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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-08-20 Leeward Exh B (REZ 15-188) LEEWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I HEARING TRANSCRIPT AUGUST 20, 2015 JEAN A. LORANT TRUST (REZ 15-188) A regularly advertised hearing on the application of was called to order at 10:18 a.m. in the West Hawai‘i Civic Center, Community Center, Building G, 74-5044 Ane Keohokālole Highway, Kailua-Kona, Hawai‘i, with Chairman Brandi Beaudet presiding. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Brandi Beaudet, Collin Kaholo, Barbara Nobriga, Sonny Shimaoka, Keith Unger and Thomas Whittemore ABSENT AND EXCUSED: Scott Church ALSO PRESENT: Danny Patel (Counsel for the Commission), Bobby Command (Deputy Planning Director), Jeff Darrow (Planner), Maija Jackson (Planner), Christian Kay (Planner) and Noriko Sauer (Commission Secretary) And four people from the public in attendance. APPLICANT: JEAN A. LORANT TRUST (REZ 15-188) Application for a Change of Zone from an Agricultural-20 acres (A-20a) to an Agricultural-7 acres (A-7a) zoning district for approximately 21.095 acres of land. The property is located along the west (makai) side of Hao Street, approximately 1,500 feet from its intersection with Kaloko Drive within Kaloko Mauka Subdivision at Kaloko, North Kona, Hawai‘i, TMK: 7-3-026:003. BEAUDET: Second item on today’s agenda, Applicant, Jean A. Lorant Trust, REZ 15-188. Staff? JACKSON: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning everyone. The next item on the agenda is a Change of Zone request. The subject property is located in the North Kona District in the Kaloko Mauka Subdivision. You can see on the slide you have the Māmalahoa Highway running in a north-south direction on the left side of the slide, and then Kaloko Drive comes off of that in the mauka direction and weaves up Hualālai Mountain. The subject property is in the middle of the slide, outlined in red, and it’s located off of Hao Street. You can see the existing zoning is Agricultural-20 acres, which is shown in the dark green. And several of the properties nearby have been rezoned over the years, which is shown in the different color blue. The property just mauka of the subject property was rezoned to Agricultural-7 acres, which is what the applicant is requesting, and that was done in the late 90’s, I believe. And then other properties nearby were zoned to Agricultural-10 acres and that’s shown in the darker green here. The property is located in the State Land Use Agricultural District, as well as the majority of the subdivision. There are Conservation areas on Hualālai Mountain nearby that are primarily native forest. And the General Plan designation for the property is Important Agricultural Land, which is shown in the light green. The property is located outside of the Kona Urban Area identified in the Kona Community Development Plan; you can see the property here in the middle of the slide with a red dot. 1 EXHIBIT B And this is an aerial view of the property. The subject property and most of the properties nearby are still in native forest. There are several farm dwellings and single-family dwellings nearby. This property here that you see that’s mostly graded and not in forest actually has never been rezoned. So whenever a property comes in for a rezone, the owner is gaining a greater density for their lot, they are able to subdivide and create another lot; so in exchange for that, the County Council passed a resolution in late 90’s that any rezoning in above a certain elevation in Kaloko Mauka the property have at least 80 percent be retained in native forest. And that was to help preserve the forest for some of the native birds that are found there, as well as to help with groundwater recharge because there is a lot of rain obviously on Hualālai Mountain. So this property you see here has not ever been rezoned, which is why they were allowed to grade and do agriculture on their property. It’s very hard to see but there is a dwelling located in this location here on the subject property. So the applicant is requesting a rezone from Agricultural-20 acres to Agricultural-7 acres for a 21-acre property in order to create a two-lot subdivision. And this is their proposed subdivision plan. You can see Hao Street on the right side of the slide. The proposed lot division would be this line here, so you have about seven acres, a seven-acre lot proposed here and about a 13-acre lot proposed to the north. Again, there is an existing dwelling in this location here and a driveway, and then there’s two storage sheds on the property. This is a view of Hao Street fronting the property; the property is on the right side. You can see their sign posted here. And you can see that Hao Street is paved; it’s a two-lane paved road. And this is the applicant’s driveway, so you can see there is, it’s very heavily vegetated. And this is a view of the actual property; you see a lot of native ‘ōhi‘a trees. The Planning Director is recommending that the Commission forward a favorable recommendation to the Council for this rezone. And since we submitted the Background and Recommendation Report to you, we have received four letters of support. Those letters are from Charles and Ann Stevenson, Norman Bezona, Trent Bateman and Ricci Bezona. And that concludes my presentation. BEAUDET: Thank you, Maija. JACKSON: Thank you. BEAUDET: Commissioners, any questions or comments for Maija? Okay. Thank you. Would the applicant or its representative please step forward? Please raise your right hand. Do you now swear or affirm to tell the truth now before the Leeward Planning Commission? LEONARD: I do. BEAUDET: Thank you. Please state your name. LEONARD: My name is James M. Leonard. I’m representing the applicant, Jean A. Lorant Trust, in this issue. I just wanted to say that the applicant is, I have here today with me one of the executors of the Trust, Dr. John Lorant, and they are successors to the property that belonged to 2 EXHIBIT B Jean Lorant, and it was her wishes through the Trust that it be divided according to the map that you saw. There is currently a CPR on the property, and the proposed subdivision would be roughly similar to that CPR, and the zoning is to allow for that subdivision to take place so that they can transfer those properties over to the heirs of the Trust. Their mother, Jean Lorant, and her children are very cognizant of the specialness of this property. Jean had put it into a voluntary stewardship program with the State for protection of the forest. They have submitted a forest protection plan as part of their application that they intend to implement as part of this. And so they are very committed to the protection, the long-term protection of the watershed area and the forest. They’ve also, as a, you heard the, there has been testimony submitted by the surrounding property owners, and those represent the owners’ properties that are directly surrounding the Lorant property; they are all contingent, the properties that are all contingent and directly surrounding the property, so their neighbors are all very supportive of this effort of theirs to rezone their property. They, the applicants have gone through the conditions, the recommended conditions, and are all in support of those conditions that are recommended. These are similar to those, or inclusive of those that are included in the Council resolution and recommended conditions in terms of protection of the forest and implementation of a forest management plan, the protection of 80 percent of the forest cover and that should be left undisturbed, the setbacks; all of those conditions that are spelled out in the Council resolution are reflected in these conditions, along with a fair share assessment that would go towards improvements for the intersection at the bottom of Kaloko Drive and Māmalahoa Highway. So they’ve reviewed those conditions and are in full agreement with those. So we are here to answer any questions that you might have. BEAUDET: Thank you, sir. Commissioners, any questions or comments for the applicant? Okay. Thank you, sir. We have not received any request for testimony from the audience. So without any further, if there is no further discussion, Commissioners, could I ask for a move for action. WHITTEMORE: I move for a favorable recommendation be forwarded to the County Council on the application for Change of Zone, Docket Number REZ 15-188, based on the Planning Director’s recommendation, findings, and proposed conditions, which shall be adopted. NOBRIGA: I second. BEAUDET: It has been moved by Commissioner Whittemore for a positive recommendation to be forwarded to the County Council, and seconded by Commissioner Nobriga. Staff, roll call, please. JACKSON: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Commissioner Whittemore? WHITTEMORE: Aye. JACKSON: Commissioner Nobriga? NOBRIGA: Aye. JACKSON: Commissioner Kaholo? KAHOLO: Aye. 3 EXHIBIT B JACKSON: Commissioner Shimaoka? SHIMAOKA: Aye. JACKSON: Commissioner Unger? UNGER: Aye. JACKSON: And Chair Beaudet? BEAUDET: Aye. JACKSON: Okay, the motion passes, six-zero. The discussion ended at 10:30 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Noriko Sauer, Secretary Leeward Planning Commission 4 EXHIBIT B