HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/28/2016 Public Works/Parks & Recreation Committee minutes MINUTES
PUBLIC WORKS / PARKS & RECREATION COMMITTEE
September 28, 2016
A meeting of the Public Works / Parks & Recreation Committee of the County
of Kauai, State of Hawai`i, was called to order by Ross Kagawa, Chair, at the
Council Chambers, 4396 Rice Street, Suite 201, Lihu`e, Kaua`i, on Wednesday,
September 28, 2016, at 8:30 a.m., after which the following Members answered the
call of the roll:
Honorable Mason K. Chock
Honorable Arryl Kaneshiro
Honorable KipuKai Kuali`i
Honorable JoAnn A. Yukimura
Honorable Ross Kagawa
Honorable Gary L. Hooser, Ex-Officio Member (left at 9:36 a.m.)
Honorable Mel Rapozo, Ex-Officio Member (present at 10:38 a.m.)
There being no objections, the Committee recessed at 8:30 a.m., to convene in
the Housing & Transportation Committee Meeting.
The meeting was called back to order at 9:34 a.m., and proceeded as follows:
Resolution No. 2016-57 RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING TRAFFIC LANE
MODIFICATIONS AND BICYCLE LANES ON RICE
STREET AND HO`OLAKO STREET; ESTABLISHING
CROSSWALKS ON RICE STREET, PUA`OLE STREET,
HO`OLAKO STREET, KALENA STREET, HO`ALA
STREET, AND MALAMA STREET; AND REPEALING,
AMENDING, AND ESTABLISHING PARKING
RESTRICTIONS AND BUS STOPS ON RICE STREET,
COUNTY OF KAUAI (This item was Deferred.)
Committee Chair Kagawa: I am going to ask to make a motion to defer
this item later, because we cannot defer it and have discussion. I am going to
suspend the rules. We already scheduled a public hearing for October 5th, and then
after all of the discussion, we will have a motion to defer to October 12th.
Councilmember Kaneshiro moved to approve Resolution No. 2016-57,
seconded by Councilmember Chock.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Thank you. We needed a motion to discuss
it. I am going to suspend the rules. Can the Administration come up? For the
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 2 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
public's information, this is regarding the Transportation Investment Generating
Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant and all of the things that need to be done, in
order to accommodate the TIGER grant going forward.
There being no objections, the rules were suspended.
(Councilmember Hooser is noted as not present.)
(Council Chair Rapozo is noted as not present.)
MICHAEL A. DAHILIG, Planning Director: Good morning,
Councilmembers. Mike Dahilig and Keith Suga, for the record. I just want to
inventory the handouts that we have passed out to the Councilmembers this
morning, just so that you are aware of what we handed out. We handed out a
PowerPoint of the presentation, so you should have that. It should be about
twenty-four (24) pages, as well as a tabloid-sized map that has an appended
resolution. The Resolution is actually set up as a legend, so each bullet point that is
in the Resolution corresponds to an indicator on these colored maps. That was
meant to try to help facilitate discussion on any particular traffic control item that
is included in the Resolution. Even though you may have the official resolution, we
did provide a second draft of the resolution that does have this color-coded legend.
Again, thank you again for this opportunity to present before you and explain the
traffic control resolution that is before you, relating to the Lihu`e Town Core of
Mobility and Revitalization program. I will be going over five (5) topics. Keith and
I will be splitting duties here. We would like to just go over these five (5) items:
What is a big picture? Again, we have heard "TIGER" used quite a lot, so we will go
into a brief discussion of what that is. We will talk about the source information
that led to the development of the TIGER application, as well as the guiding
principles as part of the design. We will then go into the process and explain how
we engaged a robust community process to get information on how to take care of
the nuts and bolts. As much as we present things, "the Devil is in the details" and
we wanted to ensure that every detail was not overlooked before we put it on paper
and presented it to you folks. We are going to go into what is proposed and this
goes all across the areas that do require traffic control measures approved by this
Council. Finally, Keith will go into some of the design details as to why things are
where along Rice Street.
What is "TIGER?" "TIGER" is an acronym for a program created by the
United States Department of Transportation (USDOT), and that stands for
"Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery." This grant program
anecdotally supplants many of the earmarks that we have been familiar with that
have been brought back to our home states by corresponding legislators. So now,
much of the discretionary funding that was normally passed through the states has
now been lumped into things like the TIGER grant. This is one (1) example of how
competitive it is. Across the nation, they receive six hundred twenty-seven (627)
applications from various state and county jurisdictions, totaling a total of ten
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 3 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
million one hundred million dollars ($10,100,000,000) in asks. The federal
government, specifically Secretary Foxx, using his discretion, chose thirty-nine (39)
of those six hundred twenty-seven (627) projects, totaling five hundred million
dollars ($500,000,000) and the County of Kauai was one of those thirty-nine (39)
projects. We received a commitment of thirteen million eight hundred thousand
dollars ($13,800,000) to be matched by two million dollars ($2,000,000) for a total
cost of the project to be fifteen million eight hundred thousand dollars
($15,800,000). Given the grant agreement, we have to complete environmental and
construction clearances by June 30th of next year. So that is the time clock that we
are under with respect to meeting the grant obligations.
What has guided the TIGER grant application was these four (4) documents,
and these are documents that have been approved by the Council—way back, we
had a Lihu`e Civic Center Masterplan that was followed by a Town Core Urban
Design Plan. Last year, the Council approved the Lihu`e Community Plan, and as
we pair that land use plan with the transportation plan, that is specially the
Multimodal Land Transportation Plan. These plans, as mentioned earlier, do
provide the guidance, from a policy standpoint, as to where we should be making
our investments and what areas should we be looking at trying to facilitate change.
Before the TIGER grant was actually applied for, we did something called
"Rice Street Week." This was a whole week where we made open to the public a
number of various events that included walk audits, community meetings, and
pop-up presentations at different establishments that are along the commercial core
there along Rice Street. We did this as a basis to say, "Look, we have heard a lot of
things about this area. Here are some things that we are thinking about. What do
you think about it?" So we received a number of comments that helped guide our
presentation to the federal government. That same year, we also did a presentation
on what was going on with `Eiwa Street and we also were able to receive moneys
from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that led to a
parking audit of the County and State facilities around the Lihu`e town core. Again,
that was a grant approved by this Council that we were able to receive that training
and that audit from the United States Environmental Protection Agency. In
May 6, 2015, we did receive approval from the Council last year to apply for the
TIGER grant, and in the interim, we tried to build partnerships with the various
State and County agencies, as well as community groups, to help provide the
necessary backup and evidence that this was a community-supported project. We
then updated the Council in the beginning of this year. We went to a number of
community organizations to continue to talk about the process and make sure that
it was on top of everyone's minds. We wanted to make sure that did not fall out of
the stream of consciousness, that the TIGER was continuing to move ahead and
that people were aware of every movement we were making. You will notice that at
the very bottom, we did receive authorization for the two million dollars
($2,000,000) in matching federal funds to receive the grant per the agreement.
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 4 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
Like I mentioned earlier, what we realized is that "the Devil is in the details."
So we have been employing a door-to-door concept when it comes to trying to get
outreach and information from the public. You will notice that on June 7th and
June 12th, we had staff members from both the Department of Public Works and the
Planning Department go door-to-door for each house that was affected potentially
by this, as well as go door-to-door with each of the Rice Street businesses. We
followed up with a specific meeting, just for Pua`ole and Malae residents on
July 13th, as well as we did three (3) Rice Street business roundtables on July 21st
where we invited them to come in and help with the design. We held a big tent
open house because that seemed to be the best way to try to pinpoint and at the
same time people's specific concerns for specific portions of the project. Then we
also held an additional Rice Street meeting on August 4th. What is not mentioned
there is that we also provided an update to the Council, given a resolution on a
petition that was circulated by a community member that lived on Pua`ole Street.
At that Council Meeting, indicated that we were in the middle of the design process
and given the feedback that was coming from the community, we would honor their
request to make design changes and incorporate that into our final nuts and bolts
plan that is before you today. Here are more pictures of the community outreach
that we did this year regarding the specific design on the TIGER grant. As you see
here, we layout a whole strip of paper that shows the whole Rice Street printed out
and we provided the opportunity for the public to give us notes, comments, et cetera
and put it all on paper so that we could create a record and help us review what was
going on. Many of the modifications to the original design that was presented to the
public earlier in the summer were made based off of this litany of meetings and
public comment. I am going to turn it over to Keith to go over the TIGER project
components.
KEITH SUGA, CIP Manager: Keith Suga, County Capital Improvement
Projects (CIP) Manager. Thank you, Mike, for the initial outreach explanation and
TIGER background. If you go to this overall map here, this overall map shows all
six (6) of the TIGER components, as well as projects that were either completed or
in progress. So illustrated in yellow are some existing projects: Hardy Street, Umi
Street, the work on Haleko Street, and Ho`ala/Rice Shared Use Path. Some of these
projects are completed and some are still in the works. The TIGER components
that are included in this TIGER grant are the six (6) components listed in red.
Number one is the `Eiwa Street Transit Hub, number two is the Rice Street Section,
number three is the Ho`ala/Kalena Sidewalk, number four is the Ho`olako Street
Bicycle/Pedestrian Improvements, number five is the Civic Center Shared Use Path,
and number six is the Pua`ole/Malae Improvements.
On the next slide, this illustrates and overview of the components that are
included in your Traffic Control Resolution that is before you today. So included in
that Traffic Control Resolution is Rice Street, Kalena/Ho`ala, and Ho`olako. We can
get into a little bit more detail onto the Kalena/Ho`ala section here illustrated on the
map. For this particular section, the traffic control improvements being proposed,
as part of the resolution, includes an addition of crosswalks and sidewalks along
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 5 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
Kalena Street, as well as Ho`ala Street, and a crosswalk on Malama Street, to
provide connectivity from the senior housing and the Lihu`e Court Townhomes to
the school, services, transit, parks, and businesses. So this would be, again, as
illustrated on this picture here, the white would be the proposed or potential
sidewalk improvements that could be implemented, and then the additional
crosswalks. The next project item as part of this Resolution before you is Ho`olako
Street, which would run from Rice Street, all the way through to the stadium. The
improvements along Ho`olako Street would include an eight (8) feet sidewalk, as
illustrated on the mauka side of Ho`olako, as well as bike lanes. These would
connect neighborhoods to Vidinha Stadium, along with jobs and services in the
Lihu`e Industrial Park area. Also included, you see the crosswalks and a dual
left-turn lane as they get towards the Rice Street area. For the next component for
Rice Street, I am going turn this back over to Mike.
Mr. Dahilig: A lot of focus has been placed on what is
going to happen on Rice Street, and this tends to be the predominant change that is
set forth in the Resolution and I wanted to go over just a few design philosophy
items incorporating a lot of the comments that we received over the past few
months, as well as some of our experiences with Hardy Street. What we are
paramountly focused on is safety for all, and when we mean "for all," we mean
everybody that is using another mode of transportation besides cars. We are
looking at cars, bicycles, and pedestrians; we want safety for all. We also, in the
spirit of the TIGER grant, and in terms of what we were required to present to the
Department of Transportation, this project needs to focus on economic development.
What is in the best interest of those that are adjacent to the street and how does it
help with economic development in trying to revitalize an area? We are also looking
at cost-effective design. This is something that we are acutely concerned about and
we want to ensure that we do not go over budget and that what we are providing as
a design is something that is realistic and something that is attainable within the
prescribed budget, so that we are not either going to value-engineer the project to a
point where it is not effective or that we need to come back to this body for more
appropriations. So cost-effectiveness is also a key paramount in design philosophy.
In terms of what we have learned about some of our experiences with Hardy Street,
what we want to ensure is that there are long-term maintenance costs that are kept
down, with respect to the improvements to the street. We do not want to put in
things that over time are going to be a chronic, high maintenance cost for the
County and things that hopefully down the line can become more of a partnership
in terms of its maintenance. We have kept down many of the kind of designer
features that one may see along Hardy Street and focused more on what is
necessary and how we make sure that is carried through in the long-run without
much maintenance costs. I am going to turn this over to Keith in just a bit, but for
an overview standpoint, just so that you understand where Keith will be going, we,
for the most part, are looking at reducing the street, the amount of lanes in each
direction from two (2) to one (1) with one (1) lane that is a left-turn lane from
private driveways. It is a three (3) lane concept, so we are going from four (4) to
three (3) lanes. At intersections, we are looking at left-turn lanes, and then we are
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 6 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
looking in certain areas that are dedicated bike lanes, as well as we are looking at
increasing the amount of on-street parking to facilitate business activity. As I
mentioned earlier, safety was a concern and why we are going to this three (3) lane
concept. Rice Street has a number of private driveways up and down its stretch.
There is a lot of traffic weaving that occurs as a consequence of coming in and out of
those private driveways. The reality is that we cannot tell people they cannot go
into their private driveway, so we need to work around that frequent traffic. There
is also traffic weaving due to parked cars on the right-hand lane, and that traffic
weaving does create traffic conflicts. What we are trying to do is create a dedicated
area so that these parked cars do not create a weaving effect by these cars moving
in and out of these lanes that are blocked by parked cars. We are also trying to
address speeding. As many of you are familiar, if you walk up and down the stretch
of Rice Street, you will notice that people are not following the twenty-five miles per
hour (25 MPH) speed limit. That is posted speed limit for there, but we are aware
that people do go a lot faster than the posted speed limit. Because of the speeding
and the fact that there is poor visibility for pedestrian crossings, as well as poor
visibility for those making left turns in and out of those private driveways, those
can create the kind of conflicts we are trying to address in the design for Rice
Street. Again, as I mentioned earlier, it is 25 MPH and when you look at how speed
affects a driver's ability, it does narrow their field of vision and their ability to react
in a timely manner, which increases the likelihood of crash severity. With that, I
will turn it over to Keith to go a little bit more into some of the safety metrics that
we are aware of so far.
Mr. Suga: From a safety standpoint, this particular
slide shows some data that was gathered for the history of Rice Street. From 2007
to 2011, there were seventy-four (74) injuries along Rice Street, forty (40) of which
were within the current project area, ten (10) fatal crashes from 1978 to 2014, and a
pedestrian fatality in 2014, which occurred within the current project area. The
four (4) to three (3) lane conversion typically results in a crash reduction of nineteen
percent (19%) to forty-seven percent (47%). In addition to that, injury crash
reductions are typically even higher. There are three (3) types of crash scenarios
that we are identifying here as part of this presentation, one of which would be a
situation where a car, like the red car...excuse me...let me back up first. On this
illustration here, we have a configuration of the four (4) lanes on the left-hand side
as an example, and then also what would happen on the right-hand side if the
conversion to three (3) lanes were to occur. So here on this side would be a four (4)
lane configuration, as what is currently existing out there. In a situation where this
red car is trying to make a left-turn into a private drive or a private business, there
is a potential of the blue car rear-ending the red car who is trying to stop or slow
down to make that left turn. Again, this is just an example. We would have the
middle lane serve as dual left-turn lane, so the red car could come into the middle
lane, and then proceed to make their left turn; and these cars, the blue and the
yellow, would utilize the single lane as a through lane. This here would illustrate a
crash type that would be more of a, like Mike said, as cars are trying to weave
around people trying to turn left or maybe trying to go around cars that are
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 7 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
currently parked in the right-hand lane. This type of sideswipe situation could
occur. Within the proposed it traffic resolution, this center lane would serve as the
dedicated left and these cars here, the blue and yellow, would be able to traverse
straight through. This scenario demonstrates a car doing a left-turn and creating a
broad side or a "T-bone" type of incident. Here is this car trying to turn left into a
private drive; perhaps this red car here in the opposing direction is stopping to
allow for that car to make the left-turn. However, this red car is still in the current
location and the line of sight to this yellow car is very difficult for this red car to see,
which creates the situation where they initiate their left-turn and then possibly
could create that "T-boning" effect with the yellow car that is trying to traverse
straight through. For the proposal, again, we have this dual left-turn lane in the
middle, which the red car could enter into to create or to start their left turn into
the various businesses and this would allow for better sight distance for the
oncoming cars going straight through on the one-lane section.
This illustration here is for the threats to pedestrians that currently exist in
the four-lane configuration. Currently, pedestrians crossing Rice Street have to
cross four (4) active lanes of traffic, and in this example here, which happens a lot of
times along Rice Street, is that a pedestrian is at the crosswalk here wanting to
cross, "Car A" will stop for the pedestrian, and the pedestrian will start their
movement; but the car that is slowing down for them could prohibit them from
seeing the "Car B" that is forthcoming. Again, the line of sight is blocked here.
Again, in the Rice Street configuration, or excuse me, the proposed improvements,
this is an example that would help eliminate that pedestrian hazard. What could
be a possible design concept is to add a median in the middle. For the pedestrians
wanting to cross Rice Street, they basically have one (1) lane that they can cross
through, hit this refuge created by this median, and proceed across the second lane
here. The data that has been provided shows that this type of improvement or
treatment can reduce pedestrian crashes by up to forty percent (40%). These here
are also other design concepts that could be implemented to provide for better safety
for pedestrians while crossing various areas along Rice Street. These here
demonstrate the curb extensions, which again, you see here are some examples of
private drives on either side of the road. These curb extensions push out the
sidewalk and the curb a little bit further out to create a better line of sight for the
cars coming out of the driveways, as well as shorten the distance that the
pedestrians have to walk to cross the various lanes. This is another example of curb
extensions that incorporates a bus pullout situation.
Mr. Dahilig: As part of the overall design, as you have
heard from the safety element, we are also looking at things that look at Rice Street
as a place, as a destination. The reason we focus a lot on the pedestrian discussion
is because the businesses along Rice Street rely on foot traffic to help stimulate
commerce along that stretch. In order for those people who want to go into the
businesses and patronize these establishments, we need to provide them the feeling
that the area is a safe place for them to walk. In effect, you can look at it as if you
are going to a shopping mall, you do not really have to deal with these traffic
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 8 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
elements, but we want to make sure that in this area that they have the same
feeling of safety as they would in a normal shopping mall, and that they will be able
to cross the street, they will be able to have a sidewalk that will protect them from
cars, and that the cars are going at a very safe speed. What we hope this that
facilitates, as this Council may be aware, that the Council passed in 2009 an
up-zoning of Rice Street to facilitate redevelopment. People want this to be a live,
work, and play area. It is one of the primary mixed-use zoned areas on the island
and we want this to be a vibrant place where people can connect. In effect, we have
gone through and made a lot of investments. In looking at the phrase, Lihu`e's
"Main Street" as a means of identity for this area. This is, in effect, the heart of the
island because it is the primary commercial and government center for the County
and for the island. So we want it to become a vibrant place for commerce, a vibrant
place for residential, a vibrant place for community government, as well as a
vibrant place for people who can come for cultural gatherings and get together.
This is where the pedestrian elements pair up very nicely in the design, because we
are trying to facilitate that foot traffic to increase the amount of foot traffic
commerce that is along this stretch of road. I will turn it back over to Keith in
terms of what the effect is of the street design in terms of traffic.
Mr. Suga: From a traffic analysis standpoint, we have a
consultant on-board who is assisting us and they did a traffic analysis at the
intersections of Rice and `Eiwa; Rice and Umi; Rice and Kress; Rice, Hardy, and
Kalena; and Rice and Ho`olako. The table that we have up on this particular slide
demonstrates the various level of services. The "level of service" in layman's terms
is basically the amount of time that you have to wait at the intersection to pass
through. A grade of an "A" would be minimizing the amount of time that you have
to wait at the intersection to pass through and "F" would be that you are waiting at
the intersection for a long time in order to get through that particular intersection.
The consultants did an analysis of the a.m. period, lunch time, and the p.m. period;
roughly, 7:15 to 8:15 in the morning, 11:30 to 12:30 at noon, and in the afternoon
from 3:45 to 4:45. What their data shows is that the existing level of services,
indicated here in this column, is pretty good for a majority of these Rice, `Eiwa,
Umi, and Kress Street intersections, and then Rice, Hardy, and Kalena, which was
one of the busier intersections has a "C"/ "B"/ "C" level of service. If the traffic
control improvements, as part of the resolution are implemented, this would be the
level of service that would be after those improvements have been put into place. It
does provide a better level of service with the improvements that have been laid out
in the traffic resolution.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Can you repeat what level of service means?
Does it mean level of service for pedestrians or level of service for traffic flow?
Mr. Suga: Level of service for traffic flow. If I am in a
car at a particular intersection, an "A" level of service would mean that I am sitting
there at intersection for a very minimal time and able to run through without
waiting at all. An "F," for example, in the opposite end of the spectrum, would be
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 9 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
that I am sitting at the intersection for quite a while before I can get through it.
Just for some level of detail, roughly, to go from an "A" to a "B" or from a "B" to a
"C," it is typically a ten (10) second difference to go from a different type of grade, if
you will. That is just a reference point there.
Committee Chair Kagawa: I just wanted to clear that up.
Mr. Suga: No problem. The next item that we want to
discuss is the Rice Street parking.
Councilmember Kuali`i: I am sorry, but could you repeat the time
because it is not scaled on this?
Mr. Suga: Yes. The a.m. period that the analysis was
done on was from 7:15 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. The noon time was from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30
p.m. The afternoon time was from 3:45 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you.
Mr: Suga: No problem. Again, parking is a big
component of the Rice Street improvements. As Mike said, there was a lot of
outreach done previously and we are going to continue to do more outreach. As part
of that, we heard from businesses, and part of the TIGER project is to try to
stimulate the economy and get more people into those businesses. One way of doing
that, as we have heard from the business owners that provided their input, is to add
street side parking, parallel parking. The current configuration of Rice Street
provides forty-nine (49) stalls along Rice Street, eleven (11) of which are full-time
stalls, because as you know for a lot of the stalls, there is that restriction during
peak hours in the mornings and afternoons, which parking is not allowed. So the
proposed resolution would include eighty-four (84) full-time parking and that is
accomplished by way of the three (3) to four (4) lane conversion to allow for that
additional room on the ends of the street, if you will, to provide that parallel
parking.
This is the plan view for Rice Street. We are going to kind of get into some of
the conceptual draft designs that are included as part of the resolution. This
particular slide shows the connection to the highway intersection up by the round
building, up towards just past Haleko. Here, you can see the dedicated bike lanes,
improvements to the...I am sorry...here you can see the inclusion of dedicated bike
lanes, one (1) in each direction, an improved left-turn lane for traffic coming into
Haleko or wanting to turn into Haleko, and a median island here to help the
pedestrian crossing. This particular section is from Haleko, all the way through to
`Eiwa and here you see the colorized dual left-turn center lane, which is this red,
which allows for cars to come in to make their left turns into the various business
driveways. The dedicated bike lane is continued through this stretch on both sides
of the road. This particular slide shows from `Eiwa Street to just past Umi Street.
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 10 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
Again, it continues that dual left-turn, colorized center lane just past Wa'a Road.
Here also is a median to assist with pedestrian access crossing the road here. As a
point of reference also, consideration has been made with regards to the Rice Street
parade, which is why this median is offset on this side of`Eiwa to allow the parade
traffic to continue their normal route. Bike lanes are again here in this particular
section. As you can see, the dedicated bike lane would end as we past Umi here.
Here going down Rice Street, that dedicated bike lane would continue. In this
particular section, we are going from Umi to just past the former Toyota car parking
lot here. Again, you see the typical improvements into the dual left-turn, colorized
center lane, submit the additional parallel parking, which would be incorporated.
These areas here where the driveways are, you see this kind of white areas on
either side of the driveway. These would be the bulb-outs or curb extensions that
allow for that better sight distance for the cars when they are making their left-turn
movements. Again, at this 'Ewalu intersection, similarly, these curb extensions or
bulb-outs. Here we are adding a crosswalk. Again, the bulb-outs help to provide
for that better pedestrian crosswalk access. This next section would continue down
from the former Toyota parking lot down to about Kress Street. There is similar
treatment in terms of the dual left-turn center lane. There is an improvement to
this bus stop location here, just in front of the former American Savings Bank
location. At this stretch, we sharrows, bikes sharing the lane with the vehicles, and
additional parallel parking. Here, we are going from Kress Street, down to Hardy
and Kalena. We are continuing the dual left-turn lane and then converting to a
dedicated left-turn lane here for traffic coming down Rice Street, wanting to make
the left-turn onto Hardy. Here are improvements to the parallel parking here, in
front of the old Yoneji Building. Also, here are improvements to the curb extensions
along this particular intersection to provide better sight distances. This particular
stretch would go from Hardy, down to the vacant lot here. Again, similar types of
concepts with the dual left-turn lane, the driveway extensions...excuse me...the
curb extensions near the driveways, improvements to the parallel parking, and
addition of parallel parking here. This is still a sharrow symbol on the lanes. No
dedicated bike lanes here; just the shared symbols. This particular section
continues down from the vacant lot towards Lihu`e Townhomes. This shows the
connection to the Ho`ala shared-use path that has been completed. This is the
existing crosswalk that exists today; however, these curb extensions will provide
that better pedestrian access crossing the roadway here. Here are improvements to
the parallel parking on both sides of the road. At this point, we see where we pick
up a dedicated bike lane coming from Nawiliwili section, coming up...excuse
me...from Ho`olako coming up Rice Street. Here, we have the shared symbol on the
roadway for bikes. Then there is an additional bus stop being proposed in this
particular location. Continuing down the road, again, the basic dual left-turn lane
through this stretch...this is Ace Ben Franklin heading down towards Ho`olako.
Here at the Ho`olako intersection, you can see the dual left-turn center lane
converting into a dedicated left-turn lane for traffic wanting to make that left turn,
heading towards Vidinha Stadium. Here, we now see the dedicated bike lanes on
either side of the road. This last slide for Rice Street shows the end of the County
jurisdiction and the end of where the TIGER project would end with the dual center
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 11 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
left-turn lane, the initiation of the dedicated bike lane here near the PS&D parking
lot.
Mr. Dahilig: Thank you, Keith. The next steps for the
project after these resolutions would be to complete the concept design and the
environmental compliance. Again, we are on a deadline, pursuant to the TIGER
grant requirements to have those completed by summer of next year, and then we
would go out for design/build procurement, so that would be done where the thirty
percent (30%) plans would be completed and then seventy percent (70%)
construction plans would be developed as part of a design/build process that go up
for procurement.
I did want to take a moment to address a couple of items that did come up
and I wanted to thank the Council for giving us leave to not present last
Wednesday. We were tied up with the conference, so we thank you for giving us the
ability to defer our presentation until today. We are aware that based on comments
and questions from that meeting there were two (2) that came up with respect to
the project. One was a pilot project, whether we could look at implementing these
things as a pilot. In a perfect world, we would love to look at these things in
segments, but the reality is given the tight, compressed timeline required by the
federal government, to test out some of these items on Rice Street, in particular,
would be difficult for us to get a particular amount of metrics back, implement it,
and get metrics back, and then still meet the required deadline by mid-summer. I
will say that some of the pilot information that we did get was based off of our
experiences with Hardy Street, because it is somewhat of a similar design. That did
help guide us with what some of the public has said is working and is not working
and help integrate it into this design. I just wanted to address that element. The
second one is regarding the cost-benefit analysis of this and the TIGER applications
to the federal government required analyses with respect to economic
competitiveness, as well as quality of life, and also with respect to environmental
sustainability. Some of these are qualitative types of evaluations, but there are a
couple of items that I did want to bring up that would bring light to what would be,
I guess, a dollars and cents metric for how this would impact our economy. Marie
Williams from our office did some of the analysis for the TIGER grant application
and her determination, based off of 2015 dollars, is that over the next twenty (20)
years, if the project was implemented, it would realize an additional nine million
five hundred thousand dollars ($9,500,000) in tax revenue over twenty (20) years for
the County. Again, that is based off of if build-outs were to start happening as a
consequence of more construction being attracted to this street because of the
TIGER improvements and based off of the zoning that is there, that based off of
those rates at the time that was in effect, what we presented to the federal
government that over twenty (20) years we could look at nine million five hundred
thousand dollars ($9,500,000) in additional tax revenue. We also did an "h plus t"
costs, which looks at housing plus transportation costs for the overall community
and what effect it has in terms of a reduced delta on the public. What we got is an
overall benefit of about twenty-nine million dollars ($29,000,000) in transportation
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 12 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
cost-savings and housing savings. Again, this is over a twenty (20) year period.
There are metrics that do show that the design of this street could incite
redevelopment along the stretch based off of the zoning and could essentially
provide additional tax revenue and also reduce "way of life" costs for residents that
choose to live along the street. I just wanted to address those two (2) questions
since I know that came out of the comments from last week's referral of the item
over to this committee. With that, Chair Kagawa, I think we are done here and we
will be happy to answer any questions at this time.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Okay. Questions? Councilmember Chock.
Councilmember Chock: Thank you, Mike, for answering some of
those questions up front. I really like the green medians that you pointed out on
page 15 for the crosswalks for the pedestrians. I think about Kapa'a Town and if
there were crosswalks there and how people use that as a thoroughfare to go
through. My only question is why in some of the areas where crosswalks exist, we
would not do the same? For instance, as we venture further down Rice Street by
the old American Savings Bank that has a crosswalk. Is there a reason?
Mr. Dahilig: As Keith mentioned earlier, we heard a lot of
comments from the public that were concerned, especially when we met with the
rotary, because the rotary is the one that does the Lights on Rice Parade every year.
They were concerned that medians along the parade route would impede the ability
of people and design floats to go up-and-down the stretch. That is part of the reason
why you do not see those particularly in front of the American Savings Bank
building or from Ho`olako up, is because we clearly heard that concern from the
people that put on the parade, that this was of value to them. So we opted to take
that input and tried to design around it.
Councilmember Chock: I see.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Just a follow-up, do you have a map of that?
Are you saying that you did not include a safety feature because of a parade?
Mr. Dahilig: What we did is look at alternate safety
features. What we are doing instead is putting in what is called "curb extensions."
If you look at...
Committee Chair Kagawa: What page can I look at?
Mr. Dahilig: Let us go from reverse, since I know that...
Committee Chair Kagawa: No, the question he asked is my only
follow-up, because it would unfair for me to open it all up.
Mr. Dahilig: Okay.
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 13 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
Committee Chair Kagawa: So from the question he asked, the area that
was deleted because of the parade, I just want to see what map we would look at.
Mr. Dahilig: Let us start with the top panel of sheet 3 of 3
of the tabloid. I am going walk it up so that there is an understanding from the
parade route standpoint why you see it in certain places and you do not. You will
notice that coming up from Ho`olako that this is a lighted intersection. So a median
or a curb extension was not required at that intersection where the parade shoots
out because we had a lighted crosswalk. That is why there is no median at that
crosswalk there. If you go back one page to sheet 2 of 3, you will notice the bottom
panel is where you will see the townhouse and the vacant lot.
Councilmember Yukimura: Can we put that up?
Committee Chair Kagawa: Yes. Mike, can we put that up for the public?
You can go with your pointer and point out what median you are talking about and
everything.
Mr. Dahilig: Sure thing.
Committee Chair Kagawa: I think it is a valid question. We made an
adjustment because of the parade so we should point it out so that everybody knows
what we did not do because of the parade. I think the parade is very important, but
it kind of seems self-serving to the general public that you folks are from the
Administration, you folks run the Lights on Rice parade, and you just made a
substantial change because of the parade. Let us be clear and show the public,
"This is what we did because of the parade." Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i: I have a suggestion, too. In your PowerPoint
presentation, on the bottom of page 15, you showed this, and I guess it was just a
sample, with the green space and widened sidewalk. That green space in the
middle of the road is an actual median, right?
Mr. Dahilig: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: But that is just an example? That does not
exist throughout the route?
Mr. Dahilig: There are two (2) places where it exists.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Okay. Maybe you can show us those two (2)
places, too.
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 14 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
Mr. Dahilig: Let me go back. If you look at sheet 1 of 3 of
the tabloid, you will see two (2) medians that are there. It is one that is right at the
Haleko Road intersection.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Right.
Mr. Dahilig: There is a second one that is at `Eiwa and
Rice Street. As Keith mentioned earlier, those are where we are putting in
medians. Medians are not the only solution for traffic conflicts with pedestrians, so
in trying to "marry" the competing interests, we then turned to what is called a
"curb extension" to try to bring the walker a little further out so that they are being
seen by the driver on the right-hand side, so that they are sticking out a little bit
more, but there is a relief. There are many tools that we can use to try to
accommodate the various public concerns. We believe that it is of comparable safety
design, but one looks different than the other.
Councilmember Kuali`i: You are basically balancing also between
where you have the curb extensions and you create additional parking, versus
where you do not have the curb extensions and you have these medians where you
have the bike lanes.
Mr. Dahilig: That is better than I could say.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Yes.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Mike, you are talking about that median
right there, whereas if we had that median, some of the large floats would basically
be stuck? They would not be able to go through because it would be too narrow?
Mr. Dahilig: Potentially. That is why we replaced those
with curb extensions instead. As a through lane goes through, if we pull the curb
relief out, there is a better chance that they can see the pedestrian. This is actually
a lighted crosswalk here at Umi, but if you go a little further down, you will see
instances where instead of the median, we are bringing the pedestrian further out
into the line of sight so that they are not stepping directly onto a lane, rather than
the person that is in the travel lane can see the pedestrian waiting to cross the road.
Again, it is a comparable safety precaution, but it just provides a different option so
that the balance of community interest can be accommodated.
Councilmember Kuali`i: That one, specifically, is by the round
building, where the parade does not go?
Mr. Dahilig: Yes, but this is not where the parade goes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: It is at a place on the road that is extremely
wide.
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 15 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
Mr. Dahilig: That is correct.
Councilmember Kuali`i: If you walk across there, it is a long cross.
Mr. Dahilig: Yes.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Mike, going back, how many medians do we
have? We have one (1) there right by Haleko Road. Where is the other median?
Mr. Dahilig: It is right there, right before the `Eiwa
intersection. There are only two (2) of those that we have employed as part of the
design.
Committee Chair Kagawa: By the museum?
Mr. Dahilig: By the museum, yes.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Does that median affect the parade?
Mr. Dahilig: No, because apparently the floats turn down
`Eiwa to break down at the Civic Center parking lot over there.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Oh, so the floats will turn before that median
right here?
Mr. Dahilig: Correct.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Okay. Thank you. Councilmember Chock.
Councilmember Chock: Thank you, Mike. It is hard for me to
visualize the curb extensions, but if they work, then that is great. One of the things
that sticks out to me is being able to have removable object, like a post or even a
median that can be taken out. Again, one of the things that I have seen is people, if
they see an open lane, especially if they are going to turn left at some point or
another, they get into it and they take off. So the same situation happens where
you have one (1) car that stops next to the post office, and a pedestrian is walking
across and the person in the median lane is already speeding too fast to stop.
Mr. Dahilig: Right.
Councilmember Chock: That is just something to think about
because I know we have had some issues at that crosswalk.
Mr. Dahilig: Yes.
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 16 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
Councilmember Chock: Okay. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Councilmember Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura: I just have one (1) follow-up comment. Your
decisions about where the place those medians is an example of really good
interaction between the planners and the community, because without the input
from the rotary, you could have gone ahead and made those medians at a
tremendous cost, and then the problem would have been realized. I commend you
for the kind of outreach that is being done. Mike, my question is about Kalena
Street's sidewalk by the park. Some of the merchants have expressed concern.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Councilmember Yukimura, if you have a lot
of questions, then maybe we should take a caption break so that you will not be
interrupted.
Councilmember Yukimura: Sure.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Okay. Let us take a caption break for
ten (10) minutes and we will come back in ten (10) minutes.
There being no objections, the meeting recessed at 10:26 a.m.
The meeting reconvened at 10:38 a.m., and proceeded as follows:
(Council Chair Rapozo is noted as present.)
Committee Chair Kagawa: Members, in order to help each other with
our questions and answers, and especially for the public, if there is a question on a
specific area, can we please refer to the correct map, and if we are talking about a
slide, what slide number? The slide number is not the page number on the bottom;
it is the small number on each slide. Councilmember Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura: As I was saying before we took a break, my
question is in regards to Kalena Street where we have had businesses concerned
about the impact of the TIGER project on their businesses. I am looking for the
slide...maybe you can help me?
Council Chair Rapozo: Look on page 8.
Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you. That is it. So you are showing
that there will be a sidewalk from the crosswalk along Kalena Street, so I guess the
main question is what is going to happen to parking in the area?
Mr. Dahilig: Absolutely nothing. Parking will remain
status quo in that area. The only additional things you will see are sidewalks to
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 17 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
facilitate...because we have had new construction in this area, we have
approximately one hundred fifty (150) to potentially at any time, one hundred fifty
(150) to two hundred (200) residents that could be coming into this area based off of
the amount of new units that were constructed as part of the Rice Camp housing
development. So what we want to ensure is that the senior residents have
connectivity to the commercial resources that are immediately adjacent to them and
be able to walk safely and freely. If you notice the businesses that are along the
more mauka side of Kalena Street, the only addition that you will see is item
number 4.7 on the big map or that crosswalk that goes across Kalena Street from
where I believe that is...
Councilmember Yukimura: Flowers Forever?
Mr. Dahilig: Yes, Flowers Forever and Kalena Fish
Market. That is the only adjustment you will see directly on Kalena Street, but you
will see the sidewalks that try to capture the senior housing pedestrian traffic and
provide them two (2) safe routes, both on Kalena, as well as those who want to go
south, down Ho`ala towards the mixed-use path that is already seeming to gather a
lot of traffic. I will say that there is consensus from the community, but there are
people that are concerned about this design. I do not want to give the impression
that it was one hundred percent (100%) in favor of this sidewalk pattern, but we
believe that given the characteristic of the housing and the age demographic of the
residents that are using this facility, both because you have senior housing, as well
as a little further down towards the cul-de-sac, is the affordable housing. That
tends to have a lot of middle school and elementary school students. So both those
ends of the age spectrums are the ages that we are concerned about with respect to
safe pedestrian walking.
Councilmember Yukimura: Right.
Mr. Dahilig: That is where the connectivity is designed to
try to accommodate.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Thank you. I think that is
reassuring. Also, related to parking, I think it is fabulous that in slide 34 you are
showing that the TIGER grant project is going to take us from eleven (11) full-time
parking along Rice Street to eighty-four (84) full-time parking. Often, these projects
decrease the parking, but in your case, you are really increasing the parking while
still increasing safety.
Mr. Dahilig: That is correct. Just as an additive to a
follow-up to that about these full-time spaces, we are proposing in the resolution
that these are time-sensitive spaces because want the spaces to turn over and be a
resource for the public so that they are not just congested with people parking there
24/7. We want the economic activity to occur along Rice Street, so that is where in
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 18 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
the resolution we are calling for a two (2) hour parking time limit for people to come
in, take care of their business, and leave, between 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Do you have a follow-up?
Council Chair Rapozo: Yes. Mike, about Kalena, you said that not
everybody was in support of those changes?
Mr. Dahilig: Yes.
Council Chair Rapozo: What was the concern?
Mr. Dahilig: There was some concern regarding the
sidewalk going from the senior housing project down towards the Lihu`e Court
homes.
Council Chair Rapozo: On Ho`ala you are talking about?
Mr. Dahilig: Yes.
Council Chair Rapozo: But on Kalena itself, there is no real problem
with that?
Mr. Dahilig: With Kalena, no. We heard concerns from
the public that we are going to take away spaces, but I just want to be very clear
that the current design that we have, based on community input, we are not taking
away any spaces.
Council Chair Rapozo: Okay. So the concern was the potential loss
of parking?
Mr. Dahilig: Yes.
Council Chair Rapozo: But that has been resolved?
Mr. Dahilig: Yes, that has been resolved.
Council Chair Rapozo: Okay. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Also there on Kalena—so on Kalena and
Ho`ala, it sort of shows the corner where the big bulb-out of the curb extension.
Mr. Dahilig: Yes.
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 19 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
Councilmember Kuali`i: Then Kalena and Malama has the same kind
of thing on both sides.
Mr. Dahilig: That is correct.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Then also at the major Rice Street
intersection, which is at the top of the particular map, on all of...at least the Kalena
Park corner and the corner across, a lot of...at least the diagram looks that
way...the curb extension pretty wide. Are there any plans in addition to the curb
and the concrete to put any kind of bollard or anything? In the city of West
Hollywood, they had these concrete balls to kind of give added protection to the
pedestrians so that when they are standing out on the curb, a car could not...the
only thing I would say along those lines, if there are considerations of that, in the
city of West Hollywood when they did put it in, a lot of people were actually hitting
it and they ended up taking it out.
Mr. Dahilig: You may want a visual barrier that in case
kids run into the street, there is a protection. On the flipside, you also have cars
that have the bollards protecting from cars and pedestrians waiting on the
sidewalk. I do not know what the design preference was in particular why there are
not any proposed, but I can get that answer for you and try to follow-up. You said it
was the city of West Hollywood?
Councilmember Kuali`i: Yes. They put them in and they ended up
taking them out.
Mr. Dahilig: We can do that.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Councilmember Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you. If we go to slide 33, your Rice
Street traffic analysis, where you talk about level of service or the amount of time
you have to wait at intersections, you have the existing level of service and then you
have the after the TIGER grant level of service.
Mr. Dahilig: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: It shows that overall the level of service will
be improved. How reliable are these predictions?
Mr. Dahilig: I am not a traffic engineer, but it is the same
type of traffic analysis that you would see in any standard Traffic Impact Analysis
Report, which we commonly see as part of our environmental disclosures and
development of any traffic improvements across the island. So the same
methodology would be proposed in this situation, and what the scenario was
proposed was a four (4) lane to three (3) lane configuration.
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 20 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
Councilmember Yukimura: I understand that it is a pretty conventional
way of doing the analysis. My question is how reliable is it, which means given that
it has been used over and over for at least two (2) decades...so when they have these
projects, they make these predictions, and then after the project they actually go
and see whether the predictions were accurate? How reliable are these?
Mr. Dahilig: It is methodology that has been accepted
widely amongst the engineering community. Is it an exact science? Every engineer
will tell you "no." In terms of what is accepted as a predictor of whether you make
the investment or do not and what affects you have, this is pretty much the
standard that we have that we rely on from the engineering community.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay.
Mr. Dahilig: The slide is mainly to illustrate that even
though the mantra may be that we are going from four (4) to three (3) lanes, you
will see overall that the level of service will either be relatively maintained or
adjusted up or down by ten (10) seconds, one way or the other.
Councilmember Yukimura: If the predictions are accurate or pretty
good?
Mr. Dahilig: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: I am not asking for total precision, but I am
asking if we are going to get what we are saying we are going to get. I presume
maybe Michael Moule or somebody will know more. Okay. What is the level of
service for pedestrians and bikeways? Actually, Vice Chair asked if this is level of
service for biking. What are the measures that we use to show that there is
improved biking or improved pedestrian safety?
Mr. Dahilig: Let me get you an answer on that.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay.
Mr. Dahilig: Predominantly, when we are looking at
traffic analysis, it is vehicular traffic. I am not aware of methodology that is used
for other modes of transportation; however, let me get you an answer and see if we
can if there are metrics that they do use.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay.
Committee Chair Kagawa: I have a follow-up on the Rice/Hardy/Kalena
portion. I assume right now that for the Rice/Hardy/Kalena intersection, one of the
major reasons for traffic congestion there is that it is difficult from Rice Street to
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 21 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
make the left-turn to Hardy, sometimes because there are large volumes of cars
coming up and it is difficult to find a gap with those two (2) lanes coming upwards.
I am kind of thinking to myself, how is that going to be improved from a "C" to a `B"
when now you only will have one (1) lane of traffic that you are looking for a gap,
but double the volume of cars? Because there are normally two (2) lanes coming up,
now they will all be forced to drive on one (1) lane. So I am thinking, are we
planning to have a left-turn signal to accomplish the left-turn, or are we just going
to keep it the same and expect the drivers to wait for a sufficient gap with one (1)
lane that has double the volume of cars on that one (1) lane?
Mr. Dahilig: We have put in the left-turn lanes so that it
does provide us the option to signalize the asset that is there right now, to provide
that green arrow. I am not aware if that specific decision has been made to already
put in the green arrow, but I think your comments give us cause to really carefully
look at that and pair the dedicated left-turn lanes with the green arrow. It sounds
like a no-brainer to me.
Committee Chair Kagawa: I am just thinking like a short green arrow
that would clear a certain amount of cars, whether it would be three (3) or
whatever, and then back to a two (2) way green, where you can wait for a gap; but
at least to clear that congestion for the cars making a left-turn from Rice. I was just
wondering.
Mr. Dahilig: The beauty is that we have the asset there
already, so we do not have to put in a new traffic signal. We can do that very
simply.
Committee Chair Kagawa: You do agree that there may be a lot of
problems in finding a gap now that you have two (2) lanes of traffic, now all merging
into one (1) lane?
Mr. Dahilig: That does give the opportunity for us to look
at how that relief lane for the left-turn is used, because if we are increasing the
flow, how much less gap is there, is what I am hearing. If the left-turn arrow is a
solution to that, that is something we can implement very quickly.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Thank you. Further questions?
Councilmember Yukimura: Yes. I just have follow-up on that. I think
that is what you suggested for right here, right? That really helped the flow of
traffic, so that is great that it would be applied down below. I have other questions,
but I can let others ask.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Councilmember Chock, do you have a
follow-up on that Rice/Hardy/Kalena? I will go right back to you after
Councilmember Yukimura is done.
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 22 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
Councilmember Yukimura: I am going to go on a new question, so I am
okay if Councilmember Chock goes first.
Councilmember Chock: On page 17, slide 34, we are increasing a
significant amount of parking, almost doubling it. Do we have any projections in
terms of the build-out of what we need to be reaching in terms of parking? I have
received some comments about can the grant cover a parking deck and where
should it be and future needs if we are trying to get everyone to this center?
Mr. Dahilig: This is probably for the most amount of
parking stalls and pairing that with the TIGER requirements is probably the sweet
spot we are able to hit. We cannot use the funds to actually build a parking
structure. So in looking at the needs of each individual driveway and in terms of
allowing those driveways to maintain service in and out of Rice Street, as well as
looking at areas where we can accommodate the width to have the additional
parking, this is what we are able to accommodate. I know that based off of some of
the discussions that we have had about Hardy Street is that there is some concern
about the width of the parking stalls or the length of the parking stalls. The
eighty-four (84) full-time parking stalls are based off of the American Association of
Safety Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) or "AASHTO"—they have
the standard parking stall's width and length and that is what is proposed now. We
have heard many comments that for the type of vehicles that are driven on Kauai,
whether we need to look at adjusting some of the parking stall widths to
accommodate for larger trucks and vehicles. I know that is something that Michael
Moule and Lee Steinmetz are looking at right now, in terms of can we move things
out a few more inches here or there or lengthen things a few more inches here and
there to try to provide that width. I think from the Hardy Street experience, that
was a comment that we go through that process that some cars are bleeding into the
bike lane or some cars are bleeding into the travel lane. So we wanted to ensure
that knowing the characteristic of our driving public that that may be something we
need to look at. Eighty-four (84) is based off what is the standard nationwide, but if
it makes sense to try to provide wider stalls, we are looking at that and we will
come back and let you know.
Councilmember Chock: So it may decrease?
Mr. Dahilig: It may decrease, but this is based off of what
is nationally accepted.
Councilmember Chock: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kagawa: I have a follow-up to his parking question.
There are some parking stalls in the area of the path, and across from that is the
condo complex, Lihu`e Court Townhomes or something.
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 23 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
Mr. Dahilig: Yes.
Committee Chair Kagawa: You talked about the parking being
time-sensitive, like in slide 43...anyway, you talked about being time-sensitive to
accommodate businesses to maximize people using the parking stalls. I am
wondering if it is going to be time-sensitive even in non-typical business hours, such
as 9-6 in the morning, where sometimes residents have guests or family that have
an additional car that may want to utilize this parking and if it is going to be
time-restricted for a couple of hours, I am thinking that we are going to have a
problem with trying to accommodate people that do not have assigned parking that
are using the facility.
Mr. Dahilig: If I could turn you to the Resolution on
page 5, Section 6 of the Resolution, what we are asking the Council to do, in terms
of time limitations, is there in Section 6. That is in it actual language of the
Resolution. The language says "along Rice Street between Haleko and Hardy
Street, parking is hereby restricted to two (2) hours, only from 6:00 A.M. to
6:00 P.M. daily, except on Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays." What we are
asking for is that it the areas north or mauka of Hardy Street, rather than makai of
Hardy Street be time-limited in anything that is makai of Hardy Street that does
not have the time limitation. So the area that you are specifically pointing to right
across the townhomes, that at this point would not be included as part of the time
limitations in the Resolution.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Thank you. Councilmember Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura: I just want to say that I so appreciate how
you have answers to the questions that we are asking, which means that you have
really thought this thing through. For the car lanes, we are going from four (4) to
three (3), but the width of the lanes is not changing, right?
Mr. Dahilig: I want to get you a clear answer. The widths
along Rice Street vary also. I do not want to give the impression that there is a
standard change up or down, so what we can do is get you where we are changing
the width of lanes for certain segments. There are changes, but it is varied by
where you are on the street, because the widths also vary along Rice Street. For
example, you are going down Rice Street in front of Rob's Good Times Grill—you
will notice that the right-hand lane is actually a little wider because you are
accommodating parking on that side. To have that be the comparatives standard,
versus what is the left-turn travel lane is a little different in each case. I do not
want to give misinformation of "yes" or "no," but we can segment by segment
provide that comparative analysis for you.
Councilmember Yukimura: The motive for asking the question is my
concern that for many parts of Rice Street, you are going to have bikers sharing it
with cars and now that there is one (1) lane going each way...I use this stretch a lot,
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 24 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
but if I see a biker going up Rice Street from Nawiliwili, so in front of Ace Ben
Franklin or something, and I am driving a car, I will go a little bit more into the
middle lane to just give some extra space. I was just wondering about that kind of
situation.
Mr. Suga: We just got a clarification that the through
lanes as proposed, as part of this traffic resolution, is that the width are ten (10)
feet through lanes, which is equivalent to what the current lane width is on Rice
Street now.
Councilmember Yukimura: In other words, the existing lanes are not
going to be reduced in widths, although they will be used for different purposes now.
Mr. Suga: The existing lane widths at intersections for
the through lanes and the left-turn lanes will stay consistent to ten (10) feet wide.
There are sections along Rice Street for the dual left-turn lanes, where the red
colorized is, that in some areas, because of the right-of-way width there, those dual
left-turn lanes may be nine (9) to nine and a half (9.5) feet, depending upon the
specific areas, just for that center lane. For the through lanes, the widths will be
consistent to what it is now.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i: So a couple of our Councilmembers have
pointed out slide 34 on the parking and I see that as a definite added value for our
business, in that the whole thing is a "Transportation Investment Generating
Economic Recovery." The other slide, slide 32, where you say Rice Street comments
from the public, you probably have a lot more than that; you just gave some
highlights with that.
Mr. Dahilig: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: I am curious to know what more you have
and has it come from a broad mix of people from the public, including any of our
business associations or groups?
Mr. Dahilig: Yes. What we have done is we have actually
taken the...you will notice in one of the slide images that you will see a map with
post-its and everything on it. We have taken notes at every meeting and taken
information at every meeting, but we have also scanned in those maps as-is so that
we are able to see where those post-its are. We can provide drop-box links for the
Councilmembers if they would like to take a look at the charrette products that
came out of there to see what the post-its and the on-paper comments were before
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 25 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
we actually proposed the documents. We can definitely make that body of work
available to you.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Along the lines of the benefits to the business
community, at the end of your presentation you talked about Marie Williams doing
an analysis and the possibilities of inciting economic development. Then the cost
savings to transportation and housing, you said nine million five hundred thousand
dollars ($9,500,000) based on 2015 dollars over the next twenty (20) years in
additional tax revenues, and then you said over that same twenty (20) year period,
twenty nine million dollars ($29,000,000) in transportation and housing cost
savings. Is that what you said? I do not really understand that second point.
"Reduced way of life costs" is what you said. I am curious as to why you did not just
make a slide out of this also because it is valuable. You just kind of tagged it on at
the end.
Mr. Dahilig: We can definitely provide that and lift the
actual pages from the TIGER grant application and circulate that over to the
Councilmembers. Best I can explain is that when the TIGER grant is looking for
cost-benefit analyses, they are looking for many metrics, but one they look at is the
effect on household housing and transportation costs. So they are looking at things
that are called "H and T." What "H and T' entails is how much are you paying for
rent, how much are you paying for lights, and how much are you paying for sewer,
water, et cetera? But they combine "H" with "T" because they realized that there is
also a mobility factor that daily creates a cost for that person. For instance, say you
have two (2) people that works for the Council here and they both work here, but
one live downs the street, versus one lives out in Kekaha. The "H and T" would be
higher for that person versus the "H and T" that is here. What is being anticipated
is that the "T" element, one will go down and that because more mixed-use housing
options are going to be provided as a consequence of the Lihu`e Town Core
Ordinance that was passed by the Council, there is also going to be a lot more
multi-family product in the core, whereas right now, you do not have a lot of
multi-family product. Those inputs go into that "H" plus "T" analysis, and if you
look at it over a twenty (20) year period, that is where they are coming up with that
number that we presented to the federal government that the way of life costs for a
community member as an aggregate will have a net "H and T" reduction over a
twenty (20) year period, close to twenty-nine million dollars ($29,000,000).
Councilmember Kuali`i: Going back to the first part, the economic
development with that, could affect the second part, as far as coming up with the
twenty-nine million dollars ($29,000,000). If Rice Street's flow is better, more
people are walking, there is more parking right in front of people's stores or
storefront parking, if you will, that maybe even on a vacant lot there with the
housing and everything happening, there could be a grocery store of some sort, and
then that means that a lot of these people, instead of driving to the grocery store
would just walk because it is basically next door from where they live.
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 26 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
Mr. Dahilig: That is exactly right.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Then that is all of the savings.
Mr. Dahilig: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Okay. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Mike, I have just a broad overall question—if
you can repeat again, how long ago did we change or reconfigure Rice Street to four
(4) lanes? What was the reason why we reconfigured it?
Mr. Dahilig: My understanding is that it was done back in
2000.
Committee Chair Kagawa: So sixteen (16) years ago?
Mr. Dahilig: Yes.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Then it was done to...
Mr. Dahilig: The predominant traffic along Rice Street at
the time was because you had two (2) lane arteries, both at Rice at Ahukini, as well
as Nawiliwili, and you have traffic that is trying to get from the port centers, as well
as Kapule Highway, up to Kaumuali`i and Kuhio. So when you look at Rice Street,
it was a connective artery to try to get between those two (2) state arteries. So I
believe a lot of the traffic that was being created at the time was a lot of that
connectivity element where you see now where Rice Street is being used to try to get
up to the upper roads. What you have seen since then is significant improvements
down at Nawiliwili, as well as at Ahukini, where now because you have more
arteries that are able to accommodate the traffic between Kuhio and Kaumuali`i
and Kapule and the port centers that they have options to go around there. That is
where the design for Rice Street may have been done at an age where they were
trying to accommodate that through traffic, but now that we have three (3) arteries,
not just one (1) predominant artery, we can now create that better circulation and
move the higher volume trucks and industrial traffic away from Rice Street and
onto Nawiliwili or onto Ahukini.
Committee Chair Kagawa: So right now, if you do not go and turn right
after Kukui Grove Shopping Center and come straight up, you have either two (2)
choices: you can either take Kaumuali`i Highway or you can take Rice Street, like
say you are a truck driver trying to get to Lihu`e Industrial Phase 2.
Mr. Dahilig: Right.
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 27 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
Committee Chair Kagawa: Are we trying to say now that we hope that
when we narrow these streets and slow down traffic, we want to encourage those
drivers to instead use Nawiliwili?
Mr. Dahilig: I would say that we are providing more
options. Water is going to flow downhill and going to find the path of least
resistance, no matter what. When you look at water flowing downhill, if a truck
driver believes that it is more advantageous for him to get down to Nawiliwili
Harbor using Nawiliwili versus Rice Street, they will start going down that road.
What is illustrative of that is when you look at some of the discussions we had with
Pua`ole and people trying to use Pua`ole as a cut through. Cars and traffic are going
to find the path of least resistance. So what is being meant on Rice Street is a little
bit more, I guess, resistance in the effect that we are trying to create safety because
of the businesses that are nearby. It does not impede them and we are not asking
for a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) or axle limitation on Rice Street. I want
to be clear that, that is not what we are asking for by law.
Committee Chair Kagawa: I guess my question is saying that you
cannot predict what the impact will be on the traffic flow. Right now, it flows. You
do not like weaving or speeding, but right now, it flows. If there is significant
congestion created once we turn to the three (3) lanes instead of four (4) lanes, what
you are saying is people have an option and that will hopefully alleviate the
problems, and to use Nawiliwili more or what have you. Again, it is like a question
mark, because what will happen later if you have more flow going down Nawiliwili?
Nawiliwili can really slow down as you pass Anchor Cove and all of that. I live here
and I have never had to use Nawiliwili because it takes me an additional ten (10)
minutes and wastes another gallon of gas if I go all the way around that way
instead of coming right up Rice Street to get to my destination. How many cars do
we estimate daily that travel on Rice Street and intend to patronize businesses on
Rice Street? How much percent of the cars are using Rice Street as a connector to
get to another destination, such as to get to the stadium, Kapa`a, or Phase 2? What
is that percentage right now?
Mr. Dahilig: From a trip-generation standpoint, I do not
have those numbers and I do not know how we would get those numbers. I can ask.
But I think it is a relevant question in terms if we make this change, does that
create another plug somewhere else, right? I think that is what you are asking.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Basically.
Mr. Dahilig: At least what we can say from the best
engineering that we have available to us, is notwithstanding what the changes are
from a safety standpoint, the flow along Rice Street should not change. The flow
should not change. From a trip-generation choice standpoint, from point "A" to
point "B," people are starting to choose different routes, I would have to ask the
engineers how we would be able to split the traffic flow in terms of who is and who
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 28 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
is not. As an aggregate, we know that based off of the current engineering, we
expect very minimal change to the traffic flow with this design.
Committee Chair Kagawa: My last broad question is what is the
projection for how many bikes we can expect per day that will use the bike paths
that we will be creating once we do it? In Honolulu, they have done a lot of them.
They have done them in Waialae and on King Street and the constant thing that I
hear from residents there is that there is a very minimal amount of bikes that use
it, and they have, with tourists included, one million four hundred thousand
(1,400,000) people. I think we have seventy thousand (70,000) with tourists. What
is the projection as to all of these bike improvements, how many people can we
expect will be using it per day?
Mr. Dahilig: Okay. I think that dovetails on the question
that Councilmember Yukimura asked, in terms of how do we count these things?
As I mentioned earlier, I am not sure. I think it gives us pause to ask are there
methods and ways that we can create a dashboard and monitor this. Off the top of
my head, I cannot give you an answer.
Committee Chair Kagawa: How many people use it now, even though
there is no bike path and what have you?
Mr. Dahilig: I know at least one (1) and that is me.
Councilmember Yukimura: About fifteen (15) a day.
Mr. Dahilig: Okay. If there is a way that we can provide
you more information, then we can do that.
Committee Chair Kagawa: I am just curious if we have projections.
When we spend millions of dollars, I hope we have projections and numbers that
support why we are taking away traffic flow and accommodating other methods of
travel. I felt like we have projections for success, so the public that disagrees with
adding bike lanes and reducing road lanes will say, "Well, the Administration had
this projection and now we did the changes, they are meeting it. Success." When
we just have these, "Oh, we do not know how much. We are going to do them, but
we think there are fifteen (15). Councilmember Yukimura thinks there are fifteen
(15). We hope we can achieve thirty (30)." What is the projection? What are the
outcomes for the public? We are spending millions of dollars. We are not spending
one hundred fifty-eight thousand dollars ($158,000). We are spending fifteen
million eight hundred thousand dollars ($15,800,000), so I think the public deserves
some projections and success rates. That is what successful corporations do; they
have projections, outcomes, and milestones. I think that we should have some
goals.
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 29 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
Mr. Dahilig: I certainly agree. Accountability, I think, is
what you are after and I think it is fair for us to be accountable, that when we are
spending the money as such that we are being able to be judged by the public
clearly on what we made the investment on. If that is a particular metric that you
are interested in, let me see if there is a way that we can provide that metric. Off
the top of my head, I would have to go back and try to find that.
Committee Chair Kagawa: You have people from Kaua`i Path and others
here and maybe they can help provide what kind of goals we want. Do we want one
thousand (1,000) people using it in ten (10) years? What is it? Councilmember
Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura: As a follow-up, I think the questions that the
Vice Chair has been asking are very legitimate and I want to urge the Planning
Department to look at a Lihu`e Traffic Circulation Study, which would give us a lot
of this data and would complement our Lihu`e Community Development Plan.
Mr. Dahilig: Okay.
Councilmember Yukimura: My question, as a follow-up to
Councilmember Kuali`i's, on this housing plus transportation cost-savings per
household—I appreciate the explanation and the analyses, so if I could just further
elaborate to make sure that I understand. There is this County worker who lives in
Waimea and commutes to Lihu`e every day, and three (3) years ago, his gas bill was
three hundred fifty dollars ($350) a month. So if he were to move into Lihu`e, he
would not have that gas bill, so he would be saving about four thousand dollars
($4,000) a year. Is that the kind of cost savings you say could be generated by
having this mixed-use housing right on Rice Street?
Mr. Dahilig: That is a potential. Like anything, trying to
track one (1) individual versus looking at everything as an aggregate is what is
always difficult. There is always going to be an outlier here and there, but knowing
what we have as the zoning and the availability for up-construction for multi-family
units and the ability to create more housing units closer to the workforce center,
while at the same time, increasing the economic activity of the workforce center to
create more jobs. That is what is essentially imputed into this cost-benefit analysis.
So to break it down to a "one (1) person story," you could look at it that way, but the
analysis is done on a more twenty thousand (20,000) feet view level.
Councilmember Yukimura: Sure. Every day, we have a lot of people
driving in from outlying areas to work here, and to the extent that a percentage of
them could live and work here, that is the kind of savings you would see to the
household?
Mr. Dahilig: That is correct.
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 30 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
Councilmember Yukimura: Not to mention the cost-savings for road
improvements that would be increasingly generated if people kept living outside
and you kept having to drive in.
Mr. Dahilig: Right. Like anything, these are all lifestyle
choices. To say that somebody would want to give up a rural way of life for
something that is a little more suburban in nature is a choice that they have to
make. We think that given the scale of what the housing is available for
construction on Rice Street in comparison to what is available around the island, it
is a drop in the bucket compared to what the housing needs are overall. It can be
analyzed in that small scope and we are hopeful that because the amount of units
that are available are a small fraction of what the demand is out there, there is a
segment of the community that would take advantage of these increased on housing
and work/live/play opportunities. We are definitely not banking on this being four
thousand (4,000), six thousand (6,000), or eight thousand (8,000) units. We are
looking at something in the order of low to mid-hundreds and that is what the
analysis is here.
Councilmember Yukimura: But in fact, you are creating the choice of
living in town. I agree with you that people will make...they do not only make
lifestyle choices, but they make household/economic choices, too.
Mr. Dahilig: Right.
Councilmember Yukimura: We would be creating some choices for living
in town.
Mr. Dahilig: That is correct.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Lastly, I just want to say that your
design philosophy is really excellent on page 21. Thank you for that. For the safety
questions on page 25, your data, and I think that was Keith's presentation; from
2007 to 2011, there were forty (40) injuries within the project area. These, I
presume, were due to traffic accidents.
Mr. Suga: Correct, vehicle-related.
Councilmember Yukimura: So there were actually ten (10) fatal crashes
on Rice Street from 1978 to 2014?
Mr. Suga: Correct.
Councilmember Yukimura: That is kind of interesting.
Council Chair Rapozo: If I could just ask a clarification question,
that includes the pedestrian, not...or just vehicle versus vehicle?
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 31 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
Mr. Suga: I can confirm, but I believe it is vehicle and
pedestrian incidents.
Council Chair Rapozo: Yes, I think it includes pedestrians also. I
kind of remember a few of those.
Mr. Suga: Yes.
Council Chair Rapozo: Okay. Thank you.
Councilmember Yukimura: But it still was traffic, so it must have
involved a vehicle if a pedestrian...
Mr. Suga: Correct, related to...yes...
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Since safety is one of the goals of this
project, we are pretty much projecting that accidents will be fewer with the changes
that we are making.
Mr. Suga: Correct.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Further questions? Seeing none. I just had
one final question. Actually, I am okay. Thank you, Mike and Keith. You folks did
a great job of being prepared and answering our questions. Mahalo. We are going
to open it up for public testimony.
CODIE K. YAMAUCHI, Council Services Assistant I: Committee Chair,
you have registered speakers. The first speaker is Glenn Mickens, followed by
Tommy Noyes, representing Kaua`i Path.
Committee Chair Kagawa: You have three (3) minutes first and if you
need an additional three (3) minutes, you may have another three (3) minutes after
everyone is completed on their first round.
GLENN MICKENS: For the record, Glenn Mickens. First, I want
to thank Mike and his staff for their PowerPoint presentation. It was very good,
even though I have many questions about it. One of the biggest problems we have
that locals and tourists alike agree on is traffic. Resolution No. 2016-57 does
absolutely nothing to alleviate or solve this problem. In fact, this Resolution is
counterproductive and only exacerbates the problem. It turns Rice Street that was
once two (2) lanes and wisely made into four (4) lanes, back to two (2) lanes; lanes
that are made less wide for vehicle travel by adding bike lanes that few bikers use
or will ever use and that other striped lane in the middle. Then the plans, if I
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 32 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
understand them correctly, call for using this arrow turning lane in the middle of
Rice Street, just as Kuhio Highway is marked through Kapa`a, basically making
traffic worse and not solving any problem. In a recent poll taken by The Garden
Island, it asked whether the public wanted the proposed changes made to Rice
Street, and the overwhelming response was, "No, leave it the way it is." Also, in a
recent letter to the forum by Sandy Coombs, she very wisely states, "From housing
to roads to marks and gun control, our national, state, and county governments are
manipulating the way we live. For example, they want to you walk, ride your bike,
or take the bus, and design the roads to frustrate you into doing that." Is this not
exactly what our engineers at the orders of those hiring them are trying to do with
this total Rice Street project under the guise of the TIGER grant? Chair Rapozo has
so wisely and passionately made the case that we should not be spending our time,
efforts, and money, going after low-priority grants like this, when we should be
going after moneys for alternate roads, road repairs, low-income housing, and
projects that the people need and want as opposed to the projects that our
government is trying to force on us? I am highly opposed to this Resolution and
hope that all members of this Council will vote against it. Think of what is best for
the majority of the driving public, and not for those few who live in an unrealistic
world. Not one mention in this presentation mentions what will be done about the
added traffic problem that will be created by taking away two (2) driving lanes, plus
narrowing them for bike lanes, the unmentionable cause-and-effect results. Since
Kuhio Highway already has the arrow lane to Kapa`a, why was it not the success or
failure of doing it on Rice Street being used, instead of only the accident rate on Rice
Street. My time is up. I hope that the public is not just being shoved this problem
and being pushed at them and saying, "Here, take it." You went through the whole
thing with the community that was here today. See what the people want, not what
they want to give us. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Glenn, you will have three (3) more minutes
if you need some later. Next speaker, please.
TOMMY NOYES: Good morning, Committee Chair Kagawa
and Councilmembers. My name is Tommy Noyes and I am representing Kauai
Path as their Executive Director. Kaua`i Path's Board of Directors strongly urges
this Committee and the Kaua`i County Council to approve the above-referenced
resolution, clearing the way to proceed with the thirteen million eight hundred
thousand dollar ($13,800,000) Federal Transportation Investment Generating
Economic Recovery award. The Federal Highway Administration selected Kauai
for this highly competitive award because the County invested in a comprehensive
community engagement process, and then developed innovative roadway designs
that will safely move cars through the project corridor. The LIhu`e Town Core
Mobility and Revitalization project meets the United States Department of
Transportation's goals, as laid out on their "About TIGER" webpage as follows: "In
each round of TIGER, the Department of Transportation receives hundreds of
applications to build and repair critical pieces of our freight and passenger
transportation networks. The TIGER program enables the Department of
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 33 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
Transportation to examine these projects on their merits to help ensure that
taxpayers are getting the highest value for every dollar invested through TIGER
discretionary grants. Applicants must detail the benefits their project would deliver
for five (5) long-term outcomes: safety, economic competitiveness, state of good
repair, quality of life, and environmental sustainability. The Department of
Transportation also evaluates projects on innovation, partnerships, project
readiness, benefit cost analysis, and cost share." Kaua`i Path's goal is to improve
health outcomes for Kaua`i residents. We are honored to be a committed partner
with the County of Kaua`i in implementing smart changes to the built environment
that will result in economic prosperity, injury prevention, and better public health
and wellness. We urge the Council to approve this Resolution without delay and to
do everything in its power to expedite and support the TIGER-funded Lihu`e Town
Core Mobility and Revitalization project. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Thank you, Tommy. Next speaker.
Ms. Yamauchi: Your next registered speaker is Elliott
Yamamoto, followed by Nancy Kanna.
ELLIOTT YAMAMOTO: My name is Elliott Yamamoto and today I
intend to give testimony in favor of the changes included in Resolution No. 2016-57.
I work at a restaurant called Po's Kitchen and live next door at the Lihu`e
townhouse on the eastern end of Rice Street. My family has occupied a unit at the
Lihu`e townhouse and has operated Po's Kitchen at its current location for over
fifteen (15) years now. As a resident and businessperson, I would like to point out
some of the current problems with everyday use of the existing street and some of
the potential opportunities for increased growth and success for business owners
and for the community at-large and touting what some of the benefits of the
proposal for modifications would be. In particular, support of Sections 1 and 2, the
modification of the number of Rice Street traffic lanes to three (3), in the middle of
which will be dedicated to two (2) way left turns. This was essentially what was
pointed out quite emphatically with the Planning Department's presentation was
that the left-turn and trying to deter speeding and trying to deter weaving that is
currently a big problem I see, especially on the eastern end of Rice Street when
people trying to get to Kapule Highway. People just take that open space and start
taking off. We all know exactly what that is like already, so I will not read my part
of that. The only part I will add is that, that intersection between the shopping
plaza that Po's Kitchen is in is right across from the entrance to Kalapaki Villas,
and I see a lot of families and a lot of strollers that walk right around Kalapaki
Villas. So those cars weaving to the right towards Kalapaki Villas can be quite
scary sometimes to see it next to those strollers. That is the major concern I have
and the major benefit that I see with the three (3) lane modification. Aside from
that, I want it to state that I support any kind of modifications to Rice Street that
establishes new infrastructure or updates existing infrastructure, in particular,
from Sections 4, 5, and 9, respectively establishing new crosswalks, establishing
bicycle lanes, and establishing bus stops. As I said, Po's Kitchen has been there for
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 34 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
fifteen (15) years and we have been very fortunate to have this community support
that has sent me and my brother to college and given me a comfortable life. We
have been fortunate enough to come into possession of the undeveloped parcel that
is located at 4181 Rice Street, the one between Dani's and Kalapaki and it is quite a
unique site that there is no other site on Rice Street that has that kind of
orientation, that kind of siting, and that kind of potential for future benefit. I am
going to wind down. I have some other comments, but I will wait for the second
round. I am not going to go into too much...okay...I will just wait for the second
round.
Committee Chair Kagawa: You will have three (3) more minutes, Elliott.
Good job.
Mr. Yamamoto: After everyone is done, right?
Committee Chair Kagawa: Yes. Good job.
Ms. Yamauchi: Your next speaker is Nancy Kanna, followed
by Ken Taylor.
NANCY KANNA: Good morning...I think it is still morning,
barely. Good morning, Committee Chair Kagawa, Vice Committee Chair
Kaneshiro, and Members of the Public Works / Parks & Recreation Committee. My
name is Nancy Kanna. I am speaking as a private citizen in strong favor of this
Resolution for the changes to Rice Street. First and foremost, safety. Cars
jockeying lanes to avoid left-hand turns—I personally, as I am going down that
street, am kind of scared. Am I going to rear-end a car? Is somebody going to cut
me off? I know you are experiencing the same thing. Safer crosswalks are kind of a
no-brainer. With reducing the lanes to just three (3) lanes and having a middle
crosswalk, that line of vision, especially when you have somebody going across the
crosswalk, your line of vision is cutoff. I am constantly looking at crosswalks to see
if somebody is coming across the street, and even though I am being really careful,
sometimes I still miss it. These simple changes are going to create so much safety
for our citizens to be able to once again walk on Rice Street. Additional parallel
parking, but primarily it is just safety altogether. These are just simple, basic,
scientifically-proven design changes that make huge impacts to the community and
I hope that will you consider that. I will feel safer and I know a lot of our
community members will feel safer. Because of these changes, because we are
actually slowing down traffic, it is going to bring some economic stimulus to the
area. When you have better, more walkable access to local businesses, it is going to
create catalystic changes that are going to really improve the area. People are
going to want to go out and be on Rice Street again. They are going to want to go to
Kauai Beer Company and hang out and have a beer; possibly go to a bakery or to
different restaurants. There is going to be so much economic stimulus as a result of
this. It is going to really ultimately bring Rice Street back to the thriving business
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 35 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
area that it once was. I do hope that you will consider this and move this
Resolution forward. Thank you very much for the opportunity to testify.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Thank you.
Ms. Yamauchi: Your last registered speaker is Ken Taylor.
KEN TAYLOR: Chair and Members of the Council, Ken
Taylor. On page 2 of today's PowerPoint, "What is the TIGER" and it says,
"Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery." Later in it the
process, Mike indicated that there was a cost-benefit analysis done. Do you have
copies of that? I have never seen one, and without seeing that, you should not be
approving this process. On page 11, it says "design philosophy and safety," which is
very important and this whole document today has been talking about the safety
issues, but economic development—what does it take for economic development? It
takes discretionary money in the pocket. Without doing an investigation as to how
much discretionary money is sitting around, waiting to be spent and these new
businesses that may never come, we do not know how successful this will be. We
see that the shopping center at Kukui Grove has many square feet of empty space.
The new shopping center where Safeway is has hundreds of square feet of empty
space. We have more empty space in Kapa`a. We have a potential down the road of
a new shopping center down here at the intersection going into the airport. What
in the world makes anybody think that economic development is going to take place
on Rice Street? It is a "feel-good" thing. All of these issues should have been
discussed back in 2010. I believe it was 2010 when the core plan was approved, but
they did not take place. When you do not have discretionary money in the pocket,
then you have to increase the density to bring that money forward. Unfortunately,
in the core plan, they looked at about three thousand (3,000) or four thousand
(4,000)...I forget what the numbers were, but three thousand (3,000) to four
thousand (4,000) additional people in the core plan area—not enough to make
economic development a reality. These are the kinds of things that get us in
trouble. We are talking about spending two million dollars ($2,000,000) of
taxpayers' money here on the island, but thirteen million dollars ($13,000,000) to
fourteen million dollars ($14,000,000) coming from the feds are still taxpayers'
money. I will be back.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Thank you, Ken. Further speakers? Seeing
none, anybody for their first time? Joe wants to go first, followed by Kaua`i Beer
Company.
JOE ROSA: For the record, Joe Rosa. This is the Lihu`e
Town Core Development. If I was a businessman on Kuhio Highway here, I would
be filing a discrimination suit with somebody because I am part of the Lihu`e core.
Why only on Rice Street? What about Kuhio? I know one is a State highway and
one is the County. Why it is not included under Kuhio? They pay the same amount
of taxes as those on Rice Street. Then I hear about these so-called things about the
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 36 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
bike people coming in here. You cannot be forcing bike lanes on people of Kaua`i
and spending taxpayers' money when there is hardly that much traffic of cyclists
around this island. I once made a check before for the County and they had so
many bike licenses issued, but the majority was for their children, not for adult
riders. Again, how can you prove it? There is a lot of hearsay and hogwash going
around here, just so certain people are forcing things upon the other taxpayers on
this island. There are a lot of things that I have noticed all my life living here and I
started putting the so-called what we call "stabilized shoulders," which eventually
came to the bike lanes along the State highways, and people have used that safe
lane all along, even when the plantations were hauling cane, using the highways.
Nobody got killed from it, and these folks come here with excuses that it is
hazardous, and yet I hardly heard of any cyclists getting killed riding on those bike
lanes. Come on. This thing here has to be shared equally. If I was a businessman
on Kahle Highway, I would be fighting like hell over here and asking why I am
excluded. I should be included. I am part of the Lihu`e Town Core. The Lihu`e
Town Core goes to the Kapaia hill entrance down there and down Nawiliwili here.
Why am I excluded? I should be included with the TIGER funding myself. I am
part of the business, because you try to get out of McDonalds or Pizza Hut. They
are suffering the same thing here like on Rice Street. That is why people do not go
to drink coffee at McDonalds in the morning. You get in, but you have a hard time
getting out and you become late to work. All of those things are coming out. I have
a lot more to say about not being treated equally with these TIGER funds. This
Council has to think about that money being dispersed equally along Rice Street
and on Kuhio.
Committee Chair Kagawa: You will have three (3) more minutes
afterwards.
Mr. Rosa: Yes. I hate to see people being forced into
doing things that are actually not needed. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Thank you, Joe. You will have three (3)
more after everybody is done. Next speaker.
LARRY FEINSTEIN: Good morning. My name is Larry Feinstein.
I am with the Kaua`i Beer Company. I will make this short. I do not know if you
would say we are "walking the walker" or a new business, but we have been on Rice
Street for three (3) years. To a degree, we have proven a point that Rice Street is an
incredibly viable commercial area. We get a huge number of people. We have
affected the lives of people in the community, who now make the Kaua`i Beer
Company part of their routine. We have affected change. We are a business on Rice
Street, so our voice is not any louder than anybody else's, but we certainly have a
tremendous vested interest in the future of the street. We are completely in favor of
this Resolution being passed. Whether we like it or not, the future comes and I
think it is incumbent upon all of us to embrace the future and allow for growth into
the change that we create. Anyway, I appreciate your time. I sat quietly and
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 37 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
figured that I might as well come up and voice our positive support for the
Resolution. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Thank you, Larry. Anybody else wishing to
speak for the first time? We will try to go in order as best as we can with speakers
on the second round, but if we mess up a little bit, that is okay.
PAT GRIFFIN: Aloha of Committee Chair Kagawa, Council
Chair Rapozo, and Councilmembers. My name is Pat Griffin and I am the
President of the Lihu`e Business Association (LBA). I had planned to come today to
listen, not to speak, but I want to answer a question that Councilmember Kuali`i
asked about businesses. When this TIGER grant began, when it was in process of
being written, the LBA was approached about it and we were proud to review it.
Five (5) of our twelve (12) board members go to work on Rice Street and a sixth is
on Haleko Road, right behind the Isenberg monument in the two-story building
there. So we are pretty acquainted with the area and we were proud to write a
letter of support for it. Several of us were involved in the Lihu`e Town Core Urban
Design Plan on the community advisory program and four (4) of our board members
sat on the Community Advisory Committee for the Lihu'e District Community Plan.
TIGER really expands and continues on that effort. The LBA's five (5) roles,
as-listed in our bylaws, are to advance regional business interest, provide a
platform for networking, to assist in evolving community development, provide an
active role in master planning, and provide a voice to local, state, and federal
government. Here I am. I, on two (2) occasions, have participated...Bev Brody and
I call ourselves the Lihu'e streetwalkers. We literally went from business to
business, to business right down Rice Street, up Kress Street, down Halenani where
Kong Radio is, and down to Ace Ben Franklin, handing out information about this
plan and invitations to come to the various public meetings, and people did. You
saw in the first picture in the PowerPoint where essentially the table of contents for
the talk was, a picture of that twenty (20) feet long roll of the Rice Street area and
many, many businesses came to talk about possible alterations and positive...you
all, as the Council, walked up the steps to my platform of heroes when you accepted
the TIGER grant and you joined the Administration, the Planning Department, and
the Department of Public Works administration who actually made this happen,
and now that you have passed it, I hope you will follow-up and get this Resolution
done quickly so we can move forward. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Thank you. Anybody else their first time?
Second round?
Mr. Mickens: For the record, Glenn Mickens. Committee
Chair Kagawa asked the sixty-four thousand dollar ($64,000) question about the
bike lanes they keep putting in here. What study was ever done to see how many
bikers are going to be using it to justify the amount of money being spent? I did not
hear an answer. I did not hear the engineers or anybody say that a study had ever
been done. Should a study not be done? What about that arrow turn lane in the
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 38 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
middle? It is there in Kapa`a. Take a look at it and find out what success or what
failure it is before we jump into doing this. We "ready, fire, aim" continually. For
Lihu`e to be a "ghost town" or whatever you want to call it, did it take fifteen million
dollars ($15,000,000) to revitalize it? Is that what it took to go ahead and bring
people here? I do not think so. The people want to live in suburban areas. If they
want to move out, they are going to build their shopping centers up there.
Downtown Los Angeles was the same way. The people moved everybody, but they
did not stay there in that particular area. Is that money being spent like Ken said,
two million dollars ($2,000,000) of our tax money. Is that going to really revitalize
it and do what they want? I do not think so. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Thank you. Next speaker.
Mr. Yamamoto: Thank you for having me back. Elliott
Yamamoto. I just ended off saying that we have undeveloped parcel and we are
going to develop it. Our aspiration right now, and we are very much in the early
phases so I cannot give out too many details, but our aspiration is to deliver a
mixed-use complex that will provide multiple ground floor units for small, local
businesses, much like the model of our own Po's Kitchen. That kind of business
ownership is, I think, very important to Kaua`i and Lihu`e because it is a model of
growth, not a kind of corporate model of Pizza Hut or McDonalds that come in to
take market away from local owners or businesses. We see construction projects
like Kaniko`o Senior Housing and others near the area that it is essential that the
community gets provided grocers, eateries, and offices. Those are all the things that
came up in your questions, Councilmembers. It I think I am doing good on time. I
would also like to reiterate that this kind of development, these kinds of changes in
infrastructure, are for growth and that is a very important thing. I think that is the
thing that we are missing on Kaua`i, especially in Lihu`e. Historically, we could say
that Lihu`e started off through a pattern of concentration, and in some ways, I think
we need to go back to that. Some of the responses I have to some of the things in
the Planning presentation—the two (2) hour parking limit from 6:00 A.M. to
2:00 P.M.—I thought an interesting thing is that what people do in practice is if
somebody wants to park there at 4:00 p.m., they will stay there. So effectively, if
they want stay all night, they can actually start parking there at 4:00 p.m. I think
that is something to think about if you are trying to get people to not be there
permanently before 4:00 p.m. The bicycle lanes, as Councilmember Yukimura said
about the stuff in K5loa, we are trying to start new practices, new habits, healthier
habits. So as much as it is important to have a survey that will project, because it is
a very expensive project, it is an opportunity to start new community organizations.
I was living in Los Angeles for a while for college and biking and motorists are
really antagonistic, but it brings out important community support. There are a lot
of bicycle coalitions and a lot of bicycle people in Los Angeles and they fight for their
rights on the street. That is a chance for community organization, community
strength, and community support. That is something to think about in terms of the
actual part of Rice Street where the travel lanes and the bike lanes share road
space. I think that could become a problem and become a bottleneck of sorts. It
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 39 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
asks for formalizing passing etiquette. In Los Angeles, there is a three (3) feet rule
that is in law, stuff like that. That is all I have.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Thank you. Anybody else want to speak for
a second time? Joe, followed by Ken and anybody else.
Mr. Rosa: For the record, Joe Rosa. As I was saying, go
around and ask the businesses in Lihu`e like McDonalds, Pizza Hut, and 7-11.
Some people say that the drawback about their business is that it is hard to get out
once you get in. In the morning, like at McDonalds, you go there at times and it is
nearly empty during the work week. Why? Because once you get in, you have the
hardest time to come out. Those are the kind of things where we need to get the
traffic out of the town. So that is why I keep emphasizing that we need alternate
routes, and that is including to keep all those big trucks that have no business. Yet,
they talk about the Kalepa dump. They are going to bring all of those big trucks
through the town and get down to Kapaia hill or `Ehiku Street...we do not need
those big trucks in the town. That is the same thing on Rice Street. I followed a car
once from Nawiliwili, coming out of Kapule. Where do they turn off? Down Haleko
Street, then they go down to Kukui Grove. I followed that person just to see his
route to get out of Lihu`e. He goes in the shopping center there, goes around to the
back street, Pikake, and God knows the rest because I did not follow him the rest of
the way, but he probably went up by Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School. Those
are the kind of things that they are using it for as an escape route. We need to get
the traffic out of Lihu`e Town. If you look at the traffic ordinance, it says that all of
those big trucks that do hauling or delivery should be done in the early morning
hours, not during the peak hour time there like they do all day, which causes all
this kind of traffic. Another thing is the bus stops that they are installing in front
Wilcox Memorial Hospital and Kuhio Medical Clinic. The bus stops right on the
highway. Now, the cars in the highway that want to go west have to come around
the buses. According to the ordinance again, if the lights are flashing, you are
supposed to stop behind the bus. What kind of planning is that? That all causes
delays that contributes to the traffic flow. You spend big money on the bus stops. I
saw it coming out of Wilcox Memorial Hospital. The buses stop over there. The
traffic coming out of Wilcox Memorial Hospital, now going towards Kapaia, had to
stop and the light changed, so that created a problem again. That is poor planning.
What kind of consultants are you are paying for big bucks when all of these kinds of
things are not improving? Instead of going forward, it is going backwards.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Your time is up, Joe.
Mr. Rosa: Thank you. Those are the kinds of things to
look into. That is going to cause a problem on Kuhio Highway with the bus.
Committee Chair Kagawa: We hear you.
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 40 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
Mr. Taylor: Chair and Members of the Council, Ken
Taylor. In the paper this past week, there has been an online poll and the question
was, "Do you agree with the Lihu`e Town Core Revitalization project?" Thirty-two
percent (32%) answered, "Yes, it will improve traffic flow and business."
Forty-seven point one percent (47.1%) voted, "No, keep the roadway in downtown
Lihu`e the way they are." Seven point six percent (7.6%) did not care one way or
another. The real surprise to me, anyway, was "What is that?" Thirteen point
percent (13.4%) of the people responding to this poll had no idea what they are
talking about when they say, "Do you agree with the Lihu`e Town Core plan?"
Thirteen point four percent (13.4%) do not know, so we are not doing a real good job
of getting the community to understand what we are spending money on. Anyway,
I would like to go back to the economic development and long-term maintenance.
Again, I have not seen any estimated costs on what all of this is going to cost on a
monthly, biannual basis. We already have a tight budget and we are talking about
adding another two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000), three hundred thousand
dollars ($300,000), or four hundred thousand dollars ($400,000) a year to that
budget. Where is the money going to come from? Are we going raise taxes? Are we
going to eliminate something else that we are currently doing? With tight budgets,
those are the only options there are. I just want to say that it is so important to do
the cost-benefit analysis because synergy is what makes businesses work, and this
is why shopping centers have major stores and then lots of little ones, because the
synergy of people coming there, the little ones feed off of the bigger ones and so on.
So that is what it takes. I raise some of these concerns only because I have lived
through this process in other communities where it has gone on four (4) and five (5)
times, and they failed and failed, and failed because they did not get the plan done
properly where you have the population, and the discretionary money in the pocket
to make it work. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Thank you, Ken. Any further speakers?
Seeing none, the meeting is called back to order.
There being no further testimony, the meeting was called back to order, and
proceeded as follows:
Committee Chair Kagawa: Before we make our motion, I am going to
give Councilmembers a chance to do a brief discussion. Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i: I just wanted to thank Keith and Mike for a
really thorough presentation. I really appreciated all of the pictures, maps, and
being very clear about what is included. I did not have any real concerns prior, but
it helps to have validation of what I see as a true investment in economic recovery
for Rice Street. As the Chair of the Economic Development & Intergovernmental
Relations Committee, from the very beginning, this has always been important to
me and I am hoping that we can move quickly and maximize the millions of dollars
that is coming from the federal government. Thank you.
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 41 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
Committee Chair Kagawa: Councilmember Kaneshiro.
Councilmember Kaneshiro: I will hold my comments on the actual plan
for when it comes up again since this item is going to be deferred. I just want to say
that I really appreciate how everything has been put together, like the package, the
presentation, answers to the questions, and the community input. I think it really
helps when you have...you saw how much effort the Administration has put in to
get community input on it. You have seen how many meetings they had and you
have also seen changes in the plan, based on community input. I am very happy
about that and I am looking forward to seeing this thing move forward. Again, as
far as people saying that we have not had a chance to speak on it or we do not know
what is going on, I think the Planning Department has done a very good job of
giving every opportunity for someone to weigh-in on it, and when they actually come
up with a problem, they have adjusted the plan. I look forward to having this come
up again later.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Further discussion? Councilmember
Yukimura. I want to thank Mike and Keith, and the Administration in general, for
an excellent presentation and also for excellent work in putting the grant proposal
together and bringing it this far and incorporating the community input. I think
today was a big part of letting the community know the details of the project, which
have been evolving. I hope that on October 5th, which is next week Wednesday
where there will be a formal public hearing, that people will turn out to support
something that is pivotal to the future of Lihu`e and to the future of the island, I
believe. On Kauai, we have shopping centers with empty spaces and we have a
Kapa'a Town that is bustling. This shows that the time of mega-shopping centers,
sprawling residential subdivisions, and cheap oil is coming to an end. The TIGER
project is setting the conditions for a bustling, mixed-use town core that is fitting for
the capital of Lihu`e. It will attract millennials like Elliott Yamamoto, which many
communities are trying to attract because they are finding that they are a key piece
to economic growth and prosperity. As for discretionary money, Mr. Taylor,
discretionary money to boost the economy will come from transportation savings
that households will have when they live in Lihu`e. This project has many wins and
it is exciting to see it come forth and I look forward to continuing to support and
work with the Administration as it moves forward.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Further discussion? Council Chair Rapozo.
Council Chair Rapozo: I am going to reserve the majority of my
comments until after the public hearing. Obviously, I am critical and skeptical, but
yet, I like what I heard today. I enjoyed the presentation and I am looking forward
to the public hearing. That is what matters the most to me, how does the
community of Lihu`e feel about it? Is it going to be a benefit? Is it going to help? I
look forward to October 5th. I think people will see today's meeting and hopefully
we will hear from the public within the next couple of weeks. Thank you.
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 42 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
Committee Chair Kagawa: Councilmember Chock.
Councilmember Chock: Everyone shared the same sentiments that I
have, so I just wanted to thank Mike and Keith, and I look forward to next week.
Good presentation. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Thank you to everybody who showed up,
Mike and Keith, and everybody who worked on the TIGER grant from the
community. There is no bad intention. I think criticism of any project does not
mean that people are bad or against it; it is just sometimes is it the right thing at
the right time? When I came into office four (4) years ago, one of my top priorities
was trying to make government more efficient as we become more broke. We were
spending our reserves to supplement our Operating Budget. Our CIP had dwindled
to almost nothing. We had very little in our savings, whereas a couple years prior
to me coming into office, we had fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) plus in our
savings. For me, it was about trying to be more financially responsible as we spend
the moneys that we have and trying to use those moneys to best accomplish what
the public needed. I will talk about a little history. Rice Street, in the past, was a
bustling town. We had Kaua`i stores, Woolworths, and we had the round building
functioning with eating places and engineering places. It was the hub. If you went
further down on Kress Street, you had Kress Store. The Rice Shopping Center was
bustling. Now, we have a more spread out Lihu`e business community. We have
huge developments taking place by Grove Farm like the Kukui Grove Shopping
Center. We also have the business center now with Safeway down there. It is more
spread out. How much success can we have here and in the other areas as well?
We just had Sports Authority, one of my favorite stores, leave. That space is open
and vacant. It is a huge space. I think some of those businesses down in that new
development are struggling, as I hear. Economic recovery or revitalization is not an
easy thing. It is free enterprise. Everybody has trouble surviving in these tough
days. A lot goes to taxes, unemployment insurances, and what have you. It is very
difficult to survive. For me, I just want to make sure that as we ask these tough
questions that at least we have some goals in mind as we go forward that we can
tell the community, "Our planned outcome has come," and in years later, hopefully
we can reflect as to the successes that we have. I know that sixteen (16) years ago
when we did the changes to Rice Street, it was probably to accommodate better
traffic flow with vehicles. I think that was accomplished. We have had numerous
projects in my time here, just in my brief four (4) years here. We revitalized `Eiwa
Street and improved the County facilities. We said we wanted more parking, but
with more parking, we added a lot of planters and beautification. I do not see
adding more parking by taking away parking with planters. So I do not know what
the real intent was. Actually, I think we wanted more beautification. Then we had
the improvements to Hardy Street. A lot of those improvements that were done,I
am not saying it is a bad thing; what I am saying is that when your government is
broke, is it necessary to change things that are functioning? Should we be diverting
moneys that we have to infrastructure needs that are there now or have been there
for twenty (20) years plus. We keep talking about a one hundred million dollar
PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 43 SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
($100,000,000) road resurfacing backlog. I did not hear anything about the one
hundred million dollar ($100,000,000) backlog four (4) years ago, but now they are
talking about. If there is a backlog, then should we address the backlog? Having
said that, this is a two million dollar ($2,000,000) match to a thirteen million eight
hundred thousand dollar ($13,800,000) federal grant, so it is going to be very hard
for me to go against this project. I see myself supporting it and moving it forward,
and hopefully we can achieve a lot of the goals that we talk about and hopefully we
do revitalize business, as Po's Kitchen talks about. I think more walking traffic will
increase their business. Having said that, my time is up. Can we have a motion?
Councilmember Kaneshiro moved to defer Resolution No. 2016-57, seconded
by Councilmember Kuali`i.
Committee Chair Kagawa: This will go to the October 12th Committee
Meeting.
Council Chair Rapozo: We have the public hearing on October 5th.
Committee Chair Kagawa: Yes, we have a public hearing on October 5th
and it is going to be deferred to the October 12th Committee Meeting.
Councilmember Yukimura: Just for clarification, the public hearing is at
1:30 p.m., right?
Committee Chair Kagawa: Yes, so a 1:30 p.m. public hearing. Thank
you, Councilmember Yukimura.
The motion to defer Resolution No. 2016-57 was then put, and carried by a
vote of 5*:0:0 (*Pursuant to Rule No. Rule No. 5(b) of the Rules of the Council
of the County of Kauai, Councilmember Hooser was noted as silent
(not present), but shall be recorded as an affirmative vote for the motion).
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 12:10 p.m.
Respectfully sub ii fitted,/
Codi��^It'
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Council Services Assistant I
APPRO at he Committee Meeting held on October 12, 2016:
Orr
R•SSKA AWA
Chair, PWPR Committee