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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-07-07 Hearing Transcript - Cellco Partnership dba Verizon USE 16-063WINDWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAII HEARING TRANSCRIPT JULY 7, 2016 A regularly advertised hearing on the application of CELLCO PARTNERSHIP DBA VERIZON WIRELESS (USE 16-063) was called to order at 9:02 a.m. in the County of Hawaii Aupuni Center Conference Room, 101 Pauahi Street, Hilo, Hawaii with Chairman Gregory Henkel presiding. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Gregory Henkel, Joseph Clarkson, Donn Dela Cruz, Myles Miyasato, and Raylene Moses. ABSENT & EXCUSED: Donald Ikeda. ALSO PRESENT: Duane Kanuha (Planning Director), Danny Patel (Deputy Corporation Counsel for the Windward Planning Commission), Daryn Arai (Planning Program Manager), Jeff Darrow (Staff Planner), Maija Jackson (Staff Planner), Christian Kay (Staff Planner), and Sarah Hata-Finley (Commission Secretary). And 6 members from the public in attendance. APPLICANT: CELLCO PARTNERSHIP DBA VERIZON WIRELESS (USE 16-063) Request for a Use Permit to allow the construction of a new, unmanned telecommunication facility that will include a 195 -foot tall, four -legged steel lattice telecommunications tower with twelve (12) 8 -foot tall panel antennas and related facilities within a 1,500 -square foot portion of a 116 -acre parcel of land situated in the County's Agricultural -20 acre (A -20a) zoning district. The project site is located approximately 1,200 feet southwest of Saddle Road near the 8 -mile marker, Kaumana and Ponohawai Homesteads, South Hilo, Hawaii, TMK: 2-5-002: Portion of 005. HENKEL: The first agenda item is USE 16-063. It's the Cellco Partnership doing business as Verizon Wireless. So, with that, the staff, Christian Kayle [sic], will make his presentation. KAY: Thank you, Mr. Chair. You're doing great so far. HENKEL: I'm a little nervous. KAY: All right, if I can direct your attention to the presentation screen, as the Chair stated, this is a Use Permit application; the Applicant, Cellco Partnership doing business as Verizon Wireless. The subject 116 -acre parcel is located in the South Hilo District of Hawaii Island in the Upper Kaumana area. It's outlined here in red. It may be a little difficult to see. EXHIBIT A For reference, we have Saddle Road running generally east -west through the slide, and the approximately 1,500 -square foot project area will be located toward the north of the subject parcel here that zoomed out a little too much to show where it'd be exactly, but in the next slides we'll show you. Zooming in a little bit, again, here is the subject parcel, 116 acres of which 1,500 square feet will be the project area. Their access to the parcel is from a public right-of-way off of Saddle Road, which goes to the subject parcel. The zoning for the subject parcel and the areas to the east are Agricultural – 20 acres. To the northwest and south are in the forest reserve designation as indicated by the white with trees. To the northeast, we've got again still in Ag -20, but the Kaumana City Subdivision and the closest residential structure is about 2,800 feet away from where the project area is going to be located. This is the State Land Use Boundary Map. The designation for the subject parcel is Agricultural as indicated in the light green as well as the area adjacent to the east. Again, area surrounding consistent with the forest reserve designation are State Land Use Conservation designation as well. The General Plan Land Use Pattern Allocation Guide Map designates the subject parcel and the areas to the east as Extensive Agriculture. The areas, again, surrounding that are Conservation to be consistent with the forest reserve and the area showing the Kaumana City Subdivision up here to the northeast as Rural, as indicated by the mustard color. Here's an aerial photograph of the subject parcel. Again, outlined in red, we've got Saddle Road running east -west. A little difficult to see on the map, but again, there is that public right-of-way connecting to the parcel, and, again, it may be a little difficult to see on the map, but this is going to be the—the project area. From the right-of-way, the Applicant proposes to build a private road on the parcel and access road to the project area. The Applicant is requesting a Use Permit to allow the construction of a new, unmanned telecommunication facility including a 195 -foot tall, four -legged steel lattice telecommunications tower with 12 eight -foot tall panel antennas and related facilities within a 1,500 -square foot portion of a 116 -acre parcel of land situated in the County's Agricultural – 20 acre zoning district. According to the Applicant, Verizon Wireless is seeking to expand its coverage along Saddle Road and to provide service to the Kaumana City and Kaumana Estates Subdivisions located within close proximity to the proposed project by installing this 195 -foot tower near the Hilo Forest Reserve. Much of Saddle Road is currently without cellular coverage because there's a lack of available utility services towards Kona. After Kaumana, this is the last approximate location where utilities are available without an excessive cost. 2 EXHIBIT A Here's the Applicant's submitted site plan. Again, we've got Saddle Road running toward the top of the slide here. The public right-of-way connecting to the subject parcel which is outlined here. And, again, this is going to generally be the location of the project area is. Here on the right is zoomed in a little bit showing the project area and the road that's gonna come down and connect to that from the public right-of-way. Here's the elevations of the 195, four -legged steel -195 -foot, four -legged steel lattice telecommunications facility. Again, just showing it in relationship to some of the height of the vegetation in the area. And, here are some photographs. Just a bit of a caveat. These are from Google Earth taken in 2011. There's been some significant construction going on with the Saddle Road Realignment so it doesn't look exactly like this right now, but this is just showing the view of the entrance to the public right-of-way from Saddle Road currently gated so access is keyed. Here's Saddle Road, again, in 2011, looking west with the subject parcel on the left-hand side, and then Saddle Road looking eastsorry, other way around—on the right-hand side of Saddle Road looking east; the subject parcel on the left hand side. The Planning Director is recommending approval with conditions. And, just one more piece of correspondence that we handed out this morning that came in after the Background and Recommendation went out is from June 13th, 2016, State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation sharing a comment letter on the project. That's my presentation. If there are any questions the Commission may have, I'm happy to answer them. HENKEL: Any questions of staff from the Commissioners? MIYASATO: Chair, I have a question. Christian, could you go back to, I think it was the second slide. Is that, yeah that slide—is that white roadway the Daniel K? KAY: This is theI believe this is going to be where the realignment right-of-way, so as, when it's realigned it will generally follow this, this right-of-way, yes. MIYASATO: Okay, so this letter from the State Department of Transportation pertains to what's existing now? On the Old Saddle Road? KAY: As I read it, it doesn't indicate. My assumption is that it would be, based on their comments, they have no issue with it, whether it's where it is now or where it's going to be. They indicate that the Applicant shall comply with all procedures to obtain all necessary permits required by the Highways Division so as they come through, they're gonna have to follow those requirements as well. 3 EXHIBIT A MIYASATO: Okay, `cause if that roadway gets done prior to the completion of that, I guess would the driveway, an adequate driveway be required? I mean, it seems like they're coming down on a steep it's a steep hill coming down KAY: Yeah MIYASATO: on the turn, you know. KAY: The other thing, too. Keep in mind is there's just going to be very infrequent traffic to the site by maintenance personnel so it won't be that this is a project site where there's going to be a lot of people going to is my understanding. MIYASATO: Okay, thank you. HENKEL: Any other questions? Thank you, Christian. That was a great presentation. KAY: Thank you. HENKEL: Will theoh, I'm sorry. I didn't see Joseph. Did you have a question? CLARKSON: When do we make comments regarding proposed conditions? HENKEL: That would be, I believe, after the Applicant makes their presentation. And with that, will the Applicant and/or their representative please come forward? Please use your microphone and raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth in this matter now before the Planning Commission? MARTIN: I do. HENKEL: All right. Please state your name, the area you reside, and proceed, and speak into the mic. MARTIN: My name is Danette Martin. I live in Kona. HENKEL: Did you receive the Planning Director's Background and Recommendation Report? MARTIN: I did. HENKEL: And you agree with the recommendations and conditions of approval? MARTIN: Yes, I do. HENKEL: Do you have any further comments? 4 EXHIBIT A MARTIN: Yes, I wanted to speak to the issue about the highways, the realignment. We've already been in contact with the Department of Transportation and will coordinate our construction so it doesn't interfere with them. The way we feel right now is that the road will be completed before we start our construction. HENKEL: Okay. Any questions, Commissioners? Mr. Clarkson. CLARKSON: Yes, I guess I've got it on. I noticed that you proposed no lighting of this tower. MARTIN: That's right. CLARKSON: And, the Fish & Wildlife comments were predicated on there being no lighting. But, the FAA leaves it up to you whether or not to put lighting on the tower, and I'm just wondering whether we shouldn't make that a condition. MARTIN: I don't believe you should make it a condition. We actually decreased the height of the tower. The original height was proposed at 200 which would require lighting. And, because Fish & Wildlife were aware of their issues, we've asked, we asked them to reduce the height by five feet to get away from that lighting requirement. CLARKSON: Yes, I understand that, but my, my MARTIN: If for some reason, though, Fish & Wildlife, or if some reason FAA, you never know what's gonna be built in the future, and FAA may require it, and then we'd have to go back to Fish & Wildlife and we'd have to work that out. I think it would be hard to regulate something that should be regulated by a different agency. CLARKSON: Okay, well, I just want to make clear that whether it's lit or not is entirely up to the owner of the tower. MARTIN: No, it's not, because Fish & Wildlife has said no, no lighting, and so we are required and bound to comply with the needed conditions, so we wouldn't be able to light it anyway. CLARKSON: Okay. So, is there a condition for no lighting? KAY: There is not a specific condition that speaks to lighting other than—let me just make sure I'm giving you correct information—the, Condition No. 7 speaks to lighting should it be required and it says the Applicant shall install shield outdoor lights to direct light downwards. The other condition that speaks to kind of generally the requirement to comply with all applicable rules and regulations is Number 10, and that's including FAA and FCC rules. So, that's kind of a catch-all condition that we have that says down the line, the Applicant will need to comply with all applicable rules and laws. CLARKSON: I don't want to continue this too long, but I just would like to point out that compliance would allow you to put marker lights on the tower, and I don't know how much of a 5 EXHIBIT A big a deal that is going to be to Fish & Wildlife if you did decide to put marker lights on the tower, but MARTIN: There's no benefit to the cell phone tower to add lights. It's just an additional cost. We don't like to light towers. We're never going to do it. CLARKSON: Okay HENKEL: Go ahead. CLARKSON: One other suggestion if I may, I don't know what color you're planning to paint it, but I've been told and observed that a dark chocolate brown is the least visible color MARTIN: That's my favorite, too. CLARKSON: —there is. MARTIN: 1-1 don't know if you're familiar, but the Kaumana Business Center has a tower, a Verizon Wireless tower, that's painted. It's the color is ironwood is what it's called. It's kind of a dark brown, but it does have a tinge of green to it, and I think it's very nice. HENKEL: Any other questions? Okay, thank you. You may be seated. We have no one signed in to testify. Is there anybody out there that would like to testify on this matter? Okay, then I would look for a motion to close the public hearing. MOSES: I make a motion to close. HENKEL: Is there a second? DELA CRUZ: Second. HENKEL: It's been moved by Commissioner Moses and seconded by Commissioner Dela Cruz. All in favor? COMMISSIONERS: Aye. HENKEL: Opposed? All right, public testimony is closed. MARTIN (from audience area): Thank you. HENKEL: At this point, the Commissioners have an opportunity to, you know, to discuss what they feel are merits or problems with the project. Does anybody have any comments? I think Commissioner Clarkson made a good point about the height of the tower, you know. If it were five feet taller, from my understanding, it would require, be required to light it. I don't know if Fish and Game would stillif the two agencies would be against each other, but as a former 6 EXHIBIT A aviator, I, you know, appreciate 200 -foot tall things being lit. But, I also like my cell phone. So, anybody have anything to add to that? Any other comments? Then, I would look for a roll call vote. Oh, I'm sorry, I'll look for a motion for action. MOSES: I move that the application for Use Permit Docket 16-063 be approved based on the Planning Director's findings, recommendations, and proposed conditions which shall be adopted. MIYASATO: I second. HENKEL: It's been moved by Commissioner Moses and seconded by Commissioner Miyasato to approve. Roll call vote now, Mr. Kayle [sic]. KAY: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Commissioner Moses? MOSES: Aye. KAY: Commissioner Miyasato? MIYASATO: Aye. KAY: Commissioner Clarkson? CLARKSON: Aye. KAY: Commissioner Dela Cruz? DELA CRUZ: Aye. KAY: And Chair Henkel. HENKEL: Aye. KAY: Okay, motion carries five, nothing. The discussion ended at 9:19 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Sarah Y. Hata-Finley, Secretary Windward Planning Commission 7 EXHIBIT A