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HomeMy WebLinkAboutpc10-19-11h.o.minutes KAUAI PLANNING COMMISSION HEARINGS OFFICER SPECIAL MEETING Wednesday, October 19, 2011 The Special Meeting Public Hearing of the County of Kauai Planning Commission was called to order by Hearings Officer, Herman Texeira, at 9:10 a.m. at the Lihu`e Civic Center, Mo`ikeha Building, it Meeting Room 2A--2B. Discussion of the meeting, in effect, ensued: APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA PUBLIC HEARING Chair: On behalf of the Planning Commission I am serving as your hearing's officer today. Each member of the public is entitled to three minutes per application if you don't mind and any oral testimony will be transcribed and forwarded as part of the record for the Commission to consider as part of its deliberations. If you have not signed up to testify please do so to my right. Has everybody signed already? So if you could do so as I explain this. The staff will be happy to assist you, if there is any written testimony, also forward it to the staff on my right. With that, I am opening the public hearing for: Special Permit SP-2011-11 to permit the use of an existing single family residence for Transient Vacation Rental pi Moses as permitted by County of Kauai Ordinance No. 904, in Moloa`a, Kauai, approx. 650 ft. south of the northern terminus of Moloa`a Road, further identified as Tax Map Key 4-9-14:10, and containing an area of.2984 acres =Paul& Cheri Grienzer and Arthur &Keri Koehel, Staff Report pertaining to this matter. Staff Planner Mike Laureta: Paul and Cheri and Arthur and Keri Koebel have Jonathan Chun as their representative. Mr. Jonathan Chun: Good morning, Jonathan Chun for the applicants. Do you want to have the staff read the recommendation first and report or just go to our comments? Mr. Dahilig: This is just for public hearing and receiving testimony so there will be no presentations by the planner. Mr. Chun: We have reviewed the report from the planner and we agree with the facts and recitations contained therein. Primary to note is that according to the soils report the primary use of this properly even though it is in Ag. is for recreation due to the soil types of beaches. We will point out that it is a very sandy soil and is very difficult to maintain. We have discussed with the planner on this matter and he said the Ag. plan does not need to be extensive but it can be done by the applicant as long as we indicate how much we are going to be planting and follow through on that plan and we will be doing so. Other than that we don't have any other comments, like I said we do agree with the conclusions of the staff report and the factual recitations. We did get a comment from Public Works in regards to they believe that the electrical panel is below the flood level, we will address that at that same time also. Chair: Thank you, is there any other testimony on this application? Seeing none I receive all written and oral testimony for the record and hereby close the public hearing for this particular application. Hearing closed by Hearings Officer, Herman Texeira. Chair: I am now opening the public hearing for: NOV 0 8 2011 Special Permit SP-2011-13 to permit use of an existing single family residence for Transient Vacation Rental purposes as permitted by County of Kauai Ordinance No. 904, in Kalihikai `Anini Kauai mauka of and adjacent to `Anini Road, Uprox. 1,950 ft. east of the `Anini Beach Park further identified as Tax Map Key 5-3-4:29, and containing an area of 13,610 sq. ft. =Linda Cunningham. Staff Report pertaining to this matter. Staff: Jonathan is also representing Linda Cunningham. Mr. Chun: Good morning Mr. Chair, Jonathan Chun for the applicant Linda Cunningham. We reviewed the staff report and we have no objections and we agree with factual recitations contained in the report. Similar things, the soils in this area have been rated as being D93 which is one of the lowest of the soil classifications. Exiting uses, recommended use for this kind of soils as indicated in the detailed land survey report is for pasture however despite that the applicant has grown a numerous amount of trees there right now. I have discussed this with the staff and the staff has indicated that they would accept an Ag. plait by the applicant to increase the number of trees on the property which will be done. But again the soil really is not conducive to intensive Ag. but we will attempt to try to grow more trees on the property. We have had no complaints and there is more than enough space on the property for parking. Mr. Dahilig: Mr. Chair, I forgot to mention in the previous hearing as in the case in this hearing as well the department did not receive any requests for intervention seven days prior to this particular hearing that was posted publicly. Mr. Chun: And like I said we have not received any complaints from any neighbors. Chair: So does that apply to both of the applications? Mr. Dahilig: Th4t is correct Mr. Chair. Mr. Chun: If there are any questions I would be happy to answer them. Chair: I will be calling for public testimony at this point. Anyone from the public wishing to testify on this particular application please come forward. I have noticed a few more new people in the public, anyone that just got here who is wishing to testify on any of the applications, we have to my right and to your left there is a signup sheet for that. No hearing no other testimony I will receive all written and oral testimony for the record and hereby close the public hearing in regards to this application. Hearing closed by hearings officer,Herman Texelra. Chair: I am now opening the public hearing for: Special Permit SP-2011-17 to permit the use of an existing single family residence for Transient Vacation Rental purposes as permitted by County of Kauai Ordinance No. 904, in Kalaheo Homesteads, Kauai, east of and adjacent to the end,of Waewae Place further identified as Tax Map Key 2-4-2:20 (2), and containing an area of,.776 acres of the overall 1„034 acre site =Faye Brenner. Staff Report pertaining to o this matter. Staff. Fay Brenner will be representing herself and the similar condition applies here, no requests for intervention, no concerns and she included in her packet letters of support from surrounding and abutting neighbors. Chair: Do we have that? Staff It is attached to the staff report. Hearings Officer Special Meeting October 19,2011 2 Ms. Fay Brenner: We do garden on this 1 acre. We have gardened as much as we can on the acre that we have. It is very steep and there is a topical study we had done to show you what the drop is from one end to the other. So we have about a thousand foot vegetable garden and we raise chickens for eggs and medicinal herbs. We agree to everything in the report other than the permit for a shed. We do have an agricultural shed we contacted the County about before we built. It is a temporary structure, it doesn't have a concrete slab it is just posts in the ground with plastic around it and it is to keep the rain off our seedlings for the garden. And they told me at Planning Commission at that time or the permit office that we didn't need a permit for it, it is less than 100 square feet. Chair: Anything else you are wishing to add? Ms. Brenner: We have not had any.problems from our neighbors whatsoever. Everybody has at least an acre where we are and so there is a lot of distance between the homes and we have a lot of off-street parking so there is not any problem with anything like that. They are all happy about it because we keep it really nice. Chair: Thank you for your testimony. Is there any other testimony on this application? Seeing none, again I will receive all written and oral testimony for the record and hereby close the public hearing for this application. Hearing closed by hearings officer, Herman Texeira. Chair: I am now opening the public hearing for: Special Permit SP-2011•-18 to permit the use of an existing single family residence for Transient Vacation Rental pu-Moses as permitted by County of Kauai Ordinance No 904, in Moloa`a Kauai approx. 140 ft. south of Moloa`a Road's north terminus further identified as Tax Mqp Key 4-9-4:16 and containing an area of.0617 acres or 2,687 sq. ft. = Gary &Apolonia Stice. Staff Report pertaining_ to this,matter. Mr. GM Stice: I am Gary Stice and this is my wife Apolonia Stice. We are owners of the said property. We are applying for a TVR permit. We have built this house I think almost 25 years ago, we have used it for long term and short term rentals. We have had no complaints from anyone. We have adequate parking provided for the guests and certainly it is not at all suitable for Ag. use by its size and soil type. Chair: Mike, do we have anything further? Staff: Same situation applies. No requests for intervention. No adverse comment from the public and like Mr. Stice said this property is the smallest that the department will considering with these TVR applications. Chair: Thank you very much. I will be accepting public testimony on this application so with that said is there anyone from the public wishing to testify on this application please come forward. If not, hearing no other testimony I receive all written and oral testimony for the record and hereby close the public hearing for this application. Hearing closed by bearings officer, Herman Texeira. Chair: I am now opening the public healing for: Special Permit SP-2011-23 to permit the use of an existing single family residence for Transient Vacation Rental pu1poses as permitted by County of Kauai Ordinance No. 904, in Kalihikai (`Anini)Kauai, mauka of and adjacent to `Anini Road approx. 1,100 ft east of the `Anini Beach Park further identified as Tax Mqp Key 5-3-4:2E2 and containing an area of 29,700 s . ft. of the overall 47,700 s . ft. site= William & Mary Ellen Turk. Staff Report pertaining,to this matter. Hearings Officer Special Meeting October 19,2011 3 Staff. The Turks are representing themselves and the same situation applies,no adverse comments from neighbors or the public and no requests for intervention. Mr. William Turk: For the record William Turk and Mafy Ellen Turk,husband and wife. We are in agreement with the staff report pertaining to the matter. We have operated this property approximately 15 years as a vacation rental. And pretty much the facts are contained in the report and we are here to answer any questions you may have. Ms. Turk: And we have submitted an agricultural plan, it is attached to the staff report. Chair: Thank you very much. Mike, anything else you wish to add to this? Staff: No. Chair: I am going to be calling on the public, if anyone wishes to testify on this application so thank you. With that in mind again is there anyone from the public wishing to testify on this application? Ms. Marge Dente: My name is Marge Dente. I live in the Waipouli Ahupua'a and thank you for having this hearing and allowing comments. So far five applicants have been heard and I am most interested in what proof has been submitted that Ag., legal Ag. cannot be done on these properties and for the sixth one yet to be heard. As understand it in the forms that were given to me if I wanted to start a vacation rental on Ag. I had to one,prove that I had existing Ag. before the application was submitted and a plan in existence for Ag. after, in other words into the future. This had to be significant. This had to be submitted,the forms had to be submitted with a schedule F on the 1040 income tax for all the years that these applicants have had or supposedly have had Ag. on their vacation rental property. This last�pplicant said that they have had a vacation rental there for fifteen to twenty years. Have they in fact submitted a schedule F for all the Ag. on that property all those years? I think this is a really important aspeci because when I bought my property, 5 acres,Ag. zoned, I had to state that that property would be used only for Ag.,no transient vacation rentals at all could be done. I had to sign a paper to that affect. And I believe that these applicants probably had to sign a paper of similar affect. I just want to make sure that your department is following the law. These laws have been in existence for a long time and many of us on Ag. zone have complied with these laws. Question, do these applicants have special favors? Chair: I should hope not. Ms. Dente: I should hope not too. And I should hope that these applicants must prove that their soil is absolutely cannot raise anything. My soil isn't good at all yet for seven years I filed an excise tax. I sold Ag. products from my land,soil not good but I was able to sustain that soil in Ag. These applicants should have the same requirements,thank you. Chair: Thank you,Mr. Pereira, do you plan to speak on this particular application? Mr. Charles Pereira: For the record I am Charles Pereira. I have my property down in Moloa`a. I have had it since 1961 and I know all those homes from 1972 when they were all built down in that area. They built those homes and they are vacation homes. I have one question that I wonder if there is an answer to it, I could be wrong, I could be right. Did these people on these vacation houses pay these taxes like I am paying, quarterly tax every three months for my little place in Anahola right now? All those years have they like I said, is that an answer to that? Chair: Right now we are receiving public testimony. If the staff wishes to comment on that,Mike? Staff. Yes,that is one of the requirements of Ordinance 904 that the applicants have to have shown that they paid the taxes, TAT and GE taxes prior to March 7,2008. All of these i Hearings Officer Special Meeting October 19,2011 4 applicants today have proven that,they have paid their taxes and they have declared the income on their 1040's. Mr. Pereira: Well what about the years like the one i1a 1982? Back in the 70's there were vacation houses already. Were they paying the quarterly taxis I am paying? They must have had a pretty fat check every week on that place you know, money wise. Staff: The ordinance 904 does say you have to prove or show evidence that you paid for every year. All it says is you show evidence that you paid those taxes prior to March 7, 2008. It doesn't say for every single you were in operation. Mr. Pereira: You mean the years all back...they didn't prove they were paying it. Staff. The law doesn't say that. Mr. Pereira: That is the part I am upset because here I have these two houses in Anahola and I pay my quarterly taxes every three months. And if I didn't pay it on time the County...last time my wife had to pay eight more dollars because she was late. Staff. Mr. Pereira, for these six applicants they have paid their taxes. They have met the requirements of ordinance 904. Mr. Pereira: Okay that is all I wanted to know. Staff. Would you like me to address Marge Dente's comments. Chair: That is up to you. Staff: Okay. Chair: Anyone else wishing to testify on this application? If not again I have received all written and oral testimony for the record and hereby close the public hearing for this application. Hearing was closed by hearings officer, Herman Texeira. Chair: I am now opening the special hearing for? Special Permit SP-2011-30 to permit the use of an existing single family residence for Transient Vacation Rental purposes as permitted by ounty of Kauai Ordinance No 904 in Kalihikai `Anini Kauai mauka of and adjacent to `Anini Road gpprox. 1,000 ft. east of the `Anini Beach Park further identified as Tax Mgp Key 5-3-4:25 and containing an area of 32,67- sq. ft. = Torey/Cory LLC. Staff Report Pertaining to o this matter. Staff: Torey/Cory is represented by the applicant's representative Walton Hong. Mr. Walton Hong: Good morning Mr. Hearings Officer, for the record Walton Hong representing Torey/Cory the applicant in this matter. We have received a copy of the staff report. We don't have any questions and agree with the staff report and its comments and recommendations. For the record we do have agricultural use on the property notwithstanding it is 30,000 square feet. The staff report indicates that the proper use should be for pasture, it is kind of hard to use 30,000 square feet for pasture when you have a house on it. None the less we have submitted an Ag. plan to the department, it is part of the staff report indicating an excess of twenty different trees and plants, bananas, papayas, citrus, gardenia, I think it was tangelo, tangerine, oranges at the rear of this property. As you know this property is at `Anini Beach, it is very sandy soil but we are sure trying to maintain this level of agricultural use. And as confirmed by Mr. Laureta and addressing Mr. Pereira's concern yes we have paid the excise taxes on all rental income from the time that the owner acquired the property back in 2003/2004. The records will show, as part of the record, a fairly substantial amount of taxes were paid. We Hearings Officer Special Meeting October 19,2011 5 are conforming with the ordinance and we ask for your favorable recommendation to the Planning Commission. Chair: Thank you very much Mr. Hong. Anyone else wishing to testify on this application please come forward. Seeing none, with that the hearings officer...this meeting is adjourned. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 10:00 a.m. Respectfully Submitted. an$Agoot Commission Support Cler Hearings Officer Special Meeting October 19,2011 6