HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-04-02 South Kohala Community Development Plan Action Committee Minutes - DRAFTCounty of Hawai‘i
PLANNING DEPARTMENT
SOUTH KOHALA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE
Aupuni Center 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 3 Hilo, Hawai‘i 96720
Phone (808) 961-8288 Fax (808) 961-8742
Hawai‘i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer Page 1
Michael Yee
Director
Daryn Arai
Deputy Director
Harry Kim
Mayor
Monday, April 2, 2018
DRAFT Meeting Minutes
CALL TO ORDER
Acting Chair Kaneali‘i called the South Kohala Community Development Plan (SKCDP) Action
Committee (AC) to order at 5:13 p.m. in the Hokuloa United Church of Christ in Puakō. The following
persons were present:
ROLL CALL
Action Committee Members Present: Diane Kaneali‘i (Vice-Chair), Eddie Akau, Kevin McLaughlin,
George “Robby” Robertson, Julia Ann Alos, Mark Gordon, Ruth Smith, Tristie Licoan, and William
Sanborn.
Action Committee Members Absent-Excused: None.
Staff: Keola Childs – South Kohala CDP Planner; and Planners: Bethany Morrison and Heather Bartlett.
Members of the public: 8
ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA: NONE
PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS:
Please Note: the agenda for this meeting unintentionally had the first two agenda items listed as
agenda item “1”. For clarity, the agenda item regarding the Waikoloa Road/Paniolo Avenue
intersection improvements is referred to as the “second agenda item #1”, and the items in these
minutes are numbered to reflect what was written on the meeting agenda.
Three people signed up to provide comment. They all chose to speak at the start of the meeting.
1. David Tarnas, representing himself, testified on the second agenda item #1 – Waikoloa
Road/Paniolo Avenue Intersection Traffic Safety Improvements: Mr. Tarnas updated the Action
Committee with information he had learned from the March 13, 2018 South Kohala Traffic
Safety Committee [SKTSC] meeting regarding newly imposed vehicle weight limits on Waiaka
Bridge; his testimony served as a recap of this meeting. He said Donald Smith, head of the State
Department of Transportation [DOT], as well as members of the trucking community attended
the SKTSC meeting. Recently, Hawai‘i State DOT officials announced weight limits on the
Waiaka bridge and other old bridges around the state. He stated that in response, the
Kawaihae trucking community reported having to drive through Waikoloa as a bypass route to
and from the Harbor. According to Mr. Tarnas, Don Smith explained at the SKTSC meeting that
there is only one staff member trained to enforce these restrictions. Concerns were raised
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about some truckers not following this rule thereby leading to unfair advantages. Mr. Tarnas further explained that it could be some time before the State initiates reconstruction of the Waiaka bridge. He expressed concern for the way the community will be affected by increased traffic going through Waikoloa in tandem with the potential for structural deficiencies in the bridge.
2. Barry Kelly, representing himself, testified on the second agenda item #1 – Waikoloa Road/Paniolo Avenue Intersection Traffic Safety Improvements and agenda item #2 – Goal Setting: Mr. Kelly expressed his concern that the proposed shopping center near Waikoloa Village will exacerbate the traffic issue in the intersection. He called attention to the crosswalk along Paniolo drive just past the shopping center as another area in dire need of safety improvements. He shared his concerns for the safety of pedestrians crossing the street, referencing the crosswalk flags and stating that “the flags don’t stop cars.” Mr. Kelly suggested adding flashing lights to the crosswalk; although he later expressed doubt that even that would be enough to keep pedestrians safe, suggesting the need for more comprehensive solutions. Additionally, Mr. Kelly asked what the status was of the second emergency access road out of Waikoloa. He inquired as to how Waikoloa residents could contribute to the project, and if there was general support from the community.
3. Josephine “Jojo” Tanimoto, representing herself, testified on the second agenda item #1 – Waikoloa Road/Paniolo Avenue Intersection Traffic Safety Improvements: Ms. Tanimoto expressed concern about buses needing to drive through Waikoloa if blocked from driving over Waiaka Bridge due to weight limits. Mr. Tarnas responded that they asked about busses during the SKTSC meeting. He said the reason why they raised the weight limit from 15 tons to 18 tons was in order to accommodate buses.
RECOGNITION OF OUTGOING ACTION COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Staff Childs, on behalf of the Action Committee, recognized three outgoing Action Committee members: John Mueller [who was not present], Roger Harris, and Josephine “Jojo” Tanimoto for their great contributions to the community over the years they served on the Action Committee. Staff provided them each with Certificates of Appreciation signed by Mayor Harry Kim.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Committee Member Alos moved to approve the minutes of the November 27, 2017 meeting as submitted. Second by Committee Member Gordon. The motion to approve the minutes as submitted passed with 9 votes aye, 0 votes nay.
BUSINESS:
1. Election of Action Committee Officers.
Staff Childs opened the discussion for nominations for a new Chair for the Action Committee.
Committee Member Alos nominated Diane Kaneali‘i to be the Action Committee Chair. Second by Committee Member Smith.
Staff Childs asked if there were any other nominations and none were heard.
Staff Childs called for a vote to appoint Diane Kaneali‘i as Chair. The appointment passed unanimously.
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Staff Childs then opened the discussion for nominations for the new Vice-Chair for the Action Committee.
Committee Member Gordon nominated Julia Alos to be the Vice-Chair.
Committee Member Sanborn nominated Ruth Smith to be Vice-Chair.
Acting Chair Kaneali‘i moved to close nominations for Vice-Chair. Second by Committee Member Robertson. No objections were heard.
Staff Childs asked the Action Committee to vote by a show of hands for both nominees. The nominees tied with 4 votes each [one Committee Member was undecided].
Staff Childs asked the two nominees to give a short description of themselves, and what positive values they hope to bring to their potential role as Vice-Chair of the Action Committee. After each nominee had a chance to speak he called for a second vote by a show of hands. Julia Alos received 4 votes, and Ruth Smith received 5. In conclusion, Ruth Smith was elected Vice-Chair of the Action Committee.
1. Waikoloa Road/Paniolo Avenue Intersection Traffic Safety Improvements.
Staff Childs introduced the agenda item and passed out handouts of an aerial-view image of the Waikoloa Road/Paniolo Avenue intersection. He explained that he had asked County Traffic Engineer Ron Thiel to present but that Mr. Thiel was unfortunately not granted approval to attend. According to Staff Childs, Mr. Thiel stated that the Department of Public Works has no current plans for improving that intersection although they are aware of the issue.
Staff Childs quoted two segments from the South Kohala CDP which show general support for the issue. General Policy 2: “provide for the transportation and circulation needs of the South Kohala community and for commuters to/from South Kohala.” And CDP Waikoloa Policy 3: “Provide transportation and circulation improvements in a timely manner, including roadways, bikeways, and pedestrian paths, and with very high priority given to the construction of a second access road connecting Waikoloa Village to Queen Ka‘ahumanu Highway.”
Committee Member Smith referenced Strategy 3.5 from the SKCDP “Develop a Master Circulation Plan for Waikoloa Village”. She shared some previous community concerns about having a traffic light stop heavy trucks going down the hill which in part has led to a general preference for a roundabout. She explained that the developer of the upcoming shopping center [Meridian Pacific] has no obligation to improve the intersection.
Committee Member Alos stated that the developer Waikoloa Highlands did have an obligation to do improvements, however, this obligation was not mentioned when they subdivided their property to provide land for County workforce housing. She suggested contacting the Planning Director for clarity on this issue.
Committee Member Gordon shared with the Committee future plans for the military to ramp up their operations in the Pōhakuloa Training Area in a project called Pacific Rim. This would further amplify traffic concerns if military vehicles are to use Waikoloa Road, which is to be expected unless construction of the Saddle Road extension is completed.
Committee Member Alos expressed concern of the Hilo Landfill shutting down, resulting in garbage trucks having to travel on Waikoloa Road to get to the Pu‘uanahulu Landfill.
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Committee Member Sanborn shared that even though the issues of Waiaka Bridge are outside of County jurisdiction, the County garbage trucks having to reroute through Waikoloa instead of crossing the bridge amounts to an additional impact on county infrastructure and services. He agreed with the aforementioned Waikoloa shopping center traffic impacts. He stated that these issues compound with the safety issues in the intersection and ultimately lead to immense pressure on the County to address the concerns. He suggested compiling all of these concerns together in a statement to the County to call for swifter action.
Committee Member Smith suggested considering the second Waikoloa access road as a mitigating factor for the traffic safety problem and to solicit solutions for both issues.
Committee Member Alos shared her efforts in contacting the Police Department to obtain reports of traffic accidents at the intersection. She explained she was waiting for a reply from Chief Paul Ferreira on the matter.
Councilmember Richards shared his understanding that the weight limit on the bridge was to be removed to reduce many of these immediate problems. He explained that they had recalculated the expected load on the Waiaka, Hīlea, and Nīnole Bridges to take into account additional factors. A concern was raised about the Lindsey Road Bridge, alleging that it needed repairs.
Committee Member McLaughlin asked if the CDP should be amended to more clearly state support for fixing this issue. Staff Childs responded that amending the CDP is a cumbersome process which may not be feasible at this time and expressed hope that that could be included in a future review of the CDP.
Acting Chair Kaneali‘i asked what would be a good course of action for the Action Committee to take regarding the Waikoloa Road/Paniolo Ave. intersection as well as the second access for Waikoloa Village, suggesting that they could write a letter but expressed concern that the CDP does not explicitly state guidance on the alignment of the secondary access road. She additionally suggested asking the Department of Transportation to speed up the reconstruction of the Waiaka Bridge.
Staff Childs referenced a study done in 2005 which detailed the alternate routes the proposed secondary access road could take. He recalled that previously the Action Committee had expressed general support for any alignment choice so long as the project gets initiated in some form. He offered the Action Committee the option of writing a letter, or to alternatively liaise with County officials to try to gather information [budget realities, tradeoffs, priorities, etc.] to determine an appropriate way to support the project(s). He expressed that the Action Committee should decide whether they want to lump the secondary access road concerns in with the intersection safety concerns with whatever action they decide to take. He also explained a potential trade-off involved with creating a subcommittee to accomplish their goal, that it could take more time. The subcommittee process would involve two more meetings, one to report their information to the Action Committee and another have the Action Committee take action.
Committee Member Alos moved to start a subcommittee up on this. Second by Committee Member Gordon.
Staff Childs asked Committee Member Alos to clarify her motion. She explained that the intent would be to explore both the egress and intersection issues in this subcommittee. She expressed the goal would be to continue to compile information
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and bring it forward at the next Action Committee meeting. She specifically mentioned gathering information about the Saddle Road extension from the federal environmental impact statement.
Committee Member Smith noted that the Waikoloa Community Leadership Council had already done a lot of the legwork digging up information and felt that work would not need to be repeated. She additionally explained that their research already compiled some next steps and a call to action for the County government to take the lead on. She expressed her desire to make a motion for the AC to move forward with the information already gathered.
Committee Member McLaughlin moved to amend the motion to include assembling the information that has been collected and communicating with the County to discover concrete next steps. Second by Committee Member Gordon.
Committee Member Smith stated that her past experience talking to County officials entailed explaining the community perspective rather than gaining information from them. She wished to see the AC move as expeditiously as possible in the process and felt a subcommittee would take too much unnecessary time. She stated she would support this amendment if it did not require a subcommittee.
Committee Member McLaughlin explained that the multiple sources of information need to be compiled into one document to share with these County officials.
Committee Member Smith responded that this proposed document already exists.
Staff Childs shared that they might not have all of the information yet, referencing the traffic accident report that Committee Member Alos was tracking down, and potential to gather further information from Ron Thiel.
Acting Chair Kaneali‘i asked for a show of hands from the Action Committee in agreement with the amendment to the motion. The motion passed with 8 votes aye [Acting Chair Kaneali‘i did not vote].
Councilmember Richards shared that he was in support of the idea of the Action Committee discussing the issue with County officials and that he felt the issue was not time-sensitive enough [due to budget issues] to warrant a rushed process. A letter would be a great follow-up action to these in-person conversations.
Acting Chair Kaneali‘i called for a vote on the amended motion to create a subcommittee to communicate with County officials for the purposes previously stated. The motion passed unanimously.
Acting Chair Kaneali‘i asked if any AC members would be interested in being a part of this subcommittee. Committee Members Alos, McLaughlin, and Smith volunteered. Acting Chair Kaneali‘i asked the Action Committee for consensus on appointing these subcommittee members. The appointments passed with unanimous consent.
2. Communication No. 2018-01 Discussion of 2018 AC Meeting Dates and Goal Setting.
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Staff Childs introduced the proposed 2018 meeting schedule to the Action Committee and explained that the bracketed dates are tentative and that some of the dates were changed to account for holidays.
The Action Committee generally requested having more meetings in Waikoloa. Staff Bartlett explained that venue scheduling difficulties in Waikoloa had made meeting there less than ideal, she agreed to search for alternate venues and update the meeting schedule if successful.
Staff Morrison introduced the topic of goal setting to the Action Committee. She proposed an idea for the Action Committee to find projects they would like to work on from the CDP’s implementation table. These projects would be prioritized during a future meeting. A suggestion was to bring forward issues from their representative towns/communities.
The Action Committee expressed difficulty in doing this localized approach when issues are unevenly represented within the Action Committee.
Committee Member McLaughlin suggested setting goals for both 2018 and 2019 with general consensus from the rest of the Action Committee.
Staff Childs suggested a loosely structured approach in which AC members report back at the next meeting bearing in mind issues within their own community while being mindful of priority issues in the entire district. The Action Committee agreed to this approach and settled on a deadline of May 15th to get their submittals in.
Communication No. 2018-01: 2018 Meeting Calendar can be viewed and downloaded from the following website: http://records.co.hawaii.hi.us/weblink/1/doc/91656/Page1.aspx
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Staff Childs announced to the Action Committee his upcoming retirement date, expected to be May 31, 2018. He explained that Staff Morrison will be taking on his responsibilities for the South Kohala CDP while they go through the hiring process. He expressed absolute confidence in Ms. Morrison, as a senior planner, to be administrative support for the Action Committee.
AGENDA FOR NEXT MEETING: (June 4, 2018)
Continuation of the goal setting discussion
Possible subcommittee report regarding the Waikoloa Intersection/emergency egress
ADJOURNMENT: The Chair, without objection, adjourned the meeting at 7:03 p.m.
All Action Committee information can be viewed and downloaded from our website: http://www.hawaiicountycdp.info/south-kohala-cdp