Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-04-21 Leeward Exh B (REZ 16-201) LEEWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I HEARING TRANSCRIPT APRIL 21, 2016 CARL AND CHRISTINE CARLSON A regularly advertised hearing on the application of (REZ 16-201) was called to order at 9:49 a.m. in the West Hawai‘i Civic Center, Community Center, Building G, 74-5044 Ane Keohokālole Highway, Kailua-Kona, Hawai‘i, with Chairman Keith Unger presiding. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Keith Unger, Scott Church, Collin Kaholo, Barbara Nobriga and Sonny Shimaoka ABSENT AND EXCUSED: Brandi Beaudet ALSO PRESENT: Danny Patel (Counsel for the Commission), Duane Kanuha (Planning Director), Daryn Arai (Planning Program Manager), Jeff Darrow (Planner), Christian Kay (Planner) and Noriko Sauer (Commission Secretary) And approximately 80 people from the public in attendance. APPLICANTS: CARL AND CHRISTINE CARLSON (REZ 16-201) Application for a Change of Zone from an Agricultural-5 acres (A-5a) to a Family Agricultural-2 acres (FA-2a) zoning district for 5 acres of land located along the west (makai) side of the Hawai‘i Belt Road (Highway 190) between the 30 and 31 mile markers and approximately 0.5 nd mile north of the entrance to the Makalei Golf Course, Kukiʻo 2 and Maniniʻōwali, North Kona, Hawai‘i, TMK: 7-2-004:027. UNGER: Agenda Item No. 2, Applicants Carl and Christine Carlson, REZ 16-201, 211 \[sic\]. DARROW: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good morning — UNGER: Two-zero-one. DARROW: — Mr. Chairman and Members of the Planning Commission. If I can direct your attention to our next presentation. The applicants are Carl and Christine Carlson, and they’re requesting a Change of Zone. The area of this subject application is within the North Kona District. More specifically, we are looking along the Upper Road, or the Hawai‘i Belt Road. This is in close proximity to the Makalei Golf Course as well as the Makalei Subdivision. The subject property is identified in the black outline. This is a closer zoomed-in map of the subject property, which identifies the County zoning in the particular area. The different colors represent the different types of zoning. For reference the light green represents Agricultural-5 acres, the dark green on the right side of the map represents Agricultural-20 acres. There are certain shades of other types of zonings on the map as well. 1 EXHIBIT B This is the State Land Use Boundary Map, and it’s identifying the subject property, as well as the surrounding areas, as Agriculture. This is the General Plan Land Use Pattern Allocation Guide Map; this identifies the subject property, as well as the surrounding properties, as Extensive Agriculture. This is a copy of a portion of the map from the Kona Community Development Plan; it identifies the nearest portion of the Kona Urban Area to the subject property, as well as the brown Concurrency Zone, which is in the lower left-hand portion of the map. The subject property is outside of the Kona Urban Area. And this is an aerial photo. Currently the property is vacant. There is an access road that comes off Hawai‘i Belt Road that has been constructed. The applicants are requesting a Change of Zone from an Agricultural-5 acres to a Family Agricultural-2 acres zoning district for five acres of land to subdivide the property into two parcels, one two-acre lot and one three-acre lot. If approved, the smaller lot would be conveyed to their daughter and her family, and the larger lot would be retained by the applicants. Both the applicants and their daughter intend to construct their dwelling and to conduct some measure of agricultural activities on their lots. This is a copy of the proposed subdivision map that was submitted in the application. Again, for reference, on the right side of the map we have the Hawai‘i Belt Road, or the Māmalahoa Highway, the Upper Road, access from the highway onto the subject properties, as well as access provided to the subject property and the additional lot. As you can see, in the red outline the two lots that would be created from the Change of Zone; one would be a smaller lot approximately two acres and a larger lot approximately three acres in size. These are site photos from the highway. This is looking towards the north with the subject property on the left side, access to the subject property, this is on Hawai‘i Belt Road. And this is looking towards the south with the subject property on, or the access to the subject property, on the right. The Planning Director is recommending that the Planning Commission send a favorable recommendation to the Hawai‘i County Council, with the identified conditions passed out to the Commission. We have not received any correspondence, additional correspondence, since the background and recommendation have been passed out. That concludes our presentation. Thank you. UNGER: Great. Thank you. Commissioners, any questions of staff? KAHOLO: I’ve got a question. UNGER: Go ahead. KAHOLO: Yeah, my question is, you know, looking at this here, and their water system is not coming off of the County system? DARROW: Correct. This is a, in our code, we talk about concurrency when we approve Change of Zones where they have to either have water supply to them from the Department of 2 EXHIBIT B Water Supply, a County standard, or they can create a private system meeting the standards set by the County. In this particular case, it’s the latter; the applicant goes into detail talking about the construction of the water system and the Department of Water Supply under the applicant’s Exhibit B spoke about confirming that this system will be sufficient for the Change of Zone, and that it meets their standards. KAHOLO: Thank you. DARROW: Thank you. UNGER: Any other questions? CHURCH: My question only is that it’s surrounded by Ag-5 parcels, and is this application going to trigger additional ones? I don’t know whether that’s bad or good. But is that normally what we would expect to find? DARROW: The possibility is there. That kind of goes with any Change of Zone that we have; once there is a precedent set, then we could anticipate additional Change of Zones in the immediate area similar to that. In hind sight looking at it, a lot of times, you know, we get one or two maybe, and that’ll be it for a while. But this definitely could allow for additional rezones in the area as long as they meet the criteria for approval for a Change of Zone. UNGER: Thank you. DARROW: Thank you. UNGER: Would the applicant please come forward at this time, or applicants’ representative? Please raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth before the Planning Commission? APPLICANTS AND REPRESENTATIVES: I do. UNGER: Please, Mr. Fuke, why don’t start, please state your name and your area of residence. FUKE: Sure. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Members of the Commission. My name is Sidney Fuke. I’m a land use consultant, and I’m here assisting a friend of mine, Carl Carlson and his family. My business address is 100 Pauahi Street in Hilo, Hawai‘i. UNGER: Thank you. Yeah, if you could continue. CARL CARLSON: My name is Carl Carlson. We live at 73-1515 Apela Place up in Kaloko Mauka. And I’ve lived in, worked in this particular area since the end of 1969. CHRISTINE CARLSON: I’m Christine Carlson, and I live at the same place as he does. That’s it. 3 EXHIBIT B BIRCHER: I’m Amy Bircher. I live at 73-4156 Ka‘ala Place, near the new County fire station. And I grew up on the land that my dad is speaking about up there. UNGER: Thank you. FUKE: Sure. UNGER: You can continue. FUKE: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I think the staff’s report is pretty comprehensive. Mr. Carlson and his family has had the chance to review the proposed conditions, and found them to be acceptable. There were a couple of questions that the Commissioners had raised, and I’d like to respond to them directly. First of all, in relation to the water system, the water system is a privately operated water system. It was developed pursuant to the standards and guidelines of the Department of Water Supply. So the comparable water system would be like Waikoloa for example; you have a Waikoloa water system that’s coincidentally also be managed by the same company that services Waikoloa Village and the resort area. Likewise, this water system developed consistent with the County’s standards also services the Kūki‘o resort area. So when the system was developed, what happened was that some of these properties were assigned a certain amount of water allocation. So the system that goes through these properties here were also designed in accordance with the County system. And each of these parcels, according to an agreement, when the original water system was developed, was assigned a maximum of 3,000 gallons per day. And so with this two-lot subdivision, knowing that the County standards require currently a maximum of 600 gallons per day to enable you to subdivide, obviously with a two-lot subdivision you’ll have approximately 1,500 gallons per day, which is far and excess of what the County would require. The other question I think related to, you know, the possible snowballing effect, that is quite possible, Commissioner Church. And I think that what the Department, you know, took into consideration was that possibility. But need to bear in mind that, you know, before those properties could be entertained for a favorable land use considerations, then obviously you must have the appropriate infrastructure system. Fortunately, for some of these properties here they already have the water allocation, but if you look at the adjoining properties, then they were not the beneficiary of the water system. So in that sense, there would be some amount of, as the staff kind of noted, some amount of delay in possibly having those properties be developed. UNGER: Thank you. Any other testimony from the applicants at this time? Commissioners, any questions for the applicants? Thank you. You may be seated. At this time I’d like to call up Janice Palma-Glennie. Please raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth before the Planning Commission? PALMA-GLENNIE: Yes, I do. UNGER: Thank you. Please state your name and your area of residence. 4 EXHIBIT B PALMA-GLENNIE: My name is Janice Palma-Glennie, and I live in Keauhou, Kona. UNGER: Thank you. Continue. PALMA-GLENNIE: I just have a brief comment. Though this project is outside of the Urban Area, this Kona Community Development Plan, since it was mentioned, does encourage cluster development of Ag lands to make it more efficient to create infrastructure and to leave more land open for Ag use. As one commissioner wisely asked, on this Agri zoning and all Agri zoning can set a negative precedent to future more smart growth Ag development and can take fertile Ag lands out of true agricultural use for the future. Thank you. UNGER: Thank you. Commissioners, any questions? Thank you. Are there any other members of the public who wish to testify at this time? Commissioners, I need a motion to close this portion of the hearing. KAHOLO: So move. NOBRIGA: I’ll second. UNGER: We have a motion from Commissioner Kaholo, second by Commissioner Nobriga. All in favor? ALL COMMISSIONERS: Aye. UNGER: Oppose? \[None.\] This public portion of this agenda item is now closed. Commissioners, at this time I’m requesting a motion on this agenda item. SHIMAOKA: I move that a favorable recommendation be forwarded to the County Council on the application of a Change of Zone, Docket No. REZ 16-201, based on the Planning Director’s recommendation, findings and proposed conditions, which shall be adopted. NOBRIGA: I second. UNGER: We have a motion from Commissioner Shimaoka, second by Commissioner Nobriga. Any discussion at this point from the Commissioners? Staff, roll call. DARROW: Thank you, Mr. Chair. With that, we’ll take the roll call. Commissioner Shimaoka? SHIMAOKA: Aye. DARROW: Commissioner Nobriga? NOBRIGA: Aye. 5 EXHIBIT B DARROW: Commissioner Church? CHURCH: Aye. DARROW: Commissioner Kaholo? KAHOLO: Aye. DARROW: And Mr. Chairman? UNGER: Aye. DARROW: The motion passes, five to zero. UNGER: Thank you, Jeff. The discussion ended at 10:04 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Noriko Sauer, Secretary Leeward Planning Commission 6 EXHIBIT B