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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-11-07 Hearing Transcript - Kurtistown Assembly of God USE 18-078WINDWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAII HEARING TRANSCRIPT NOVEMBER 7, 2018 A regularly advertised hearing on the application of KURTISTOWN ASSEMBLY OF GOD (USE 18-078) was called to order at 10:46 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 (to 11:05 a.m.), 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), and Sarah Hata-Finley (Commission Secretary). And 17 members from the public in attendance. APPLICANT: KURTISTOWN ASSEMBLY OF GOD CHURCH (USE 18-000078) Application for a Use Permit to allow the construction of a 3,040 square -foot community outreach center and related improvements on a portion of 1.944 acres of land situated within the Single -Family Residential 20,000 -square feet (RS -20) zoned district. The property is northeast and adjacent to the site of the Kurtistown Assembly of God Church, which is located on the mauka (northwest) side of Highway 11 directly across the Highway 11- Kuauli Road Junction, Kurtistown, Puna, Hawaii, TMK: (3) 1-7-006: portion of 005. CLARKSON: The next item on the agenda—okay, application from Kurtistown Assembly of God Church, and please proceed, Christian, with the staff presentation. KAY: Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning, members of the Planning Commission. If I can turn your attention to the screen, the next application is for a Use Permit. The subject property is located in the Puna District of Hawaii Island; more specifically, in the Kurtistown area, and it's filled in, in red here. For reference, running north -south through the slide, we've got Highway 11, Volcano Highway, and just in close proximity, we've got Kuauli Road which is, then runs into Hawaiian Acres. The Applicant is requesting a Use Permit to allow the construction of a 3,040 -square foot outreach center on the subject property to offer the following community outreach functions to approximately 80 people per day on a scheduled basis: hot dinners, food package distribution, showers, laundry, tutoring, job training, and finding services. The proposed outreach center building will offer the following: men's and women's bathrooms, a laundry room, storage rooms, two meeting rooms, a certified kitchen, and a meeting area. In addition, the Applicant 10V1111.11 11 will provide 41 paved parking spaces in a parking lot including one ADA parking stall to meet the County Code parking requirements. Hours of operation for the outreach center are proposed to be seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. While the Applicant does not anticipate the outreach center being open during the entirety of the proposed hours of operation, the requested time frame will allow the Applicant greater flexibility to schedule their outreach programs in a way that will maximize their effectiveness. Clergy, church members, and other volunteers will staff the outreach center programs, and finally, the site and infrastructure work will commence shortly after the appropriate permit approvals are secured. Construction of the structure and related improvements should begin within two years and be complete within five years as funding becomes available. The Applicant estimates the entire project to cost approximately $500,000. The reason for the request is the existing Kurtistown Assembly of God Church is located adjacent to the subject parcel and has been in operation as a church since 1956. They have been offering outreach and community services; however, their existing church facility lacks the space and improvements necessary to offer the services, proposed community services. While the proposed outreach center is considered auxiliary to the existing church use, religious services will not be offered at the outreach center. The County zoning for the subject parcel and much of the surrounding area is Single -Family Residential — 20,000 square feet. Again, just for reference, we've got Volcano Highway running generally north -south through the slide. To the west of the subject parcel is some Agricultural zoning and also to the north of the subject parcel, Agricultural zoning indicated in the green and the blue color. The State Land Use designation for the subject parcel is Urban as indicated in red, and there is some Agricultural designations in the vicinity as well. The General Plan Land Use Pattern Allocation Guide Map designates the subject parcel and much of the surrounding area as Urban Expansion. There is some Low Density Urban to the east as indicated in the mustard color and some Important Agricultural Lands across the highway to the south. Here's an aerial photograph of the subject parcel and some of the surrounding area. The subject parcel is outlined here in blue. The existing church is adjacent to the west of the parcel. As you can see, it's currently vegetated, and there are no structures on the parcel. Here is the Applicant's submitted site plan. Volcano Highway is running generally north -south on the left-hand side of the slide. The upper image is the location of the proposed outreach center in relationship to the larger parcel. On the bottom it's blown up and shows the proposed parking lot and proposed facility farther toward the middle of the parcel. EXHIBIT D 2 There was a proposed cross easement to come across from the existing church property, and this is where the arrow is showing, is the proposed location where that cross easement would come. It's a vehicular easement. Here is some site photos of the site. These are views of the property from across Highway 11. The upper photo, the church facility is on the left-hand side, so the subject parcel is roughly in this area, and the lower photograph, the subject parcel is on the right-hand side. You can see the sign for the church here, and the subject parcel is generally in this area. Again, it's overgrown with vegetation at this point. And, here are some views of Highway 11 looking north toward Hilo. You've got, again, the existing church sign here, and the subject parcel is in this general area, and the lower photo is a view of Highway 11 looking south with the subject parcel here on the right-hand side. The Planning Director is recommending approval of the Use Permit request with some conditions. Since the Background and Recommendation Reports were sent to the Planning Commission, there have been some additional correspondences that have come in. On October 25th, we received comments from the State Department of Transportation relative to Highway 11, and there was a November 2nd response from the Applicant's representative responding to those comments. And, today, we received a document from Sharon Nomura, and this is a Planning Commission decision from back in the early 90's related to a proposed school on the church property. So, you should have received that. One other thing I should mention is based on comments received from Department of Transportation, we are proposing an amendment to Condition No. 5 related to access from the highway. We did send that to you as part of your packet. It's on the yellow sheet of paper here, and essentially, it's just to address some of their additional concerns. They did state in their comment letter that they are not in favor of a vehicular easement to connect the existing church driveway and the proposed outreach driveway. I did have a chance to speak with DOT Planning branch. They indicated that the concern was just the close proximity to Highway 11 and that they would be more amenable to a cross easement should it be pushed farther back into the property. So, the proposed amendment is just addressing that essentially saying that siting of any vehicular easement between the subject parcel and the church tmk will require consultation with DOT and should be included in plans submitted to the Department for Plan Approval. And, then we also addressed their comment about not allowing parking in the highway right-of-way. And, the Applicant essentially responded to DOT's comments saying that they were amenable to those concerns and requirements. With that, I'm happy to answer any questions on this application that the Commission may have. CLARKSON: Are there any questions from the Commission for staff? If not, thank you. KAY: Thank you. CLARKSON: And, will the Applicant or their representative please come forward? EXHIBIT D 3 KERN: Good morning. CLARKSON: Good morning, would you, if you haven't been sworn in already, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter before the Commission today? SHRINSKL I do, sir. [Mr. Kern was previously sworn in for another application.] CLARKSON: Thank you. Please introduce yourself, whichever one of you is going to start and please proceed. KERN: Thank you, Mr. Chair and Members of the Windward Planning Commission. I'm Zendo Kern, planning consultant. Next to me is Damien Shrinski. He's the pastor and the one in charge of the Kurtistown Assembly of God Church. We'll both be speaking. I'll go ahead and start out with a few different things. First of all, we have reviewed the recommendation, and the conditions as well as the amended conditions, and we have no problem with those. One of the things that I think is important to look at is Condition No. 3 on there. What we did is with the concern of a—this is regarding some mitigative measures -we agreed to doing a 50 -foot buffer from the road to the edge of the parking lot or the building. So, the site plan that you saw showed the parking lot being closer to the highway. That would be adjusted so it'd have a minimum of 50 feet from the property line into the property which would be a buffer, push things back, you know, keep it away from the highway. And, obviously the parking lot might be adjusted a little bit to work with that, but essentially the site plan is more or less what you'd be seeing there, pushed back. In relation to the cross easement, we completely agree with State DOT's comment about having that easement close to the highway. The Applicant has no problem with having discussions with them and moving it further back on the property as some connectivity there. It will prevent any queueing on the highway, and so, the Applicant has been more than willing to work with State DOT to figuring those out, and that's what the intent is, to move forward with that. Something else that's interesting, and the Applicant will get more into it, you know, the hours of operation, he wanted to have latitude. It's not that it's going to be open to the public, and I think that's going to be a very important—something to consider here. This isn't open to the public 24, you know all the time, not 24/7, but during the hours of operations. People can't just stop in. It's open when they are offering a service, and we had the hours there so we would have that latitude to see what types of services worked. REPLOGLE: When you say service, do you mean service like dinner or service like church service? KERN: I mean services like that they're offering like job training, tutoring, hot meals, whatever outreach they wanted to offer, that they currently offer those same things. No problem. So, we want that latitude so they could work with what was going to work for the community and the EXHIBIT D 4 people that were utilizing it instead of having the hours being so tight and, you know, constraining that if they wanted to change that, we'd have to come back in to amend the Use Permit to change those hours. So, he's going to talk more about exactly what they're offering and what they're doing there so I just wanted to point that out, and yeah, again, it's not open to the public. I think we've done our very best to mitigate, you know, everything that we possibly could. And, at this point, I'll turn it over to Pastor Shrinski so he can tell the story. SHRINSKL Good morning, my name is Pastor Damien Shrinski. I'm the pastor of Kurtistown Assembly, and I just want to thank you for giving us the opportunity to sit in front of you. Our church has been working in the area of Kurtistown since 1956, and we have two goals: Glorify Christ and be an asset to the community. And, I feel like we're growing in that. One of the most outreaching ministries that we do is we have our food pantry. We give out containers or packages of food twice a month. We've been doing that since the early 90's, and eight years ago, we started a soup kitchen. We service the community four times a month, and it's grown. Over the past two years, I think we are averaging over 10,000 meals are being distributed yearly. One of the biggest in the district. One of the challenges that we had or one of the things that kind of came up in the past couple of years is that in applying for grants, they asked us how to measure success, how we are measuring success, and initially, our thought was oh, we measure success by more. More food, more people. And, it kind of made us rethink what our goal was to be. I mean, there will always be people that need to be fed, but it made us think longer—we want to make a longer lasting impact in the community. It made me think of the well-known saying, if you give a man a fish, they'll eat for a day, but if you teach him how to fish, he'll eat forever. And, we're realizing that numbers were increasing in the people desiring food, and it wasn't really having a lasting impact, because for at least some of the fraction, we'd want to think that food distribution would be giving them a leg up so that they be able to provide on their own and stand on their own two feet. So, our intention with this new building is not to add any more food distributions. We're not adding anymore. We're not taking it away, but we're continuing with what we have. There's nothing—no additional scheduling. What we want to do is stuff that we've already started in our church, and that is, work with people one or one or in small groups to get education. We've helped people get their GED, applying to college, get grants. We've helped people with interviewing skills and helped them use, helped them use our computers to apply on-line and things like that. So, the intention of the new building is to—well, the building that we're currently in is over 60 years old, so all the people that we feed kind of takes a wear and tear on this older building. So, part of the use of this building is to move the current services that we have now to that building. Also improve the parking because as you can see from the site plans, the properties are very, very narrow, and currently most of the parking that we do is on a neighbor's property that they have graciously allowed. So, the new property will allow for parking to reside on our, on our own property. So, we want to move the current services that we have on that property and the only thing that we're going to be adding is these new services that we feel are going to do a new kind of work to help people get jobs, be able to get education, and then furthermore, in land behind the property, use that area to teach self-sufficiency, personal farming that they can do on their own property. EXHIBIT D 5 So, I don't the impact that we have on our community as far as, there's a lot of people that come for our distributions. We don't anticipate that that's going to change or increase, because we're not adding any of those pass out kind of ministries that we do. They do benefit the community greatly. The building that we're going to do is going to be more for to help people do a better job on getting on their feet, and we feel that's going to be a blessing to the community, and that's going to increase in the economy and it's going to decrease on the crime which is something Puna needs, and we want to be a part of that. KERN: Thank you, Pastor Shrinski. We'd be happy to answer any questions you folks have. CLARKSON: Yes, I was going to ask if there were any questions from the Commission. None? Okay. KERN: Thank you very much. CLARKSON: I think we understand the proposal clearly. KERN: We humbly ask for your support. Thank you so much. CLARKSON: Thank you. At this time, we'll proceed with public testimony. So far we have three people signed up to testify on this application. Aaron Collins, Doreen Harvin, and Sharon Nomura, would you all three please come forward? Please raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter before the Commission today. HARVIN/NOMURA: Yes. COLLINS: I do. CLARKSON: Thank you. Whichever one of you desires, please introduce yourself and proceed with your testimony. COLLINS: Good morning, committee and Chairman, my name is Aaron Collins. I am born and raised here on the Big Island. I was raised in Puna. I'm currently a licensed marriage and family therapist, and I'm in support of this project. I just wanted to share a couple things. So, yeah, the Kurtistown and supporting Puna community is in great need of a resource to help empower, equip, and educate the people. We areI believe we are in a heightened state of mental health crisis where families are stressed and overwhelmed due to a wide range of different issues such as drug use, domestic violence, child abuse, homelessness, and other things such as this. These are all problems that I believe could be decreased through a return to the values of education, equipping, and empowerment of the people in our community. I believe that this project, this community outreach would be contributing in those areas, so, you know, I grew up in Hawaiian Acres right across the street from the church. I've been through many different instances of needing food and utilizing the services that the church provides from when I was a young, young kid, and I'm grateful for those kinds of outreaches and things that have been going on in the community. EXHIBIT D 6 So, yeah, I humbly ask for your guys' strong consideration in approving this project, and I thank you. Thank you very much. HARWIN: Good morning. My name is Doreen Harwin. I am not a member of the church. In 2013, I lost my job, and I heard that there was a food distribution at the church, and I went an availed myself and I saw a poster saying there was free meals being offered. I had recently graduated from HCC culinary program, and I said well, I have time on my hands, and I have a skill, and maybe they could use it. I've been volunteering since 2013. I always feel like I get moreI get more than I give. It's a great feeling, and I've met a lot of people in the community, and I've seen the need. When Pastor Shrinski explained that this property was available, it really harked back because my original food training was done on Oahu in 2004 at a facility that was very similarly purposed at the Waialua Sugar Mill which had been closed down, and they were offering an economic development plan for displaced workers from the Sugar Mill and for people from the community. So, I was able to take a small business course and a food safety certification course and a course on certified kitchen use, and all of these things have accumulated. Now, I am self-employed, and I have a food wagon. I've seen the good that a center like this can do, and I'm not a very religious person to begin with, but when it was put forth to me, the give a man a fish, I said, absolutely, we need this. So, that's my testimony. That's what I have to offer. I think you really—you guys, we need it. Thank you. CLARKSON: Thank you. NOMURA: Good morning, Chair and Planning Commissioners. My name is Sharon Nomura, and I am a surrounding property owner of the Kurtistown Assembly of God Church. I was not aware of some of the problems currently associated with the existing uses, as I do not live on our property, until I read a surrounding property owner's letterby the way, I hope to have my family eventually move onto the property. At any rate, I share the surrounding property owner's concern. The proposed use would exacerbate the current situation. Who are these 80 individuals as my speaker, as the speaker next to me has said. They have serious problems, issues, having been drug addicts, mental health issues, probably sex offenders. The Applicant noted that the surrounding properties are vacant. Many people who do not have homes either sleep under covered areas in business establishments or put their tents up where there is heavy vegetation which is what the property is next door. Would not this create problems there in lowering real property values in the surrounding area? I'd like to point out that the Hawaii Tribune Herald has recently published various articles associated with trespassing, etc., and that scared me. Regarding the facility's services, I was wondering if it was by appointments or walls -ins. How many showers and laundry machines are planned, and I understand now it's going to be designed for 80 specific people. I was kind of concerned that after 80 people use it, another 80 would come in, so that would just add, but apparently, they said that would not happen. I think the application should be more specific as far as the days and times, showers, laundry room, etc. would be available because you could possibly extend the hours and days—not extend the days because it is seven days—but extend the hours of usage, and it may create problems. Currently, their services are pretty much like two hours a day and with leaving it open-ended, it could go way more than that. EXHIBIT D 7 One of our major, my major concern is traffic. They mentioned that only morning traffic traffic was generally moderate except for the morning hours, but if you stood along the highway between 3:30 and 6:30 p.m., you would definitely say it is heavily travelled. I attended a class there in the afternoon, and I gave up trying to make a left turn out of the property toward Hilo. I waited there so long and then I got kind of scared to even turn left, so I took a right turn, went up to another roadway to come back down toward the Hilo area. And, I note that traffic will only be increasing especially with the Volcano facilities being more available. I have submitted a September 8, 1993 correspondence where the Planning Commission acted on a Use Permit for a 30 -student educational facility. Please note the highlighted areas. I believe traffic has been increasing significantly throughout the years. The Applicant refers to the community development plan, but I believe the plan is more geared toward having development centered within a subdivision, not outside and along a major highway. There was mention it's not open to the public, but I just want to clarify. It would be open to the public just for the food distribution if that's what my understanding is. Commissioners, please look at the reasons for granting a Use Permit especially Rule 7(b), the granting of the proposed use shall not be materially detrimental to the public welfare nor cause substantial adverse impact to the community's character or surrounding properties. Thank you for listening. CLARKSON: Thank you. All three, are there any questions from the Commission for any of these testifiers? AGUINALDO: I have one for Pastor Shrinski. I have a question for Pastor Shrinski. HALL: Thank you, you guys can be seated. CLARKSON: Wait a minute, wait a minute—wait, please don't leave yet. I have a question for—I've forgotten your name. NOMURA: Sharon Nomura. CLARKSON: Sharon Nomura. So, at least if you would stay seated and maybe I should go first then. AGUINALDO: Yeah. CLARKSON: So, let me ask, so you're an adjacent property owner? NOMURA: I believe it's one-two properties away— HATA-FINLEY: Sharon - 10,14 111 1.11 haron I0VO111.11 11 NOMURA: Microphone, sorry, that's right. Sorry about that. I believe it's two properties away. CLARKSON: Two properties. NOMURA: The proposed CLARKSON: So, can you, wait the aerial photo. Almost had it. AGUINALDO: There. NOMURA: Okay, it's that, where the red line is. Yeah. CLARKSON: That's your property? NOMURA: The property is in the, it goes in the back and comes across— CLARKSON: Oh, I see NOMURA: —over on the other side. CLARKSON: Okay. NOMURA: That's our roadway lot, right there. CLARKSON: All right. Thank you. NOMURA: You're welcome. CLARKSON: That was my only question for any of the testifiers. Thank you. You may be seated. COLLINS: Thank you. CLARKSON: And will the Applicant please return for further questions? KERN: Thank you, Mr. Chair. AGUINALDO: So, my question to you, Pastor Shrinski, by doing this outreach, you know, myself, as a member of Sure Foundation, we do outreaches as well, especially Friday nights for kids, and I know, I heard a lady's testimony about, you know, people. I feel what you're doing, you're giving food to people, the question I have to you right now is why are you doing this outreach? My, you know, my answer to that is God put us here for one reason, is we're all here to serve. We're not here to look at other people at just ah. That's not the aloha spirit that we all share. Everybody has concerns, reservations, but somebody got to tend to them, right? You EXHIBIT D 9 have to serve. Serving means take care of em `cause if nobody does, it's always going to just keep on growing. And, I'm glad I see that photo soZendo, if you turn around and look at her property, that building is actually not way to the back so you folks wouldn't be—you see the flag lot, her lot? KERN: Yeah, hers is [Standing near the presentation screen.] AGUINALDO: Right, it's way in the back, but where is your building roughly going to be? KERN: That area is going to have a 50 -foot buffer. AGUINALDO: Right. You can talk loud. [Referring to Zendo not using a microphone.] HALL: No. You need to speak into the microphone. AGUINALDO: Okay, you can speak into the mic? KERN: [Mr. Kern returned to the testifier table, and Mr. Kay gave him a laser pointer to use.] Sure, so this area will have the 50 -foot buffer along the road. AGUINALDO: Right. KERN: The proposed building is going to be right around in this area. Ms. Nomura's property is up there. AGUINALDO: Right. KERN: The Applicant does not plan to bring the building any further back, and it wouldn't make sense from an economic standpoint either. The further back you go on the property, the more it costs, so it would be pushed down in the front. AGUINALDO: Correct, and the next property over to that before hers is somebody else's, right? KERN: This one? AGUINALDO: Yeah. KERN: Yes, that is a AGUINALDO: Okay KERN: different landowner there. SHRINSKL And if I could add, if that's all right if I can add that—so the intention is that that property will eventually no more trees because the front part will have parking/building and in EXHIBIT D 10 the back farmlands. So, I understand the concern of people coming in and squatting in that area. Also, I live on the church property, so I haveI'm like the security as well, you know, making sure that that area stays pretty safe. We definitely don't want to be a burden to our neighbors and also in that balance, also be a blessing in to the community. And, as far as to address the other question, I do appreciate what Zendo said, is that we don't intend to be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and the reason why we want the flexibility is because different volunteers would be available at different times for different services. And, so, it's going to be—we don't intend to increase the amount of food distribution that we plan on doing as far as even the times. It will remain at the current times that it stays, and so like what we've done—'cause these are, many of these programs we currently have at our church, so we tend to work with students who are working towards their GED or diplomas. There's that in the afternoon for a few hours, and that's generally the time that we've been working with the people for job training and things like that. And, I can, as far as traffic goes, I leave that property every day. I understand the traffic is bad. And, if there is any way that we can helpI don't know how we could help. I would love to do that, but as far as, we don't—with the programs that we intend to be in this new building, I don't anticipate our footprint on that traffic is going to be much because it's not the same as the food distribution that we do. KERN: Yeah, I think, and that's something very important to look at. Even the 80, the 80 people. That was, you know, that's a max. Pastor Shrinski, how many people do you anticipate generally at your functions or at your outreach, events? SHRINSKY: These new events, I don't think that there's going to be more than 10 to 15 at a given time as far asbecause, the work that we want to do is very personal. You know, it's very specialized, so we couldn't do with large groups. KERN: So, and that's, so it's kind of, you know, a tricky one `cause we have the, we have the number of people that would be allowed, and we have the hours. And, the intention of that was to give the latitude that they needed. It might be one event that they have one time a year that gets that traffic, but without having that ability in there, they would be in violation of their Use Permit, and we didn't want to set him up to fail if they're going to be doing something good. So, while those numbers could sound a little bit scary possibly, the reality of it is it's not going to really be that. It just gives them that ability to maximize what their efforts are. CLARKSON: I noticed it seemed like there was an awful lot of parking spaces. Was that a requirement that was requested by the Planning Department? KERN: Mr. Chair, that's actually the required parking based on a square foot calculation for what would be deemed as an outreach or meeting facility. CLARKSON: Okay. KERN: It's County Code. EXHIBIT D 11 CLARKSON: All right. Thank you. IKEDA: You know, Zendo, we have a testimony from a Mr. Wayde Young. KERN: Yes. IKEDA: And he stated the same thing that Ms. Nomura had just stated so how are you guys going to correct some of the concerns that they have? KERN: I had a long conversation with Mr. Young twice, and, you know, he said he—you know, he didn't show up. You know, he said he's like I sent my letter in, that's where I'm at, you know, it's something that we need, it's a challenged location. So, some of the concerns about the riff raff element, how do we the park right down there in Kurtistown has a lot of that as well, so it's, it's challenging. Obviously, there will be a fence. There will be a gate. They currently have a fence, and they have a gate. I'm currently, I've lived in Kurtistown for quite a while, and since the Kilauea eruption, I've been back in Kurtistown. And, so I come out of Kuauli Road every day and drive in there every day right now, and when they're not open, the gate's closed, and so those types of people that are maybe going to jump a gate or hang out, I mean that's just the challenge that we have, and well, so he lives on site. They can do, you know, flood lighting, motion sensor lighting, and obviously it'd be gate and fence to keep those folks out. Unfortunately, there is a certain element not even related to the church that, you know, travels up and down those roads, and the Kurtistown Park is a good example of that. They congregate underneath there. I think with having that 50 -foot buffer and it being set back for this one, that will, you know eliminate somebody trying to come around there and hang out and, you know, squat. I think again fencing, lighting, presence, and good neighbor policy of, you know, if somebody sees something, talk about it. You know, make a report, and, you know, at the end of my conversation with Mr. Young, he said, hey, you know, it is what it is. Let's try to do our best to work together as a community. It is needed out there. We would like to, you know, try to address these concerns to the best of our ability, and I think the Applicant's intent is to do that, and if you have any other specific questions related to any of the issues, I'd be happy to answer those. IKEDA: No, I do support the project. It's just that the concern that Mr. Young had and Ms. Nomura, so, I just wondered if we can help. KERN: And, I think at the end of the day what, what they're trying to do is to actually help that. How do we change that? That element exists. Well, obviously as he said, giving somebody food, that's a beautiful thing. But, changing somebody's mindset, educating them, helping them, empowering them, that's how we ultimately change that element, and without function and services like this, it's not going to happen. We're going to see it go the other way. So, nothing is perfect, you know. This is Big Island. This is our community. But, I think that the good and the positive impact will outweigh any of the challenges that exist. EXHIBIT D 12 AGUINALDO: I have another question. So, Zen, 50 -foot buffer meaning you're gonna set back the parking 50 -feet back but the front, you know, going be all clear, right? KERN: They're gonna do a planting buffer. I think it's important that they do a planting buffer maybe leave some natural vegetation. AGUINALDO: You have to, you know, there's a requirement, County Code, yeah? KERN: Yeah, so we're gonna have the commercial planting buffer. It might be even a little bit more in there. AGUINALDO: Yeah, it is. It is. It is in the landscaping. KERN: Yeah, the landscaping element, and that's—so the concept is you'd be driving by, and it won't be like, oh, big outreach center. It's that, there was a building there. And, the church still has the sign there, and that will be the main focus. So, it will be, like I said, the visual impacts would be mitigated. CLARKSON: Have you had any long record of complaints about your outreach program as it exists in the church building? SHRINSKY: No, no, I mean I hear moreI hear positive more than anything, and then as far as negative goes, we have close ties with those, the neighbors that are mauka of us. And, I've got no complaints with them. On both sides of the property mauka of us is very similar to Mrs. Nomura's property. It's got a front tenant and a back owner as well, and they both have only spoken positive stuff or neutral. KERN: And, I would like to add the property on the Volcano side of it, that neighbor—that neighbor is right there. I mean, if they were going to complain, they're on the forefront of it, you know, because they are right there. They don't have no buffer, but this would actually be nice `cause the outreach side of it will now be buffered by the church. CLARKSON: Any further questions? YEE: Some comments. So, the County here isn't very good in that we don't have let's say a human services planning division, so I offer these comments that aren't within my authority as a planning director, but I think would be helpful. Whenever faced with the NIMBY question about not in my back yard, I think best practices from a lot of other places I've worked at being proactive with your communication to the neighbor, to the neighbors, you know, instead of waiting for a complaint to come in. You know, having regular you know information, newsletter, or if you know you're making a major change, to be able to call a community meeting to inform folks over what's going on would be helpful. You know, trying to understand the trends if there, you know, hearing the trends if there is crime or just activity, you know, how's that relating to your use or not in working with the police or whatever clients that's in terms of trying to understand if you're involved you know you're related to or not. EXHIBIT D 13 Lastly, because you brought it up in terms of the fishing analogy, what you were getting at in terms of understanding what your funders are looking for is about intended impact. Okay? That's the new terminology. So, it's not just good enough to say I'm serving a thousand meals, but how are you trying to end serving. You should be working toward, you know, stopping them having to do that. So, that's the intended impact you want to have. And, so, with that fishing analogy, that has changed over time, and I don't know if you know now, it's not only about providing, you know, a fishing pole, or you know, to someone. It's about where that person can now fish instead of reserving the good spots for certain folks. Are you going to give that better spot to somebody to fish? And, that's the equity piece in providing social services that treating everybody equally is not equity. Okay? So, I just want to leave that with you today. SHRINSKY: Thank you for that. KERN: Thank you. REPLOGLE: I have a comment, too, and we've been talking about buffers and screens, but all these people that are in need are a product of us, all of us, our society, and I think what you're offering is good. CLARKSON: Thank you. KERN: Thank you very much. CLARKSON: We have had some public testimony. Please be seated. I don't think they are any further questions. If there are no other people wishing to testify on this agenda item, I'll ask for a motion that public testimony be closed. REPLOGLE: I make a motion that public testimony be closed. IKEDA: Second. CLARKSON: All those in favor? COMMISSIONERS: Aye. CLARKSON: Opposed? Public testimony is closed. At this point, the Chair will request a motion for action on this item. REPLOGLE: I move that the application for a Use Permit, Docket No. 18-[0]00078 be approved based on the Planning Director's recommendation and proposed conditions which shall be adopted. AGUINALDO: I second. CLARKSON: Please poll the Commission. EXHIBIT D 14 KAY: I just wanted to clarify that includes the amended permit, pardon me, the amended Condition 5. AGUINALDO: Mm-hmm. KAY: Okay, thank you. All right, thank you. Commissioner Replogle? REPLOGLE: Aye. KAY: Commissioner Aguinaldo? AGUINALDO: Aye. KAY: Commissioner Ikeda? IKEDA: Aye. KAY: And Chair Clarkson. CLARKSON: Aye. KAY: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Motion carries four, nothing. The discussion ended at 11:29 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Sarah Y. Hata-Finley, Secretary Windward Planning Commission EXHIBIT D 15