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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-07-29 BDHRA Minutes BANYAN DRIVE HAWAI‘I REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I MINUTES July 28, 2016 The Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency met in the County of Hawai‘i, Aupuni Center Conference Room, 101 Pauahi Street, Hilo Hawai‘i, with Chairman Brian DeLima presiding. AGENCY MEMBERS PRESENT: Mary Begier, Brian DeLima, Elmer Gorospe, Barry Taniguchi (in at 1:55p.m.), and Sigmund Zane. ALSO PRESENT: Duane Kanuha (Planning Director), William Brilhante (Assistant Corporation Counsel for the BDHRA), Daryn Arai (Planning Program Manager), Lucas Mead (Staff Planner), Christian Kay (Staff Planner), and Kim Tanaka (Secretary). A quorum was present. The meeting was called to order by Chairman DeLima at 1:45p.m. At this time the Chair directed the Agency to the first order of business. BUSINESS OF COMMISSION 1. Update on the Hilo Bayfront Trails project as it pertains to the project’s features and alignment within the Banyan Drive redevelopment area. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC There were twelve people from the public in attendance. DELIMA: We have one person who’s signed up for testimony. That would be Donald Inouye. Mr. Inouye, thank you for coming today. INOUYE: Yeah, I’m Donald T. Inouye and my wife and I are the corporate owners of Reeds Bay Resort Hotel and we assumed complete corporate ownership in 2002 and have converted the Reeds Bay building from individual sublease residential units in the building to a full hotel use building, as far as the corporation is concerned. We have remodeled over 50 rooms at an average cost of close to $10,000, as well as upgraded the property. All of this was in‒‒looking at the future without knowing what was going to happen. Now, in referring to the program, that‒‒the agenda, I put down item number two without knowing what improvements was made from the last meeting in changes and my curiosity was in what area were they thinking of putting the new hotels? And that was what I wanted to comment on, basically. And were we going to cover that today? Where the new hotels are going to be proposed? DELIMA: Well, there may be some discussion about the‒‒but this is an opportunity for you to provide comment. INOUYE: Oh, okay. I didn’t know whether I would be out of order by doing that. DELIMA: You can talk about anything you want. INOUYE: Really? DELIMA: Yeah. You’re a citizen of our community, you took time to dress up and come to this meeting and we’re going to hear whatever you have to say. INOUYE: Alright. And I appreciate this opportunity, talking to the Chairperson, Mr. Brian DeLima, and the Vice Chairperson, Mary, and the board members, Barry, and Elmer, and Sigmund. And I appreciate this opportunity to be able to come and speak before you because, you know, I’ve lived in Reeds Bay since 1996. I purchased a sub- lease unit in our building and said that I was going to clean the building up because I was a broker on this island and I knew that means it was a sub-lease unit and it really looked like a tenement building, but it had a‒‒and I considered it a ten dollar building but with a million dollar view. Beautiful. And I said, ‘You know, it really needs cleaning up.’ And my main objective in ’96 was to do that and that’s why I assumed complete ownership of Reeds Bay in year 2002. And from then on, I’ve had a project. Then along came the senate bill that proposed that we could extend the lease, and I wish it never came up. It was a‒‒sort of a carrot in front of a horse pulling a wagon, and Reeds Bay was the wagon. We put a lot of effort thinking that we would be able to do something there, but little did I know that the plans weren’t there for us to extend our lease, same thing with Uncle Billy and Country Club. And I wish we’d have known that before I expended almost $20,000 in trying to get a lease to protect the employees and the direction we were going in. And I don’t want to take too much of your time, but I appreciate this opportunity and one thing I wanted to bring out was who’s responsible to have tourist numbers on Banyan Drive? And I think this is something that you as a planning agency must think about very seriously. Because you know, Naniloa went bankrupt one time and what was the reason for the bankrupt? They didn’t have enough occupancy in the rooms, correct? Not only that the lease was too high, when that lease went out for half a million dollars for a year, which is about $43,000 a month, my whole thought was, ‘My goodness, how are they going to fill enough rooms to pay the lease?’ Now Naniloa still has the same lease, okay. I know they have problems because they have a commitment to make in getting all their rooms ready, they’ve got some investment going in, but I’m just wondering about that. Now this brings up a question. Naniloa and Hilo Hawaiian Hotel provides what type of rooms to the public? It’s a high-end, right? They’re going after the high-end. Now, where are the economical rooms on Banyan Drive? Where are they going to be and how are we going to provide that? I went down to Kona just last we‒‒ two weeks ago to a softball tournament; I’m a softball player with the County, and I didn’t have no room but I decided to stay over because we had another game scheduled the next day because of Page 2 of 20 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency July 28, 2016 Minutes our standing and what we accomplished. And I went out looking for a room. I had to pay over $200 for one night. I’ve never paid that much‒‒I could stay at the Royal Kona on a kama‘āina rate. It was at $140, and that I enjoy. I don’t know what it is now. But we’re going to price ourselves out of economical rates if we don’t think about the three or hotels or whatever you’re going to put on Banyan Drive in the plan. You have to have them. Now, how are they going to succeed? This is the main problem. They are going to have to provide their own tourists for each one of the buildings, and how are they going to do it? I hope I can get your attention on this one particular part; they are responsible to handle their room rate structure and get their percentage up as high as possible. Why? Because you’re not going to have the tourist bureau doing it, you’re not going to have a volcano eruption, you’re not going to have Merrie Monarch week, you’re not going to have conventions, you’re not going to have sports activities. You’re going to have to rely on local business, kaimana \[sic\] people that are seeking rooms, and each one of the units, and here’s the important part, each one of the new hotels are going to have to get on the internet and seek their business in order to stay in business and not go bankrupt. We have our own responsibilities. This is how I am able to achieve now. I have an occupancy rate of 70 percent average or better. On weekends I do fill up. Now how do I do it? I’m on the internet, I use some of the major hotel companies that do sell your rooms for you and you have to pay commission. I can do that and stay in business and provide all my employees with the opportunity. But, if you don’t provide, and this is the hooker, if you don’t provide a bay view for each one of these new hotels that you’re going to put in Banyan Drive, if they can’t sell the bay, they have nothing to sell other than a room. Just like anybody else in Hilo. You have to put them on the ocean. This is how I survive. If you come over to my hotel now, I have tile in the lobby, you view the swimming pool, and its open right to the ocean. You see the cruise ships and all of these things. They have to have something to sell. And this is why I’m speaking to you. Whether I’m here in later years or not, or if my corporation continues on to provide opportunity for the employees, I hope it still has a bay view, something to sell. Just like the Hilo Hawaiian and the Naniloa. You cannot stick them down any other area. DELIMA: Mr. Inouye, when does your lease expire? INOUYE: When did it expire? DELIMA: When did it expire? INOUYE: Same time as Uncle Billy’s, same time as Country Club. My lease expired, I had to go before the board because I figured, hey, they said I only had 15 years left in my building. I applied for a 15 year lease and willing to pay $76,000‒‒$760,000 to make improvements. DELIMA: Let’s see if anybody else has any questions. Any other member have any questions for Mr. Inouye? Okay, thank you very much. Page 3 of 20 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency July 28, 2016 Minutes INOUYE: Thank you for the opportunity to speak. DELIMA: I appreciate your thoughts. Any other public testimony? No one else is signed up, but‒‒okay, if not it’s been noted on the revised agenda that we need approval to approve the supplemental and revised agenda. Is there any objection to the agenda that has been circulated as a revised agenda? Seeing none, the minutes will reflect there’s no objection to the revised agenda. BUSINESS OF COMMISSION: 1. Update on the Hilo Bayfront Trails Project as it pertains to the project’s features and alignment within the Banyan Drive redevelopment area. At this time Chairman DeLima directed the Agency to the first agenda item under Business of Commission. Chairman DeLima called upon Mr. Peter Kubota to provide an update. DELIMA: Hello Peter, Peter Kubota. KUBOTA: Good afternoon Ms. Begier and gentlemen of the Commission \[sic\]. Thank you for allowing me to speak today. I just want to come before you and give you an update on where we are on Hilo Bayfront Trails because we’re really grateful and appreciative that you guys have incorporated our trail master plan into your Banyan Drive redevelopment master plan. That’s a great start to this wonderful project. I’ll fill you guys in on where we are at on our trails and, you know, since you folks are all from Hilo you guys don’t need a map to envision where we’re going, but right about now, in July, early August of this year, we’re starting on phase one of the trail. That is going from the Mo‘oheau Bandstand to the Canoe Hale parking lot. That is a portion of phase one and the‒‒another portion goes around the Bayfront soccer field. So that’s where we’re at on our plan. This portion around the Banyan Drive peninsula, following basically the roadway, was intended to be phase two. But as you guys are re-drawing the maps and figuring out the new configuration, perhaps taking advantage of a lot of open space, we’re amenable to work with you guys in laying out the trail. And our trail is basically a 12 foot wide concrete path with a stripe down the middle and you ride your bicycle or your ri‒‒walk or run down the right side, pass on the left. So there’s a dotted line down the middle. If you guys were to incorporate whatever path in your designs according to the standard then it will be consistent with the rest of the trail. I’ll just update you on the rest of the stuff that are outside of this area. The State parks has money appropriated to do its portion of the trail, and they’re going to build it themselves. They’re expected to go out to bid early 2017 on their phase one. And their phase one goes from the boat, the small boat harbor past the main pavilions all the way back towards Waiākea Villas. And then their phase two and phase three would come around the back side past Café 100, behind Hilo Lagoon Center, and then eventually swing around behind the King Kamehameha statue area and come back toward Page 4 of 20 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency July 28, 2016 Minutes Ironworks. So that’s the State portion. The only other portion of the Hilo Bayfront Trails master plan that is not included in what we talked about, and I’m going to get to Banyan Drive again in a little while, is the section from Ice Pond going to the harbor. That’s the hardest section because that is a CIP type of project where it includes road closures, cutting driveways, dealing with varied gas lines and water lines and electric poles and all that. The County folks have, you know, kind of fast-track their portion of the project and they’re going to probably put out to bid their section from Ice Pond to the harbor ending part of this year. So, you know, with this portion and Banyan Drive that I’m going to come back to, you know, that would complete this whole vision of the Hilo Bayfront Trails to have about six or seven miles of trails connecting 700 acres of park land in and around Hilo. And I really appreciate what you guys are doing and the time you guys are spending to master plan this for the Banyan Drive area because, you know, what we do today is going to just pay back to our community and to our visitors for decades and decades to come. So with respect to the Banyan Drive portion in our master plan, the idea was to align the trail on the golf course side of the existing roadway because there was sufficient right-of- way to put the 12 foot wide trail within the right of way on the County lands. Now, if you folks are contemplating the redevelopment of that whole golf course area, then it presents all kinds of opportunities to have trails that meander through and connect up the various resources there. The one other thing that we, as the board of the Hilo Bayfront Trails, ask that you guys consider since you folks have basically the power of the pen and the idea, you know, the ability to have great ideas put on paper as the plan. Whether or not it’s hard to do, you know‒‒what if you have it as a plan there’s a goal to shoot for. So we suggest, and this is coming from the board of the Hilo Bayfront Trails, that you guys consider closing Lihiwai Street, which runs along, around Lili‘uokalani Park. If you folks remember when the park was first redeveloped, probably about 20 years ago or almost 20 years ago, the‒‒that road was closed for about three or four months I think, after they completed the construction and everybody from Hilo went down there. That was a real magnet, a gathering place where I took my daughter to, you know, go ride bike, and her friends were down there and it was a very safe place that just really drew everyone down there. So the area I’m talking about is from the parking lot at Isles to Coconut Island driveway. That was closed and everybody walked around and around the park and, you know, took their kids down to the ocean side, so would you guys at least consider that. And then another thing too, while you guys are in the mode of master planning, consider the possibility of going from Coconut Island driveway and having a public path along the ocean side in front of the hotels; in front of Hilo Hawaiian and in front of Naniloa Hotel. I know some people say, ‘Oh you know, it’s hard because it’s really tight in front of Naniloa’ but if it’s on a master plan, you know, it’s a possibility. And there’s a possibility of cantilevered walkways, and you guys have on your master plan that makai Page 5 of 20 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency July 28, 2016 Minutes pool in the ocean; you know, those are great ideas and if you have it in your head it’s something we can shoot for. So the thought is to have a real Hilo Bayfront Trails, having the trail along the ocean side of the hotel would bring hundreds of thousands of people past the hotels each day, and thereby benefitting the hotels because their restaurants or their smoothie stands or the bike rental shops, or whatever they might have there could enhance the experience for both their tourists and the local folk who use the trail. And the final thing that we ask is, you know, I know it’s on your guys map, it’s on other people’s map, is the connection of a small pedestrian bridge from the Reeds Bay Park to the Kalaniana‘ole Park that the Rotary Club folks there and, they just call it Rotary Park, but there’s the railroad trusses in the water there. It is a possibility and while you folks have the ability to master plan, please consider that. And you know, whether this be done by bond floats, government funding, CIP projects, or we raise the money through the Bayfront Trails, if we have the plan set and approved on by you folks then that’s the goal that we’re going to aspire to. Either during our time or when we hand the torch to the next guys to carry this trail further, we have the goal to reach. So I’ll be open for any questions if you guys have any. DELIMA: Any questions? Okay. Thank you, Peter. KUBOTA: Thank you very much. BUSINESS OF COMMISSION: 2. Review and discussion of draft conceptual maps for the redevelopment of the Banyan Drive area and update on the outcome of informational meetings held on June 28, 2016 and July 5, 2016 that presented the draft conceptual redevelopment maps to the public along with comments and recommendations received. The chairman directed staff to proceed with the next order of business. Planner Lucas Mead provided a PowerPoint presentation to the Agency (EXHIBIT A). The presentation provided highlights of the feedback received. Mr. Mead announced that there were 75 members of the public in attendance at the first informational meeting, and about 33 at the second meeting. Approximately 50 comments were received by way of oral and email communication. There were about 200 individual topics of comment. MEAD: The most comment received essentially was no support for a new hotel in the gardens. That was viewed quite unfavorably. However, the rest, or most of the other portions of the plan in general received quite a bit of support. Some other common themes here were looking favorably at the new community cultural convention center. There was a lot of support for this. Also favorable was the expansion in the parks. So here we have the gardens expansion, kind of the repurposing of the golf course as well as the idea of multi-modal paths, the accessibility paths, along the lines of the Bayfront Trails project. Page 6 of 20 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency July 28, 2016 Minutes The bridge, we also received several pieces of comment regarding the bridge. They liked the idea of connecting the Reeds Bay Park area here, the County park on this side to the Kuhio Rotary Park on this side. We received multiple pieces of comment in support of that. Additionally, there were several pieces of comment regarding the new slips. Again, this isn’t very well fleshed out but they do like the idea of new slips for boats. They were‒‒liked the idea of these boardwalks that were included here, as well as the new ship terminal. It is worth saying that there are concerns on the ship terminal and the security zones around the ship terminal which regulates, you know, there is a safety zone there and so there is concerns on the impact of that regulation upon the users of the bay. There was a lot of favor to remove blighted buildings from the area, and there was a lot of favor, or there was favor here for additional kind of commercial zones that we had identified the new commercial. There also a lot of favor for, or concern towards keeping the existing commercial. It’s not necessarily very well described on the map here, but there’s concern that the existing commercial namely Suisan, the Hilo Bay Café, and concerns for how the ice house does support Suisan. So there is concern that those may have been, or were being removed, but that wasn’t explicit in this map. And so finally, or coming up next here, this is kind of the general themes that we received that weren’t specific to actually any one item on the map but more, more thematic. And we did receive comments, several comments actually, including‒‒to include museums in this redevelopment area. Not specifically in this location, but there’s ideas for a museum of Hilo, a new tsunami museum, a museum of hula, and a museum of the Hawaiian people. There’s a lot of like for open space and land near the ocean. So that includes these areas over here, the lands‒‒keeping the gardens open. Several comments regarding securing a name brand hotel. Name brand‒‒the comments were revolving around the ability to be able to cash in on kind of on your credits or your frequent use credits there, so that would help with having a name brand hotel in the area. There were several concerns on the displacement of affordable housing in this zone. The comments included inclusion of a transportation hub and those comments really were talking about bringing people from the airport into the Banyan Drive area; from the terminals into the Banyan Drive area, and of course connecting into Downtown Hilo. Again, we covered this earlier, the maintenance of existing commercial, namely comments were on Suisan, Hilo Bay Café, and consideration of how these businesses may interact with the ice house. Strong emphasis on culture; many comments asked that we‒‒that this plan kind of promote a, or have a small‒‒have a strong cultural backbone to it. Focus on sustainability, living wages for workers. There is support for a new hotel if it’s shown that the need exists, but there are concerns on locating it appropriately. Finally, there are concerns for the known hazards. This is in the tsunami zone and comments were raised on new construction within this zone. Mr. Mead introduced Planning Director Duane Kanuha, who provided a review of revisions made to the original conceptual plan. Page 7 of 20 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency July 28, 2016 Minutes KANUHA: Okay, what we’re segueing into here is, those were the summary of the comments we actually received, you know, from the public during the two public meetings we had. What we’re also‒‒where we want to move now is to get some feedback from the agency on those comments, along with a couple of others that we’re proposing to the agency based on comments we’ve received either in-house or from the agency itself. As Luke mentioned there’s, there’s pretty, pretty strong opposition to any kind of hotel within or in close proximity to the Lili‘uokalani Gardens. We’ve had a really good discussion with the Lili‘uokalani Park committee that takes care of that park, and they’re very receptive to the plan. They do not like the hotel in the park, but they’re not really opposed to a new hotel perhaps across the street, in some area that may not significantly affect the park by being right in it. So, that’s one area we’re going to look at. The other one we’re suggesting the Agency consider is up in the area of the Naniloa, Hilo Hawaiian, the conceptual land use plan talked about a parks open‒‒a park area here, which is essentially the site of Uncle Billy’s. And we’re very aware that both of those hotels are looking quite closely at what would happen to Uncle Billy’s, and so we felt the best use of that particular property was to actually expand the resort bubble to include the Uncle Billy’s parcel along with the Hilo Hawaiian and the Naniloa property for either expansion by a separate owner or maybe integration into one of either one of those projects. The next component is the suggestion from the Agency themselves to retain some resort mixed use for existing resort or residential and commercial in the area that we had proposed for open space. These would be the leases that Mr. Inouye had talked about, Country Club. If you recall, at your last meeting there was some support for retaining those facilities, perhaps upgrading them along the way, but nevertheless the option for what we, what we’re calling a resort mixed use designation in that area. We’re inclined to support a concept along those lines. This comment, basically, is kind of a housekeeping issue where the cruise ship terminal is located is actually quite a bit closer. It’s too close to where it’s actually going to be. It should be further out in this area here. So that’s just kind of a housekeeping issue there. And this comment here talks about from a conceptual standpoint that perception of that, you know that community conference center, cultural center. It’s like way, way, way too big. So what we’re proposing is to actually drop it down to a size that matches more the master plan size. We’re going to be getting into some discussions related to potential number of hotel units that could occur there, and some relationship to what size of a facility we’re talking about. So if, if some of these concepts, deleting this hotel, adding perhaps some more there, integrating Uncle Billy’s into this node, you know, we’ll take a look at what kind of potential units those may be and then get some discussion going with industry folks in terms of what would be an appropriate size for your cultural center, convention center, etcetera. Page 8 of 20 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency July 28, 2016 Minutes The conceptual map left off Lihiwai, so one of the thoughts was to clarify, including it back into the plan, but then again we heard some testimony today that perhaps it should just be repurposed as a pedestrian component. I think what we would need to do is to weigh that against other circulation patterns that we would have to look at related to how do we effectively move people in and out of Banyan Drive in the event of a tsunami or some kind of situation with the additional attraction for the convention center. And that’s why the mixed use resort, we’re inclined to support some residential components, either through condominiums or maybe timeshares, but we’d like to see that be of a limited scale because it’s a different situation when you have to evacuate transient folks versus folks that actually occupy there. Now let me go back up to that, okay. So with that in mind, we kind of like to entertain any kind of comments, feedback that you folks have. DELIMA: Barry. TANIGUCHI: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to know, I never went to the hearings, but has any comment been made about parking? I look at that plan and there’s no parking. KANUHA: Yes. Yes. The concept for the convention cultural center is basically parking semi on the ground, and the center itself would be elevated. Very similar to, I think the State Capitol is like that. You know, it’s not on-grade, right? You have underground parking and the facility itself being elevated. Now, we’re very aware that the water table in this area is pretty high. So that design component we’ll take a look at, you know, once we get some idea that that’s the direction the Agency wants to move toward. TANIGUCHI: Parking for the center is one thing. Parking for people that want to go to the park, walk around, I mean that kind of parking, I don’t see that too. You know locals, locals that want to go down. KANUHA: Right. TANIGUCHI: If you’re going to close Lihiwai \[Street\] to make it a pedestrian walkway, which I think is a pretty good idea, I don’t know how many people actually use that road, but if you want to attract people down to the park you gotta give them some place to park their cars. KANUHA: Right. One of the options‒‒circulation’s going to get interesting too, okay. There’s several alternatives we’ve been looking at. One of them would include the concept of kind of a roundabout, right here at the intersection of Lihiwai, the access to Moku ola. So basically that concept would be‒‒traffic would come in, turn around, go out. The other one is integrated with that, would mean that they’d be a different kind of use for Banyan Drive, in this particular area which sections of it may be closed off to Page 9 of 20 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency July 28, 2016 Minutes vehicular access, some kind of a turn-around in here. Again, this was based on Lihiwai being open, right, so you have some choices there. Doing something with this section would allow more integration between the park and anything else they may want to do on the inside. So there’s some circulation alternatives there. Another one was to perhaps look at taking a new road from here into the convention center area as another alternative. So those are the kinds of things we’ll be looking at down the road. TANIGUCHI: Just curious, you know the new hotel? Has thought been given to locating that hotel not on the Bayfront side, but inside, where sort of like if you had to measure back-to-back to where Seaside is, and use that side of the park as being‒‒it wouldn’t be resort hotel in the sense that you’d have a waterfront property and all that, but you can put affordable rental properties for comm‒‒you know, interisland travel, for locals, as well as make the connecting road across the park somewhere, connecting to Lihiwai on this Banyan Drive on the other side. So cut across, use the parking for the center, cultural center. You can do commercial areas along those too. You know, smaller commercial areas and tie in with the walking. People can walk and shop, and stuff. KANUHA: Yup. DELIMA: Any other comments? Mary. BEGIER: I was curious about taking the park, the new park they’re just building right now, the one on the mauka side of Kam‒‒ KANUHA: Right there? BEGIER: ‒‒yes. And that being a hotel site for the, you know, more the travel lodge‒‒yeah, the local component. Then you’d have all that space open to work with. KAHUHA: Okay. DELIMA: Any other comments? I got a few. I like the acknowledgement that the park‒‒the hotel next to Lili‘uokalani Park is not something that most people think is a good idea. Even going out the community, most people that know that I sit on this agency have commented to me that they think it’s a bad idea. So, I think that’s kind of a consensus. And I’m glad to hear that there’s support for exploring what that harbor side of the peninsula would look like in terms of a mixed use. For me, you know when I read about other agencies and other states that have much greater responsibilities in terms of coming up with plans, they tend to try to get consultants or people who are in the business of trying to solicit and determine interest in regards to possible developers. Like for example, if we’re looking at that area for condominium development or perhaps some type of senior citizen housing, mixed use commercial, I’m wondering whether we really‒‒because I agree with Mr. Inouye there is, that’s a million dollar view. I think Page 10 of 20 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency July 28, 2016 Minutes people would enjoy living in Hawai‘i with our climate, with the recreational opportunities to determine whether there’s a market for a developer to come in and develop a track of land in a quality way that would attract people who would be able to afford to live. I’m not talking about million dollar condominiums, but middle class, where they could contribute to the community, bring income to this community, shop in the community, as well as kama‘āina that would look at that as being their final housing arrangement. So I’m wondering if the Agency has the ability to determine the type of interest. That would be my first question. Go ahead if you want to comment on that. KANUHA: I think that what we’re looking for in this conceptual stage is to get that kind of confirmation, conceptually, from the Agency. We get that kind of direction, then we’ll‒‒we know where to go specifically in terms of the next steps; the marketing side, things of that nature. DELIMA: Okay. So then I would like to agree with Mary that I think the backside of Seaside is something that is worth thinking about because when I drive and‒‒you know I have a special needs daughter, she’s 20 years old but her routine every day is to go out to a cruise and her idea of a cruise after dinner is going down Banyan Drive. So I drive that every single day. And as I drive there every single day, the back of Seaside could use some improvement. It is somewhat of an eyesore. So I think that conceptually, that could be considered as a place for lower-end housing opportunities that local people would be happy. Like, Seaside is kind of, almost always full because of the‒‒their price range, their price point. And so then the same thing with the concept about the timeshare, condo development, I think the same thing about exploring whether there would be an investor like maybe Holiday Inn or anything like that would go into the Uncle Billy’s location. So those were‒‒I agree with all those comments. Now, I know when Lihiwai was discussed the last time, the comment that people had the most was that a lot of people who are not as mobile, they cannot really walk, but they still enjoy going out‒‒growing up in Hilo and going down to that area, Coconut Island, etcetera, it to some certain extent, is therapeutic. They enjoy going down there. Not be‒‒if they close that road, you really limiting access to a lot of disabled people. My daughter would never walk to that area and she enjoys driving by the ocean. That would be my only concern. Now, is there something we can find a happy medium, maybe limited to handicapped stickers as being able to go in there; you know, I’m sure that if we look at the records, there probably was that kind of discussion. I’m open-minded about that but I think that was the reason for why it’s kept open, and the parking is a situation. Now when you go there at night it’s packed because of the phenomenon with Pokémon Go. I mean it’s outrageous how many people are there on any given night. So those are my comments and I know there are a lot of‒‒I know Kamehameha Schools have been talking about‒‒their investment development company has been talking about what they’re going to do with their land which is further down, yeah that area, and how that ties into our plans. I think this is a good start for a conceptual plan. Page 11 of 20 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency July 28, 2016 Minutes The last thing I wanted to comment on is I really think we need to involve‒‒I don’t have a problem with the conceptual plan now that I understand what you’re saying, but I think we really need to involve, and start having some brainstorm sessions with the local hālau and cultural organizations. Because I think if they can take ownership of the development of that community cultural, non-profit, coordinated way, then I think we could‒‒that could be viewed as an economic and activity generator. So for example, if the hālau got together and the facility was able to provide a base of support where they could actually have practices, they could have, they could operate activities. The tourists come down‒‒this is totally brainstorming and sometimes it’s dangerous that I verbalize some thoughts, but I’m going to try to do it anyway. So maybe a particular hālau would give ukulele lessons, sell ukuleles in a particular shop, another one could do tapa demonstrations and sell products and, you know, another hālau, maybe they could all pool their money for fundraising aspects of it and then you can actually have a center of activity where it would be exciting for tourists to walk and visit. It would be some type of‒‒like a living cultural practitioner village of some sort. But the only way for that to be explored is for those practitioners and non-profits and hālau to actually think it’s a good idea and take ownership of it. Perhaps that is something down the road and not really for a conceptual plan, but I would be supportive of something like that. Those are some of my comments. Thank you. Anybody else want to say anything else? Barry? TANIGUCHI: Couple questions. Have you, or has discussions begun with the ice house and HELCO in terms of their facilities? What are their plans? KANUHA: No, not that I’m aware of. TANIGUCHI: Shouldn’t we? I mean, I don’t know that HELCO needs their plant there, but I don’t know if the ice house could be moved someplace else. KANUHA: Well, we’ve had interaction with HELCO on their plant, we’ve had interaction with Alan Kimi from Seaside, we’ve also had supportive testimony from the Benda family trust that owns the private parcel that’s over there. Those comments have all been supportive in terms of whether they see themselves going in this plan, but we haven’t had any feedback one way or the other from the ice house. We’re not really sure where that would fit in here. The only comment that we’ve had is from the Lili‘uokalani Park committee and their view is that repurposing the ice house as a focal point for the park in terms of support services for the park, kind of like a visitor center for the park component, that was a thought that was expressed by them. DELIMA: I’d like to comment. When Mayor Yamashiro was mayor, there was some discussion about relocating the ice house because, you know, you need ice for your community. And recently there was some discussion with some council members that I Page 12 of 20 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency July 28, 2016 Minutes had in regards to the possibility of the public‒‒when you purchase, where you use money to purchase land. What is it called? KANUHA: The public open space. DELIMA: The fund? The fund. But the idea is to relocate, not to‒‒is to relocate. I think that’s something that‒‒because it’s not part of the plan since it’s a private aspect, it’s something that I think that has to be something that maybe we can comment on. But it needs to be initiated because it’s not part of‒‒we don’t have jurisdiction over the ice house land. That’s outside of what we’ve been given purview about, but it’s not‒‒doesn’t mean that we cannot make comment about it. TANIGUCHI: Same thing with HELCO, right? HELCO’s not. DELIMA: Same thing with HELCO. We’re not‒‒and I had a discussion with HELCO as well because I‒‒for some reason I didn’t realize that the plant was out of service. They don’t really use it as a generation plant. And that’s again something that we can make suggestions and comment on although we don’t have jurisdiction to make any decisions regarding the use of that parcel. TANIGUCHI: I understand where you’re coming from but if we kind of hint that that would be a good alternative use, and a friendly condemnation might work. DELIMA: Right. TANIGUCHI: You know, the friendly condemnation, I don’t know if we can do, or if we have the authority to do that‒‒ DELIMA: Not on, not on the ice house land and not on the HELCO because we have not been given authority over those parcels. The Kaua‘i trust, do we have jurisdiction over that land? KANUHA: You know actually under Chapter 53, and your rules which revert back to Chapter 53, those options are actually within the purview of this agency. What would give foundation to that is the eventuality of adopting a master plan. DELIMA: Okay so we can take‒‒because I thought the map that we were given authority kind of inched out, but if we, if it’s within the conceptual plan, even though it’s private land, we could actually take action? KANUHA: Correct. DELIMA: Okay. Thank you for correcting me. Page 13 of 20 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency July 28, 2016 Minutes KANUHA: So the key here is to create a master plan which has enough balance that there’s some incentive for the Agency and some incentive for the private parties to actually participate in something that works out to the benefit of everybody without having to take those additional steps. DELIMA: So like for example HELCO, maybe we need to work with the State in terms of trading or‒‒because the State has more land than the County. KANUHA: HELCO is receptive to some concept of repurposing. And that’s why when they look at this plan, you know, I think they can see there may be some benefit here. And it’s correct; the plant itself is actually off-line. It basically just provides supplemental services for Banyan Drive, is what it does. So that’s a possibility there. We’ve had discussions with them on that. DELIMA: Okay, any further questions, comments? Mr. Taniguchi. TANIGUCHI: Clarification question. You know that commercial property along Banyan, cutting over to Kamehameha or Kalaniana‘ole, yeah that area, is that all State land or is that lease land or is that privately owned? KANUHA: There’s a privately owned parcel over here, the rest of it is State. Just the corner, the warehouse. DELIMA: Any further comments? ZANE: I like the direction that we’re going in, but at the same time I really question what is the master plan? You know, are we able to really create a commercial viable district here and invite that kind of return in all what we do, or is it possible that we create something for our community? Here we have a‒‒we stand at a crossroad that really we can invest totally in our community and give back something. Because if you look at all of the other islands where they’ve sold out all the best places and there’s no return on that. We have an opportunity here, I think that we can really develop something for all the future generations and really, the hotels‒‒yes, we see that some are here and we have private lands here and we have to acknowledge that, but there’s many other places, I think, in Hilo that we can invite our guests to stay and enjoy our place. But for our own community, lucky‒‒well I can’t say lucky, but it’s a blessing in disguise that we have all of the Bayfront areas open because of what the tsunami did. But that’s a resource that very few people have and we are very fortunate. And here we stand at this crossroad that we can make that kind of judgement right now. But as Banyan Drive stands, I think that in this conceptual plan, I don’t see a sense of arrival. I think that if we’re going to create a destination, whether it be for the community or it’s going to be a viable commercial district, we need an actual entry that people drive through and go ‘Okay, I’m here.’ You know, and maybe the existing roadways in cannot do that, if for example, if we’re going to call this Banyan Drive you know there’s a beautiful Banyan tree right across of Coqui Page 14 of 20 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency July 28, 2016 Minutes Lounge, in back of the clock there’s a beautiful tree already. I mean why can’t we enter right there and create a, kind of a, like a boulevard into Banyan Drive and you’re greeted by a Banyan tree. But at the same time in this development here, I think that we stand as‒‒we can be leaders in the development of protecting our community in case of inundation, like why can’t we build hills and create a healthy parkway but at the same time protect neighborhoods inside. You know I think that we have a chance here to really lead in terms of inspiring others how to develop for tidal wave, for any kind of inundation. But I think that we’re really fortunate with this opportunity and what is our long-term view? What can we do for the future generations with this land here? KANUHA: Very well taken. BEGIER: I just wanted to follow up on a couple things that were said in the presentation that‒‒on the Uncle Billy’s side, the idea of leaving that hotel‒‒if Uncle Billy’s, that building was no longer there, then that would open up the vistas on, for more rooms in both the Hilo Hawaiian and the Naniloa. It’s not our responsibility to necessarily raise their room rates, but that would happen. That would give more views to‒‒it would be more economically viable to address the situation of how do those hotels pay their lease rent. That would enhance their ability to do so. I just, I go back to the idea of‒‒that I spoke to earlier about the other hotel, that parking could be included with that. And I recently went to Miami Beach and you know, to go to Miami Beach there’s two garages, one at each end of the beach. And it’s municipal rates and no one cares about having to walk from there. Everybody knows that’s where they’re going to go to park and everybody hauls their lawn chairs and their beach mats and their barbeque and everything from those parking garages. So it’s, it would be a mindset change that we would have to get around, but that’s life. You’re addressing the having a good number for who are, how many tourist do we have and what is our real need, and since we’re partners with the State on this, because of our being granted the authority, we should be talking to UH Hilo and their events coordinator because they’re one of the leading groups that has‒‒that’s frustrated with not being able to bring‒‒they get requests to hold meetings here and then they have to deny the meeting because we can’t provide enough, you know, the housing and the meeting facility for it. So I hope that we’re in contact with them. And then just the creativity‒‒keep our minds really creative, kind of like what Sig’s saying, that we could build, we can find developers that would do affordable housing, mixed use housing, timeshare. That can all be all in one footprint. It doesn’t have to be that we have a lot of buildings in a row, or a great big high rise. There’s so many different things being done across the country in other places, so. Thank you. DELIMA: Any other comments? Barry? TANIGUCHI: Yeah, I like what Mary said. You know actually, in my mind, when you talked about keeping the Uncle Billy’s, I thought you were thinking about doing it just open area park. Can tie into the trails, walk along front Hilo Hawaiian tucked into a Page 15 of 20 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency July 28, 2016 Minutes small park there along Naniloa. Because we really‒‒that hotel, to squeeze another hotel in that small area to me doesn’t make sense. You can open up the vista there, you can make it nice, but replace the rooms with hotels on the backside, off of oceanfront more along Banyan and Kamehameha Avenue type of‒‒so you wouldn’t get rid of the rooms, you would still replace the rooms but elsewhere than from the ocean front. Keep the ocean open and a pristine area. KANUHA: One of the concepts that has been tossed around was the Banyan‒‒the Uncle Billy’s parcel being between existing Hilo Hawaiian and Naniloa that there’s been some potential discussion about one or both properties acquiring the lease for that individually providing additional parking and a smaller convention center on the next level, which would be, which would mean that access to a small convention center on the ocean between both properties, you know, would have some synergy, let’s put it that way. So that’s, you know, that’s one of the processes in‒‒ TANIGUCHI: Another comment about parking, though. You know, the existing hotels, there’s not enough parking. No way there’s going be enough parking. And one of my thoughts long time ago was to take where the‒‒along the inside of Banyan Drive‒‒not the ocean side, but inside, using that as a like a common parking area for the hotels to share in there. So they can have their guests park across. It’s pretty much at night and when they have activities not enough parking. During the day it’s not too bad, everybody’s on the road. But that could tie in with the convention center over there too. So I don’t know necessarily whether you need two convention centers. You could have one center, parking for hotels as well as the center and stuff. KANUHA: I guess that’s why I said there’s a lot more discussion to be had on the circulation within this area. This is the first time I’ve heard perhaps a new entryway from, you know, right in the middle there, and actually that’s, that’s not a bad idea. I mean, we’ve conceptually put together this plan with something along those lines, some kind of an entry feature or (inaudible) of uses that shows you that, you know, you’re in Banyan Drive. Unfortunately what we have to deal with in this intersection is all private properties. But then again, if what the master plan calls for and the concepts of how it’s going to be developed, how it could be developed, what kind of economic return it could mean for participation, and hopefully there’ll be more incentive to participate in something. DELIMA: Well that was the whole idea of what they were planning to do when they did that intersection. They, you know, it’s just that unfortunately what you’re dealing with is what you’re dealing with. It doesn’t really get nice until you actually get‒‒well, when you had Orchid Isle, the Orchidland Isle Hotel, from there on it looked pretty good, but anyway. Anyone have any other comments? Mr. Applegate, I’m glad you joined us. Page 16 of 20 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency July 28, 2016 Minutes Chairman DeLima invited Mr. George Applegate to share a few words. APPLEGATE: Okay thank you. First of all, for today, I was asked to speak on behalf of Mr. Ed Bushor with WHR, and first he wanted to convey to everyone that he really is pleased that the State and the County have created this body to determine what’s the best use of the lands. We feel he felt that there‒‒just having a golf course wasn’t there. So he supports everything, and also the Bayfront Trails is a good concept. So what he’s asked is, moving forward, since he’s got the lease on the land still, the lease, existing lease on the land, he’s got obligations, shareholders, investors, that he asked that he could be part of the‒‒have a seat at the table so he can discuss with everyone also, you know, best use of the land and where we go from there. That’s about it. For me, I was born into tourism. My entire life has been in the area. Went to Waiākea- Kai School, and lived in Waiākea town across the Suisan, and was part of the first direct flights to Hilo back in 1967 on World‒‒Pan American World Airways, so watched the whole thing grow. And I’d like to also give personal input into the direction of where we’re going, but I’d like to commend all of you for the fine work everybody’s done. Thank you. DELIMA: Okay, anybody else have anything else to say? Or any questions for Mr. Applegate? Okay, thank you. APPLEGATE: Thank you. Chairman DeLima invited Ms. Kristine Kubat to comment at this time. KUBAT: My name is Kristine Kubat. People probably know me as somebody that’s very much involved in environmental and social justice issues, so I have to say I feel really good about the openness that I hear; it seems like everybody’s really open to some innovative ideas that would address environmental and social issues. And I just wanted to point out a few things, I think there’s still little bit of a disconnect, or a couple of disconnects in the thinking. First of all with parking, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we created this concept as a way that people didn’t need cars, so maybe the people would come in from Hilo Airport and, you know, they could, there was some sort of transportation that could get them to this destination and then once they were there pretty much everything they needed was there and there was a shuttle to bring them into the Downtown area, because I think we already have a really thriving downtown commercial area. I would really hate to see us develop commercial opportunities there that would compete with Downtown Hilo. I don’t think that’s a good idea. And I know you have a consideration for local people. I do go down and use this area and I think that the parking is adequate; you know when you go down in the evening you can pretty much always find a place to park. But I think we wanna look for ways to encourage people to get out of their cars. I think that’s some old thinking that Page 17 of 20 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency July 28, 2016 Minutes would really‒‒you know, we don’t wanna turn this area into a parking lot it’s so beautiful. Another disconnect is in terms of the energy. So we’re talking, ‘Well, what are we going to do with HELCO? They don’t use that space anymore,’ maybe the challenge is we go to HELCO and we say, ‘Okay look, here’s all this development; how are we going to provide energy? That’s you, that’s your kuleana.’ Use this space. Use it as a place where you’re going to connect the discarded organics and generate bio-gas and use it to produce electricity. You know, come up with your best and brightest idea that you would like to showcase and have it be part of this concept. That would be a wonderful invitation to them. The last thing is when you’re talking about affordable housing, you know people were talking about, ‘Well let’s do something over there by Seaside,’ but what’s wrong with that‒‒you’re addressing this need for affordable housing and you’re talking about low- income people, but then what you’re doing is you’re pretty much keeping them in that low-income or that poverty place. This is an opportunity to generate a lot of money, so the idea should be to move them into the area and to give them the same opportunity that you’re giving to the hotels to generate income. How do you do that? The trend now is Airbnb, the trend now is sharing homes or having like an ‘ohana style thing where people come and stay. So we don’t want to say, ‘Oh okay, we’re going to think about you low income people, here’s your place over here, you just stay there and you stay in poverty.’ We want to bring them into the opportunity. Why do we want to have Hilton or Sheraton come in? They come in; they suck all the money out of the economy. Why are we creating an opportunity for them? I think we should be creating an opportunity for the people, the young people who are graduating from the cultural program at the University. They’re low income people cause they’re just getting started and say, ‘Here look, this is for you, this is what we created for you; here’s an opportunity for you.’ So if there’s a unit for them to live in, there’s a unit for them to rent and they get the income off of that. And the income they generate off of that allows them to buy their condominium and they become home owners instead of low income rentals. And so we’re almost there, but we just need a little bit more creativity and openness and forward thinking and will come up with something amazing. DELIMA: Okay, thank you. Okay, go ahead. KANUHA: What will happen now is that based on all the comments, public comments we got and the commentary we have from today, is we’ll go back and take a, you know, put together another version of the conceptual plan and bring that back to you folks again at your next meeting. So that’s how our process will be working. In the meantime we’ll make efforts to focus in on some of the more specific issues that were raised in terms of marketability, circulation, things of that nature. Staff’s been taking notes; this has been recorded, so we’ll have a good record of where we’ll go next in terms of developing a conceptual master plan. Page 18 of 20 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency July 28, 2016 Minutes DELIMA: Any other questions for the Director? At this time Chairman DeLima directed the Agency to the second agenda item under Business of Commission. 3. Review of draft Rules of Practice and Procedure for the Banyan Drive Hawaiʻi Redevelopment Agency. DELIMA: So we’re not taking action today. This is just a review. Go ahead‒‒ Mr. Mead reviewed the changes made on the draft Rules of Practice and Procedures. MEAD: This is regarding public testimony and the timeframe for public testimony. The comments at the last meeting regarding giving a three-minute time allotment, and so we did add language to this effect. For your notes we’ll keep this highlighted when we put it up so you can reference those changes, but this will be on page 7. So this regards the three-minute timeframe for public testimony. And the other change that we did make is further down, and it regards the notification requirements. All that does in terms of the notification requirements is be consistent with Chapter 91. And so this is the change right here, it’s located on page 17. Again, we will post this online just so you’re aware, and this was a recommendation from counsel, just keeping the alignment straight with HRS Chapter 91 which regards notification requirements for the rules. So this tells us what needs to be in the notification requirement when we publish. Those are the only two changes that we have right now. TANIGUCHI: The page numbers aren’t on this. MEAD: Yeah, the page numbers are going to change and I can add them. TANIGUCHI: Can you say what rule it is so we can find it? MEAD: The rule, what we added, is 1.5-c(8). That was the first one and that’s where we added the time limit. Also I’ll post this, I’ll put this up on the web and I’ll keep it there and I’ll send an email; point you to that portion. And the last one is 4.2-b, which changed and that’s just the notification. DELIMA: Any other questions? Okay, thank you. ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS 1. Approval of minutes from the June 26, 2016 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency meeting. DELIMA: Is there a motion to approve the minutes? Page 19 of 20 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency July 28, 2016 Minutes GOROSPE: So moved. TANIGUCHI: Second. DELIMA: It’s been moved and second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. ALL: Aye. DELIMA: Opposed, say nay. Motion is carried. ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. Next meeting date. MEAD: We’re looking at the last Wednesday, August 31. DELIMA: Oh, last Wednesday. Okay. MEAD: Does 2 p.m. work? DELIMA: August 31, 2:00 p.m. If there’s no objection that will be the next meeting time, August 31 at 2:00 p.m. Again, at that time we’ll take action on the rules and then we’ll have further discussion and possible action on the conceptual plan. Any other matters or announcements? Okay, seeing none we’ll adjourn the meeting. Thank you very much for coming everyone. Meeting adjourned at 3:03 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Kim L. Tanaka, Secretary ATTEST: Brian DeLima, Chairperson Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency Page 20 of 20 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency July 28, 2016 Minutes