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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-05-31 BDHRA Minutes BANYAN DRIVE HAWAI‘I REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I MINUTES MAY 31, 2016 The Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency met in the County of Hawai‘i, Office of Aging Conference Room, 1055 Kino‘ole Street, Suite 101, Hilo Hawai‘i. The meeting was called to order by Planning Director Duane Kanuha at 2:01 p.m. AGENCY MEMBERS PRESENT: Mary Begier, Brian DeLima, Elmer Gorospe, Barry Taniguchi, and Sigmund Zane. ALSO PRESENT: William Kenoi (Mayor) (from 2:11 p.m. to 2:49 p.m.), Duane Kanuha (Planning Director), Joaquin Gamiao-Kunkel (Planning Deputy Director), William Brilhante (Assistant Corporation Counsel for the BDHRA), Daryn Arai (Planning Program Manager), Lucas Mead (Staff Planner), Kim Tanaka (Secretary), Randy Kurohara (Managing Director), and Clarysse Nunokawa (Executive Assistant). A quorum was present. Director Kanuha introduced the Planning Department staff to the Agency Members and members of the public. KANUHA: Before we get going, what I’d like to do is go around the room and introduce my staff that’s here. We‒‒until you, the Agency, gets itself going, our department has been delegated as a transitional department to assist you in moving forward with your agency. This agency is actually going to eventually be a separate agency of the County. It’s not going to be connected to Planning in any way over time. During the interim, our department and the staff members you have here will be the ones that will provide support for you. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC: No statements were presented under this section of the agenda. There were two people from the public in attendance. CHANGE ORDER OF BUSINESS: At this time a request was made by Director Kanuha to take an item of business out of order, Administrative Matters, Election of officers to include Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson for terms to span May 31, 2016 to December 31, 2016. BEGIER: I move that we take that item out of order. TANIGUCHI: I second. KANUHA: Moved and second. All in favor say “aye.” ALL: Aye. ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS: 1. Election of officers to include Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson for terms to span May 31, 2016 to December 2016. KANUHA: So do I hear any nominations for election of officers? Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson for the terms to start from today until December 31, end of this year. TANIGUCHI: I have a question first. The terms are‒‒what happens January 1? Oh, it’s going to be annual terms? KANUHA: Correct. TANIGUCHI: Okay. KANUHA: Then just re-elect a new set‒‒slate of officers. TANIGUCHI: I nominate Brian DeLima for chair. ZANE: Second. KANUHA: Okay, anybody else? Any other nominations? All in favor of the nomination of Brian DeLima for Chairperson say “aye.” Any opposed, “no.” ALL: Aye. KANUHA: Even Brian didn’t oppose, that’s great. Vice-Chairperson. Nominations for Vice-Chairperson? DELIMA: Nominate Mary Begier. GOROSPE: Now I second. KANUHA: Mary Begier has been nominated to be Vice-Chairperson. Any other nominations? If not, all in favor of Mary Begier as Vice-Chairperson say “aye.” ALL: Aye. KANUHA: Thank you very much. Mr. DeLima. Page 2 STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC – No statements were presented under this section of the agenda. There were two people from the public in attendance. BUSINESS OF COMMISSION: 1. Orientation to the formation of the Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency (BDHRA) to include review of applicable statutes, Resolution No. 481-16, and the discussion of rules of practice and procedure for the BDHRA. DELIMA: Okay. Our next agenda item is orientation to the formation of the Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency. Mr. Director, I guess. KANUHA: Yes, who’s going to do it? Luke? Luke Mead will be doing the presentation for the orientation and then we have a PowerPoint. Do they have the same information in their folders? MEAD: Yes. There’s a copy of the PowerPoint there just in case. KANUHA: Okay. Mr. Mead provided a brief presentation consisting of an orientation to the background information of the Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment, the formation of the Agency, the process, and the next steps. (SEE EXHIBIT A). DELIMA: Before we take some questions, the Mayor has joined us and I think we all appreciate the fact that he has confidence in appointing us as members of the Agency. Mr. Mayor, if you would grace us with some words. KENOI: First of all, I wanted to thank each of you for being willing to serve on this body. It’s a‒‒appreciate. I know all of you are busy with a lot of other commitments, not just work, but also community and family. We are going to ask a lot, but we are also going to give a lot to all of you. Our Corporation Counsel, Planning staff, are all committed to providing all the resource, support, necessary resources that you need to expedite and move forward with the redevelopment of Banyan Drive. I wanted for aloha Department of Land and Natural Resource, Russell Tsuji. Russ, thank you so much. You guys willingness going (inaudible). This all started from a conversation with Senator Gil Kahele and our State Representative. We had Mark Nakashima in the room, Fresh Onishi, our Council was involved, board members, Stan Roehrig was there. We were all talking about just, what is the most critical part of our community that we could partner with the State and really have the wherewithal to make meaningful change happen. We certainly didn’t appoint any of you to talk story and just kind of go in circles‒‒that this is clearly defined objection‒‒objectives. We’ve been working with Joaquin and Duane and Bill; we meet weekly, especially on this. Not trying to do too much in the next few months, but making Page 3 sure that a strong direction is in place where clearly define authority. The rest is up to you guys. We’re not coming in with, ‘hey, you guys, we think should be like this, like this, like that.’ We just want to provide; if you need staff resources, if you guys need legal counsel, if you have any questions as to what it is you can and cannot do, then we want to be right there to support. And in fact, we want to give you guys too much information. We no like you guys to have to know bylaws, and amendments. We should‒‒staff, we should have that prepared for all of you guys for your consideration. Ultimate decision-making, entirely up to you guys. You guys shouldn’t have to be staff on something so broad and meaningful, but ultimately critically important. Very excited that Banyan Drive‒‒in fact, I went there, I was there today just before I came up here. I conduct my meetings in a car‒‒Clayton Honma, Kimo Alameda; we were all in my car. Went around and was doing Banyan Drive. Just so happen we was like eh, we go down Banyan, was talking about different projects, different ideas, different areas, different potential, possibilities. All of us from this island, we are all from this community, we all know how critically important Banyan Drive is. It’s the economic drive of East Hawai‘i. I want to thank the State for being willing to‒‒I always said proximity is accountability. When decision- making happens locally, then we more accountable to what’s going on out there in the community. So that’s it, that’s all I have. Whatever you guys need, we’ll get it for you guys. Don’t ever feel like the ask is too much, ‘we need a consultant for this, we need a study for that, we need extra staff,’ because I talked to Joaquin, and Daryn, and everybody, Duane; they said whatever this agency needs, we can dedicate extra staff, we get extra money in our budget. They’re stoked to do this. We have a great Board. Thank you Brian, thank you Mary, thank you Barry, for agreeing. Thank you Sig, thank you Elmer. I think we have a wonderful Board, distinguished Board, respected Board, and that this is a game-changer for our island and our community. Your guy’s decision-making, input, and planning will far outlast our work as administration. It’s very exciting. Mahalo! DELIMA: Lucas will you come back because we’re not going to let you off that easy. KENOI: Lucas, good job on the PowerPoint. That was nice, well done. MEAD: Thank you. DELIMA: Does anyone have any questions for Lucas? Okay, I have a lot. BEGIER: Wait‒‒when will we get the CD? MEAD: I will provide that for you shortly. Sorry Kim, I have to keep reminding myself to talk into it so it goes onto her channel. We’ll get you the digital copy. We have a couple things in there; the different authorities reference Hawai‘i County Code, the Charter. So we’ll put all of the information that’s referenced in the powers and authority Page 4 that are granted to the Agency, we’ll put that all as reference manual together on CD. So we’ll get that to you as soon as possible. DELIMA: I appreciate the presentation. I think it was very helpful. I don’t want to go too fast in terms of information, but I think it’s important that in addition to what you’ve included in this packet that we were given today, that if the Board Members could at least get a link to the various studies that have been completed for the Banyan Drive area. I know that there was the Market Study done by the Munekiyo Hiraga Group, and the Banyan Drive Sea-Level Rise Assessment Report, and the Feasibility Assessment for Master Lease Framework. I think the Board Members should get links to all those three studies. I also know that there was a Banyan Drive task force that was appointed previously and I couldn’t find any report from that task force online. I would appreciate receiving that link. I think it would be important to get that. Mr. Tsuji, I appreciate you coming here today. Go ahead. At this time Mr. Russell Tsuji from Department of Land and Natural Resources was asked to approach the table and address the Board Members. TSUJI: The task force really was an informal working group and so there was never any formal minutes or report that came out of it. Ultimately I think this body came out of it, maybe. DELIMA: Oh, okay, that’s great. I saw that Mr. Williams was a member of it. And there was a bunch of other people on it. TSUJI: Yeah, various others. Area Legislators when they could make it. DELIMA: Okay. So I guess we just have to go talk story with them to find out their thoughts. TSUJI: Yeah, they were pretty much advising the Department‒‒ DELIMA: Okay. TSUJI: ‒‒which ultimately led to our doing the studies. DELIMA: Are there other reports or studies that the Board should be made aware of? That maybe we should take a look at? TSUJI: Yeah, we have it‒‒we had it online. I’ll double check. Otherwise I’ll get it to the Department. DELIMA: The three that I spoke to was online. I was able to get those three. TSUJI: Yeah, yeah. Page 5 KANUHA: I also believe there’s another one regarding the Useful Life of buildings‒‒ TSUJI: There is one like that as well. KANUHA: ‒‒that was just conducted. TSUJI: Oh the‒‒ DELIMA: I know you mentioned it at the County Council meeting, about the Useful Life. TSUJI: The Useful Life one was earlier. Now the‒‒there is one that is in draft form. It’s not final yet. KANUHA: The latest one, right. TSUJI: That is currently the final report, that was really a‒‒an architect kind of evaluating the various scenarios or footprints if there was a tear-down versus rebuild, or remodel scenario, and what can be done under the current law. So that is not final yet and is still being worked on. But there’s other‒‒there is a earlier Useful Life, kind of general engineering study on the Useful Life of the buildings. DELIMA: Okay, I appreciate all that. So the‒‒my whole point is that we should‒‒in order for us to get the most information, we have to get all of that. Try get that to us sooner rather than later because it took a while. KANUHA: You know, I think we also have in our files, and I’ll coordinate with the Mayor’s Office on the initial formation of the task force and our various meetings. Because we’ve got, not verbatim minutes, but we’ve got minutes and summaries of previous meetings, agendas, things of that nature that we can put together and get it to you folks as well. DELIMA: Is it possible‒‒and you know, anybody speak up though‒‒is it possible to put it online? To like have the Banyan Drive Redevelopment Agency have a link within the County website and then put all these reports and stuff online so that we can‒‒ KANUHA: Yeah, we can do that. DELIMA: ‒‒you know, we’re starting the process now. We’re transparent from the very beginning; then less criticism of our work. KANUHA: Right. Yeah, we can do that. No problem. DELIMA: Okay. Anybody have any other questions? I got plenty more but I don’t want to monopolize everything so, anyone? Any questions? Okay, Lucas. Page 6 KENOI: I can ask one question? Sorry yeah, Brian. That 30-days‒‒they cannot meet 2 weeks? What if they wanted to meet in two weeks? Maybe like do two week, two week, and then get into one month, one month. I don’t know‒‒I don’t know what kind time you get. DELIMA: Actually, that was my next question because I was ‒‒ KENOI: Or gotta be 30 days. DELIMA: ‒‒when I was watching the Council meeting, as you‒‒they were asking you questions, Duane. They asked you, ‘well how long going take us to come up with a master plan,’ and I think you said by the end of summer. I said, ‘end of summer? We going have to meet every week.’ BEGIER: Every day. DELIMA: I mean that’s what I‒‒when you were saying, I was thinking that. But now, but if it’s the end of summer then you must have some idea of where you want to go with that stuff so I was going to ask Lucas‒‒so what’s the time plan for the Agen‒‒I mean you must have an idea for you guys to think that we can come up with a master plan by the end of summer for a like a proposed process. When do you think we can get a look at the proposed process? Do you think that you’re going to be ready to like punch that out within the next couple of weeks? Or‒‒ KANUHA: Okay, let me‒‒ BRILHANTE: Duane, I’ll address the 30-day requirement and then you can do the administrative matters. KANUHA: Okay, the 30-day requirement on the rules? BRILHANTE: Yeah. The 30-day requirement is only specific to the rules. So we already have the draft rules here with us‒‒ DELIMA: From the last agency? BRILHANTE: Yeah. And what we did, we made some updates, we incorporated some new information to it. So we have a proposed draft. We can have a discussion with that. The only problem‒‒the 30-day requirement comes up because under State law, when you are going to adopt rules for an agency, you need a 30-day publication time period. So once you say, ‘okay, these are the rules we’re going to go forward with, we have a set of draft rules that we’re going to use,’ then we publicize it for 30 days then you guys can adopt it within 30 days. But within that time period, that doesn’t preclude you from doing any other business. So you can have continuous meetings all throughout that time period. The 30 days is just specific to the rules, adoption of the rules. Page 7 DELIMA: So when you going have that ready? You guys have it ready? BRILHANTE: We have the‒‒yeah. DELIMA: Okay, so when are you going to post that? BRILHANTE: No, we’re going to have that discussion later on today. DELIMA: Oh okay. Okay Lucas, back to my question then. Go ahead, Duane. KANUHA: The reason we look‒‒are looking for a somewhat set date for your sessions is that this same team, right, is also involved in, and they also have to administer the Leeward Planning Commission, the Windward Planning Commission, and the Cultural Resources Commission. So those three commissions already have meeting blocks within the month. So what we’re looking for is some idea of‒‒and the window that we came up with was this third week for the formal meetings. I think part of the discussion later on this afternoon, well perhaps even now as we get into it, was to have some dialogue with the Agency in terms of letting the Department begin gathering the resources, contacting various agencies, entities, to kind of put together a series of scenarios; a working series of scenarios. Once those are put together, and we’ll assemble several of those scenarios, then we’ll bring them to the Board for you to make some determination on which scenario you need to do it. The reason we’re asking for that process is because we’re still‒‒we’re still empowered as the HRA anyway. So it’s not that we’re going to be stepping into the shoes of this‒‒of a new agency. And because we have structured the resolution that we’re your transitional support services, that’s a suggestion we want to advance to you. So therefore you wouldn’t have to conduct all of these sessions to get these planning efforts on the way. DELIMA: Anybody have any questions about that? So how long do you think you guys could come up with a process though? Because when the thing says “agency proceeds with implementation‒‒” no, you guys were going to come up with a plan, right? A process? What process are we going to use to come up with a master plan? KANUHA: We’re tentatively looking at, if we get the go-ahead from the Agency to do this, we’re tentatively looking at bringing this‒‒starting this early next month and bringing it to you maybe the end of July, early August. DELIMA: The process? KANUHA: The selections of the scenarios. DELIMA: Oh. Okay. Well, I think we should have a discussion about‒‒I mean, I got no problem with‒‒I mean you guys have been doing this for a while. Everybody’s got some ideas. When I got appointed to this, I started thinking about things too. Page 8 KANUHA: About ideas too. Yeah, exactly. DELIMA: I’m sure everybody has ideas. And we’re all type A personalities. So I think we’d all like to kind of hear the ideas and kind of talk about it. I don’t really want to wait till July or August for that discussion. I think we should have that discussion at the next meeting. I got no problem with the last week of the month, Tuesday to Thursday trying to find‒‒maybe other people got to speak up on that. Then we can have‒‒we can agendize it, say ‘open discussion on process,’ then we can all talk story, you guys come up with the ideas about process. Elmer, Sig, Barry, Mary, myself we going toss up and maybe we can‒‒maybe what we come up with is better than what you guys were thinking of. But I’m sure it would be good to have the discussion sooner rather than later. Because if we go down the road and eh, you know‒‒ KENOI: I agree. KANUHA: Yeah, we all agree with that. And I think we actually have a tentative date for your next meeting, if you’re available, of June 14, which is in‒‒really, really quick, but that’s kind of‒‒ DELIMA: June 14. He was saying the last week of the month; the Tuesday to Thursday. KENOI: That’s staff looking at their schedule. But you know what, you’re the Chairman, you can supersede that. DELIMA: I was okay with that time, but looks like Duane wanted to supersede that. KANUHA: No, that meeting is your regular meeting. At this stage we’d like to speed the process up so these are almost like special meetings. DELIMA: Oh, I see. KANUHA: But we have the, what is it, seven days right‒‒ MEAD: Six days for posting. KANUHA: We have a six-day noticing requirement. DELIMA: For Sunshine‒‒ KANUHA: Yeah. So as long as we can meet that‒‒ At this time a discussion was held to determine the next meeting dates. It was decided that the next meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 22, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. to discuss the rules and process. Agency Members decided the regular, standing meetings will be held on the last Wednesday of the month at 2:00 p.m., with the exception of July. July’s meeting will be held on Page 9 Thursday, July 28, 2016, at 2:00 p.m., due to the known absence of an Agency Member. Regular, standing meetings for the remainder of the year will be held on August 31, September 28, October 26, November 30, and December 28. Chairman DeLima advised the Agency that the meetings shall be kept to one hour, and definitely shall not run longer than two hours. DELIMA: If there’s no objection then we’ll, by consensus, we’ll adopt that as the schedule. Do we have any other business to take up now? I don’t think so. KANUHA: That’s it. DELIMA: That’s it. So I’ll entertain a motion to adjourn. BRILHANTE: One second. We want to give you the proposals so we can have that discuss‒‒so you guys can review it and have a discussion at the next meeting. MEAD: Yeah, we have the‒‒one of the sections we were discussing on contested case, we may‒‒we had a discussion that may change. So we actually need to consult with you a little bit on that and then that may or may not come out. If it does it should be a quick thing that we can get done pretty fast. DELIMA: Well let me put it this way; it’s not on the revised agenda that our rules are being distributed. So what I would suggest is when you guys get the draft together, put it online, we’ll post it on the next meeting, and then we’ll take action the following meeting, in July. That way we will be clean on it. So we can have a dis‒‒we can nd agendize it for the 22 but we cannot take action until the July meeting. Right? BRILHANTE: That’s a good plan. DELIMA: That’s a plan. BRILHANTE: Yeah, good plan. DELIMA: Okay, we all good? BRILHANTE: In the interim period of time before our next meeting, we’ll provide you a copy of the proposed draft rules for discussion at the next meeting. DELIMA: Before we adjourn though, maybe we can go‒‒Elmer you can maybe give some‒‒talk story a little bit; maybe one or two minutes about the Banyan Drive. Sig, myself, you know. We can all talk a little bit. So you guys can at least maybe get a feel of what we’ve been thinking. Let’s try with Elmer. GOROSPE: Well, I don’t think I have two minutes to give you my thoughts of Banyan Drive, but I’m just glad to be part of this committee. I know Banyan Drive has been on the down side for a very long time. I just hope that we can bring back Banyan Drive the way it was before. Page 10 DELIMA: Sig. ZANE: I thought about places like Kā‘anapali or Waikoloa and how the development is kind of like big plan, long view, and I think that those are really neat study cases that we can look at. One of the things that I constantly think about also is how can we create an icon for Hilo, and for example, you take Lāna‘i City and they have the pine trees. Kapi‘olani Park, they have all the ironwoods there. Something as simple as plantings create a really nice space, and with all our rain of course we can really grow nice stuff. I always thought of the ‘ōhi‘a; that’s one thing that you don’t see at Banyan Drive now and with the Lehua being the flower of our island, and the cultural belief that the ‘ōhi‘a is the draw, you know like how the ki‘i at Pu‘uhonua, all those big ones, they’re all made out of ‘ōhi‘a and that’s to invite the gods to reside. It’s basically the same thing; ‘ōhi‘a is to attract, to gather. So even that alone is something that we can think about, but really, how can we build and experience for everybody. Not‒‒and really focusing on our local people. We bring our local people, everyone else will follow. DELIMA: Barry. TANIGUCHI: I think the Banyan area is a real beautiful area, but probably the most beautiful part in East Hawai‘i. With the Wailoa Park blended into Ho‘olulu Park, the Banyan peninsula can be developed into a visitor‒‒we need to upgrade the resort area or hotel area to attract visitors, but I don’t think we should over build it and I think we need to do something there. Don’t ask me what, but I we need to do something and until we get‒‒got this redevelopment agency going, and until the State agreed that we can do something with this‒‒I think now’s the time. One thing that I do want to look at is the two‒‒the privately owned properties. One I know is the HELCO plant. They’re not generating there so maybe we can work something out there. The other one is the ice house that really could be moved away from there too; to maybe to another place. And there’s other places. So I think this gives us the opportunity to look at those things. BEGIER: I was very excited when the Mayor called me. I think he was surprised that I didn’t even let him finish asking before I said yes. Because I’ve watched the‒‒I’m from O‘ahu and my first exposure, really, to Banyan Drive was coming as a tourist and staying at the hotels and then joining Rotary and meeting on the top floor of the Naniloa every Wednesday. I would stand there and think, ‘this is just amazing.’ People pay millions of dollars to go have experience places and I’m just standing here having breakfast every Wednesday morning. This‒‒and you know, that’s such a unique location. I completely agree with Sig to look at the fact that places like Kā‘anapali and Waikoloa have a long- range plan, but I’ll admit my personal bias to not ending up like Kā‘anapali or Waikoloa. I’d like to see Banyan Drive be the place that every other resort area in the state says, ‘Gosh they got it right. They got Hawai‘i.’ DELIMA: Well, I appreciate everyone’s comments and I embrace those thoughts as well. Obviously when your name gets mentioned as being part of this agency, people have different views of what the agency should or should not be doing. But I think Page 11 there’s unanimous agreement that much more needs to be done in a coordinated way. There’s a lot of land there and we need to make the best use to complement the tourist experience as well as the local experience, and have amenities that will serve all of us in a tasteful and culturally sensitive way. I got more specific ideas, but I know some of them are really too far out to mention in public without vetting them between‒‒but there have been suggestions by others about the‒‒what’s possibly could complement the tourist, the people who are coming in on ships and would be so close to give them a positive experience by going to the Banyan Drive and hopefully we can build on that. Duane we’ll give you the last word. KANUHA: Yeah, sure. I think what’s really cool about this particular component is that all of you know we’re into a lot of Downtown multi-modal planning and then we have the Bayfront Trails component coming in, so it’s‒‒Banyan Drive in and of itself is actually this component of a larger smart-growth transpo‒‒I mean pedestrian interaction network that we’re all into at this particular point in time. I think we all know that depending upon what kind of economic revitalization something like this agency can put together then it leads the other components, right, increased airline capacity, for that purpose. The State is actually moving toward the process of relocating the cruise ship terminals closer to the Banyan Drive area. So there’s all these linkages that can be created. Each one of them has its own component to them but together, when you look at it together, it gets to be really a‒‒really just a neat package for all of East Hawai‘i. That’s how we’re looking at it, from that standpoint besides the specific components of Banyan Drive. DELIMA: Okay, anyone else wants to say anything? Okay then, if there’s no objection we’ll stand adjourned. Reconvene on June 22 at 10:00 a.m. Thank you very much. Meeting adjourned at 2:54 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Kim L. Tanaka, Secretary ATTEST: Brian DeLima, Chairperson Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency Page 12