HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-09-07 Hearing Transcript - Kawili Development REZ 1017WINDWARD PLANNING COMMISSION
COUNTY OF HAWAII
HEARING TRANSCRIPT
SEPTEMBER 7, 2017
A regularly advertised hearing on the application of KAWILI DEVELOPMENT, LLC
(formerly I. Kitagawa & Co., Ltd.) (REZ 1017) 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: Joe Clarkson, Gregory Henkel, Myles Miyasato, and Thomas
Raffipiy.
ABSENT & EXCUSED: Donn Dela Cruz and Donald Ikeda.
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: KAWILI DEVELOPMENT, LLC (FORMERLY I. KITIGAWA & CO.,
LTD.) (REZ 1017)
Request for an extension of time to comply with Condition B (required water commitment
payment) and Condition C (Complete Construction) of Ordinance No. 03 108, which reclassified
approximately 22,500 square feet of land from a Single -Family Residential -10,000 square feet
(RS -10) zoning district to an Industrial -Commercial Mixed Use -20,000 square feet (MCX-20)
zoning district. The property is located at the northeast corner of the East Kawili Street and
Hinano Street intersection, Waiakea House Lots Extension, Waiakea, South Hilo, Hawaii,
TMK: 2-2-050:014.
HENKEL: And with that, we'll proceed to the first and only agenda item today which is REZ
1017, Kawili Development, LLC, and it looks like Shancy will be making the presentation.
WATANABE: Thank you. Good morning, everyone. The Applicant is Kawili Development.
This application is for an amendment to a Change of Zone ordinance.
This is the location map. For orientation, East Kawili Street runs in the east to west direction in
the Waiakea House Lots Extension in the South Hilo District. Hinano Street runs in a north to
south direction. The subject property is outlined in black, and is located at the corner of Hinano
Street and East Kawili Street. The Hawaii Community College is just diagonally across the
subject property.
EXHIBIT A
The Applicant is requesting an amendment to allow time extensions for Conditions B and C of
Change of Zone Ordinance No. 03-108. For Condition B, the Applicant is requesting that the
water commitment payment be paid within 90 days of the effective date of this amended
ordinance.
For Condition C, the Applicant is requesting that the construction of the project be completed
within five years from the effective date of this amended ordinance.
The Applicant provided this site plan showing the proposed building shaded in yellow. The
proposed parking areas are shaded in purple. Easements "A" and "B" for ingress purposes are
from East Kawili Street shown and labeled in red. According to this site plan, egress is proposed
onto Hinano Street.
This is the zoning map. The subject property is zoned MCX-20, or Industrial -Commercial
Mixed Use, as shown in the twilight color and highlighted in red. Residential zoning is shown in
the light yellow; Commercial zoning is shown in the light pink; and Industrial in the various
shades of gray.
This is the State Land Use Boundary Map. The subject property is highlighted in red and
designated as State Land Use Urban, shown in the light pink, as are the surrounding properties.
This is the General Plan Land Use Pattern Allocation Guide Map. The subject property is
highlighted in red and designated as Industrial as shown in, in the gray color. The goldenrod
color represents Medium Density Urban.
This is an aerial photograph of the subject property at the corner of East Kawili and Hinano
Streets. The subject site consists of a two-level shell building. The interior improvements, as
well as the site improvements, are still under construction.
This site photo was taken directly looking at the subject property. East Kawili Street runs in an
east to west direction, and Hinano Street is not shown in this photo but is located to the left of
this building. Also, not shown in this photo are the easements for ingress purposes which would
be located right in this area here on the right.
The photo on the left was taken standing on East Kawili Street looking north towards Hinano
Street. The subject property is shown on the right, and the egress is proposed onto Hinano
Street. The photo on the right was taken standing towards East Kawili Street, and Hinano Street
is on your left here. The subject property is here.
The photo on the left shows the ingress for Easements A and B from East Kawili Street—right in
this area. The photo on the right is a closer view of Easements A and B for ingress purposes.
The photo on the left was taken standing on East Kawili Street looking towards the Hawaii
Community College. The subject property is on the right. The photo on the right is a closer
view of the ingress easements from East Kawili Street looking in the same direction.
EXHIBIT A
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Please know that there is a correction to the purchase date of the subject property. The correct
purchase date is December 28th, 2009, and not May 4, 2012, as indicated in the Background
Report. The Background Report will reflect the corrected date. Please accept my apology for
any inconveniences.
The Planning Director respectfully recommends approval with conditions for the amendment of
this Change of Zone request to the County Council.
This concludes my presentation. I'm happy to answer any questions the Planning Commission
may have. Thank you.
HENKEL: Thanks, Shancy. Are there any questions of staff from the Commission?
RAFFIPIY: I have a question. The egress and the ingress
HENKEL: Use your microphone, please, Thomas.
RAFFIPIY: Oh, sorry. The egress and the ingress. You said the egress, egress is on Hinano,
right? And, the ingress will be on Kawili?
WATANABE: Yes.
RAFFIPIY: Okay.
WATANABE: Yes.
RAFFIPIY: All right. Thank you, thank you.
WATANABE: You're welcome.
CLARKSON: I also have a question, and it has to do with the agreed to improvements to the
street frontage, the widening and sidewalks. Could you please show us the picture of—yeah,
that, well, that was there. That's good. It looks like there's a sidewalk already there that fronts
the, on Kawili Street that fronts the entire building?
HALL: Yeah, the other side. That's the other building. Next to it.
WATANABE: So, from this view up to here is actually the next property. Our building is here.
CLARKSON: Right.
WATANABE: And, that's the frontage there. What's really improved for this property is just
where the ingress is because from here towards us, facing us, is the next property.
EXHIBIT A
3
CLARKSON: Okay, so, has the road widening been completed further east on Kawili Street?
I'm just bringing this up because of the whole issue of having widened, non -widened, widened,
non -widened, and
WATANABE: I think further site improvements are still needed for the property.
CLARKSON: Okay.
WATANABE: We can see that there's still, there's still some areas that are not up to
Department of Public Works' standards just yet as more site improvements are still needed.
CLARKSON: Okay.
DARROW: [Inaudible.]
CLARKSON: Okay, I heard that.
WATANABE: Okay.
DARROW: So, the, the first half of the block has already been completed so now you'll have
the completion for the whole block. Thank you. That's what I needed to know.
HENKEL: Any other questions? Thank you, Shancy. Will the Applicant and/or their
representation please come forward? Good morning. Please have a seat, and raise your right
hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth in this matter before the Planning Commission?
FUJIOKA: Yes.
HENKEL: Thanks. Please state your name, and speak directly into the microphone.
FUJIOKA: My name is Craig Fujioka. I've reviewed the Background Report and
Recommendation, and I find them both acceptable, and I'd just like to thank the staff for their
favorable recommendation.
HENKEL: Thank you, Dr. Fujioka. Are there any questions?
MIYASATO: Chair, I have a question.
HENKEL: Mr. Miyasato.
MIYASATO: There was an exhibit on these, Exhibit 11, letter "d", small letter "d." It, at the
bottom sentence, it goes to a 180 days. Is that for the payment?
HALL: I have an extra one [inaudible]. [Ms. Hall handed Mr. Fujioka a copy of the
Background Report.]
EXHIBIT A
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MIYASATO: It says pay the appropriate water commitment fee `cause the condition has 90
days? Condition B?
FUJIOKA: I think it was supposed to be 90 days—
HATA-FINLEY: Microphone.
FUJIOKA: I think it was supposed to be 90 days.
MIYASATO: Okay, so you folks agree to the 90 days?
FUJIOKA: Yeah.
MIYASATO: Okay, thank you.
HENKEL: Any other questions?
RAFFIPIY: Oh
HENKEL: Yes, Tom.
RAFFIPIY: Question. Can I ask a question pertaining to the, the, you know, what I wanted to,
what I wanted to know is this is going to be occupied by VA right?
FUJIOKA: Yes.
RAFFIPIY: Are there any requirements from Federal Government from VA that they'll impose
on you folks, I mean, I don't know, if there's any requirement that they asked you to do with the
facility to be acceptable to them?
FUJIOKA: Well, we had to do like a seismic compliance study, yeah.
RAFFIPIY: Okay. As far as ADA, I mean
FUJIOKA: Oh yeah, has to be ADA also.
RAFFIPIY: All right. Thank you.
HENKEL: Thank you, Tom. Any other questions? Then, thank you. You may be seated. And,
we have no one signed up for public testimony. Is there anybody that would like to testify?
Okay, then, we should have a motion to close public testimony.
MIYASATO: Chair, I make a motion to close public testimony.
CLARKSON: Second.
EXHIBIT A
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HENKEL: It's been moved and seconded to close public testimony. All in favor say aye?
COMMISSIONERS: Aye.
HENKEL: Opposed? Public testimony is closed. Then we're ready for a
WATANABE: —Okay, could we
HENKEL: I'm sorry. Shancy?
WATANABE: Okay, thank you. I'm sorry. We'll go ahead and make a correction to the record
to reflect the 180 days as the Applicant has requested. The 90 days was in the original
ordinance, but we'll change it to 180.
HENKEL: Okay.
WATANABE: Yeah.
HENKEL: Noted, a 180 days is the new
WATANABE: For Condition B, yes.
HENKEL: Condition for finishing—with that, we'll look for a motion for action.
MIYASATO: Chair, I'll make a motion. I move that a favorable recommendation be forwarded
to the County Council on the application to amend Change of Zone Ordinance No. 03-108 be
approved based on the Planning Director's recommendations and findings, which shall be
adopted with the amendment and change to Condition B, be changed to that 180 days.
RAFFIPIY: Second.
HENKEL: It's been moved by Commissioner Miyasato. Seconded by Commissioner Raffipiy.
We'll do a roll call vote.
WATANABE: All right, thank you. Commissioner Miyasato?
MIYASATO: Aye.
WATANABE: Commissioner Raffipiy?
RAFFIPIY: Aye.
WATANABE: Commissioner Clarkson?
CLARKSON: Aye.
EXHIBIT A
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WATANABE: And, Chair Henkel?
HENKEL: Aye.
WATANABE: Okay, the motion carries four, zero. Thank you.
HENKEL: And, you'll be notified in writing of the Commissioners [sic] results. Thank you.
The discussion ended at 9:15 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Sarah Y. Hata-Finley, Secretary
Windward Planning Commission
EXHIBIT A
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