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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-01-08 NKCDP Minutes FinalHarry Kim Mayor County of Hawaii PLANNING DEPARTMENT Comm. No. 2018-18 Michael Yee Director Daryn Arai Deputy Director NORTH KOHALA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE Aupuni Center • 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 3 • Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Phone (808) 961-8288 • Fax (808) 961-8742 Monday, January 8, 2018 Meeting Minutes CALL TO ORDER CDP Planner, LeAna Gloor, called the North Kohala Community Development Plan (NKCDP) Action Committee (AC) to order at 5:04 p.m. in the Hisaoka Gym Conference Room. ROLL CALL Action Committee Members Present: Lehua AhSam, Steve Hoffmann, Keone Emeliano, Jeff Coakley, Jack Hoyt, Jack Olson, Beverly Blake Action Committee Members Absent -Excused: Richard Elliot, Benjamin Ney Staff: CoH Planners: LeAna Gloor, Keiko Mercado, Eric Cook. Members of the public: 9 Members of the public were in attendance. ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA: ANNOUNCEMENTS: 1. CDP Planner LeAna Gloor announced that the NKCDP Action Committee is welcoming 5 new members: Steve Hoffmann, Keone (Sheldon) Emeliano, Beverly Blake, Jack (John) Olson, and Jeff Coakley. 2. Former Chair, John Winter offered a warm welcome to all the new Action Committee members. 3. Planning staff recognized the exiting Action Committee members, Former Chair John Winter, former Vice -Chair Faith Yates, Jack Hoyt, and Lani Eugenio. Exiting members were presented with certificates of appreciation for their time served on the committee. It was noted that Jack Hoyt had agreed to 'holdover' for a few more months beyond his term expiration until his seat is filled. PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS: There was no testimony given from members of the public. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Committee Member Jack Hoyt moved to approve the minutes of the November 13, 2017 meeting, as submitted with corrections to line 44, which corrected a reference to the Pololu Lookout parking lot and Hawai `i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer Page I Pratt Road. Second by Committee Member Lehua AhSam. The motion to approve the minutes as submitted with corrections passed with 7 votes aye, 0 votes nay. REPORTS AND OTHER PRESENTATIONS: Community Partner Group Reports: Growth Management: Group member, Toni Withington stated that the group had met to discuss a consolidation in Pololu and that the group has not made a recommendation on the matter. It was also announced that the group met to discuss a possible special use permit application for Puakea Ranch. The group also worked on drafting a letter to the Planning Director regarding the possible special use permit for Puakea Ranch. Comm. No. 2018-05 Growth Management Notes: http://records.co.hawaii.hi.us/weblink/DocView.aspx?dbid=l&id=91557 North Kohala Community Access: Group member, Toni Withington, presented a summary of the group's December 6th meeting. The group is working on getting a new parking lot at the Pololu lookout. The group met with the D.O.T. to discuss the easement and paving the road to the Pololu lookout. It was announced that P.O.N.C. is ready to close on a purchase of a property in Hapu'u and begin the purchasing process of property in Kapanai'a. It was announced that community members met with Dutch Kuyper, the CEO of Parker Ranch to discuss the land they are selling in Hono'ipu, and their desire to maintain public access on the parcel. She announced that Kohala Shoreline LLC., wants to subdivide their land into 9 parcels. The owner has filed an appeal to the Director's decision regarding the environmental assessment, and this will be heard by the Board of Appeals on February 91h, 2018. Comm. No. 2018-03 Community Access Group Notes: http://www.hawaiicountVcdp.info/north-kohala-cdp/meeting-records-and-information/2018-meeting- com m u n i cati ons-and-materials/comm -n o-2018-03-access-Rrou b -notes -12-06.17 Parks, Water, Roads: Group member, John Winter, presented updates from the group's recent meeting. The group discussed the CIP item for Pratt Road Improvements. They are currently working on drafting a document between Department of Public Works and all the land owners along Pratt Road, to organize emergency public access. A meeting was held with Friends of the Parks and Mr. Rocha. Mr. Rocha agreed to continue working with Friends of the Parks on improvements and maintenance. A meeting was held with Dan Smith, the Big Island District Engineer for the State Department of Transportation, about various aspects of Akoni Pule Hwy. Members of the public and group communicated concerns about the road to Mr. Smith. Comm. No. 2018-04 PWR Group Notes: http://www.hawaiicountVcdp.info/north-kohala-cdp/meeting-records-and-information/2018-meeting- communications-and-materials/comm-no-2018-04-bwr-report-11-15.17 Affordable Housing: Group member, Jack Hoyt, presented updates for the group's recent meeting where a guest speaker presented about a land trust concept where residents purchase homes but not the land. The goal of the land trust is to create a long-term affordable housing www.hiplanningdept.com northkohala(dhawaiicounty.zov Page 2 development. The second topic was tiny houses; the group is currently working to get legislature to rework the zoning laws to allow for tiny houses. Director Yee announced that legislators are going to introduce another tiny homes bill. Mr. Yee also clarified that tiny homes can be built on agricultural land as an additional farm dwelling. The Planning Department will put out more comprehensive information so the public will better understand the regulations of tiny homes. BUSINESS: 1. Roles of Action Committee Members and Planning Staff: Ms. Gloor introduced the Operating Guidelines of the Action Committee to the new members. The role of the CDP Planner is to facilitate the implementation of the CDP and serve as a planning resource to the committee and the community. The planner's role is also to partner with the committee and administer to its needs in fulfilling the committee's duties and responsibilities in the implementation of the CDP, and liaise between committee and government agencies in furtherance of the CDP. Ms. Gloor explained that the month in between each meeting is used by the CDP planners to work on implementation steps. Ms. Gloor explained the role of the Action Committee. "The purpose of the Action Committee is to be a proactive community based steward of the implementation and updating of the CDP." She reviewed the duties and responsibilities of the Action Committee, which read as follows: Attend Action Committee meetings regularly, dedicate 6-10 hours of work in between meetings, attend training workshops, be aware of State objectives, receive briefings from planning dept. on issues related to CDP, assist in updating the CDP, and carry out duties specified in the CDP. She explained the roles of officers of the action committee. The chairperson shall be the presiding overseer of the committee and the vice chair shall be the presiding officer in the absence of the chair person. The roles and rules of operation were also explained for the roles of chair and vice chair. Ms. Gloor concluded by expanding on the staff planning duties. Planning staff serve as administrative support for distribution and posting of agendas and meeting materials, compliance with sunshine law, booking venues and correspondence, creating annual reports, website publications, posting minutes officially, information dissemination with the public and committee members. Operating Guidelines for North Kohala CDP Action Committee: http://records.hawaiicountV.gov/Weblink/1/doc/91926/Pagel.aspx 2. Election of Action Committee Officers: Ms. Gloor opened the discussion for the election of officers. The seat of Chair was considered first. Committee Member Blake nominated Committee Member Steve Hoffmann for the positon of Chair of the committee. Committee Member Jeff Coakley also nominated Committee Member Keone Emeliano for the position of chair of the committee. Mr. Emeliano declined the nomination for Chair. Committee Member Ah Sam stated that she is in support of Steve Hoffmann or Beverly Blake as Chair of the committee. Ms. Blake made a motion to officially nominate Mr. Hoffmann as Chair. Ms. Ah Sam seconded the motion. The motion passed, electing Mr. Steve Hoffmann as Chair of the North Kohala CDP Action Committee, with 7 votes aye and 0 votes nay. www.hiplanningdept.com northkohala(dhawaiicounty.zov Page 3 Mr. Hoffmann nominated Mr. Emeliano as Vice Chair of the committee. Mr. Emeliano accepted the nomination. Mr. Hoffmann made a motion to officially nominate Mr. Emeliano as Vice Chair of the committee. Committee member Olson seconded the motion. The motion passed, electing Mr. Keone Emeliano as Vice Chair of the North Kohala CDP Action Committee, with 7 votes aye and 0 votes nay. 3. Comm. No. 2018-01 Discussion of 2018 AC Meeting Dates and Goal Setting: It was announced that the meetings would be held on the third Monday of every other month. Ms. Gloor opened a discussion of the meeting venues and inquired about the preference of the committee members between the Hisaoka conference room and the old Judiciary Building. The response from the committee was that they prefer the parking at the Hisaoka Gym conference room, but they prefer the venue space at the Old Judiciary Building. Committee Member Ah Sam inquired if members of the community working groups are able to directly contact the Planning Department without going through the Action Committee first. Ms. Gloor responded, confirming that community working groups may contact the CDP planner directly without having to route through the Action Committee first. Chair Hoffmann asked how the groups are treated differently than the Action Committee and subcommittees. Ms. Gloor responded, explaining that the community groups are not bound by Sunshine Law, and can directly communicate with Planning Department staff without going through the Action Committee. She explained that the groups can get something voted on in one meeting if they have relevant material provided with enough advance notice, as opposed to the subcommittees, which require two hearings. Ms. Ah Sam stated that she would like to see the community groups focus on connecting with existing groups of the same category in the community and working with them instead of forming purely standalone community groups. Members of the committee inquired about having monthly meetings as opposed to the current every -other -month meeting schedule. Director Yee stated that the Planning Department currently does not have the staffing capacity to hold monthly meetings, and so the Action Committees will continue to hold meetings every other month. Director Yee also stated that we will revisit the matter again in a year or two to consider if a change is necessary dependent upon staffing capacity and needs of the CDP Action Committees. Ms. Mercado clarified to the Action Committee that only two Action Committee Members can be placed in each community working group, in compliance with Sunshine Law. It was decided that further discussion of community groups would take place at the March 191h Action Committee meeting. The committee inquired on the logistics of calling a special meeting. Ms. Gloor clarified that special meetings need to be properly agendized and require Planning Staff be in attendance, the same as regularly scheduled meetings. The possibility of a special meeting in February was discussed. It was decided that the discussion of a special meeting would be continued between the Action Committee Leadership and Planning Staff at a later time. Mr. Coakley submitted that he would like to compare goals of the Action Committee with the goals of the general public and see how they match up. Comm. No. 2018-012018 Meeting Schedule: www.hiplanningdept.com northkohala(dhawaiicounty.zov Page 4 http://www.hawaiicountycdp.info/north-kohala -cd p/meeting-record s-and-information/2018-meeting- communications-and-materials/comm-no-2018-01-meeti ng -schedule 4. Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission (PONC): PONC representative, Susan Fischer, announced that the deadline for suggestions to purchase parcels is now the end of February. There is a total of 16 million dollars in the fund for purchasing properties and conservation resources. There is also 2.3 million dollars in the maintenance fund. There have been many properties purchased in Kohala by PONC and there are many currently in the purchasing process. It was asked what the process of property negotiations is like with the land owners? Ms. Fischer responded that PONC prioritizes a list of properties and hands their recommendations off to the Mayor. The Mayor and County Council handle decision- making on property acquisition from that point on. Ms. Fischer explained that the funds come from 2 percent of the total property tax goes to funding these land acquisitions through PONC. The committee asked if a group needed to be a 501C3 work on maintenance for one of the acquired properties. Ms. Fischer responded affirmatively, but also stated that there is a 501C3 in Kohala named Kohala Lihikai for the purpose of stewarding land. For more information please visit the County of Hawai'i website: department of finance: property management: there you will find PONC. PnNC \A/PhtitP- records.co.hawaii.hi.us/webIink/browse.asbx?dbid=1&startid=13770 AGENDA FOR NEXT MEETING: (March 19, 2018) 1. Growth Management Letter to Planning Director ADJOURNMENT: Chair Hoffmann adjourned the meeting at 7:05 p.m. All Action Committee information can be viewed and downloaded from our website: http://www.hawaiicountvcdp.info/north-kohala-cdp www.hiplanningdept.com northkohala(dhawaiicounty.zov Page 5