HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-02-21 KCDP Minutes DraftMichael Yee
Director
Daryn Arai
Deputy Director
Harry Kim
Mayor
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
DRAFT Meeting Minutes
CALL TO ORDER
Chair DeFranco called the Kona Community Development Plan (KCDP) Action Committee (AC) to order
at 2:00 p.m. in the West Hawai‘i Civic Center Planning Department Conference Room. The following
persons were present:
ROLL CALL
Action Committee Members Present: Barbara DeFranco (Chair), Charles Young (Vice-Chair), Shirley
David, Kari Kimura, Shane Palacat-Nelsen, Janice Palma-Glennie, Douglas Payne, and Arnold Rabin.
Action Committee Members Absent-Excused: Hiram Rivera.
Staff: Michael Yee – Planning Director; April Surprenant – Long Range Planning Program Manager;
Keola Childs – Kona CDP Planner; and Heather Bartlett - Planner.
Members of the public: 9
ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA: NONE
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Chair DeFranco requested a change in order of the agenda items on behalf of
Planning Director Michael Yee to hear the agenda items in the following order: 1, 5, 6, 2, 3, and then 4.
PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS:
Six people signed up to provide comment. All chose to speak at the start of the meeting, except for
Mr. Melrose who spoke at the end.
1. Bill Moore, representing RCFC Kaloko Heights LLC Kaloko Heights), a land developer, testified
on agenda item #1 – Kona Community Development Plan Proposed Amendments Subcommittee
Report. Mr. Moore said he was speaking for himself and as a consultant for Kaloko Heights, and
not as member of reporting subcommittee of which he was a participating public member. He
explained that Kaloko Heights has given 10 acres of land to Hawai‘i Island Community
Development Corporation to develop a low income housing project. The developer is
considering building a sewer line down Hina Lani to connect to the Kealakehe wastewater
treatment plant. He referenced Kona CDP Policy PUB-4.5: Wastewater Treatment [stated
below]. Mr. Moore explained his belief that a phrase in the policy “south of Hina Lani Steet”
prevents their ability to link to the sewer system since the project is located north of Hina Lani.
Mr. Moore advocates for maintaining the language in the original proposed amendment of this
policy (see communication number 2017-03) with additional changes which would read as follows:
“The Kealakehe Wastewater Treatment Plant shall should be expanded to accommodate at a minimum the projected sewage volume from the Urban Area sewer priority areas extending from the south of Hina Lani Street service area to the Keauhou Wastewater Treatment Plant service area.”
Action Committee members asked clarifying questions of Mr. Moore’s testimony. Mr. Moore explained that the 10-acre affordable housing project has received its state funding and they are now comparing options for on-site treatment systems instead of connecting to the sewer. He additionally stated that the developers propose paying for the sewer line, and that there are a total of 1,200 – 1,300 affordable housing units being planned. In response to questions raised about the capacity of the existing sewer treatment plan, Mr. Moore explained that they were already working with the Hawai‘i County Department of Environmental Management (DEM) regarding those concerns.
Mr. Moore said he would be following up with a written version of his testimony.
2. Carol Ignacio, representing herself, testified on agenda item #6. She introduced herself as a lifelong resident of the Big Island and spoke to the importance of incorporating community input into planning decisions. Ms. Ignacio stated that people care about the future of their communities and desire opportunities to be involved. She stressed her belief that gathering community feedback and suggestions is not only valuable but necessary for success. She stated that while she often finds it easier to plan by herself, “chances of success get diminished with every less person I’m willing to engage with.” Ms. Ignacio read some comments from a 2008 County evaluation which lists feedback from the community, many of which included a desire for more community inclusion and engagement. Through her experience attending CDP meetings around the island, Ms. Ignacio said she is an advocate for 5pm meetings which allows members of the community to attend meetings after work. This would help to “give the community a forum to establish county policy.”
3. Sharon Willeford, representing herself, testified regarding the CDP generally. Ms. Willeford expressed concern for the traffic congestion along Palani road which could be -worsened by an increase of development in the area. She expressed further concern for the community in South Kona for the same reason. Ms. Willeford stated a plan should be drafted by the community, not developers. She also talked about creating food self-sustainability on the island, and advocated for placing a moratorium on further development in the Kona area until infrastructure concerns are solved.
4. Martin Ohan, representing himself, testified on agenda item #1. Mr. Ohan explained the issues he has experienced trying to rezone his property in Kona Acres due to legal issues surrounding the CDP. Mr. Ohan would like to subdivide his 6 acre property into 5 lots. He explained that the CDP language lumps projects of all sizes together, which may negatively affect the smaller, low-impact projects. Chair DeFranco requested that Mr. Ohan submit written testimony that may point the Action Committee to specific policies in the CDP which may be effecting his property.
5. Keith Kato, representing Hawai‘i Island Community Development Corporation, testified on agenda item #1. In Mr. Kato’s written testimony he addressed various policies within the Kona CDP as they affect affordable housing projects in Kona. Mr. Kato explained that because it is
difficult to provide the means to develop an affordable housing project in ideal locations in Kona, that there should be a better means to support these projects through the CDP.
6. Ken Melrose, representing himself, testified on agenda items 1, 5, and 6. He gave insight on his experience as the Steering Committee Chair during the drafting process of the Kona CDP. He explained that when they were in the process of gathering community input they created groups of one or two Action Committee members who would facilitate topic specific meetings to gather input from community around Kona.
Mr. Melrose suggested some financing methods for the Action Committee to consider introducing: 1) amendments to County Code provisions for tax increment financing, and 2) the use of community facilities [financing] districts. He explained that these methods were integral considerations during the initial drafting of the CDP and that there are legislatives impediments to the methods which still need to be worked through.
For Public Open Space and Natural Resources Commission (PONC) nominations Mr. Melrose suggested the Action Committee consider nominating the acquisition of the Amy B.H. Greenwell gardens. TMKs: 8-2-013:002, 8-2-013:003, 8-2-013:014 and 8-2-014:043.
Mr. Melrose also expressed his appreciation for the work of Nancy Pisicchio and Roy Takemoto for initiating the Kona CDP Amendment process while still honoring its vision and guiding principles. Mr. Melrose expressed that the amendments should go even further than the original proposal to better provide guidance to agencies, and to remove unintended disincentives toward desired outcomes. The goal of the CDP is to direct growth in the Kona area, in the process further defining the General Plan, and to foster compact neighborhoods that reduce sprawl and improve transportation. Since its adoption in 2008, Mr. Melrose stated, no such growth pattern has emerged and there are few housing projects that have begun. He advocated for further amendments, beyond changing the “shoulds” to “shalls”, primarily in the Transportation, Land Use, and Housing chapters/policies. He advised the Action Committee that they have the opportunity to take the initiative on how they should interpret the text and how in-depth the amendments should go.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Committee Member Palacat-Nelsen moved to approve the minutes of the January 9, 2018 meeting as submitted. Second by Committee Member Payne. The motion to approve the minutes as submitted passed with 8 votes aye, 0 votes nay.
REPORTS and OTHER PRESENTATIONS:
1. Kona CDP Proposed Amendments Subcommittee:
Subcommittee Chair Palacat-Nelsen distributed his report and cover letter to the Action Committee. Participants included Action Committee members David, Rivera, and Young; community members Bill Smith, George Robertson, Ken Melrose, Max Newberg, Riley Smith, and Roger Harris; as well as County Staff Karen Eoff, April Surprenant, Keola Childs, Allen Salavea, and Heather Bartlett. He thanked everyone for all of their hard work in a process which took place over a series of 6 meetings. [Note: reference material links provided at end of agenda item summary.] Subcommittee Chair Palacat-Nelsen explained that while looking at the proposed amendments [provided to them in Communication Number 2017-03], they noticed other areas of concern due to legal ramifications and/or inconsistencies with other parts of the text. He urged fellow
Action Committee members to use their own discretion as to whether these additional proposals extend farther than what may be necessary in a [presumably] interim amendment of the Kona CDP.
Roy Takemoto from the mayor’s office spoke to the issue of concurrency in the CDP Amendment Subcommittee’s report. Both the original proposed amendments [Communication Number 2017-03] and the Subcommittee Report [Communication Number 2018-08] offer vastly different rewording of the Concurrency policy [TRAN-6.1: Official Concurrency Map]. The Subcommittee proposed moving a proposed section of policy TRAN-1.1: Official Transportation Map to policy TRAN-6.1 and removing much of the original proposed wording. Mr. Takemoto advocated for keeping the wording as it was in his original amendment claiming that the subcommittee was respectfully, and possibly unintentionally, gutting the concurrency policy.
Mr. Takemoto stressed the importance that the concurrency requirements are in proportion to the impact the developer proposes. He explained that under his proposed language [as contained in Communication 2017-03], a developer would have to work toward reasonable means to allow area mitigation requirements to be satisfied by government or private developers in the near future following the start of a new development rather than being required to construct roads concurrently with their development. Mr. Takemoto’s proposed language requires a developer to define an applicable right-of-way by metes and bounds, or by guaranteeing the performance of the metes and bounds description commitment pursuant to HCC §25-2-46(f)(2). He explained that the intent of this wording is to put the burden on developers to help plan for the future roads in Kona without going beyond what is proportionate to the impact of the project. Mr. Takemoto also commented on the Concurrency Table 4-1, which was also further edited by the subcommittee. He said that there are 3 Concurrency Zones with roads listed on that table without any guidance in the CDP on defining those road corridor alignments and thus for preparing any metes and bounds descriptions of their exact future alignments: 1. In Concurrency Zone C – the extension of Ane Keohokālole Highway between Kaiminani and Hina-Lani largely because much of that land is owned by the State and is unplanned. 2. In Concurrency Zone I – the proposed Kuakini Highway Extension through lands owned by Queen Liliuokalani Trust. 3. In Concurrency Zone K – the proposed Hienaloli Street Extension north to Palani Road, a complicated issue involving many land owners. Mr. Takemoto also explained that there are concurrency zones which have puka [gaps in their] segments for which preparing proposed metes and bounds requires further study:
1. In Concurrency Zone A – Queen Ka‘ahumanu Frontage Road (north of the National Park)
2. In Concurrency Zone B – University Drive Extension mauka to Mamalahoa Highway. Mr. Takemoto also explained that the County Fair Share account requires developers to contribute to a fund when they apply for a rezoning. This account gets used for general improvement in the area. He explained that there may be funding in this account which recently lapsed from its previous appropriation, he encouraged the Action Committee to further look into this opportunity for their projects. He briefly explained the process to fund projects through the county, which happens in 3 steps. 1) Appropriation: a project is named in the CIP as being appropriate for funding and development; 2) Allotment: available funds are placed in a restricted account for the project,
so that bidding may begin, and 3) Encumbrance: once a contract is executed between the County and a contractor, the allotted funds are encumbered (“locked in place”) to be withdrawn from the account only to pay for costs related to the project. In accordance with Sunshine Law requirements, the Action Committee deferred all deliberation on this report to a future meeting. Communication number 2017-03: Kona CDP Proposed Amendments may be viewed and downloaded from the following website: http://records.co.hawaii.hi.us/weblink/1/doc/90193/Page1.aspx Communication number 2018-08.1: Kona CDP Amendment Subcommittee Report Cover Letter may be viewed and downloaded from the following website: http://records.co.hawaii.hi.us/weblink/1/doc/92187/Page1.aspx Communication number 2018-08: Kona CDP Amendments Subcommittee Report may be viewed and downloaded from the following website: http://records.co.hawaii.hi.us/weblink/1/doc/92186/Page1.aspx Hawai‘i County Code Chapter 25: Zoning may be viewed and downloaded from the following website: http://www.hawaiicounty.gov/lb-file-review/files/county-code/chapter25.pdf [the mentioned section is 25-2-46(f)(2) which can be found on page 45.] The Kona CDP Concurrency Map [Figure 4-3] may be viewed and downloaded from the following website: http://www.hawaiicountycdp.info/site-resources/pictures/kona/figure-4-3-concurrency-map/at_download/file
BUSINESS:
2. Election of Action Committee Officers:
Chair DeFranco restated the deferred motion made by Committee Member Rabin to nominate Charles Young as Chair of the Action Committee. Second by Committee Member Payne. The motion passed unanimously with 8 vote aye and 0 votes nay.
Chair DeFranco restated a second motion made in the last meeting by herself to nominate Shirley David as Vice-Chair of the Action Committee.
Committee Member David moved to nominate Committee Member Palacat-Nelsen as Vice-Chair of the Action Committee.
Committee Member Palacat-Nelsen respectfully declined the nomination with a concern for work-related time commitments.
Upon the motion to nominate Shirley David as Vice-Chair of the Action Committee a vote was taken. The motion passed unanimously with 8 votes aye and 0 votes nay.
3. Communication Number 2017-04: Kona Open Space Network Subcommittee Report: Recommendations for development of Kona’s Open Space Network.
Committee Member Kimura spoke on behalf of the Kona Open Space Network Subcommittee and recapped the report they made in November of last year to present the vision statement they created. Ms. Kimura made clear that the intent of including the Open Space map in the reports attachment was to simply illustrate what such a map would look like, not to be considered the finished product. They requested having the map relabeled as public testimony, and not an opinion of the Subcommittee to avoid confusion as the report is sent to the Planning Director.
Staff Childs reminded the Action Committee of a current appropriation in the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) budget which lapses in 2019. A possible logical step would be to ask for an allotment of funds for the project.
Mr. Takemoto reminded the Action Committee of the Fair Share account, from which funding could potentially be allocated. This may pay for a portion of the appropriated $195,000.
Chair DeFranco moved to send a letter to the Planning Director to request that the Kona CDP Open Space Network Plan appropriation be allotted in accordance with the subcommittee’s vision and recommended action. Second by Committee Member David.
Vice-Chair Young suggested including a mention of the possibility of requesting Fair Share funds.
Upon the motion to send a letter to the Planning Director asking for allotment for the Kona Open Space Network Plan appropriation with the possibility of using Fair Share funds, passed with 8 vote aye and 0 votes nay.
4. Nominations of lands in North and South Kona for acquisition with Funds from the County’s Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Fund:
No nominations were heard.
5. Discussion of 2018 AC Meeting Dates and Goal Setting:
Chair DeFranco explained that this is a continuation of a discussion item from the last meeting. Planning Director Yee shared his input that reaching out to the community may require simply opening up the conversation and providing a forum. He stressed the importance of reaching out to working families and the importance of hosting meetings outside of typical working hours. The Action Committee discussed how to develop a schedule which would maximize the ability for community members, as well as Action Committee members, to be present. They decided upon a schedule, which would be held on the second Tuesday of every other month (with occasional interim special meetings) and would alternate between a 2pm and 6pm time. The schedule would read as follows:
March 13th, 2pm
– West Hawai‘i Civic Center
April 10th, 6pm
– West Hawai‘i Civic Center (Community Hale)
May 8th, 6pm
– Location to be determined
July 10th, 2pm
– West Hawai‘i Civic Center
September 11th, 6pm
– Location to be determined
November 13th, 2pm
– West Hawai‘i Civic Center
Committee Member Palacat-Nelsen moved to accept this proposed meeting schedule for the remainder of the year. Second by Committee Member Rabin. The motion to accept the proposed meeting schedule passed with 8 votes aye and 0 votes nay.
Staff agreed to work on making the reservations to meet their proposal and to also expand their meeting locations to other areas in the Kona region when relevant topics present themselves. The Action Committee additionally discussed hosting a smaller 2pm meeting in March to discuss the CDP Amendments before bringing it out to a larger community forum in April. Chair DeFranco moved the discussion to Action Committee goals. A couple goas were identified and discussed.
1. Increase public engagement
2. Finish an Action Committee recommendation regarding the CDP amendments
3. Work toward the goal of undergoing a Kona Open Space Network plan
4. Develop openness toward requesting community expertise on Action Committee business matters
5. Research financing mechanisms [ex: tax increment financing, and community facilities districts]
Chair DeFranco encouraged the Action Committee members to think over their goals in order to continue this discussion at the next meeting.
6. Discussion of a Committee Member proposal to establish a Subcommittee to propose a schedule of community meetings to be held by the Action Committee at various locations in addition to or in conjunction with regular meetings:
Committee Member Rabin moved to form a subcommittee to schedule community [Action Committee] meetings. Second by Committee Member Palacat-Nelsen.
Committee Member Rabin elaborated further on his intention, which also included creating a means to have video records/broadcasting to give community members another venue for staying informed.
Committee members shared concerns about needing a clear purpose for hosting community meetings. Without a clear purpose, and proper meeting organization and facilitation, they feared community members would stop showing up for meetings altogether.
Staff suggested that Committee Member Rabin could work on organizing community meetings on his own and because of that he may not need to create a subcommittee for that purpose. Ms. Surprenant suggested that such a task would probably be best left to the Chair of the Action Committee and the administrative planning staff to decide meeting venues when they know they have relevant agenda items for the meeting location. However, help with establishing contact with venue owners is always helpful.
Upon the motion to form a subcommittee to schedule community meetings a vote was taken. The motion failed with 1 vote aye and 7 votes nay (one vote kanalua [uncertain] nay).
AGENDA FOR NEXT MEETING: (March 13, 2018)
1. Kailua Village Redevelopment Subcommittee Report
2. Kona CDP Amendment Discussion
3. 2018 Goal Setting
ADJOURNMENT: The Chair, without objection, adjourned the meeting at 4:37 p.m.
All Action Committee information can be viewed and downloaded from our website: http://www.hawaiicountycdp.info/kona-cdp/