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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-06-22 BDHRA Minutes BANYAN DRIVE HAWAI‘I REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I MINUTES June 22, 2016 The Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency met in the County of Hawai‘i, Office of Human Resources, 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 2, Hilo Hawai‘i, with Chairman Brian DeLima presiding. AGENCY MEMBERS PRESENT: Mary Begier, Brian DeLima, Elmer Gorospe, Barry Taniguchi, and Sigmund Zane. ALSO PRESENT: Duane Kanuha (Planning Director), Amy Self (Deputy Corporation Counsel), Daryn Arai (Planning Program Manager), Maija Jackson (Staff Planner), Christian Kay (Staff Planner), and Kim Tanaka (Secretary). A quorum was present. The meeting was called to order by Chairman DeLima at 10:01a.m. At this time the Chair directed the Agency to the first order of business. BUSINESS OF COMMISSION 1. Orientation, review and discussion of a draft conceptual plan for the redevelopment of the Banyan Drive area. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC There were eight people from the public in attendance. DELIMA: We have one statement from the public. Mr. Combs. COMBS: Yes. DELIMA: Well Michael, we have a small group today, so why don’t you introduce yourself and then we’ll go right around the room so you know who’s here. COMBS: I’m Mike Combs. I’m a business consultant, a property owner, or was a property owner, at 101 Banyan Drive. District of Hawai‘i, DBA Ocean Front 121. Trying to reposition to make it an upscale condominium hotel project. Chairman DeLima requested that introductions of all meeting attendees be made at this time. Introductions were made. DELIMA: Okay Michael, you’re on. COMBS: Okay. You see my written testimony, and I purchased the property at Banyan Drive, 121 Banyan Drive, in 2003. So I was concerned about your redevelopment plan. I want to talk today about the concept that I’m trying to ask the County and the Tourist Bureau to work with, and that is the Blue Zone. The Blue Zone is a concept that Hilo community was acknowledged as a‒‒one of twenty designated areas in United States as a Blue Zone. Just a quick recap, these areas all have one thing in common and that is people living there live significantly longer than other communities in the country. As a 75-year-old man, that’s very conscious of his health, I like the concept and I’m here because people live longer. I’ve had the opportunity to travel throughout the world, and I’m telling you that the parks, and walking path, and the exercise facilities available to people in Hilo especially in the Banyan Drive area is second-to-none, with a tempered climate, the level walking area, the ocean breeze, the afternoon clouds that keep‒‒so the incidents of skin cancer and cataracts is less. I’m seeing a shift in the community from the physicians. No longer are they only concerned with fixing the issue, they’re very much involved‒‒getting much more involved in preventative medicine. Mankind was made to walk. We can out walk any creature on this earth. People that walk and are active live longer. I think there’s an opportunity to develop this concept to promote tourism to people who are health conscious. The concept is the 80s are the old 60s. I’m actually in better shape today than I was when I was 60 years old. What would I pay to live‒‒add ten more years of productive life? I came up with a number six months ago, it was over $500,000. That’s why I moved back to Thailand, or moved from Thailand to Hilo because the quality of life is healthier for me here. I get up in the morning, often times three days a week I’m swimming down Carlsmith Beach, looking for the turtles. I walk Lili‘uokalani Park, I play golf more than 20 times a month. I work out at the health co-op three times a week. My blood pressure is between 110 and 120, pulse rate is 60. I’m going to live a long time. Cause I’m on government‒‒Social Security. I paid and I’m going to get my money back. So when you look at the Master Plan of Banyan Drive, and first thank you for being willing to volunteer for this important‒‒because Banyan Drive is the heart and soul of Hilo, could be. I’ve seen the Mayor’s plan with the Merrie Monarch moving over to where the golf course is. That’ll develop tourism. But I think the big picture is to bring tourist in that are health conscious. I would like to see the County promote a senior day. We have special days for veterans; we have special days for every possible group, but nothing for the seniors. We could recognize business owners that are aged that are still contributing; Bobby Fujimoto, HPM, age 92, for example. I won’t mention Barry but uh‒‒ TANIGUCHI: Not quite, almost. COMBS: ‒‒but active member in the community. Maybe our next mayor will maybe in his 80s. Just because in‒‒our next president will be in their 70s. Just because you’re past 65, doesn’t mean you’re put out to pasture. And you, you know, the lesson is use it or lose it. And Banyan Drive gives you the opportunity to use it. Specifically in my case, I don’t think the State will ever have the funds to eliminate all the hotels, which is the main job provider in the Hilo marketplace, and if you really develop this concept of 80s is the new the old 60s and promote softball teams that come in from the mainland, aged Page 2 of 19 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency June 22, 2016 Minutes seniors, golfing teams, tennis, track. It’s happening in California. People like to‒‒old people like to compete. I think you can fill up the hotels. And if you eliminate Reeds Bay and Country Club Hawai‘i and the old Hilo Bay or Pagoda and make it parks, or parking space, you can probably get another 40 parking spaces on oceanfront property where Country Club Hawai‘i is. You can’t rebuild the building because of the setbacks. But you can grant us a long-term lease and we employ right now 11 people. We have the opportunity to sinew the rehabi‒‒revitalize the properties so we’re no longer a blight area. I love it when the Governor calls it a blight and they try to give the property away to Hawaiian Homes Land; they wouldn’t take it. They call it a blight area then they give the problem to the County. And I’m saying that the State is the one that created it. Department of Land and Natural Resources, Gordon. Gordon. With their antiquated land lease laws that doesn’t allow for reopening at the 20 year point, so you can’t refinance the three, or four, or five million dollars needed to renovate 146 rooms at the Country Club cause you can’t get the financing and a licensing agreement from the State of Hawai‘i. They think that’s fair. And if you do grant a lease, you ought to have a clause in there that states that any, if you, the current lessee holder, license holder does not get the new lease, they are‒‒the new leaseholder will required to absorb the debt to the vendors in the Hilo marketplace. I think Country Club Hawai‘i probably owes the vendors in Hilo marketplace, including the County of Hawai‘i and HELCO approximately $650-$700,000. It wouldn’t be fair to lack‒‒have all the vendors in the Hilo community lose. That concludes my testimony. (To Arthur Henry) Did you bring any photographs? HENRY: No, I didn’t. I‒‒ COMBS: This is my friend, Arthur Henry, who owns one of the front units. And I wanted him to bring colored photographs because you can make a purse out of a sow’s ear. His property has granite in it, Koa wood, ocean front. It’s absolutely gorgeous in the morning and in the morning sun. It is an excellent use of that property; highest and best use of that property. It’s not a parking lot. Any questions? DELIMA: Any members have any questions? TANIGUCHI: Just to clarify. It is the old Travel Lodge building that you’re talking about? COMBS: Yes. DELIMA: Okay, any other questions? COMBS: The 65-year lease expired in March 14, 2015. Difficult to operate a complex by the licensing agreement on month-to-month. Page 3 of 19 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency June 22, 2016 Minutes TANIGUCHI: What happened? I have a question about that, ownership of the property. Is it a mixed condo‒‒or I mean, how is it held up? COMBS: Zoning is hotel/condo. TANIGUCHI: No, no, the zoning, right? The ownership. Are individual units sold as condos and‒‒ COMBS: Yeah. Yes, as a condominium. The 146 individual units‒‒ TANIGUCHI: So the whole‒‒everyone? Every one of them are condos? COMBS: Yes. Yes. And originally, the master lease was owned by Araki‒‒ TANIGUCHI: Hirata. COMBS: Herb. And two years ago, Country Club Hawai‘i owners association received the master lease. And that is what expired. TANIGUCHI: Thank you. DELIMA: Okay, thank you. Chairman DeLima called upon Planning Manager, Daryn Arai, to present an orientation of a draft conceptual plan for the redevelopment of the Banyan Drive area. (SEE EXHIBIT A) Mr. Arai provided brief overviews of existing plans that were taken into consideration when creating the Conceptual Redevelopment Plan Land Use and Masterplan. These plans include the HRA Kaiko‘o Amended Urban Renewal Plan (1965), County of Hawai‘i General Plan (1971, revised 2005), Hilo Community Development Plan (1975), and specific plans which include Hilo Bayfront trails (2009), Hawai‘i Island Commercial Harbors 2035 Master Plan Update (2011), and Kuawa Sports Fields Development (2015). Planning Director Duane Kanuha then presented an orientation of the draft conceptual redevelopment land use and masterplan. KANUHA: To give you some background, I spent a lot‒‒I worked at the Naniloa in 1960‒‒between 1963 and 1966. That’s when you had‒‒Country Club was the Travel Lodge, right next door Banyan Drive was the Nalei Hotel, Orchid Isle Hotel. There was a night club, a restaurant facility right in here, Uncle Billy’s was here, Hilo Hawaiian wasn’t there. But essentially during those peak years, that area of Banyan Drive was happening, I mean there was traffic all night long, there was people moving from hotel to hotel. During that era there were direct charter flights coming in from Chicago, straight from Chicago to Hilo. The guests would come in and stay at the various hotels, get up the next morning, head over to Volcano, Hilo and out. And that was going on three times a week back in the heyday. So I have some affinity for Banyan Drive based on the way it was back then. Page 4 of 19 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency June 22, 2016 Minutes What we’ve done is we’ve kind of overlaid some of the elements that we talked about earlier. So again, the purple area here is the Banyan Drive area of the Kaiko‘o Urban Renewal Plan. To back it up a little bit, the designation for the Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency component, this is about 142 acres, okay, 142 acres. Out of that, the State owns approximately ninety-one percent. Ninety-one percent. The federal government owns a small piece, a lighthouse out here on the point, and the remaining acreage, I believe it’s about 12 acres, is all in private‒‒privately held. So getting back to how it fits into the component that we talked about earlier, this overlay shows again the Kaiko‘o Redevelopment Area, the Hilo Bayfront Trails, which actually is‒‒we view it as a connector component because the County is also well on its way to developing a multi- modal transportation master plan for Downtown Hilo. It’s kind of a complete streets; that kind of an element within Hilo. So with that plan in place for Hilo, Bayfront Trails, natural linkage to Banyan Drive and everything that happens there, we believe provides a lot of synergy between the resort uses out here and activities that are going on Downtown, connected by these series of trails. This illustration is a conceptual redevelopment plan taking a lot of those elements into consideration. It’s‒‒this is one of those exercises that you know, as a planner, it really gets you, gets your juices going. It’s something where you can create something, you don’t have a blank sheet, there’s certain components that are there, what the variables are that go on around it \[are\] already in there. As you can see, most of the components that we talked about earlier have been integrated into this conceptual plan, just right off the top. There’s a couple of things that this plan conceptually advances. This is based on a number of thought processes. The first one is to kind of create some kind of commercial area, which already exists to a certain extent, down in this intersection between Kamehameha and Kanoelehua. And if you notice, the facilities up here in this area are not shown on this plan for a number of reasons. Number one, in discussion with a lot of the tourist‒‒tourism industry folks, and some real estate development components, there was some doubts as to whether or not any new investment into hotels‒‒timeshares actually came up as a component for that too because if you’re in the resort development, hotel development business, you understand that if you, you can provide a component of that, that is a timeshare development, you can pay off the project a lot faster. That gives you other alternatives in terms of operating revenue, etcetera, etcetera. The thought here was that the kind of investment that may be attracted to this area‒‒one of the detractions was actually would be considering a new project with a view of the harbor, the view of a working harbor. And with the new cruise ship terminal moving closer into that, that’s kind of, would be the overlook. So that’s what this concept depicts. I think that’s going to be an interesting consideration that the Agency needs to, is going to, take a look at. Particularly when we, when we use the old site of the Orchid Isle Hotel. Now you can see there’s a lot of public use in that particular area. What we also needed to take into consideration was that the 91 percent landowner in this area, the State, they derive a substantial amount of their income off of the lease rent in there so we, you know, we got to kind of balance that out besides just the aesthetics and Page 5 of 19 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency June 22, 2016 Minutes functional component of it. So this particular plan calls for another hotel here. On second thought, after going back and forth, I believe we also should have taken in to consideration, and we probably will, some kind of resort development for Uncle Billy’s, which is kind of right between Hilo Hawaiian and Naniloa. This one doesn’t show, it shows another park area, but this was generated probably late in 2015, just a conceptual thing. As we went through it, we see some refinements that we could have considered a little more closely. But what this plan shows is for another hotel here on the Lili‘uokalani side, basically to capture the views that you have going this way, Hilo Hawaiian, Naniloa, and that back and forth. The cornerstone for this is some kind of community cultural center, situated within a portion of the golf course area. Again that’s, that has long been viewed as the one thing that would really pull all of these together. Just hotels itself, you know, the investment interest probably wouldn’t be generated as much. Along with that, the thought process was community cultural center type function, but essentially if this venue would perhaps be the new venue or the new home for the Merrie Monarch activity, then you’d have all of the activities centralized in one area. This commercial area, proposed commercial area‒‒the HELCO plant is right here, Suisan is right here. This is‒‒was put in as a thought, as a thought because back in the old days there was a line of shops there; shave ice, mom and pop stores right across from the harbor. So something along those lines was put in this plan as a conceptual thought. Those are pretty much the main elements that went into this plan. All of you have copies of it here. What we did was kind of refine that, make it more specific to project areas, same components, open spaces, sides, some kind of a community cultural center in the middle. Naniloa, second thought Uncle Billy’s‒‒so Naniloa, Uncle Billy’s, Hilo Hawaiian, perhaps a newer hotel on this side, with some kind of connection to the cultural center there. Some proposed commercial along Suisan. As you all know, with the Suisan expanding, you know just the market place into the poke area and the restaurants back there, it started to get that kind of feeling there. We’ve had some recent discussions with HELCO and there’s some thinking within HELCO that at one point in time that this plant has a possibility to be repurposed for another other kind of use. They’re kind of receptive to that it seems, right now. But right now it does serve as kind of a distribution step down facility, even though it’s not in their grid, or their additional power demands for this‒‒for Banyan Drive and the whole area. And by the way, they are going to be updating the distribution system within Banyan Drive in two phases. The first phase is going to go all the way to Hilo Hawaiian. That’s going to be real soon, I guess it’s what the plan is. And then the next phase will upgrade all the systems all the way down to‒‒was down to the harbor or Ice‒‒Ice Pond, yeah? ARAI: Ice Pond. KANUHA: ‒‒Ice Pond, all the way down to Ice Pond, around this area. So we took that opportunity during that discussion to inquire about capacity and they said yeah you got, you got a lot of capacity for‒‒for whatever projects you may have in mind. They were not privy to this so, it was just on that kind of discussion phases. Page 6 of 19 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency June 22, 2016 Minutes Kuawa Sports Complex, that’s underway. Some proposed commercial here on the corner. Some of the old timers thinking here was lei stands, that kind of activity around there. The hotels over here are real interested in being involved in the mix. I believe Hukilau has a State lease of a small hotel and square foot area for the parking lot. So there’s elements of that whole effort going on over there. Now, stepping out there a little bit, how do we envision this being done? There’s a lot of work that has to be done to move this forward. What we’re looking for is we’re looking for you to take a look at the graphics, think outside the box. You know, figure out what you want to do, what your particular views are of how this will happen. In the meantime we’re proposing to take this conceptual development plan out for community workshops. thth The first one’s going to be scheduled for the 28, and the next one will be July 5. So the two of them will be in Hilo; they’re going to be Aupuni Center, going to be in the evening. It’s basically putting this on the wall and see what kind of reaction we get from people. So what our plan is to generate some community feedback on what the concept is here. And at the same time you all can start developing your own concepts for that purpose. We’ll get together after that, do some assembling. Now we’ll also have to dig in a little further as we kind of refine these concepts in terms of how these get implemented. One of the thought processes we’re looking at to move this along the line is, the Department of Land and Natural Resources had commissioned a number of studies, and I think you have access to that under the site, and one of the alternatives we looked at was a master lease concept. And so we’ve been, kind of been, in real informal discussions with them in terms of‒‒about a master lease concept to HRA. That’s how you would be implementing your master plan once you get it adopted. That’s still in the discussion stages, but that’s an alternative there. Some of the uses that we’re looking at are the commercial components and that‒‒those right now aren’t really super consistent with the General Plan, but we’re in the process of updating the General Plan at the same time so we feel that there could be consistency there in some point in time. That’s essentially all we have, yeah, for this part of it. Rules‒‒who’s going to do the rules? DELIMA: Before we move to the rules though‒‒ KANUHA: Oh yeah, is there anything you guys want to add? DELIMA: Any of the members have questions? I just had a‒‒I notice the General Plan doesn’t even have the commercial in that plan. So if we adopt a plan, it has to be adopted by the Council. Does that adoption automatically amend the General Plan? Or do you have to initiate a General Plan amendment to do some of the commercial aspects of the plan? Page 7 of 19 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency June 22, 2016 Minutes KANUHA: Whichever way the plan turns out, we’re in the process of comprehensively updating the General Plan now. So that’s going to be our vehicle. So in other‒‒in this particular case, this plan is going to drive any inconsistencies in the General Plan. DELIMA: And then I noticed that, I don’t know if it was the General Plan or the two (inaudible) development plan, but it was always envisioned that the accommodations on the peninsula would be short-stay. So are the condominiums a non-conforming use of the property now? KANUHA: You know, again, that’s why Daryn pointed that out earlier, that when the original HRA plan was put into place, the hotels and the condominiums were not part of that. This time around, we’ve embraced them into their‒‒mainly to assist us and Department of Land and Natural Resources, to kind of take a look at what we want to do with those individual leases on a comprehensive basis instead of a case-by-case, month- by-month, etcetera. That’s going to be an area that the Agency is going to have to deal with, residential use versus more transient use. DELIMA: It’s a‒‒Hilo Community Redevelopment Plan says that the peninsula will serve mostly short-stay tourists 950 units, recommends hotel expansion. So that didn’t really address the condominiums usage at the time. KANUHA: No. No. TANIGUCHI: Actually they weren’t getting condominium units at the time. DELIMA: At the time. When they developed the Hilo Plan? TANIGUCHI: I think Country Club was the first condo that they built there. KANUHA: I think so, but they weren’t under the HRA. They were just under the regular zoning which allowed multi-family‒‒ DELIMA: Oh, I see. KANUHA: ‒‒condo development. DELIMA: And that pier, is that‒‒I know 2035 seems like a long time away but actually it’s only 18 years away so, it’s not that far away in a way. When‒‒I mean is it envisioned that that will be completed in 2035 or is there a plan that’s‒‒what’s‒‒I don’t know what the story is‒‒ ARAI: Yeah, that‒‒it’s anticipated to be completed by 2035, but exactly when I’m not too familiar. KANUHA: (To Gordon Heit) I think you guys are moving to the ocean view‒‒ Page 8 of 19 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency June 22, 2016 Minutes At this time Gordon Heit, Department of Land and Natural Resources, Land Management Hawai‘i District Land Agent provided clarification on the discussion. HEIT: Yeah, we’ve already, not set aside, but we have arranged for agreement with DOT on those leases that were on (inaudible) they expired last year. Right now they’re on month-to-month permits until such time that DOT could take them over. KANUHA: So both the State and DOT are clearly moving in that direction to make that happen. DELIMA: Does anybody have any other questions, comments, thoughts? Okay. KANUHA: Okay, thank you. Again, call any of our staff, call me anytime, any thoughts you have, we’re completely open. This obviously is a priority for our office and so it may seem that it’s an aggressive schedule, because it is. But if it gets to be too aggressive, for what your thoughts are, just let us know and we’ll kind of go with how you want it. DELIMA: I had another question. You know the hotel that you’re proposing? TANIGUCHI: On Lili‘uokalani. DELIMA: Yeah, is that on the existing road? They’ll be on the golf course side of the existing road? Is that correct? TANIGUCHI: No. No I think it’s‒‒ KANUHA: Actually, no. This conceptual plan‒‒ DELIMA: Okay. I thought they were moving the road. I guess they’re not. KANUHA: ‒‒again, and this is after a lot, not a lot, but some focus discussions with the industry folks. They had reservations about a hotel that was on the mauka side of a roadway that the guests would have to pass. So this concept is based on Banyan Drive being relocated inside, so the hotel is on the Lili‘uokalani side of the property. Now that being said, there’s some thinking going on that there may be another way to accomplish that without moving Banyan Drive by some adjustments to circulation. In other words, maybe you could come in and circle out and go back down, so that the hotel can be mauka of the roadway but still have some kind of access through there, particularly since Banyan Drive has a loop going outside, there’s an alternative loop. So again, that’s a concept that was put on this plan and they put it on the board, but the longer it stays on there, the more you kind of look at it and go, ‘Why did we do that now? How much does this cost now?’ So that’s what that’s all about there. DELIMA: Okay. Page 9 of 19 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency June 22, 2016 Minutes COMBS: Duane, just a quick question. The properties to the south or east of Country Club Hawai‘i is a apartment building with 17 years lease remaining. Do you envision the State buying‒‒ KANUHA: Which building is that? COMBS: ‒‒the apartment building. DELIMA: Reeds Bay you mean? COMBS: No, no. Bayview Banyan. KANUHA: Oh, Bayview. COMBS: There’s, I believe, 17 years remaining on the lease. After a short discussion, it was clarified that the building of discussion is the old Nalei Hotel. DELIMA: Oh, that has 17 more years on that one? COMBS: Yes, and so the question I have is feasibility; is the State going to have the funds to buy out that lease? If not, maybe the Country Club Hawai‘i could get a 17-year lease and we could redevelop Country Club Hawai‘i. Second, is if you destroy the Country Club Hawai‘i building, the State should be aware that it is a significant amount of asbestos in each room. The ceiling and all the water pipes, hot water pipes, are wrapped like a navy boiler ship with asbestos. So the expense of removing the asbestos when you remove the building is significant and oughta be crank into your recommendation. DELIMA: Well maybe make it part of the 17-year lease that they got to get rid of it all. KANUHA: Another thing with the Country Club‒‒Country Club Hotel site, which is the old Travel Lodge, is that in terms of developable density and things of that nature, that structure, I mean there’s room to get more on that property. That’s something under consideration. But in order for that to happen, at least the structure has to come down. But there’s enough, there’s more than enough room both side-to-side and also height. So those are the kinds of things that will be starting to flesh out once a concept starts getting into place. DELIMA: You know the other thought, just to‒‒sometimes this is dangerous to think out loud, but you were talking about why a hotel wouldn’t work on that side of the property, because of the view. But maybe a condo would work. BEGIER: Yeah. Page 10 of 19 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency June 22, 2016 Minutes DELIMA: Because people like to live next to the ocean, people like to retire and like Mr. Combs said, there’s a lot of recreational‒‒maybe, I don’t know if having built-in number of residences is a healthy thing for the plan. Because if you had a lot of people there, that might generate activity. But anyway that’s‒‒I just want to toss that out that not necessarily‒‒ KANUHA: That’s perfectly valid, yeah. DELIMA: And then we could think of that’s‒‒there’s a market for that. That, I tell you, I think people would love to move there and live in that area, right next to the ocean. GOROSPE: Interesting you mentioned that. You know, we do represent a lot of hotels and resorts throughout the state. More and more hotel community has a combination of condominiums, a combination of timeshare. If you look at even the study, I believe, that was provided to us at least for view, you know there isn’t enough of the ratio, at least, for accommodations. What we have available and the usage of it for hotel versus the amount that we have. There’s a big gap here on the Big Island. But when you look at, when you look at the ratio for timeshare and condominium, the gap, or at least the ratio, is so much higher, which I think it does make sense. In fact a lot of hotels now has been converting into, at least a portion of the resort, to timesharing condos. So I think, you know, I think that is a great idea. DELIMA: And then you can have the commercial on the bottom floor. You can make the bottom floor commercial, build up the condo and the hotel, timeshares. I think it would kind of create some density of activity that might generate for restaurants and other uses in the area. But I love the idea of a relocation of the, I mean the cultural activity‒‒but there needs to be‒‒I mean like right now, you got the Merrie Monarch, they have the view from the camera, and sometimes you have a nice night. What‒‒if the camera shoots the Merrie Monarch at this area, where’s that shot going to be from? And where is it going to pan out to? I think we need some vision of that. KANUHA: Some of the conceptual‒‒again, a lot of this is based on view plains plus function‒‒so the orientation of the center, as well as the hotels and that’s why the hotels and stuff are there, is to orient that towards the bay and Mauna Kea. DELIMA: So the Merrie Monarch is one month of the year so my thinking, again out loud, is that so you have X number of hālau in Hilo, or support groups. So if they were able to utilize and have a cultural investment, where they could actually have activities for their hālau or their‒‒you know like how they do that North Shore, Waimea Park, where they could actually‒‒tourists could actually visit, maybe participate for a fee, the hālau could actually generate monies and activities within that. And then they would have to have a non-profit governing board. That has to be all thought out but. Is that what’s‒‒ I know that somebody sat down and thought about, ‘Okay this is what‒‒’. That needs to be fleshed out, I guess, a little bit more. Page 11 of 19 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency June 22, 2016 Minutes KANUHA: Oh yeah. DELIMA: Mary. BEGIER: When I served on the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts there was a lot of discussion that came before us for input on a hula center. And there was discussion about it being built in Kaka‘ako and I argued for it to be on Hawai‘i Island because I felt that was a more natural thing and there was a lot of interest. Sig, you probably know better, way better, about what I’m talking about here. So I just want to‒‒there’s outside the island state support for that idea. It wasn’t poo-poo’d at all. I wanted to also make a statement about timeshares. There’s a‒‒people have a‒‒kind of go “Ooh, timeshare,” that’s got a negative connotation, but actually the timeshare industry has self-policed and been forced by some regulatory at different levels to clean themselves up as well, and has really made tremendous progress. The way that the hoteliers are embracing timeshares, is that as costs increase for hotels some of them face not even being in the business any longer, the risk is just too great, and timeshare alleviates that. By being able to spread out the maintenance costs; you got partners, essentially. So I think that Member DeLima’s idea to be‒‒to look at that harbor is not a negative one. The‒‒when they first marketed One Waterfront Tower on O‘ahu, there was a lot, people made fun of Bruce Stark for putting in development in that area, and yet almost every single buyer of that first flushes of them bought because they had a view of the harbor. There were several people that said it’s like Hong Kong in America. You get all the protections of American ownership, but you get the excitement of Hong Kong. And so I can see a similar‒‒we have a little tiny harbor area that’s got a lot going on. So for people that are into that component‒‒the others want to look at palm trees sway, that’s a wonderful thing to do, but there might actually be more people interested in something happening as opposed to‒‒because you can’t see the palm trees in the dark, but the harbor, you can. That’s all. Thank you. At this time Chairman DeLima allowed member of the public, Arthur Henry, to ask a question. HENRY: I’m curious how the Otto Rose property fits in the mix of your plan. DELIMA: What property? HENRY: Otto Rose. DELIMA: Is that the JD Banyan Broiler? HENRY: Right next to the Country Club. DELIMA: Yeah, yeah. So that’s the‒‒ KANUHA: Yeah, it’s a private piece of property about 91,000 square feet. It was actually‒‒ Page 12 of 19 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency June 22, 2016 Minutes HENRY: Fee simple. KANUHA: Yeah, it’s actually owned by a trust out of Kaua‘i, I believe. HEIT: Bender \[Blissard\] trust. KANUHA: Bender \[Blissard\] trust, yeah. HENRY: So that doesn’t fit into the plan at all because it’s fee simple? KANUHA: No, it fits into the plan. The purpose of this plan is to create a template and hopefully, a template with some certainty in terms of if you’re going to do something there, this is what you can do. You go through one agency that pretty much gives you the go-ahead to go. So hopefully that there’ll be some incentive for the owners of the private property in here to actually gain some benefits from that kind of‒‒I know Naniloa has been trying to communicate with those guys and they haven’t‒‒they’ve been unresponsive let’s put it that way. HENRY: Yeah, I’ve tried too. I have a friend that’s interested in the property and that’s why I asked about it. But they don’t respond. DELIMA: We could‒‒we would have the authority to condemn and resell? KANUHA: Yeah, if you want. It’s part of the‒‒ DELIMA: In other words if they were totally non-responsive and they didn’t want to communicate‒‒ KANUHA: You know, I think, I think that has to be used‒‒ DELIMA: For public purpose? KANUHA: Yeah, for public purpose but with discretion because it is a key‒‒I mean if things cannot move because this guy sits‒‒ DELIMA: I just, say for example there was a timeshare developer that wanted to develop in that particular area. They wanted to, to give you an example‒‒like a well-known one that has developed a lot of timeshares in Kona, and they wanted to develop that area into timeshare network and they needed that piece. KANUHA: Right. DELIMA: Then‒‒ Page 13 of 19 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency June 22, 2016 Minutes KANUHA: The difficulty is you know the Agency has the ability to go down that road, but if you do, that’s a long one. BEGIER: Yeah, that’s a long road. KANUHA: It’s much better to see if you can catch ‘um with some sugar instead. DELIMA: Sometimes though‒‒because I’ve been involved in friendly condemnations because you can get a tax benefit. TANIGUCHI: Oh yeah. BEGIER: Right. KANUHA: There’s alternatives to that. DELIMA: So you could do one that’s friendly. But anyway, so any more questions about the conceptual redevelopment plan? thth KANUHA: Okay. Again, we’re going to go out on the 28 and the 5. We’ll be conducting the meeting and providing the background. It would be helpful if you can come. If you can’t make it, not problem, we’ll‒‒ DELIMA: I think this is a good start though. And I appreciate all the work that the planners have put into this. I know it is an opportunity for us to put our two cents, but at least the public has something to react to. KANUHA: Correct. DELIMA: And also to make suggestions. TANIGUCHI: When is that going to be advertised; the hearing? KANUHA: I beg your pardon? TANIGUCHI: When are those meetings being advertised? Or are they being advertised? KANUHA: Today. TANIGUCHI: Okay. DELIMA: Tomorrow there’s going to be an article in the Tribune Herald. KAY: So we’re going to be sending out to all of the lessees and landowners a‒‒the conceptual plans as well as the invitation to come out. I think that’s the extent to how Page 14 of 19 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency June 22, 2016 Minutes we’re going to advertise it. So those who have direct interest in‒‒that’s over 240 right now. KANUHA: So you all will get noticed about the presentation. Logistics of time and place for the informational meeting was provided to the Agency. A reminder was given about the maximum number of members in attendance allowed by the Sunshine Law. DELIMA: Okay, so that’s‒‒we’re done with the orientation, review and discussion. That was a great orientation. BEGIER: Can I? One‒‒ DELIMA: Yup, Mary. BEGIER: For distribution of this, do you think we could make sure to get a notice to the Chamber and to the Board of Realtors because they would be key. The Chambers, really all the Chambers, they’ve been so active in the Downtown Plan and all that. I know you guys have worked with all. I think it shows that desire to collaborate. KANUHA: Okay. BEGIER: Thank you. A short discussion was held regarding the possibility of widespread email notifications. Mr. Arai stated that the initiative at this current time has been to the utility companies, certain concerned government agencies, and the landowners. Chairman DeLima suggested that the email be sent to all the organizations in Hilo. Agency Member Begier announced that Myles Yoshioka at the Chamber has a group email list that he may be willing to share. At this time the Chair directed the Agency to the second agenda item under Business of Commission. 2. Review of draft Rules of Practice and Procedure for the Banyan Drive Hawaiʻi Redevelopment Agency. DELIMA: Okay, why don’t we go to the review of Draft Rules and Practice Procedure and maybe, Amy, you can tell us what is it, if we adopt the draft rules, do we have to wait a particular time for us to take action on it? SELF: Yeah, it has to go to public hearing. DELIMA: Okay. Page 15 of 19 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency June 22, 2016 Minutes SELF: So I think that this is just for you guys to review and see if you‒‒it’s important to get your input first and make sure that you guys are all okay with this before taking it out to the public. DELIMA: Okay. The only thing that I was going to suggest to add is that for public comment, we should have a time limit for testimony. ARAI: Okay. DELIMA: Not that Michael talked too long or anything today, but we should just have a time, suggested time limit. SELF: Average is three minutes. ARAI: Is there a particular‒‒just to let you know, Planning Commissions general is three minutes for testifiers. DELIMA: Okay. Well, I think we can‒‒Board of Education, we give four minutes. BEGIER: Wouldn’t it be better to be consistent with the Planning Commission? A short discussion was held to determine the length of time to be allowed for public testimony. Agency members agreed to limit public testimony to three minutes, with the option to permit more time. DELIMA: Okay, any other com‒‒yes sir. At this time Chairman DeLima allowed Arthur Henry, member of the public, to provide a comment. HENRY: This might be an opportune time to ask permission for something I’ve been doing on the side. I love Banyan Drive. I love the area, I love my condo, and I don’t want to lose ‘um. And so I started years ago to try and dress up Banyan Drive and I adopted a tree, the Kāwananakoa tree. That’s a friend of mine; the family is a good friend of mine. In fact, I might even be able to twist Abigail’s arm to donate some money to the Merrie Monarch cultural idea. And I have talked to a lot of businesses and I’ve got commitments, verbally, but confirmed several businesses to adopt a tree, plant flowers, beautify Banyan Drive so it won’t cost the County anything. I don’t‒‒when I was working on the Kāwananakoa tree, I saw a County truck come by one day and a big Hawaiian got out, came over, he said, ‘Did you ask anybody permission before you started doing this?’ I put my arms out and said, ‘No sir.’ And he just smiled and he said, ‘You have no idea who I am, do you?’ and I said, ‘No sir.’ He said ‘Gil Kahele. This is my pet. I’ve ran on a platform of beautifying Banyan Drive.’ And so with him, and my girlfriend, we talked to him several times, got all the signs redone so it looked fairly decent and that‒‒I’m just asking if the County would be interested in me spearheading getting a bunch of people to adopt a tree. Page 16 of 19 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency June 22, 2016 Minutes DELIMA: Okay. Now, I appreciate you coming to the meeting, but because we are governed by Sunshine Law, we cannot discuss something that’s not agendized. HENRY: Oh, okay. I’m sorry. DELIMA: No, no, no. I just wanted to make sure you understand that‒‒ HENRY: Okay. DELIMA: ‒‒that if you want to send the Agency a letter to put on a future agenda, so we can properly agendize it and you can come and testify, then you can just write to the Agency and after the meeting Daryn or somebody will give you the address. HENRY: Thank you. DELIMA: But uh, it would be improper for us to engage in discussion on something that was not properly agendized. HENRY: Okay, well the seed’s planted so‒‒ DELIMA: Yeah, and I didn’t want to just cut you off because we have a small group. HENRY: No, I appreciate the input. DELIMA: So let’s go to the draft rules and practices. So could we schedule the public hearing, for example at 9:45 a.m. on our next meeting day, and then action at the Agency meeting at 10? The Agency and staff discussed the date and time for the next meeting. Mr. Arai notified the Agency that a rule summary notice would be posted in the Hawai‘i Tribune Herald and the West Hawai‘i Today, to allow for the minimum 30-day advance notice as prescribed by law. Ms. Self advised the Agency and staff that they must hold a public hearing specifically for the adoption of rules, which must be placed on an agenda separately from the regularly scheduled Agency meeting as required in Chapter 91. Agency members agreed to meet at 1:45 p.m. to take public testimony regarding the rules, followed by the regularly scheduled meeting at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 28, 2016. DELIMA: Okay, so we reviewed it, we’re okay with it. Make the suggested time limit on the testimony, public hearing is going to be at our‒‒prior to or next Agency meeting, th and our Agency meeting will be at 2:00 p.m. on the 28. ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS 1. Approval of minutes from the May 31, 2016 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency meeting. Page 17 of 19 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency June 22, 2016 Minutes DELIMA: Okay, so if there’s no objection, we’ll move to Administrative Matters, which is the approval of the minutes that were circulated. Is there a motion to approve the minutes as circulated? BEGIER: So moved. TANIGUCHI: Second. DELIMA: Is there any corrections or comments regarding the minutes? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. ALL: Aye. DELIMA: Opposed, say nay. Motion is carried. 2. Update on available website resources. DELIMA: Daryn, I thought you did a great job putting everything on there. Was easy to use and locate. The staff did a good job if it wasn’t you. ARAI: Thank you, I was going to mention. Yeah, Luke who couldn’t be here today and Kim worked really hard on putting it all together so I appreciate their efforts. If there’s any resource that you are aware of that you feel should be on, then please let me know and we’ll do our best to place it on there. DELIMA: And the public has access to that? ARAI: They definitely will. In fact, in our summary notice on the rules we’re actually going to point toward that resource as well in the letter that we send to all of the landowners. DELIMA: And then if they wanted to provide public testimony, there’s a link to do that online? ARAI: At the meeting next week, the informational meeting, we’re actually going to have like a comment sheet and on the comment sheet we’ll have where they can provide written comments as well as our department email address where they can send all their emails. JACKSON: We’re also posting that comment sheet online so that people can download it off of your website and fill it out and then mail it in or email it to us. DELIMA: The last question I had was if they, Chamber or Rotary Club or somebody, wanted to have a presentation at their luncheon meetings, is‒‒can the Department accommodate that? Or who should they contact? Page 18 of 19 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency June 22, 2016 Minutes ARAI: They can contact me and the Director will work to assign. DELIMA: Because I think that they may not be able to make the 4:30 meeting, but you know, I think that if we could‒‒if we sent out the email blast, that might generate some desire to see a presentation and once you start doing that, it’s just going to generate discussion in town and next thing you know everybody wants to provide ideas. ARAI: And now that we formally presented our PowerPoint presentation to the Agency, then we can actually make it available widely. DELIMA: And I think, I think all the members of the Agency welcome public input so we can entertain anyone’s ideas on what’s best for that area so we can be fully informed of what people think should be done. ARAI: Absolutely. Thank you. DELIMA: If we don’t have any further business, next meeting is July 28. If there’s no objection we’ll stand adjourned. Okay no objection. Stand adjourned. Thank you. Meeting adjourned at 11:13 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Kim L. Tanaka, Secretary ATTEST: Brian DeLima, Chairperson Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency Page 19 of 19 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency June 22, 2016 Minutes