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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/26/2010 Public Hearing Transcript re: BILL#2361PUBLIC HEARING MAY 26, 2010 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Jay Furfaro, Chair, Planning Committee, on Wednesday, May 26, 2010, at 2:00 p.m. at the Council Chambers, 3371-A Wilcox Road, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay. Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2361 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CONDITION NO. i9 OF ORDINANCE NO. PM-2004-370 RELATED TO THE KUKUI`ULA WORKFORCE HOUSING, which was approved on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on April 14, 2010, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on May 11, 2010. - ~ -~ Mr. Furfaro: For those in the audience, just a reminder, it is a park...in a public hearing, the participants can actually give us testimony; it is not for us to digest anything other than the questions of findings of opinions here, and I would ask the clerk, do we have any written testimony? Mr. Nakamura: No written testimony, Mr. Chair. Mr. Furfaro: Okay, may I ask, do we have anybody who's signed up to speak at this public hearing? Mr. Nakamura: We one registered speaker, JoAnn Yukimura. Mr. Furfaro: Okay, thank you very much. JoAnn, please come up. The hearing proceeded as follows: JOANN YUKIMURA: Chair Asing, Committee Chair Furfaro, members of the Council, my name is JoAnn Yukimura. I'm here today to speak in opposition to Bill 2361. It seeks to reduce the buyback period on affordable housing built by Kukui`ula from 90 years to 25 years. I was on the council when this bill was passed. I voted for it precisely because of the bold 90-year buyback, which provided for affordability in perpetuity and therein addressed the long-term impacts of the Kukui`ula development on land and housing prices in the Po`ipu/Koloa area. Unless we create permanent affordability, we will never be able to effectively address homelessness and the need for affordable housing. This is probably the single most important factor in solving the housing problem on Kauai. As you know, the world is the market for Kauai real estate, and Kauai could become a place for only the rich if we don't have housing that is insulated from the market. Our job as the county is to provide homes where people don't have to mortgage their lives for a decent place to live, not to give them a windfall on taxpayer or developer subsidy. One example of developer required housing for working families on Kauai was built on the north shore,. and working families and single moms were able to buy homes in a very desirable place to live for a little over a hundred thousand dollars. Ten years later, they could sell the property for $600,000. There's no way that that housing would have gone to families like themselves who were helped by county subsidies. I have no objections to people making this kind of windfall is it's their own money that they used to buy their houses in the first place, but when you allow this to happen, that precludes other families like themselves from getting housing. If the houses aren't protected by the market, they won't. be affordable after the first sale into the market. When the Kukui`ula development is built out, it will be a very expensive community. It will greatly increase land and housing prices in the Koloa/Po`ipu area. It will become exclusive by virtue of economics. Yet by smart growth principles, it's important to have low and moderately priced housing in the Po`ipu/Koloa area where workers can walk or bike to work. It's not like these places where you have to work are going to disappear after 25 years. The only way to be able to have such housing is to protect them against speculation with a buyback provision. Twenty-five years appears very long, but in fact it's very short. Mr. Furfaro: Excuse me JoAnn, I just want to make...that's the 3-minute mark, but I'm going to go ahead and extend you the additional three minutes. Ms. Yukimura: Okay. It's actually at 25 years when you will be desperately wanting affordable housing for people in the Koloa/Po`ipu area. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you. May I ask members, do you have any questions of JoAnn... Councilwoman Yukimura? Will you be submitting your testimony in writing, or do we already have it? Ms. Yukimura: No, I have not. Mr. Furfaro: Okay, are you prepared to give us a copy so we can... Ms. Yukimura: No. You don't want this copy, but I will prepare it and submit it in a couple days. Mr. Furfaro: May I ask that you do that in the next 6 days? Ms. Yukimura: Yes. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you very much. You have no other comments. Ms. Yukimura: Thank you.- Mr. Furfaro: May I ask... That was the only signed up? Is there anyone else in the audience that wishes to speak on this item? If not, I'm going to call this public hearing back to order with the members and so ask to conclude this meeting. There being no further testimony on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 2:07 p.m. Respectfully submitted, PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao