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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-03-05 HearingTranscript - Elizabeth Hultman-Salfen SPP 14-174 WINDWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I HEARING TRANSCRIPT MARCH 5, 2015 ELIZABETH J. HULTMAN-SALFEN A regularly advertised hearing on the application of (SPP 14-174) was called to order at 10:17 a.m. in the County of Hawai‘i Aupuni Center Conference Room, 101 Pauahi Street, Hilo, Hawai‘i with Vice Chair Raylene Moses presiding. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Raylene Moses, Charles Heaukulani, Gregory Henkel, Donald Ikeda, and Stephen Ono. ABSENT & EXCUSED: Myles Miyasato. ALSO PRESENT: Duane Kanuha (Planning Director), Danny Patel (Deputy Corporation Counsel for the Windward Planning Commission), William Brilhante (Assistant Corporation Counsel for the Planning Director), Daryn Arai (Planning Program Manager), Jeff Darrow (Staff Planner), Maija Cottle (Staff Planner), and Sarah Hata-Finley (Commission Secretary). And approximately 20 people from the public in attendance. APPLICANT: ELIZABETH J. HULTMAN-SALFEN (SPP 14-174) Application for a Special Permit to allow a 10,000 square-foot portion of a one-acre property for a parking area for a tree trimming business situated in the State Land Use Agricultural District. The property is located in the Hawaiian Paradise Park Subdivision at the northwest corner of rd Maku‛u Drive and Naupaka (23) Avenue, approximately 1.4 miles from the Kea´au-Pāhoa Road intersection, Kea´au, Puna, Hawai´i, TMK: 1-5-022:140. MOSES: Item 4 on the agenda, Elizabeth Hultman-Salfen. Staff? DARROW: Thank you, Chair Moses. If I can direct your attention to our presentation. Our next application, as mentioned, is Elizabeth J. Hultman-Salfen. They are requesting a Special Permit. The area of this subject application is within the Puna District of Hawai‛i. More specifically, we’re looking in the area of the Hawaiian Paradise Park Subdivision. Just for reference, this is the Orchidland Subdivision. This is the Paradise Park Subdivision. Kea‛au would be on the upper portion of your map, and Pāhoa would be on the lower portion of your map. For reference as far as roadways, we have the Kea‛au-Pāhoa Highway that runs through the middle of the map in a north-south direction. It’s little small, but the subject property is identified with a blue outline, and we’re gonna zoom in there. This is the County Zoning Map. We have the light green identified as Agricultural – 1 acre. The lighter green is Agricultural – 5 1 EXHIBIT D acres, and the darker green is Open zoning. The subject property is on the corner of Maku‛u rd Drive and Naupaka Avenue or 23 Avenue. This is the General Plan Land Use Pattern Allocation Guide Map for the area. You’ll see that a majority of it is a lighter orange, which is Rural. And, you’ll notice that this is pretty close to our Medium Density node located just above the subject property towards the highway. This is an aerial photo. For reference, we have Maku‛u Drive and Naupaka Avenue. The subject property is identified with a black outline, and there currently is a single family dwelling as well as a water tank and an open area within the rear of the property. The Applicant is requesting a Special Permit to legitimize a 10,000 square foot portion of a one- acre property for a gravel and cinder parking area to park up to five lift trucks for a tree trimming business called the Asplundh Tree Experts. There are currently ten employees of which seven live within the Hawaiian Paradise Park Subdivision. The reasons for the request include the, to allow the parking is to, the ability to be able to be able to be the first responders to quickly respond to off-hour emergencies that will allow the electric company to restore power as soon as possible. Additionally, the trucks can be secured during off-work hours to protect them from vandalism. As we’re all familiar with more recently, we’ve had a number of storm events, and they were very instrumental in helping clear the roadways with a lot of the trees that had fallen on the power lines. This is a site plan submitted by the Applicant. For reference, we have Maku‛u Drive on the rd upper portion of the map, and 23 Avenue would be on the right side. There currently is a single family dwelling and water tank. The 10,000 square foot area for the parking area is going to be in the rear portion of the property. Access would be off of Maku‛u Drive. These are some site photos. This is looking towards the ocean on Maku‛u Drive with the subject property on the left, and this is the parking area, and these are the five trucks. This is looking more mauka. We wanted to be able to show the property as well as the, the residence that’s located on there as well as the access. One of the conditions that we are adding which we had passed out this morning is, and this was directly a request from the association. They had responded to our request for comments. They responded favorably supporting the request. They just asked that the apron be paved onto their property to Maku‛u Drive so that cinder doesn’t come on the road, so we will be asking, adding a condition asking the Applicants to pave the apron of the property. rd This is on 23 Avenue across the street from the subject property. This is Maku‛u Drive. This is the parking area and the residence. The Planning Director is recommending a—approval with conditions and as mentioned, the only thing that we have to add is our yellow sheet which is an added Condition No. 4 which states the 2 EXHIBIT D Applicant, successors, or assigns shall pave the entrance of the parking lot from Maku‛u Drive onto the subject property within one year from the effective date of the permit. With that, that concludes our presentation. Thank you. MOSES: Commissioners, any questions of the staff? ONO: Question. MOSES: Yes, Commissioner Ono. ONO: Just—I, I understand one of the, the reasons is that emergency situation that they were helpful in the clearing of the streets. Is that just an understanding, or is this subject to negotiations as the emergencies arise. DARROW: The Applicant may be able to go into more detail, but my understanding is they have a contract with HELCO— ONO: Okay— DARROW: Yeah, so they’re very closely tied in with that. ONO: Thank you. DARROW: Thank you. MOSES: Any other questions? If not, will the Applicant or their representative please come forward and be seated at the table in front of the Commission? Please raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter now before the Hawai‛i County Planning Commission? HULTMAN-SALFEN: I do. HULTMAN-SALFEN’S SON: Yes. MOSES: Thank you. You may begin your presentation or testimony by first stating your name and place of residence and speaking directly into the microphone. Thank you. HULTMAN-SALFEN: Good morning. My name is Elizabeth Hultman-Salfen. I live at 15-163 rd 23 Road in Hawaiian Paradise Park. And we’re asking for parking so that—it’s a family, Asplundh is a corporation that is in, you know, it’s large, but we run it as a family business. Our son and daughter are foremen as well as other you know our employees from, from Paradise Park. And, we, we respond to emergencies for HELCO 24/7. If they need us, we are there to take down the tree cause without the tree being removed off the power line or off the road, we, 3 EXHIBIT D they cannot establish, re-establish power. So, if there’s a, when a storm’s coming, they’ll put us on call but, so we might have a heads up, but basically we’re on call 24/7. And, so having the trucks in our yard, we can watch them, keep them from vandals. I mean, it’s sort of interesting what people decide they want to do to a truck, whether, you know, climbing and jumping off the top or what it feels like to be in a bucket, but at our house, we’re always there, so we can, we can watch. And, and then they do like to siphon gas, but usually it’s just the, part of them jumping off or doing vandalism to our trucks. And we do have most of our employees live in the park. I don’t know if I said Elliot’s worked for them for 28 years, so it’s, we are long-established with the company. And I just, you know, appreciate your time in this matter. This is my son. MOSES: He won’t be speaking to us. Okay, question, did you receive the Planning Department’s Background Report and Recommendation? HULTMAN-SALFEN: Yes, I did. MOSES: Do you agree with the report and recommendation? HULTMAN-SALFEN: Yes, I did. MOSES: Commissioners, any questions of the Applicant? Yes, Commissioner Henkel. HENKEL: I have one question. Would you consider doing a little landscaping along the front to mitigate the— HULTMAN-SALFEN: Oh, yes. That was one of our, Planning Director’s recommendation, and we will be planting landscape trees to, to block that side of the, of the property. HENKEL: Awesome, thank you. MOSES: Any other questions? Thank you. HULTMAN-SALFEN: Thank you. MOSES: Seeing that there’s no public testimony, we are ready to entertain a motion. IKEDA: I’ll make the motion. MOSES: Commissioner Ikeda? IKEDA: I move that the application for a Special Permit Docket No. SPP 14-174 be approved with the Planning Director’s proposed conditions. 4 EXHIBIT D PATEL: Before we get to the next part, just to clarify, is that including the Condition 4, that the Commission received this morning. IKEDA: Yes. PATEL: Okay. MOSES: Any second? HENKEL: Second. MOSES: It was moved by Commissioner Ikeda and seconded by Commissioner Henkel. Discussion? If no discussion, roll call voted needed. Jeff? DARROW: Thank you, Chair Moses. With that, we’ll take the roll call. Commissioner Ikeda? IKEDA: Aye. DARROW: Commissioner Henkel? HENKEL: Aye. DARROW: Commissioner Heaukulani? HEAUKULANI: Aye. DARROW: Commissioner Ono? ONO: Aye. DARROW: And Chair Moses. MOSES: Aye. DARROW: The motion passes five to zero. MOSES: You will be notified of the Commission’s decision in writing. Thank you. The discussion ended at 10:28 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Sarah Y. Hata-Finley, Secretary Windward Planning Commission 5 EXHIBIT D