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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-11-07 Hearing Transcript - Cellco Partnership dba Verizon Wireless USE 18-076WINDWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAII HEARING TRANSCRIPT NOVEMBER 7, 2018 A regularly advertised hearing on the application of CELLCO PARTNERSHIP DBA VERIZON WIRELESS (USE 18-000076) was called to order at 9:37 a.m. in the County of Hawaii Aupuni Center Conference Room, 101 Pauahi Street, Hilo, Hawaii with Chairman Joseph Clarkson presiding. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Gilbert Aguinaldo, Joseph Clarkson, Donald Ikeda, Thomas Raffipiy, John Replogle. ABSENT & EXCUSED: Donn Dela Cruz. ALSO PRESENT: Michael Yee (Planning Director), Malia Hall (Deputy Corporation Counsel for the Windward Planning Commission), Jeff Darrow (Planning Program Manager), Maija Jackson (Planner), Christian Kay (Planner), Sarah Hata-Finley (Commission Secretary), and Kim Tanaka (Secretary) And 27 members from the public in attendance. APPLICANT: CELLCO PARTNERSHIP DBA VERIZON WIRELESS (USE 18-000076) Application for a Use Permit to allow the construction of a new, non -manned telecommunication facility, consisting of a 198 -foot tall self-supporting tower and related facilities within a 1,600 - square foot lease area on a 3 -acre parcel of land situated in the County's Agricultural 3 -acre (A -3a) zoning district. The location of the subject property is 16-1806 Moho Road, approximately 920 feet south of the Kio`ele and Moho Road intersection, Hawaiian Acres Subdivision, Kea`au, Puna, Hawaii, TMK: (3) 1-6-047: portion of 062. CLARKSON: The next item on the agenda, and we have six of them today, so we are proceeding as briskly as we can, is an application from Cellco Partnership doing business as Verizon Wireless, and at this time, I'll ask staff to make their presentation. While we are waiting for the folks to leave, let me just remind you that Item No. 7, Piilani Partners, has been continued. [The students from Volcano School of Arts and Sciences who were present for the previous application were leaving the meeting room.] HALL: Seven, eight, nine. CLARKSON: Seven, eight, nine. So, we will be willing to take testimony, but there will be no action on this item today, so if you came to testify on that matter, I really recommend coming back at our next Commission meeting next month on the sixth to make your testimony. 10V1111.11 1.1 JACKSON: All right, the next item on the agenda is a request from Cellco Partnership doing business as Verizon Wireless, and they are requesting a Use Permit. The subject property is located in the Puna District. It's shown in the Hawaiian Acres Subdivision by the red dot in the middle of the slide. So, you have the Volcano Highway running in a northeast -southwest direction on the left side of the slide, and the Hawaiian Acres Subdivision is this large area here. So, the property is a little more than halfway down on the south side of the subdivision close to the Ainaloa Subdivision and Hawaiian Acres. The Applicant is requesting to construct a new telecommunication facility consisting of a 198 - foot tall self-supporting tower with twelve panel antennas and related facilities within a 1,600 - square foot portion of a 3 -acre parcel. The proposed tower height of 198 feet does not allow the use of a tree pole or other stealth design because the faux branches on a tower this height are too heavy and would not meet the County's wind load standard of 105 miles per hour. However, the tower and antennas will be painted to blend in with the surrounding landscape. The proposed project serves to expand coverage within the Hawaiian Acres Subdivision which currently has little wireless coverage. This is the Applicant's site plan; so, the plan on the bottom is a view of the entire property. On the right side of the image is Moho Road or Road 8 and then the driveway comes off of Road 8. The majority of the front property is undeveloped currently. There are some rock walls in this area here on the front and a few in the middle, and then the cell tower will be located in the very back northwest corner of the property in this location here. This is a close-up view of the 1,600 -square foot lease area, and you can see the ground equipment cabinets and the cell tower structure here which will be surrounded by a 6 -foot high fence. This is an elevation view of the tower. You can see the ground equipment in this location with the fence around; antennas at the top here. So, it's—it's not your typical monopole structure. It's a, I believe it's a steel, lattice structure. This is an aerial view of the property. You have Moho Road on the right side of the slide. The driveway comes off in this location and then the cell tower would be located in the back northwest corner of the property. You can see the closest dwelling is about 375 feet to the north of the proposed cell tower site. And, this is a zoning map which shows that the entire Hawaiian Acres Subdivision lots are zoned Agricultural – 3 acres, and the General Plan Designation for the property is Extensive Agriculture which is shown in the white. This is a view of the property entrance from Moho Road. And as I mentioned before, there are quite a few rock walls on the property. There is a gate here, and there is a gate a little bit further back. This is a view of the lease area in the background so it would be generally in this location here. EXHIBIT B 2 And, the Director is recommending approval of the permit with conditions, and I just want to bring a few pieces of testimony to your attention. In your Background Report, pretty early on in this process, we did receive a letter of testimony from Shirley Juarez, and the Applicant for Cellco responded to Mrs. Juarez's testimony, so you should have a copy of that. And, then we also received a petition for standing in a contested case hearing from I think Ms. Chuttoo, and there was no filing fee provided with the petition, and it looked liked she was actually supporting the project so there may have been some confusion of whether she wanted to actually file the petition for standing or whether she was just submitting testimony. She's located in France, so the Department staff sent her a letter asking her whether it was a true petition for standing or just testimony, and we never received a response from her. But, Malia, I don't know how you want to deal with that. And, I believe that's everything. I'd be happy to answer any questions that the Commission has. CLARKSON: Well, what is the status of the application then for a contested case? Doesn't it have to be accompanied with the filing fee? JACKSON: Normally, in order for it to be a valid filing, it has to be accompanied by the filing fee. CLARKSON: So, that petition is now invalid? HALL: Mm-hmm. CLARKSON: Okay, thank you. Any other questions for staff on this matter? If not, thank you. Would the Applicant or their representative, please come forward? Please raise your right hands. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter before the Planning Commission today? MARTIN: I do. IOSUA: Yes. CLARKSON: Please introduce yourself and then proceed with your testimony. MARTIN: My name is Danette Martin. I am an agent for Verizon Wireless. IOSUA: My name is Michael Iosua. I'm local counsel for Verizon Wireless. MARTIN: Okay, one thing that I wanted to point out, a couple things that I found out after the application was prepared. The landowner has acquired both parcels to each side, and he did that so that they could be a buffer to his future home and this tower. Additionally, staff had called and asked if the tower could be painted two different colors, brown on the bottom, and like a blue sky color to help it blend better, and of course we can do that. CLARKSON: Any—if that concludes your testimony, any questions? EXHIBIT B 3 REPLOGLE: I have a little one. So, the landowner is purchasing the two adjacent properties. MARTIN: Yes, to each side. REPLOGLE: Okay. And, nobody is—he's not going to sell them and nobody is going to build there or it will be if you want to live next to a—we've kind of been through this show. MARTIN: Yes. REPLOGLE: So, is he planning to leave that open space, dedicate that to no one living there or? MARTIN: I don't know what his future intentions are, but in any event, if he was to sell it, the tower would be existing and then people would know that it was there. REPLOGLE: People would have the choice of not living there or living there. MARTIN: That's right. REPLOGLE: Okay. AGUINALDO: Mr. Commissioner, I have a question. As far as because of the trees, branches, trying to blend in, and the wind load, it's not meeting the criteria, on the height 198 feet, correct? MARTIN: That's right. AGUINALDO: Does it require like a beacon? MARTIN: No, and it was originally was designed for 200, and I asked them to reduce it two feet so that we could remove that lighting requirement by the F.A.A. AGUINALDO: And, my second question is why does it have to be—you got three acres, why does the cell tower always have to be furthest in the back of the property? MARTIN: This is where the landowner wanted it. He plans on building a home on that property and so he wanted to use the rest of the property for that purpose. AGUINALDO: Okay. CLARKSON: And, there have been no complaints from any adjacent landowners about the construction of the tower? MARTIN: I received one phone call from a lady that was on the back side about five lots down, and she didn't like it but said she would not contest it. CLARKSON: Any further questions for Applicant? EXHIBIT B 4 AGUINALDO: I got one more, Mr. Commissioner. As well as the cell tower, is that makai going on Road 8 going back towards Ainaloa, the back road? Is that on the makai side before the back road to go down Ainaloa located? Or is it between MARTIN: —You know, I don't know this area that well. JACKSON: I believe it's on the west side of Moho Road. AGUINALDO: West side? Mauka then. JACKSON: And, it's mauka of the road from Ainaloa. AGUINALDO: Oh, yeah. No coverage there, yeah. CLARKSON: If there are no further questions, please be seated. MARTIN: Thank you. IOSUA: Thank you. CLARKSON: We will now proceed to public testimony. We have one person, James Ozone. Please raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter before the Commission today? OZONE: I do. CLARKSON: Please introduce yourself and who you represent and proceed. OZONE: James Ozone, not a resident, just a visitor. Have a lot of friends in the area, and it's there is no coverage. It's a safety and security issue. Put the tower up already. Let's move on. CLARKSON: Any questions for the—okay, there being no further questions or any further testimony, I'll ask for a motion that public testimony be closed. REPLOGLE: I move that public testimony be closed. IKEDA: Second. CLARKSON: It's been moved and seconded that public testimony be closed. Allthose in favor? COMMISSIONERS: Aye. CLARKSON: Opposed? Motion carries. Public testimony is closed. At this time, the Chair would like to have a motion for action. EXHIBIT B 5 RAFFIPIY: Mr. Chairman, I'd like to make a motion. I move that the application for Use Permit Docket No. 18-000076 be approved based on the Planning Director's recommendation and proposed conditions which shall be adopted. AGUINALDO: I second. CLARKSON: It's been moved and seconded that the application be approved. Is there any further discussion on this from the Commission? If not REPLOGLE: —Yes, actually. I'm going to vote to approve it, but in this particular case, it's open country, the person behind the landowner, he's okay with it, or she versus the last time we did this show where people were—they didn't have a choice in it. But, I just want to say that, that's good. Thank you. JACKSON: Okay. Commissioner Raffipiy? RAFFIPIY: Aye. JACKSON: Commissioner Aguinaldo? AGUINALDO: Aye. JACKSON: Commissioner Ikeda? IKEDA: Aye. JACKSON: Commissioner Replogle? REPLOGLE: Aye. JACKSON: And, Chair Clarkson. CLARKSON: Aye. JACKSON: All right, the motion to approve carries five, zero. The discussion ended at 9:52 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Sarah Y. Hata-Finley, Secretary Windward Planning Commission EXHIBIT B 6