HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-02-08 Puna CDP DRAFT MinutesHarry Kim
Mayon
County of Hawaii
PLANNING DEPARTMENT
PUNA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE
Aupuni Center • 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 3 • Hilo, Hawaii 96720
Phone (808) 961-8288 • Fax (808) 961-8742
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
DRAFT Meeting Minutes
Michael Yee
Director
Daryn Arai
Deputy Director
CALL TO ORDER
Chairperson Larry Brown called the Puna Community Development Plan (PCDP) Action Committee (AC)
to order at 3:02 p.m. in the Kea`au Community Center. The following persons were present:
Action Committee: Elmer Solis, Frank Commendador, Larry Brown, Leila Kealoha, Michael Bernard,
Patti Pinto, Susan Osborne, and Yumi Kawano. Teresa Reveira was absent.
Staff: Hans Santiago — Puna CDP Planner, Keiko Mercado — Puna CDP Planning Assistant, and April
Surprenant —COH Long Range Division Manager.
Members of the public: 4
ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA: NONE
ANNOUNCEMENTS: NONE
PUBLIC TESTIMONY:
One person signed up to testify.
1. Jon Olson, representing himself, testified on agenda item #1— Communication 2017-5,
Prioritization of the Puna CDP actions and objectives:
Jon testified that level of service issues did not get prioritized in the CDP, and strongly believes
that having all services outside of subdivisions doesn't work or make sense. Just building roads
for people to get in & out of subdivisions doesn't work either. Populations are growing too fast
in Puna and something needs to done to make these subdivisions livable. Subdivisions should
have access to basic County services such as police, fire, emergency, medical, parks &
recreation.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Patti moved to approve the minutes of the January 10, 2017, meeting os submitted. Second by Leilo.
The motion to approve the minutes os submitted passed with 6 votes aye, 0 votes nay, and 1 vote to
abstain (Susan).
BUSINESS:
1. Communication No. 2017-5, Prioritization of Puna CDP actions and objectives:
Larry introduced Communication No. 2017-5, and reminded the Action Committee that they
would be discussing and voting on actions and objectives from the PCDP as shown in
Communication No. 2017-5 to develop and approve a prioritization list that would be
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transmitted to the Planning Director. He then turned the floor over to Hans who provided the
AC with the necessary framework to begin discussing their prioritization of actions and
objectives. Hans spoke to the fact that the Puna CDP Action Committee had generated priority
lists in the past and that this particular effort initially emerged from the Puna Community
Leaders meeting that was held in Pahoa, November 2016. He reiterated that while going
through the prioritization process, AC members should focus on the larger picture of the PCDP
and Puna as a whole, rather than just looking at the needs of individual communities.
Prior to today's meeting, AC Members were asked to submit a list of 3-5 priority items. These
items were organized in an Excel table for easy sorting. The table displays the PCPD section
relating to the submitted item, specific language of the submitted priority, AC comments,
number of AC members who submitted each item, whether the item is an action or objective,
and each items strategy type. Hans reviewed the four Strategy Types which were provided to
the AC in a handout: Aspirational Policies, County Policies, County Actions, and Other Non -
County Actions.
The table was split up by PCDP Section and printed on large format sheets. The sheets were
hung around the room, each AC Member was given 5 red dots and was asked to place their red
dots on the action items they feel are the most important for Puna. There were a total of 23
items to consider and each AC member had the option of selecting up to five different items or
choosing to place multiple dots on one item. The end goal was to narrow the initial 23 action
items down to the top five. Also reiterated was the understanding that action items which did
not end up at the top of the AC's priority list could still be worked on if or when opportunity
presented itself. Action Committee members asked clarifying questions and engaged in a short
discussion before proceeding to place their votes
During a 10 minute recess staff tallied the voting results and sorted them from highest number
of votes to lowest. With the initial voting results projected up on a screen, April Surprenant,
led the Action Committee through an in-depth discussion regarding the selected action items
and potential ways of moving forward.
After a considerable amount of valuable discussion, the AC agreed upon the top 6 action items
and did not need to entertain a second round of voting. The six action items determined by the
AC as top priorities are as follows:
1. 13 votes
3.1.2d — Create new village/town centers as necessary, in or near presently underserved
subdivisions, beginning with those experiencing higher rates of population growth so
residents of those areas will have community activities and more convenient access to
services, and
3.1.3d — Facilitate land use entitlements and financing for the development of new
village/town centers by:
1) Creating a regional town center plan for each village/town area as prescribed in
Section 5.2.1, and
2) Providing loan guarantees or making grants to community associations or
partnerships for the development of necessary infrastructure for the village/town
center.
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(The AC decided to combine action items 3.1.2d & 3.1.3d due to their parallelism)
2. 5 votes
4.3.3a — Short Term (2008-2012)
3) Establish emergency routes, using mostly existing road beds;
5) Create connectivity alignments between the following subdivision: Hawaiian Acres
and Fern Acres, Fern Acres and Kopua Farm Lots, Eden Rock and Fern Forest,
Orchidland and Hawaiian Acres, Wnawale and Hawaiian Shores, Hawaiian Beaches
and HPP, Kea'au Agricultural Lots and a site adjacent to Kea'au Elementary School,
'Ohi'a Estates and Royal Hawaiian Estates. These inter -subdivision roads should be
staggered, low -impact, and multi -modal. The general locations are indicated as
ovals in Figure 4-1. (The AC made a note to use existing emergency routes as
connectivity locations) 'A�N IV
3. 4 votes
3.4.3c — Promote free wireless internet services to Puna's subdivisions, starting with those
that lack cable service. Related Action 4.1.3c — Facilitate telecommuting by dev&loping a
wireless communications network that enables most Pund r dents to gain free access to
the internet. (The AC made a note to remove the word 'free" and instead use "reliable")
4. 3 votes V_ NAL
2.2.2b —Adopt regulatory measures, educational programs and incentives to preserve
remnants of native ecosystems in Puna subdivisions, especially remnants at lower
elevations.
5. 3 votes
3.2.2e — Provide sites and infrastructure for farmers markets at County parks and proposed
village/town centers.
6. 2 votes
3.3.3a — Develop a centrally -located, 24-hour, full service medical facility, with trauma care,
in Puna. Establish multiple clinic level facilities offering primary medical and dental services
in village centers in Upper and Lower Puna. Expand existing County -funded transportation
services to carry people from subdivisions to medical facilities. (The AC noted that it
wouldn't necessarily have to be a non-profit. They also wanted to keep dialysis in mind and
asked that 3.3.1 be used as an aspirational reference)
Larry facil ted further AC discussion and entertained a motion to either approve all six action
items as they were prioritized or continue with an additional vote to narrow down selected
priorities even further.
Elmer moved teadopt the six action items as voted on by the Action Committee as their Priority
List and that the list be transmitted to the Planning Director. Second by Susan. Motion passed
with 8 votes aye and 0 votes nay.
Larry introduced the draft transmittal letter and opened the floor for discussion.
Patti moved to accept the draft priority list transmittal letter to the Planning Director. Second
by Susan.
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Larry moved to amend the draft letter by adding the words "County and State" to the first
sentence so that it would read: "The Action Committee (AC) ....... as project priorities for the AC,
County, and State to take on for the coming year." Second by Elmer. Motion passed with 8
votes aye and 0 votes nay.
Larry moved to amend the draft letter by adding "Mayor" and "and Legislators" to the last
paragraph so that it would read: "We respectfully request....... be forwarded to the Mayor,
appropriate agencies, Administrators, Councilmembers, and Legislators that are....... outlined in
the table." Second my Elmer. Motion passed with 8 votes aye and 0otes nay.
Patti moved that Hans and Larry work together to refine the draft letter according to the Action
Committee's discussion and then transmit the letter to the Planning Director. Second by Leila.
Motion passed with 8 votes aye and 0 votes nay.
Patti moved to amend the draft letter to include the 6 selected priorities, paraphrased, in the
body of the letter and add the table as an appendix/attachment. Second by Leila. Motion
passed with 8 votes aye and 0 votes nay.
Original motion as amended passed with 8 vdIes aye and 0 votes nay
Communication 2017-5 can be viewed and downloaded from
http://records.co.hawaii.hi.us/weblink/1/doc/85145/Pagel.aspx.
Director, Michael Yee, regarding PCDP AcCommittee Priorities
downloaded from the following website: http:%/records.co.hawaii.
AGENDA FOR NEXT MEETING: (March 14, 2017)
No agenda items were identified at this time.
ADJOURNMENT: The Chair, without objection, adjourned the
on Committees letter to the Planning
oritv Table can be viewed and
g at 4:50 p.m.
All Action Committee information can be vowed and downloaded from our website:
www.cohplanning-dept.com puna(dhawaiicounty.gov Page 4