GONZALES: Very good. Any questions for the applicant? ONO: Could I ask the identity of the other person? GONZALES: Sure. MIKKELSON: My name is Lori Mikkelson. I’ve been supporting him and helping him get this project going. ONO: Are you part of the business? MIKKELSON: No, I’m not. HABERMANN: I need her help to get through it. I’m not much of a paperwork guy. 3 EXHIBIT D DARROW: Mr. Chairman? I’m sorry to interrupt. I forgot to mention that there also was a support letter from Commissioner, Councilmember Illagan that was in support of this business. This has been passed out to the Commissioners. Thank you. GONZALES: Very good. Any other questions for the applicant? Okay, thank you very much. HABERMANN: Thank you. GONZALES: We do have one person signed up to testify today. Carnor Sumida? Would you like to come forward? SUMIDA: Good morning. GONZALES: Good morning. Will you raise your right hand, please? Do you swear to tell the truth today before the Windward Planning Commission? SUMIDA: Yes. GONZALES: Thank you. Use the microphone. Tell us your name, where you live, and then you’ll have three minutes. th SUMIDA: Okay, Carnor Sumida. I live in Hawaiian Paradise Park on 28 Avenue. I have a lot rd up on 33 that has just been approved by your council also—I’m all for you know, you know rd I’m in favor of more businesses coming in to 33. There’s just so much land that’s available for business, you know, there’s a lot of residential also. I also like your term of your word “fair share.” When we were approved, the original lot owners were approved as business lot owners. We had to pay our fair share of the road which was an enormous, economic burden on us. So, our understanding was that anybody that comes in will pay their fair share for what we paid for the road. And there was another lot owner that didn’t apply for his permit yet, and I think their name is, their name is Bumatai. They, just so they was being fair, they put in a $1,500 deposit on the road on the condition that when they do start up their business, that they would put in the rest of their fair share. So, I’m all for, you know, anybody coming in. Obviously, he’s gonna have some economic growth for the community which is great, and also is going to have a burden on the road also which is going to bring in more traffic. So, that should be their fair share. That’s your new term, fair share. That’s all I gotta say. Thank you. GONZALES: Any questions for Mr. Sumida? HEAUKULANI: Yeah, thank you for coming this morning. Could you give us an idea of the numbers you’re talking about? You said that the Bumatais contributed $1,500 towards what amount? SUMIDA: We paid about, almost $70,000 for the road. So, we divided it up within the four original permits. And the Bumatai was going to be the fifth permit, but they, they’re like in a holding pattern. I don’t know really what’s going on. 4 EXHIBIT D HEAUKULANI: Are the Bumatais doing business now? SUMIDA: Not that I know of. HEAUKULANI: So, $70,000 that you divvied up between four applicants and then the Bumatais contribute a $1,500 share? SUMIDA: Yes. HEAUKULANI: All right, thank you. SUMIDA: Okay. GONZALES: Any other questions for Mr. Sumida? ONO: Could you clarify? Excuse me. May I? GONZALES: Yes sir. ONO: Could you clarify? Now then, are you saying that the Habermanns have not, are not contributing to their so called fair share? SUMIDA: Well, I don’t think they understand about it. It wasn’t even put in as a condition. So, I’m just saying if we had the same condition, wouldn’t that be like discrimination for putting in other applicants without having the same condition? ONO: Okay, thank you. GONZALES: You got anything for that, Jeff? DARROW: This was an issue that we did wrestle with. And the problem is the original permits that Mr. Sumida is referring to was a request from the Hawaiian Paradise Park Association. rd They were asking that the applicants participate in paving their portion of 33 because of these uses that were going to be coming within the Park. It was not a fair share condition or anything like that. It was just a simple condition stating that if the applicants would like an additional rd extension of time, that 33 had to be paved to their business. And so, as a result of those applicants getting together and paving the road, they were able to come back in and receive the additional extension of time. As mentioned, one of the applicants was further down the road and wasn’t able to participate or did not participate so they had, their permit at this point is basically, it’s kind of null, null and void but--. The problem is, is we get into a situation where--does the Planning Department enforce making someone pay money. When other people come in, do we require them to pay a certain amount. Whereas, this was originally just something that the Paradise Park Association requested as part of a condition. It was placed in by the Commission for the extension. Additionally, we’ve learned that Paradise Park Association or road rd maintenance is planning on extending 33 to the end. That’s what we’ve heard. So, it’s just a 5 EXHIBIT D tough situation and again, it’s the Planning Director might have more information on this, but this is something we wrestled about , and we thought that this might become an issue at the hearing, and so it’s something that maybe the Commissioners could discuss as well. GONZALES: Would it be reasonable to say that when Mr. Habermann’s application comes up for an extension then maybe at that time is when he would get hit with the fair share? DARROW: It could be. I mean, that’s something that you folks can consider. There’s a cost factor, right, what if others come in and you know, and if others put in, then you start having— well how do we, you know, differentiate how much to give to each person, and it becomes a little difficult. GONZALES: Thank you. Mr. Director, is there anything you want to say on that or does that sum or cover it up—Mr. Kanuha. KANUHA: No. GONZALES: No? Okay. ONO: Mr. Chair? I have a question for staff. GONZALES: Oh, sorry. Mr. Ono. ONO: You were mentioning that the association is looking at paving the entire— DARROW: Correct. That’s our understanding. Again, this was just third hand information that rd we received that, that Paradise Park is planning on paving 33 until the end. ONO: I’m just concerned about the original— DARROW: Correct. ONO: --tenants if I may call them that. Would they then have to contribute to the extension of paving the remainder of the road? I mean, would that be a consideration? DARROW: You mean the applicants? ONO: No. Mr. Sumida. DARROW: Well, I believe that being a part of the association, you have to participate in road maintenance fees yearly. And so that all becomes just part of your dues that you pay and then you pave all that. I don’t think they’re going to make the businesses pay more unless they have, certain subdivisions have—you know, if you’re operating a business, you pay a little bit more, in your, in your road association dues but-- 6 EXHIBIT D ONO: For the sake of discussion and future discussion I’m sure, I guess my concern is that they’ve already paid their so called fair share for their business but if the extension is beyond what is already paid, is, would there be an understanding that they would need to pay for the additional resurfacing? Or was that for future discussion? DARROW: I would think that they wouldn’t have to participate in that other than again their yearly, their yearly dues. I hope I’m understanding you correctly. ONO: No, no, you are. I’m just trying to grasp what you’re saying in terms of a, future— KANUHA: Mr. Chairman? GONZALES: Yes sir. KANUHA: Perhaps it should be pretty clear that the roads in there are private, okay? They’re not, they’re not government roads which is why, you know, we can’t impose standards that we would normally impose upon projects that impact government or County roadways, etc. So, that’s why it’s basically kind of left up to the community association and how they divvy up whatever the improvement requirements are. GONZALES: Any other questions for Mr. Sumida? Commissioner Henkel. rd HENKEL: Mr. Sumida, do you know how many properties are on 33 Avenue? For that stretch. I mean, just from the map I can see there’s like forty, that shoulder that keeps going down, so there’s more— SUMIDA: Mostly, I think they are mostly residential more than the businesses there. There’s only four or five businesses. HENKEL: But four property owners have already spent $70,000— SUMIDA: Right, and it was, it was part of the conditions of acquiring the special use permit. And that was the conditions you put on us. HENKEL: I don’t, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for you, you know, to seek some relief on that, but I mean it seems to me it would be easier to just, if new, new people that are developing, th they just pay like the 1/40 share of that $70,000— SUMIDA: Well, it was— HENKEL: --rather than a fourth— SUMIDA: --from the original lot owners that got together we you know we asked everybody— DARROW: Connor, if you could use your mike, please. Thank you. 7 EXHIBIT D SUMIDA: Sorry. From the original lot owners, we got, we all got together and we had a meeting, and we had an understanding where any new lot owners that come in, would pay into the share and eventually, it’d all break down evenly. Any new share that comes gets split up between the original people who paid into the road. HENKEL: Right, and I think the only thing you need to work out is what the fair share is— SUMIDA: Yeah, I don’t think it’s a big you know a big deal, but it was a condition on the original permits to get you know to acquire their permits, shouldn’t it be like—okay, now what if somebody was to pave the road and they were the furthest in at the dead end of the road and then everybody comes in and he paid for it, but it’s everybody’s infrastructure now. I guess in life, there is no fairness in life but you know, we always had the assumption that, that was how it was going to be. HENKEL: Yeah, I understand, it’s just that if it’s for a lot of these people, if it’s a deal breaker than you would be out anyway. SUMIDA: Yeah, well, everybody who paved up to the end of the road, the end of the road, there’s one more residential person he paid his share, and he went a little bit past the business end of the road. And everybody before that, there was another that, other person I was telling you about, Bumatai, the mom came in and she wanted the son to start their business but they wasn’t sure on the timetable so she put in a $1,500 deposit and that was the only other person that put in anything besides the original permit holders. HENKEL: Thank you. ONO: Mr. Chair? GONZALES: Mr. Ono. ONO: I’m just wondering. If I heard the Director correctly, that this is an association matter. Am I correct on that? I don’t think-- GONZALES: That’s what we really should-- ONO: --we should be making any decision at this time. GONZALES: I don’t think it’s our decision to make. It sounds like, I think it’s the association that needs to get with this new business. ONO: Thank you. GONZALES: Thank you, Mr. Sumida. SUMIDA: Thank you for your time. 8 EXHIBIT D GONZALES: Thank you. Commissioners, I’d like to entertain a motion, please. HENKEL: I’d like to move that Special Permit Application No. 14-000159 with conditions be approved. ISHIBASHI: Second. GONZALES: Motion to approve by Commissioner Henkel, seconded by Commissioner Ishibashi. Any discussion, Commissioners? Mr. Habermann, I’d like to just say that I hope you’re going to be a good neighbor. All right, with that, we’ll take a vote. DARROW: Thank you, Mr. Chair. The motion is to approve the Special Permit request. With that, we’ll take the roll call. Commissioner Henkel? HENKEL: Aye. DARROW: Commissioner Ishibashi? ISHIBASHI: Aye. DARROW: Commissioner Heaukulani? HEAUKULANI: Aye. DARROW: Commissioner Moses? MOSES: Aye. DARROW: Commissioner Ono? ONO: Aye. DARROW: And Mr. Chairman. GONZALES: Aye. DARROW: The motion passes six to zero. 9 EXHIBIT D GONZALES: Thank you. You’ll be informed in writing. The discussion ended at 10:00 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Sarah Y. Hata-Finley, Secretary Windward Planning Commission 10 EXHIBIT D