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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-06-05HEARINGTRANSCRIPT-WILLIAMFOULKSLU12-036REZ12-160 WINDWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I HEARING TRANSCRIPT JUNE 5, 2014 Dr. William Foulk (SLU 12-036/ A regularly advertised hearing on the application of REZ 12-160) was called to order at 10:27 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 24 people from the public in attendance. APPLICANT: DR. WILLIAM FOULK (SLU-12-036/REZ-12-160) Applications for a State Land Use Boundary Amendment from the Agricultural to the Urban District and a Change of Zone from an Agricultural 1-acre (A-1a) to a Village Commercial 40,000 square foot (CV-40) zoning district for 4.143 acres of land. The properties are located in the Hawaiian Ocean View Estates Subdivision on the north (mauka) side of the Hawai‛i Belt Road, west of Lehua Lane at Kahuku, Ka‛ū, Hawai‛i, TMK: 9-2-93: 39 thru 42. MIYASATO: Okay, under New Business, we have the applicant, Dr. William Foulk. DARROW: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Welcome back. If I can direct your attention to our presentation. As mentioned, our next applicant is Dr. William C. Foulk. They are requesting— he is requesting a State Land Use Boundary Amendment as well as a Change of Zone. The area of this application, again, is within the Ka‘ū District, more specifically, for reference we’re looking at the Hawai‘i Belt Highway, moving through the middle of the map. The subject properties, four all together, are identified with the black outline. They are located within the Hawaiian Ocean View Estates Subdivision. On the makai area below the highway, we have the Hawaiian Ranchos Subdivision. The different colors represent zoning in the area, County zoning. The light green represents Agricultural – 1 acre, which includes the subject properties. The light blue represents Agricultural – 3 acres. 1 EXHIBIT D This is a closer view. Again, for reference, we have the Hawai‘i Belt Highway or Māmalahoa Highway running through the middle of the map, and we have the subject properties identified in a black outline. Access will be from the highway onto Lehua Lane. It intersects with Keaka Parkway. This is the General Plan Land Use Pattern Allocation Guide Map for the area. Just to give you an idea of the, the darker orange color represents Rural. The hatched shaded area represents Urban Expansion, and the white area on the bottom represents Extensive Agriculture. Planning Director, Chris Yuen, when this application first had come before, come into the Planning Department, had interpreted the General Plan for this particular area, the Urban Expansion, as also coming across the highway, and including the portions of the properties that abut the highway, as long as they were within the same area that is being affected by Ranchos. And so, this particular area, he represented, the, as being within the Urban Expansion area. The General Plan is a broad brush interpretation which means that it’s not site specific, but that it has a broad brush interpretation. As far as what that distance is, it’s given up to interpretation, but in this particular case, he did include the properties that come across the highway. Let me back up here just a little bit. I wanted to bring to your attention this purple area right here. This is the first Change of Zone that had come in for this particular area. We’ll go into it a little bit more detail on that, but I wanted to just bring to that, your attention. This is MCX or Commercial Light Industrial zoning which came in, in 2011, and was approved through County Council. So, this is generally, its right in this general location over here. This is an aerial photo, so this shows you the current uses that are occurring in the area. Again, for reference, we have the Hawai‘i Belt Highway. The subject property identified with a black outline. You’ll notice the different shopping centers in the area. We have the Kamagaki Store, the Hawai‘i, the Ocean View Town Center as well as the Malama Market area that’s located in Ranchos. So, these are all in this general area—the kind of the central of Ocean View and Ranchos Subdivision. Lot of activity happens in this particular area. The applicant is requesting a State Land Use Boundary Amendment from the Agricultural to the Urban District for 4.143 acres and a Change of Zone from the Agricultural – 1 acre to Commercial, or Village Commercial – 40,000 square feet zoned district for 4.143 acres. The applicant is proposing to develop a 54,000 square foot commercial center with an additional 12,500 feet of an open landscaped area to be used for periodic craft fairs, thespian events, and public gatherings. The project will be constructed utilizing LEED certified design standards. The project conceptually includes two, three-story structures, each approximately 27,150 square feet in size which includes anchor tenants along with day care, tourist driven retail establishments, and an acute care facility on the ground floor. Medical and professional offices would occupy the upper levels. Two hundred and thirty parking stalls including, handicapped and loading stalls, on permeable paved surfaces, and a private water system that supports the public health and safety needs of the project such as sanitation and fire fighting, sewage treatment plan, and landscaping. 2 EXHIBIT D This is a site plan submitted by the applicant, which is within the application. The applicant has also brought a representation that they will refer to you that’s in color, that they can refer when they come up. Before I go into the site photos, I want to just briefly touch about how this is actually allowed. In most of the Change of Zones that occur before the Planning Commission and the County Council, there’s a requirement within a new section of the Zoning Code called concurrency requirements. This is under Section 25-2-65 of the, of the Zoning Code. In—when the Council created this section within the Code, they saw the problems in certain areas on the Island where there wasn’t adequate water being supplied to the Department of Water Supply, so they created an allowance under this Code, and I’m just going to read it to you briefly. It’s in subsection n. It says to facilitate the development of Village Centers in Rural areas that are not currently served by a public water system, the Council may waive the water supply requirements for zoning amendments for commercial or light industrial uses in areas that do not currently have a public water system and where the Department of Water Supply has no plans to build a public water system, and which are number one, designated as an urban and rural center or industrial area on Table 14.5 of the General Plan, which this area is, and designated for Urban use on the Land Use Pattern Allocation Guide Map of the General Plan, which previously mentioned, that this has been interpreted in the Urban Expansion area. Provided that conditions of zoning shall require water supply consistent with public health and safety needs such as sanitation and fire fighting. And so that has been placed as a condition within our permit. So, as mentioned previously, we have had one Change of Zone request that came in, in 2011 that was approved— thank you—to Light Industrial uses. This would be our second Change of Zone in this particular area. Before this, all these different uses that you see in Ocean View and Ranchos were approved through Special Permits, even the shopping centers that you see in that area. So, that’s how this is able to go forward. These are site photos. This is on the Hawai‘i Belt Road. This is looking towards the south, subject property is on your left side, entrance is on your left side to Lehua Lane. This is looking towards Kona. The subject property is on your right side. This is on Hawai‘i Belt Road looking mauka. This is the entrance to Lehua Lane, so you can see that it is paved and has a width. There also is the area that has been set aside for spigots and stand pipes to allow trucks to come in to fill up water to supply to the area. This is a photo of the property from Lehua Lane looking makai. The Planning Director is recommending that the Planning Commission send a favorable recommendation to the Hawai‘i County Council for the State Land Use Boundary Amendment and the Change of Zone requests. Before I conclude, we did receive two correspondence since rd the application was submitted to the Planning Commission. One is dated June 3, which both of these are emails, this is from Puamana Miyasato, and we also received another email dated rd June 3 from John Cornerford [sic—Comerford]. With that, that concludes our presentation. Thank you. MIYASATO: Thank you, Jeff. 3 EXHIBIT D KANUHA: Mr. Chairman? I’d just like to make a short comment. This is an interesting segway into the previous application that you just considered—the Walter Tavares situation, and eventually with the upcoming General Plan review. Those Special Permits could be converted into zoning through exactly the same process that we’re handling here. As you know, there’s a, there’s a lot of commercial, mixed commercial, industrial uses out in, in Oceanview that all by Special Permits, very similar to the kinds of Special Permits that are, have been approved within Paradise Park, so again, that was just my comment. This is eventually going to be the way that Paradise Park may be moving towards in the future. MIYASATO: Thank you. Commissioners, any questions for staff? Now, can we have the applicant come forward? FOULK: Good morning. MIYASATO: Good morning, could you please all raise your right hand? Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter now before the Hawai‘i County Planning Commission? FOULK & SAHINES: Yes. STOCKTON: I do. MIYASATO: Could you please state your names and residence? STOCKTON: My name is Bill Stockton. I’m one of the owners of Lehua Court. FOULK: Your address. STOCKTON: Oh, I’m sorry. It’s P.O. Box 1712, Kailua-Kona, 96745. FOULK: Dr. William C. Foulk, 75-5656 Kuakini Highway, Kailua-Kona. MIYASATO: Can you please hand him the mic? SAHINES: I’m Steven Sahines, P.O. Box 2713, Kailua-Kona. MIYASATO: You may go ahead with your presentation. FOULK: Okay, touching on what Duane said, you know, more than ten years ago maybe twelve years ago, I had a long discussion with Chris Yuen about this whole special permit versus rezoning and what the intention of the General Plan was going to be, and we decided, I advised these fellows back then that it would be better to go for a rezone which is, was the honest intention of that, the direction that area was going rather than just a Special Permit. We came in for, for this before the Planning Commission in 2006, I believe, I’m thinking? 4 EXHIBIT D STOCKTON: I think it was seven. FOULK: --2007, and a favorable recommendation, we needed to, an updated TIAR, a traffic study, and during the course of that traffic study, changes happened, and both the traffic requirements and the water requirements, and so on, so it’s taken a long time to get to here, but there hasn’t been a single lapsed period throughout that last 7 or 8 years, we’ve all been working on one piece or another of this to try and get it resolved with the Water Department. The Department of Transportation for the State, and we’ve done that, so, so here we are. In a nutshell, Ocean View is, generates an astonishing amount of traffic on the, to and from Kona. Just for basic needs, you know. If you live down in Ocean View, you have to drive 38 miles to get a haircut or to do this or to do that. Every single thing you do. And so, one of the big ideas here was to pull those cars off the road and keep ‘em local. Also, that area really can’t get a life of its own until there are places for various professionals and stuff to hang their shingles, and to practice, and I think that a lot of the folks like me and others would attract even more businesses into this facility if, if people saw that there was a real live, new, clean building that you could move into as a professional. There’s certainly, with more than 2,000 residents down there, there’s certainly a large enough base to support that. There’s 1.1 million visitors a year, drive by there on their way to Volcano. And that’s also, those people don’t have any place to stop and take a break, stretch their legs, you know, there—do some shopping, have something to eat, and I think that this is really exactly what’s needed for that. MIYASATO: Commissioners--Commissioners, any questions for the applicant? HENKEL: Myles. MIYASATO: Commissioner Henkel. HENKEL: I have a question. In the proposal, towards the rear on, I don’t see a page number or anything, but it’s from the State of Hawai‘i, Department of Health, Safe Drinking Water Branch, but on the first page, it says the project qualifies as a public water system, and on the next document from that same State Department of Health, Safe Water Drinking Branch, it says the proposed project does not meet the definition of a public water system, and I was wondering if somebody could clarify that for me. FOULK: Yeah, I’m going to turn you over to Peter Dahlberg, our civil engineer who did all of those, those documents. MIYASATO: Excuse me, would you please raise your right hand? DAHLBERG: Yes, Commissioner. 5 EXHIBIT D MIYASATO: Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter before the Hawai‘i County Planning Commission? DAHLBERG: I do. MIYASATO: Okay, please state your name and your residence. DAHLBERG: Peter Dahlberg, Post Office Box 81, Hōlualoa 96725. MIYASATO: Go ahead. DAHLBERG: The project does not qualify as a public drinking water source given that the owners do not intend to sell water to the tenants, so it would be private source. HENKEL: Okay, thank you. STOCKTON: Excuse me, if I may, I’d like to add on to some of the services that we plan to provide. We’ve been working with a anchor bank, we’re petitioning banks, we’ve been speaking with Central Pacific Bank to see if we can get them on board so our goal is to provide banking for the area and another desire for us is a pharmacy, so we have some set goals to provide services for the community. We can expand that community to Pāhala, Nā‘ālehu, Wai‘ōhinu. There are some major anchors that we can get in there that will provide driving relief for that entire area. So, also, when we went through it the first time, I was speaking with the Veterans Administration to see if we could open, get a veterans office down there, and so counseling and other service for veterans in the area. So, that’s our goal. Part of the area could be set aside an open area for a farmers market some parts of the day, but I kind of, I would like to see a center court like Ala Moana where the community could hold Christmas pageants in a, in an area there. We have to hold fire fighting water. We plan to hold, have enclosed ponds inside the atriums of the buildings to support these ponds and reduce evaporation so we’re not losing a lot of it. And it should be a real pleasant environment. Thank you. MIYASATO: Commissioners, any questions? Have you had a chance to review the proposed conditions by the Director and are you prepared? FOULK: Yes, we’re prepared to accept those conditions. MIYASATO: Thank you. Okay, thank you. Commissioners, I’ll entertain a motion. MOSES: Do we have any testifiers for this? MIYASATO: Oh, we do. We had a sign up. Thank you. We do have someone signed up. Bruce Petrovic. PETROVIC: Good morning. 6 EXHIBIT D MIYASATO: Could you raise your right hand please? Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth on this matter before the Hawai‘i County Planning Commission? PETROVIC: Yes, I do. MIYASATO: Okay, please state your name and your residence. PETROVIC: Bruce Petrovic, P.O. Box 6015, Ocean View 96737. Good morning. MIYASATO: Good morning. PETROVIC: I didn’t really plan on testifying this morning, but I live in Ocean View, and I live, and I also have some land within a 1,000 feet of the proposed project, and I just wanted to say that I think it’s good for the community. I think we need something like this. Like they said, we need some place where we can keep people in Ocean View in Ocean View. In too many times, we need to travel great distances just to get services that could be provided by this project, so I’m just testifying in favor of the project. I think it’d be real good for community. Thank you. MIYASATO: Commissioners, any questions? Thank you. PETROVIC: Thank you. MIYASATO: Commissioners, I’ll entertain a motion. MOSES: I move that a favorable recommendation be forwarded to the County Council on the application for Change of Zone, REZ 12-000160, as well as a favorable recommendation be forwarded to the County Council on the application for a State Land Use Boundary Amendment, is that correct? Is that, am I saying that— DARROW: No, no, that’s correct. If I could just ask a favor. If we could take one at a time, and let’s, if we could start with the State Land Use Boundary Amendment. Thank you. MOSES: I move that a favorable recommendation be forwarded to the County Council on the application for State Land Use Boundary Amendment Application 12-000036 based on the Planning Director’s recommendation. HENKEL: Second. MIYASATO: It’s moved by Commissioner Moses, seconded by Commissioner Henkel. Any discussion on the motion? DARROW: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With that, we’ll take the roll. Commissioner Moses? 7 EXHIBIT D MOSES: Aye. DARROW: Commissioner Henkel? HENKEL: Aye. DARROW: Commissioner Ono? ONO: Aye. DARROW: And Mr. Chair. MIYASATO: Aye. DARROW: The motion passes four to zero. MOSES: Chair, I also move that a favorable recommendation be forwarded to the County Council on the application for a Change of Zone, REZ 12-000160 based on the Planning Director’s recommendation and proposed conditions. MIYASATO: Do I have a second? ONO: Second. MIYASATO: It’s moved by Commissioner Moses, seconded by Commissioner Ono. Any discussion? DARROW: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With that, we’ll take the roll call. Commissioner Moses? MOSES: Aye. DARROW: Commissioner Ono? ONO: Aye. DARROW: Commissioner Henkel? HENKEL: Aye. DARROW: And Mr. Chairman. MIYASATO: Aye. 8 EXHIBIT D DARROW: The motion passes four to zero. MIYASATO: You’ll be notified in writing. The discussion ended at 10:51 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Sarah Y. Hata-Finley, Secretary Windward Planning Commission 9 EXHIBIT D