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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-06-05HEARINGTRANSCRIPT-DOMINIQUE MAUS SPP 14-160 WINDWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I HEARING TRANSCRIPT JUNE 5, 2014 Dominique Maus (SPP 14-160) A regularly advertised hearing on the application of was called to order at 9:17 a.m. in the County of Hawai‘i, Aupuni Center Conference Room, 101 Pauahi Street, Hilo, Hawai‘i with Chairman Pro Tem Myles Miyasato presiding. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Myles Miyasato, Gregory Henkel, Raylene Moses, and Stephen Ono. ABSENT AND EXCUSED: Charles Heaukulani and Wallace A. Ishibashi, Jr. ALSO PRESENT: Duane Kanuha (Planning Director), Margaret Masunaga (Deputy Corporation Counsel for the Windward Planning Commission), Jennifer Ng (Deputy Corporation Counsel for the Planning Director), Daryn Arai (Planning Program Manager), Jeff Darrow (Staff Planner), Maija Cottle (Staff Planner), Sarah Hata-Finley (Secretary), Kim Tanaka (Secretary), and Melissa Dacayanan (Planning Commission Support Technician). And approximately 22 people from the public in attendance. APPLICANT: DOMINIQUE MAUS (SPP 14-160) Application for a Special Permit to allow the establishment of a business office and baseyard complex for a household rubbish pick-up business (Ka‘ū Rubbish Disposal, LLC) on approximately 460 square feet of land situated in the State Land Use Agricultural District. The property is located in Hawaiian Ocean View Estates approximately 3.5 miles from Highway 11, and approximately 120 feet south from the intersection of Tradewind and Kailua Boulevard. in Ka‘ū, Hawai‘i, TMK: 9-2-060:021. MIYASATO: Okay, let’s go to the first item on the agenda, Dominique Maus. Staff. DARROW: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good morning, members of the Planning Commission. Again we want to thank you for your continued voluntary service to our community and to our County. And thank you, Myles, for taking on Chairman today. If I can direct your attention to our first presentation this morning. Our first applicant is Dominique Maus, and she is requesting a Special Permit. The area of this subject application is within the Ka‘ū district of Hawai‘i, more specifically we’re looking in the 1 EXHIBIT A area of the Hawaiian Ocean View Estates Subdivision, up on the--identified mainly with a light green. For reference, coming through the lower portion of the map, we have the Hawai‘i Belt Highway. We also have the Hawaiian Rancho Subdivision identified with blue just makai of the highway. It’s hard to see, but the subject application is identified with a black outline about three-quarters of a way up in the subdivision. This is a closer view. For reference, we have Tradewind Boulevard running in a north-south direction and Kailua Boulevard running in an east-west direction. The subject property is identified with a black outline, and is approximately one acre in size. The zoning for the entire subdivision, or most of this subdivision, is Agricultural – 1 acre, and it is also located within the State Land Use Agricultural District. This is an aerial view of the subject property and surrounding area. Again, for reference we have Tradewind Boulevard and Kailua Boulevard. As you notice, it’s mainly vacant land. There are a few scattered dwellings, as this is a little higher up in the subdivision. Subject property is identified with a black outline and currently has an existing dwelling on the property. This is a little closer view to be able to show you the subject property. The applicant is requesting a Special Permit to allow the establishment of a business office and a baseyard complex for a household rubbish pick-up business. They call it Ka‘ Rubbish Disposal, LLC. On approximately 460 square feet of land, within a larger, ū approximately 1-acre parcel. A portion of the existing dwelling will be used as a business office, and a portion of the property will be used to park the business truck and trailer. This is the submitted site plan from the applicant. For reference, the upper portion of the map is where they would access off Tradewind Boulevard, so you would have your access here. The dwelling is located in the rear of the property. As mentioned previously, there will be a 100 square foot office within the existing residence, and approximately 300 square feet of land area to park their vehicles and trailer. The Planning Director is recommending approval with conditions. Just to give a little brief summary of this--this is a pretty unique business. The applicant is establishing a pick up, rubbish pick-up service in there, so they’ll have their own truck. They’ll drive around the subdivision picking up rubbish for the people in the subdivision so they won’t personally have to take it to a transfer station, and they will put the rubbish in a trailer that’s parked on the property. The trailer company will come and pick it up when it’s full and take it to the rubbish dump and bring a new one. So it, it minimizes quite a bit of traffic when you consider that these people are picking up all the rubbish in the subdivision and everyone else doesn’t have to go somewhere to drop it off. But anyway, with that, that concludes our presentation. Are there any questions? MOSES: I have a question. How far is the transfer station? 2 EXHIBIT A DARROW: The transfer station, if I can go back pretty fast here, I believe it’s right in this general location. Right here. So it’s in the Rancho subdivision and they have one, I believe, in Wai‘ōhinu. Is that right? Okay, so depending on which way you’re heading. Anyway, hopefully that answers that question. Thank you. MIYASATO: Commissioner Ono. ONO: You had an overview, a picture, of the area? Just what kind of – it looks rather bare for this kind of business pick up? I mean, what’s the clientele like? DARROW: Well, this is the upper portion of the subdivision, so it’s not as built up. If I had an aerial of the lower portion down here, you would see quite, quite a bit more residences. Yeah, so it’s slowly working its way up higher. ONO: I see. Okay, thank you. MIYASATO: Commissioners, any more questions for staff? No? Thank you. Okay, we don’t, have no one signed up for public testimony, so would the applicant please come forward? MAUS: Good morning. MIYASATO: Good morning. BAKK: My name is Aaron Bakk. MAUS: And I’m Dominique Maus. MIYASATO: Could you please raise your right hand? And do you swear to affirm and tell the truth on this matter now before the Hawai‘i County Planning Commission? MAUS: Yes. MIYASATO: Go ahead and you can do your presentation. MAUS: Okay. We didn’t necessarily prepare a presentation report. We weren’t sure what we’re supposed to be doing. MIYASATO: Could you please speak into the mic? 3 EXHIBIT A MAUS: Oh, we didn’t necessarily prepare a presentation, but any questions you guys have we would be more than happy to explain, but we are basically, we have a dumping truck --it’s a regular, what is it a--Chevy 3500--and we are actually going to be driving all the rubbish, every day, all the way into Kona. So we’re not actually storing it on the property; we’re going to be bringing it every day, as we get it. So that’s our small truck. And I guess there’s, from all the research we’ve done, there’s about 4,000 registered homes in Ocean View, so hopefully we get enough clientele to support us and to eventually have client, eventually have--I’m really nervous--eventually have people – BAKK: A customer base-- MAUS: Build a business, and have people that work under us, and create jobs and have more opportunities in Ocean View, in our community basically. BAKK: If I can bring it back just a little bit. We have lived in Ocean View on-and-off since 2009. Being a resident of Ocean View presents itself with unique challenges. The road systems are very steep, a lot of people, and if I may make a small clarification, the closest transfer station to Ocean View is the Wai‘ōhinu transfer station. There is not a transfer station, there is, yeah, on Saturdays there is a roll off that is brought into the community where residents can bring their rubbish for free. Being a very small roll off, there’s a long line, usually, and it’s very difficult to get your trash off-loaded there. So, the majority of people that deal with their rubbish in Ocean View bring it to Wai‘ōhinu, which is about 23 miles away from Ocean View, one way. So, basically in a nutshell, KRD would like the opportunity to relieve the residents of Ocean View from the obligation of having to transport their own rubbish in their own vehicles. Depending on, you know, what vehicles they may have, this presents its own challenges, especially if you have a small vehicle like ourselves. We have a very small car. We have to then put our trash inside the vehicle and drive it 23 miles to the transfer station. So basically again, in a nutshell, KRD will have a clientele basis and we have a copy of our customer contract if you guys would like to see that I also have a picture of the vehicle that we will be using. It’s a very small Chevy 3500. It’s got a relatively small- load capacity. We will be towing a small trailer in order to be able to pick up more rubbish at one time. We will then be taking the rubbish directly from the customer to a transfer, I’m sorry, a landfill in either Kona or Hilo. We believe that the majority of the time, we will be going into Kona because the landfill is easier to navigate. Our goal is to pick up the rubbish from the customer and transport it correctly to where it should, where it should go. I’m not sure if you guys are aware, but there are quite a few abandoned lots in Ocean View that have been turned into dump sites. We live relatively 4 EXHIBIT A close to one of those. They, they’re not very pretty to look at, they attract animals – feral cats, feral dogs – they, they are an environmental hazard, and things of this nature so a few of the goals of KRD is to eliminate some of these dump sites, give the residents of Ocean View an opportunity to utilize a service that does not yet exist in Ocean View, that they might have been used to using in other communities. So basically that’s in a nutshell what KRD is aiming to do. And like I said I do have a copy of the customer contract if you guys would like to review that. We are going to operate as closely to the waste management standards that apply in all other communities. Our customers will have to sign a contract. They will have to take their rubbish and stick it into containers and set them near the road where we can then drive by and take no more than 10 or 15 steps to pick up these bags of rubbish that are inside of cans. We are requiring that all of our customers keep their rubbish inside of containers to avoid the bags being torn open by wild animals, feral animals and things of that nature, so basically, in essence, KRD is just trying to give the community an opportunity to have their rubbish removed without having to do it themselves. We’re trying – yeah, basically we’re trying to--being a resident of Ocean View, it’s, it is a unique place to live. There are many challenges living there so a lot of our goal is to help keep the community clean and green, and environmentally safe, and just basically give the residents of Ocean View an option that does not yet exist. MIYASATO: Okay, thank you. BAKK: Yeah. MIYASATO: Any questions? Commissioner-- MOSES: I have a question. So how many customers do you think you will need to sustain your business? BAKK: We did a lot of research prior to going into this business and as of the 2010 census that we are aware of, there were a registered 4,000 homes in Ocean View, and a little over 2,000 registered, I’m sorry, 3,000 registered people and in the research that we’ve done, we found that about 300 customers will sustain the business out of the 4,000 homes that are registered in Ocean View. MOSES: I would like to see your contract. BAKK: Okay. Here you go. And when we first started going through this process with Jeff, we did mention the fact that initially we were planning on applying for this permit in order to go through 5 EXHIBIT A Business Services of, yeah Business Services of Hawai‘i, which rent roll off containers. Initially, we were going to apply for this permit so that we could have a roll off, a 30-yard roll off on the property where then we would have gone through Ocean View community picking up the rubbish, and then bringing it back, sticking it inside of the roll off. When the roll off is full, we would then call Business Services of Hawai‘i and they would then come and take it. We have since revised that in that we are now going to be bringing the rubbish directly to the landfill ourself, so we will not be having that on the property. We weren’t sure, really in essence, how that would work. How we would keep it safe and things of that nature, birds and stuff like that. Obviously, there’s a level of security that has to be there when picking up other people’s property, so we will be picking it up and bringing it directly to the landfill. MIYASATO: Commissioner Moses? MOSES: I have no questions. HENKEL: Myles-- MIYASATO: Commissioner Henkel? HENKEL: Excuse me, it might be covered under contract, and forgive me for repeating it but, is there a provision or opportunity for people to separate their rubbish in, with recyclables? MAUS: Not, not at this time. We, we want to. We were actually going to since we were going to take the roll off off, we were possibly going to get a smaller one and keep all of the glass, the plastic, and the cardboard and put that in a big bin, basically, and then have Business Services of Hawai‘i remove it for us, but as of right now we don’t. We do state in there that recyclable items should be recycled, but we don’t actually recycle at this time because of—it’s only him and I at this point--so we do actually want to do that eventually, but we haven’t quite figured it out yet. HENKEL: Okay, good. MAUS: That is in, a very high priority for us. HENKEL: Thank you. MOSES: I do see in your contract though that you do talk about recyclables. MAUS: Yes. 6 EXHIBIT A MOSES: -- and separating that. MIYASATO: Any further questions, Commissioners? DARROW: I would like to thank the applicants for clarifying the business plan because it was my understanding previously, and I would like to apologize to Commissioner Moses. Previously, the Planning Department was contacted about having a transfer station located in this area. That has been some time so I was under the misimpression that it was built already, but I’ve been informed that it’s still in the proposal stages so currently they just have a temporary set up. Thank you. It’s been a while since I’ve been out there. MIYASATO: Any further questions, Commissioners? Okay, thank you. BAKK: Thank you. MOSES: Thank you. BAKK: Thank you. MIYASATO: Commissioners, make a motion? MOSES: I move that the application for a Special Permit SP 14-000160 be approved based on the Planning Director’s recommendation and proposed conditions. HENKEL: Second. MIYASATO: As moved by Commissioner Moses and second by Commissioner Henkel. DARROW: Thank you, Mr. Chair, with that we’ll take the motion. Commissioner Moses? MOSES: Aye. DARROW: Commissioner Henkel? HENKEL: Aye. DARROW: Commissioner Ono? ONO: Aye. 7 EXHIBIT A DARROW: And Mr. Chairman? MIYASATO: Aye. DARROW: The motion passes four to zero. MIYASATO: Thank you. Mrs. Maus, Mrs. Maus, you’ll be notified in writing by the Planning Department. Thank you. The discussion ended at 9:35 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Sarah Y. Hata-Finley, Secretary Windward Planning Commission 8 EXHIBIT A