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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-05-04 Hearing Transcript - Hale Ohu B&B (Amend SPP 966)WINDWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAII HEARING TRANSCRIPT MAY 4, 2017 A regularly advertised hearing on the application of HALE OHU BED AND BREAKFAST LLC (AMEND SPP 966) was called to order at 9:19 a.m. in the County of Hawaii Aupuni Center Conference Room, 101 Pauahi Street, Hilo, Hawaii with Chairman Gregory Henkel presiding. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Joseph Clarkson, Gregory Henkel, Donald Ikeda, and Myles Miyasato. ABSENT & EXCUSED: Donn Dela Cruz. ALSO PRESENT: Michael Yee (Planning Director), Malia Ho Hall (Deputy Corporation Counsel for the Windward Planning Commission), Jeff Darrow (Planning Program Manager), Maija Jackson (Planner), Christian Kay (Planner), Shancy Watanabe (Planner), and Sarah Hata-Finley (Commission Secretary). And 5 members from the public in attendance. APPLICANT: HALE OHU BED AND BREAKFAST LLC (AMEND SPP 966) Request to amend Special Permit No. 966 from a six (6) -room Inn to a five (5) -bedroom Bed & Breakfast and the deletion of Condition Nos. 3 (Final Plan Approval), 4 (Bedroom Limit) & 6 (Final Status Report) related to the previous Inn use. Special Permit No. 966 was originally approved to allow the establishment of a six (6) -room Inn and related improvements on 4.465 acres of land situated within the Agricultural -1 acre (A -la) zoning district. The subject properties are located along the north side of Old Volcano Road, approximately 390 feet east of its intersection with Wright Road, Ola`a Summer Lots, Volcano, Puna, Hawaii, TMKs: 1-9- 003:010, 020 and 021. HENKEL: So, we'll move onto Item No. 2 on the agenda which is the Hale Ohm Bed and Breakfast LLC, Amendment, Amend SPP 966, and it looks like Christian will be making the presentation. KAY: Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair, and good morning. All right, as you stated, this is going to be an amendment to Special Permit 966. If I can direct your attention to the screen. The subject parcels are located in the Puna District of Hawaii Island; more specifically, in the Volcano Village area. There are three parcels here outlined in black, and just for your reference, we've got Volcano Highway running generally north -south through the slide and Old Volcano Road running parallel to that. 10V1111.11 1.1 The closest cross street is Wright Road running again north -south the other way. And, just for, again, for your reference, this blue pardon me—green area here, is where the Cooper Center is and the County's covered play area. So, this is a more zoomed in zoning map, again, with the subject parcels outlined here in black. Old Volcano Road running generally east -west through the slide and Wright Road, north -south. The subject parcel and surrounding parcels are zoned Agricultural – 1 acre. To the north, we've got this Open zoning which is consistent with that play area and Cooper Center, and some Agricultural – 3 acre zoning to the north. Across Old Volcano Road and the highway, we've got Residential zoning, Single -Family Residential zoning and then here in the corner is some Village Commercial zoning which is consistent with the Volcano Village Commercial area. The State Land Use Boundary designation for the subject parcel and surrounding parcels is Agricultural as indicated in light green. And, there is surrounding Urban designations as well as indicated in red. The General Plan Land Use Pattern Allocation Guide Map designates the subject parcel and much of the surrounding parcels as Extensive Agriculture indicated in white with some surrounding Low Density Urban in the mustard color and; again, in the orange color here to the west, Medium Density Urban consistent with that commercial core. Here is an aerial photograph of the subject parcels. Again, for reference, we've got Old Volcano Road running at the bottom of the slide east -west, and Wright Road running north -south. This is the County's covered play area here. And, here are the three subject parcels. And, the surrounding uses are mainly residential. So, a little bit of background, Special Permit No. 966 was originally granted in 1997 to allow for a six -room inn within two dwellings called the Lyman Mountain House and Garden Suites in the three subject parcels. The Applicant is currently requesting an amendment to that Special Permit to change the use to a five -bedroom bed & breakfast operation within one dwelling and accessory structures. They are also requesting deletion of Condition Nos. 3, which is a requirement of Plan Approval; Condition No. 4, which is, indicates the number of bedrooms requirement; and Condition No. 6, which is a requirement for a final status report. The purpose of this request is that the Applicant plans on using the Hale Ohm or the Lyman Mountain House as their main residence and no longer wish to use it as part of the operation. The Applicant has requested the deletion of Condition No. 3, the requirement of Plan Approval, to be consistent with the current Zoning Code which does not require Plan Approval for bed & breakfast operations. The Applicant is also, as the Applicant is proposing a five -bedroom bed & breakfast operation, they are requesting to delete Condition No. 4 which originally limited the inn use to six bedrooms. EXHIBIT B 2 And, finally, they are asking to delete Condition No. 6 which required a final status report highlighting compliance with conditions. The Applicant has provided us a report of those conditions as part of this amendment application so we feel like that's been satisfied. Here is the Applicant's submitted site plan. I, in your Background Report, there were two maps. I just stitched them together to show all three parcels. As you can see here, again, for reference, you've got Old Volcano Road running east -west at the bottom of the slide. Access comes through in this middle Parcel 10 and then jogs to the west through Parcel 20. There is an overflow gravel parking area here and comes back through onto Parcel No. 10 and terminates at a paved parking area. This is the Garden Suites dwelling. Here and then here is also the Hale Ohm or the Lyman Mountain House, which was originally used as part of the inn use, but they're wanting to remove that and use it as their main residence. So, the bed & breakfast operation will mainly be focused here. In the near term, there are three bedrooms and three bathrooms in this Garden Suites dwelling. In the future, the Applicant is planning on expanding into this area which is currently a covered carport area, but they are proposing in the future to add two additional detached bedrooms. Here's some site photographs. Here's a view of the driveway from Old Volcano Road. And, here's a view of the current Garden Suites dwelling. I apologize. I didn't mean to get the owners in it. And, so this is, pardon me, this is their two bedrooms here in the front and a third bedroom around the side. It's currently under renovation. And, here's a view of that carport area that's going, it's the site of the future bedroom expansion. And, here's some views of just the parking areas. There are, I believe, seven paved parking stalls in this paved parking area. And, here's a view of the overflow, the gravel overflow parking area with some of the workmen's vehicles in there right now. Here's a view of Old Volcano Road looking to the south. And, we've got the entrance to the subject parcel on the right-hand side. And, here's looking north with the entrance on the left- hand side. The Planning Director is recommending approval of the amendment request with conditions. We did receive one additional letter of support this morning. Should be in your packet. With that, my presentation is complete. I'm happy to answer any questions that the Commission may have. HENKEL: Thank you, Christian. Are there any questions? Yes, Commissioner Ikeda. IKEDA: You know, I have no problem with the, this permit here, but somehow when I read the, this application and your so-called proposal, you're stating one building, five bedrooms. KAY: Correct. EXHIBIT B 3 IKEDA: You only have three bedrooms, so should it be one building three bedroom, and if you're going to apply for the extra two bedrooms, then you're going to come back for two bedroom, five—two building, five bedrooms, instead of one bedroom, five, because you only got three bedrooms. You don't have five. KAY: So, when we originally spoke to the Applicant when they came in and talked to us about what they were proposing, our recommendation was to, to them, was you can request up to five bedrooms. And so we can approve a permit for five bedrooms with the understanding that in the future, they'll be expanding out to five bedrooms to avoid having them to have to come back and amend the permit, so. IKEDA; Yes, but you still gotta come back because then you're going to come—two buildings and not one building that should, that permit this all of the requested. KAY: I think the way that the request read was yeah, sorry, come back here—an amendment to change the use to a five -bedroom bed & breakfast operation within one dwelling and accessory structures. Those accessory structures will be those detached bedrooms. Yeah. Any other questions? HENKEL: I just have a question about the parking there. You said there are seven spaces? KAY: Correct. HENKEL: Which is adequate for the three, but they would be adding more, I guess, if they KAY: It would be adequate as it is now for all five bedrooms plus the overflow gravel parking area would allow additional parking. HENKEL: The gravel, I didn't know if that counted. KAY: Yeah, it does. HENKEL: Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Thanks, Christian. Will the Applicants or their representative come forward? Good morning. Will you raise your right hands? Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter before the Planning Commission? RAZNOV/NAUGHTEN: Yes. HENKEL: Okay, please state your name and where you reside and proceed. RAZNOV: Hi, good morning. Good morning, Chair, members of the Commission, Planning Director Yee. Thank you so much for your time this morning. My name is Jill Raznov. I'm the representative for the Applicant, Hale Ohm Bed & Breakfast, and to my right is Nicole Naughten, who is one of the principals of Hale Ohu, and also one of the operators of the bed & breakfast. Behind us is her co-operator and principal, Gabrielle Naughten, no relation. They're actually sisters who also plan to reside in the former, the Lyman Mountain House on the property. We'd EXHIBIT B 4 like to thank the Planning Department for their presentation today, and for the hard work that they've done on reviewing the application and preparing the Background Report and the Recommendations. We have no objections to the Recommendations as written, and we would respectfully request that they be approved as presented, and we're happy to answer any questions that you have, and we have nothing to add at this time. NAUGHTEN: Good morning. This is Nicole Naughten. I live in Volcano, and it's been a pleasure going through this process, so we welcome any of your feedback. HENKEL: Okay, thank you. Any questions from the Commission? Okay, you may be seated. RAZNOV: Thank you. HENKEL: I don't have anyone. I'm sorry, Jill, did you have something to say? RAZNOV: No, I said thank you. HENKEL: Okay. I don't have anyone signed up to testify. Is there anybody that would like to testify? If not, we'll look for a, we'll, I'm sorry, we'll look for a motion to close the public testimony. MIYASATO: I make a motion to close public testimony. IKEDA: Second. HENKEL: It's been moved and seconded to close public testimony. All in favor, say "aye." COMMISSIONERS: Aye. HENKEL: Opposed? Public testimony is closed. Now, we will look for a motion as to action and discussion. MIYASATO: Chair, I'll make a motion. I move that the application to amend Special Permit No. 966 be approved based on the Planning Director's findings and recommendations which shall be adopted. IKEDA: Second. HENKEL: It's been moved by Commissioner Miyasato and seconded by Commissioner Ikeda for approval. Would you do a roll call vote, please, Christian? KAY: Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Commissioner Miyasato? MIYASATO: Aye. KAY: Commissioner Ikeda? EXHIBIT B 5 IKEDA: Aye. KAY: Commissioner Clarkson? CLARKSON: Aye. KAY: And, finally, Chair Henkel. HENKEL: Aye. KAY: Okay, thank you. Motion carries, five, nothing. Four, nothing, sorry. HENKEL: Thank you. You'll be notified in writing of the finding of the Commission. The discussion ended at 9:31 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Sarah Y. Hata-Finley, Secretary Windward Planning Commission EXHIBIT B 6