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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAC Minutes 14April2015William P. Kenoi Mayor County of Hawaii PLANNING DEPARTMENT PUNA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE Aupuni Center • 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 3 • Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Phone (808) 961 -8288 • Fax (808) 961 -8742 Tuesday, April 14, 2015 Meeting Minutes Duane Kanuha Director Bobby Command Deputy Director CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Patti Pinto called the Puna Community Development Plan (PCDP) Action Committee (AC) to order at 3:00 p.m. in the Kea'au Community Center. The following persons were present: Action Committee: June Conant, Sharon Daun, Leila Kealoha, Patti Pinto, Oshi Simsarian, Rene Siracusa, and Elmer Solis. Farris Etterlee arrived at 3:03pm. Susan Osborne was absent. Staff. Hans Santiago — PCDP Planner and Keiko Mercado — PCDP Planning Assistant. Members of the public: 11 ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA: NONE ANNOUNCEMENTS: 1. Patti reminded the AC members to provide their July availability so it can be determined whether or not there will be quorum. 2. Rene announced Charles (Charlie) Maas's passing and asked for a moment of silence. Charlie contributed tremendously to the Pahoa Village Town Center Plan. PUBLIC TESTIMONY: One person signed up to testify and chose to testify at the start of the meeting rather than at the time of their agenda items. 1. Jon Olson testified on agenda items 92, 94, 95 and 96. He began by expressing his gratitude to Charlie Maas and the hard work he put into the Pahoa Village Center Plan. After looking at the current response letters the AC has received and the work that is being put in, he believes it is time for action. The amount of people in Puna greatly outnumbers the amount of infrastructure available. A consultant and a wastewater study needs to be done in order to save Pahoa town. The lava should no longer be considered a threat, it's no more a threat to Pahoa than it is to other areas of the island. Actions need to be taken now. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: June moved to approve the minutes of the March 10, 2015 meeting as submitted. Second by Sharon. The motion to approve the minutes as submitted passed with 7 votes aye, 0 votes nay and I vote to abstain (Leila voted to abstain due to her absence at the last meeting). NEW BUSINESS: 1. Public Access, Open Space & Natural Resources Preservation Commission (PONC): Alexandra Kelepolo from Property Management /Finance Division and William Meyers, PONC Hawai `i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer Board Member, provided the AC with a brief presentation about the Commission and the nomination of properties by the public for 2015. Pohoiki Bay should be acquired by the end of this year and Vacationland Land Trust will be purchased in the near future as they received $1.3 Million from the Legacy Land Conservation Program. The commission is encouraging the community to nominate properties for the commission to consider. Any land that fits the criteria of the commission is submittable. It is important to preserve more land and keep increasing our open space. For additional information go the following website: htW: / /records. co .hawaii.hi.us/\Veblink8/Browse. aspx? startid= l 3 7 70 &dbid = l 2. Communication No. 2015 -16 — Connectivity and Emergency Response Subcommittee (CERS): Patti Pinto reported on the activities of the subcommittee. In a meeting with Councilman Paleka and Councilman Ilagan they were given a copy of the 2014 Connectivity Location Priority Report and other related documents. An ad hoc committee will be formed consisting of 4 -6 members with 2 -4 being council members, the PCDP AC Chair and the CERS Chair. Also discussed was the importance of involving both State and Federal representatives and responsible agencies. The next step will be studying the viability of each connectivity point with the initial focus being upper Puna finding a redundancy in the routes going from Volcano down to highway 130. On April Is', at the Puna Watch, Marlene and Patti gave a report on connectivity and it was very well received with lots of interest shown. The full MTSC report (Communication 2015 -16) can be viewed and downloaded from the following website, bap: / /records.co. hawaii .hi.us /\Veblink8 /l /doc /71982/Pa eg l.aspx 3. Communication 2015 -18 — Mass Transit Subcommittee (MTS): June reported on the activities of the subcommittee. Hannah has been very active in spearheading a Citizens' Action Committee to improve East Hawai'i Transportation and the MTS has been discussing how it can properly support this effort. A question arose regarding the appropriateness of June, Sharon and Patti being listed as members of the Citizens' AC. Hans will check into this issue. On August 20th there will be an East Hawai'i Disability Legislative Forum and the Citizens' AC will have a booth and give a presentation. Transportation to the airport will hopefully begin soon, though the MTS has yet to hear anything. Problems continue with the buses arriving either late or early at bus stops. Councilman Paleka has the CIP that was submitted last year for the Mass Transit study and is looking into what can be done. The full MTSC report (Communication 2015 -18) can be viewed and downloaded from the following website, bap: // records .co.hawaii.hi.us /\Veblink8 /l /doc /72024/Pa eg l.aspx 4. Pahoa Regional Town Center Plan Subcommittee (PRTCPS) report and discussion on Planning Department letter regarding hiring a consultant for the Pahoa Plan and Wastewater Treatment Study (Communication No. 2015 -17) and consideration and possible action on a draft response letter to the Planning Department to reconsider Department's position (Communication No. 2015- 17.1): Patti provided a brief history as to the AC's letter asking the Planning Director to complete the contract with a consultant for the Pahoa Regional Town Center Plan and a wastewater treatment study for Pahoa. The Planning Director has indicated that there is hesitation to continue immediately but will keep it in consideration. Communication No. 2015 -17.1 is intended to be the AC's response to the Directors response. Rene moved to accept Communication No. 2015 -17.1. Second by Oshi. Discussion ensued regarding the strength of the verbiage in sections of the letter Oshi moved to strike the sentence "At that time there were 2,300 large - capacity cesspools in Hawaii. " and adding the sentence "Please see the attached letter that the EPA is currently mailing to Pahoa business owners. " Second by Farris. Motion passed with 8 votes aye and 0 votes nay. Farris moved to cc Representative Joy San Buenaventura, Senator Russell Ruderman, Councilperson Greggor Ragan and Councilperson Danny Paleka, and to also copy them on the original response from the Planning Director. Second by Elmer. Motion passed with 8 votes aye and 0 votes nay. Oshi moved to add the following as the last paragraph of the letter "We request a meeting on May 13, 14 or 15th with April Surprenant, Hans Santiago, the Pahoa Regional Town Center Steering Committee, Main Street Pahoa Business Association, Representative Joy San Buenaventura, Senator Russell Ruderman, Councilman Greggor Ragan and Councilman Danny Paleka to discuss moving forward on planning issues for Pahoa. " And as a last line add in "We are planning a community wide meeting to update the community on the Pahoa plan on June 4rh. Second by Elmer. Motion passed with 8 votes aye and 0 votes nay. Discussions continued as to specific verbiage Patti moved to amend the last sentence of the third paragraph to read "There are potentially less costly solutions than a single wastewater treatment plant which we hope the feasibility study would identify. " Second by Leila. Motion passed with 8 votes aye and 0 votes nay. Sharon moved to relocate the last sentence of the last paragraph up to become the last sentence of the first paragraph. Second by Leila. After further discussion Sharon withdrew her motion and Leila withdrew her second. Rene moved to take the last two sentences of the last paragraph and make it its own paragraph immediately following the original last paragraph. Second by Farris. Motion passed with 8 votes aye and 0 votes nay. Main motion as amended passed with 8 votes aye and 0 votes nay. Oshi moved to amend the June 4th Community meeting date if need be. Second by June. Motion passed with 8 votes aye and 0 votes nay. As soon as the date is confirmed Hans will be notified. Communication No. 2015 -17 and Communication 2015 -17.1 can be viewed and downloaded from the following websites, hltp: // records .co.hawaii.hi.us /\Veblink8 /l /doc /71993 /Electronic.aspx, hap: // records .co.hawaii.hi.us /\Veblink8 /l /doc /72086/Pa eg l.aspx 5. Volcano Long Range Plan Subcommittee ( VLRPS) report and discussion on Planning Department response letter to VLRPS submittal (Communication No. 2015 -14) and consideration and possible action on a letter from the VLRPS requesting advice on engaging the Planning Department for assistance with the Volcano Long Range Plan (Communication No. 2015 -20): Dan Taylor reported on the activities of the subcommittee. Dan expressed the VLRPS's gratitude to the Planning Department for their detailed response to the Volcano Long Range Plan. They are already beginning to move forward with the suggestion to focus on two main elements and consider them separately, the Village Special District and the Special Overlay District. Rene moved to accept Communication No. 2015 -20. Second by Farris. Discussion ensued as to the proper way for subcommittees to submit letters and whether or not this particular letter should be sent directly from the subcommittee or from the Action Committee and also the intent of the letter. Rene moved to amend the letter by using the date of the AC meeting and change the addressee to the Planning Director at the Aupuni Center address and changing the salutation to Dear Mr. Kanuha. Also cc Maile David and the PCDP AC. Second by Farris. Motion passed with 8 votes aye and 0 votes nay. Leila moved to strike the word "team " in the first sentence and the last sentence and replace it with "subcommittee ". Amend the second sentence to begin "Your suggestions are extremely helpful". Amend the word "thank" in the last sentence to read "thanks " and omit "and the Members ". Second by Rene. Motion passed with 7 votes aye and 0 votes nay. Leila moved to add an "S" to VLRP in the first sentence to remain consistent with all subcommittees of the AC. Second by Elmer. Motion passed with 8 votes aye and 0 votes nay. Main motion as amended passed with 7 votes aye and I vote to abstain (Sharon). Communication No. 2015 -14 and Communication 2015 -20 can be viewed and downloaded from the following websites, hltp: // records .co.hawaii.hi.us /Weblink8 /l /doc /71825 /Electronic.aspx, bap: // records .co.hawaii.hi.us /Weblink8 /l /doc /72088/Pa eg l.aspx 6. Communication No. 2015 -15 - Mt. View Village Center Plan Subcommittee (MTVS): Patti reported on the activities of the subcommittee. Regular meetings have resumed, with the core group being split up into smaller subcommittees that are now doing a tremendous amount of writing and inputting. The MTVS reviewed the approved Quade permit and was pleased at the inclusion of the recommendation from the AC. The MTVS continues working hard towards their goal of developing a plan. The full MTVS report (Communication 2015 -15) can be viewed and downloaded from the following website, htW: // records .co.hawaii.hi.us /Weblink8 /l /doc /71837/Pa eg l.aspx 7. Communication No. 2015 -19 — Budget Subcommittee Report: Farris reported on the activities of the subcommittee and explained the spreadsheet to the AC. The Budget Subcommittee asked AC members to champion the projects that they feel connected to. After reviewing the spreadsheet, AC members chose which projects they wanted to champion. An updated spreadsheet, including Champions, line numbers and page numbers will be provided at the next AC meeting. Discussion ensued as to the proper channels to go through and next steps in order for Champions to advocate for their projects. The full Budget Subcommittee report (Communication 2015 -19) can be viewed and downloaded from the following website, hltp: // records .co.hawaii.hi.us /Weblink8 /l /doc /72087/Pa eg l.aspx 8. General Plan Update: Hans updated the AC on the General Plan update and how it translates to them. Actions and objectives have been extracted from the GP and compared to all the CDPs. The information was then inputted into an excel worksheet for easier comparison of GP to CDP policies. Thirteen spreadsheets in total. Hans, Keiko, Patti and Elmer completed their first read through of the spreadsheets and have made notes of gaps between the GP and the PCDP and general recommendations to fill said gaps. Specific recommendations from AC members are welcome and can be included in the AC's report. Any group or private citizen can make recommendations on the GP and submit them on their own to the Planning Department. June 6, 2015 is the deadline for initial public submittal, however, the AC has until their June 9th AC meeting to finalize recommendations. The Hawaii County General Plan can be viewed and downloaded from the following website, bap:/ /records. co .hawaii.hi.us/WebLink8 /DocView. aspx ?id =2795 3 &dbid= l The Puna Community Development Plan can be viewed and downloaded from the following website, htW://www.hawaiicolLntycdp.info/puna-cdp/draft-plan recommendations/ 1 % 20% 20Puna% 20CDP %20amended %20Noy- 201 1.pdf/view UNFINISHED BUSINESS: None AGENDA FOR NEXT MEETING: (April 14, 2015) 1. CERS Report 2. VLRPS Report 3. Budget Subcommittee Report 4. MTS Report 5. MVPS Report 6. PRTCPS Report 7. Building in Puna Brochure 8. General Plan Update 9. Quorum at the July meeting ADJOURNMENT: The Chair, without objection, adjourned the meeting at 5:51 p.m.