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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/04/2016 Public hearing transcript on RES#2016-39 PUBLIC HEARING MAY 4, 2016 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kaua`i was called to order by JoAnn A. Yukimura, Chair, Housing & Transportation Committee, on Wednesday, May 4, 2016, at 1:30 p.m., at the Council Chambers, 4396 Rice Street, Suite 201, Historic County Building, Lihu`e, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Mason K. Chock Honorable Gary L. Hooser (present at 1:34 p.m.) Honorable Ross Kagawa Honorable Arryl Kaneshiro Honorable KipuKai Kuali`i Honorable JoAnn A. Yukimura Honorable Mel Rapozo The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: "Resolution No. 2016-39 — RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING CROSSWALKS, STRIPED PEDESTRIAN WALKWAYS, AND INTERSECTION MODIFICATIONS ON WAIKOMO ROAD, KOLOA DISTRICT, COUNTY OF KAUAI," which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kaua`i on April 20, 2016, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on April 27, 2016. The following communications were received for the record: 1. Blake, Randall, May 3, 2016 2. Bolf, Annette, May 3, 2016 3. Hazelton, Dana, April 25, 2016 4. Keloa Community Association, May 3, 2016 5. Lindsey, Debbie, May 4, 2016 6. Maeda-Kobayashi, Leila, May 4, 2016 7. Monas, Steve, April 24, 2016 8. Terrazas, Taylor, April 27, 2016 9. Thompson, Roy, Po`ipu Beach Resort Association, May 3, 2016 10.Uyehara, Linda, May 2, 2016 The hearing proceeded as follows: PUBLIC HEARING 2 MAY 4, 2016 RESOLUTION NO. 2016-39 JADE K. FOUNTAIN-TANIGAWA, County Clerk: Committee Chair Yukimura, we have received ten (10) pieces of written testimony in total, seven (7) in support, and we do have one (1) registered speaker. Committee Chair Yukimura: Can we have the first registered speaker, please? Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: The registered speaker is Ted Blake. Committee Chair Yukimura: Mr. Blake. THEODORE BLAKE: Good morning. My name is Ted Blake. I am from Koloa and I wanted to offer some history on this initiative. Safe Routes to School started in 2007 with the Get Fit Kaua`i Task Force, and I have been on this task force since then. We have also brought this up when we were doing the circulation plan with Jim Charlier. It was also brought up again with the Long-Range Transportation Plan, and was finally put into the South Shore Development Plan, which was codified last July in 2015. A couple of things that I want to bring up is I have testimony from the past three (3) principals and the present principal, and the Po`ipu Beach Resort Association all backing this up. You have copies coming to you. I went down Waikomo Road and got fifty-four (54) signatures from people on the road. That is...oh, that was a fast three (3) minutes. Committee Chair Yukimura: It is your buzzer, not ours. Council Chair Rapozo: It was not three (3) minutes. Mr. Blake: Somebody was playing with my phone. There were four (4) people that were not in favor of this Resolution. By not in favor, I mean, one (1) was undecided, one (1) completely no, and the other two (2) would go for it if we had...what they did not like about the one-way was that they felt it would increase the speed. People would just fly through there. So if we could get some traffic calming devices. I spent the better part of the afternoon with the Fire Department yesterday. They have traffic calming devices that they approve of. It is going to the Department of Public Works right now to make sure they can get it on County roads. The other thing I wanted to mention is our forefathers anticipated the kind of congestion that we are going to have in Koloa. That is why we are the only town on the island with two (2) bypass roads. In Koloa near komohana, and you also have Ala Kalanikaumaka. In Koloa hikina, you have Ala Kinoiki. Two (2) bypass roads to Po`ipu and to Koloa. There is also Opaekapaka at Koloa Estates. (Councilmember Hooser was noted as present.) PUBLIC HEARING 3 MAY 4, 2016 RESOLUTION NO. 2016-39 Mr. Blake: It has a cutout to go to be a connector between Po`ipiz Road and Ala Kalanikaumaka. When people tell me it is inconvenient, I say, "Well, number one, that is a really weak one with me because I am going with safety before your convenience." But we do have bypass roads. Kapa'a would love to have them and Lihu`e would love to have them. We have two (2), so we have to start making use of them. The last thing I have to say is there are three (3) developments coming up in Koloa; two (2) are right on Waikomo Road, Creekside that is seventy (70) units, and you have the historical Koloa Village. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Three (3) minutes. Mr. Blake: I do not know what the new name is going to be. Committee Chair Yukimura: Excuse me, Mr. Blake. Mr. Blake: I am sorry. Committee Chair Yukimura: I am sorry to stop you, but three (3) minutes is up now. Mr. Blake: Okay. Committee Chair Yukimura: You can come back for your next three (3) minutes. Mr. Blake: Okay, no problem. Committee Chair Yukimura: We would like to hear what you have left to say. Mr. Blake: Thank you. Committee Chair Yukimura: Thank you. Is there another speaker who signed up? Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Yes. We just received another speaker, Norma Doctor Sparks. Committee Chair Yukimura: Ms. Sparks. PUBLIC HEARING 4 MAY 4, 2016 RESOLUTION NO. 2016-39 NORMA DOCTOR SPARKS: Norma Doctor Sparks. First of all, I was born and raised in Koloa along with Theodore Blake. I do want to say, first of all, that I support the walk to school program. I recognize that we all need to walk more and that if in fact children are getting into the habit of walking, that as adults and throughout their lives, they will become healthier; however, I do have concerns about this present plan because it does not protect children as they walk to or from school. I really believe that these children are going to be exposed to more danger. Striping the roads is not supposed to allow children and cars to come in contact with each other; however, in one (1) part of the section of Waikomo Road, in fact, cars will be allowed to go into the section where children are supposed to be walking. Then, there would be even greater opportunity for a very bad event to happen to both children and cars. This plan would also raise the County's liability should anyone get hurt. The only significant protection for children as they walk to and from school on Waikomo Road is to put in sidewalks, and although sidewalks would cost significantly more, what is the cost of a child's life and how can we measure a child's life in terms of how much sidewalks could cost? The plan also does not allow the County standards to be applied here. There are standards about widths of roads, and here in fact, the plan would narrow the roads. I believe that there needs to be additional information about what the impact would be on this. I believe that when we first moved to Koloa, my parents bought our property in 1949. It is an acre property and behind us, were all pastures and no one was living there. Today, hundreds of houses are now there behind our house, behind the bank. So those people who live there would have to go either all the way down to Kukui`ula to go to Poipu and then come up the access road to get to their houses, or wait in line and go through downtown Koloa. Who has ever passed Sueoka Store and not experienced all of the congestion? I do think the data should be captured at different times and also, I do think that the County should think about doing a pilot project. I would like to share that with you at my next period of time. Thank you. Committee Chair Yukimura: Thank you very much. Is there any other registered speakers? Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: There are no further registered speakers. Committee Chair Yukimura: Is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak on this issue? Mr. Abrams. LOUIE ABRAMS: Good morning, Councilmembers. Committee Chair Yukimura: I think is it afternoon. Mr. Abrams: My name is Louis Abrams. I am speaking on my personal behalf. I was very much involved with this Waikomo Road project, PUBLIC HEARING 5 MAY 4, 2016 RESOLUTION NO. 2016-39 shall we say, which started when we originally wanted a street with sidewalks. We felt that it should be a two-way, but the practical reality that was pointed out to us was the fact that we have some streams, and timewise, permitting would take quite a while in order to do that. It does not mean that we are not interested in doing that in the long run in our Capital Improvement Project (CIP) programs, but we were faced with the school requesting that we have a safe way for the kids to go to school. At that time, there were a lot of kids that were going to school. What we did was meet with the Department of Public Works. I think I must have walked it with the engineers, Lyle and Larry at one point, at least two (2) times, maybe three (3), to come up with some way to accommodate it because there was concern in regards to the lack of children walking to school, which was part of the Safe Routes to School. We looked at it and we agonized with it. First, we wanted it one-way and then we tried to look maybe splitting that up. The approach that has been done now, has been well thought out. We did not have anything in regards to the circulation plan for that road. That was not really one of the major connectors. It was sort of left there to handle that, but that was back probably in 2007 or 2008. With our South Shore plan, which calls for the community to be a walkable community, we thought that this would be the best possibility or shall we say, our County Department of Public Works who are what we would defer to as being the experts and understanding the roadway situation and the pros and the cons of those things, felt that this was going to be the quickest and least expensive way to accommodate the kids and encourage them to go ahead and walk to school. It is not perfect. I hope we are going to improve on it. If we do improve on it, we are going to have to take out some right-of-way in order to accomplish the standards that would be called for under today's zoning code or roadway ordinances. It is just that is what would be called for. Government does not really want to do that. It is a historic town. We were just having to deal with that. Almost every single road in Koloa is not to County standard. So that is what we had felt was the best way. The discussion that Ted can go up with, which was basically the... Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Three (3) minutes. Mr. Abrams: He can talk more about how much we did that. Committee Chair Yukimura: Thank you. Mr. Abrams: Thank you. Committee Chair Yukimura: Anyone else who wishes to speak for the first time? Ms. Jeri DePietro. JERI DEPIETRO: Thank you, Council. Aloha. My name is Jeri DePietro. I live in Koloa. I am the President of the Koloa Community Association PUBLIC HEARING 6 MAY 4, 2016 RESOLUTION NO. 2016-39 (KCA), but today I am speaking on behalf of myself as a private citizen. The Board of KCA did submit E-mail testimony, but I am here to speak as myself today. I am personally in favor of creating this safe route to school by creating the striping for the biking and the walking lane. I think that we have to put safety first for the kids. We are trying to encourage a more walkable community. I do personally kind of struggle with striping. Is that enough? I would really like to actually see cones or something. This has been maybe six (6) years since we did the initial safe route walk and the Board makeup has changed over the years. So we were not able to come to a majority consensus, but I personally think that we have to put the safety of the children first. The Waikomo subdivision is certainly a nice short distance, a walkable distance, for students. To have a safe place, would be a really nice corridor or a good passage for them to get from home to school, and they could walk in groups. When we talked about the quick fixes over the years and the Charlier plan, it would be really nice in the South Shore Community Plan as well, to see these all blended better, but in the meantime, I think this is long overdue. I would like to also maybe insert the thought that as things progress, if there becomes another lateral crossway at the cane haul road in the future, that maybe this is something that could be changed back to two (2) directions if it does cause anything that we do not see at this point. I am in favor of this safe route. Thank you very much. Committee Chair Yukimura: Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to speak for the first time? Is that a hand up, Ken Taylor? Okay. If there is no one else who wishes to speak for the first time, is there anyone who would like to speak for the second time? Mr. Blake. Mr. Blake: I will continue where I left off. There are three (3) developments going on in K5loa; two (2) on Waikomo Road, historic Koloa Village and Creekside. It is a total of one hundred thirty-six (136) from the past plans. There is also the Koloa Camp going in on Grove Farm Company, Inc.'s property. Mostly everyone is going to walk through Waikomo Road. It has been like that since I started school in 1955, and you do not see kids walking down the main road, Po`ipu Road, unless they live on Po`ipu Road. Everybody takes the back road because there is less traffic and you can make more humbug on the road. The funding comes from the Safe Routes to School fund. People who get caught speeding, if it is outside of the fifteen miles per hour (15 MPH) zone, it is ten dollars ($10) and twenty-five dollars ($25) inside the zone. That money goes into the Safe Routes to School fund. We get a percentage of it. Our percentage for the last two (2) years has been one hundred dollars ($100) or maybe one thousand dollars ($1,000), which far exceeds what this budget will cost. Somebody wanted counts and I have them. Cars dropped off on Monday were nine (9); walking, thirty-five (35); and bikes, four (4). When I say "dropped off," they PUBLIC HEARING 7 MAY 4, 2016 RESOLUTION NO. 2016-39 come to Waikomo Road, they park their car, they take the kids and walk to the end of Po`ipii Road, and then across to the school. Wednesday was six (6) cars, twenty-seven (27) walking, and eleven (11) bikes. Today was raining. There was twelve (12) cars, eleven (11) walking, and two (2) bikes. I see this every day and I am not making this up because I pick flowers. I have four (4) trees right there. It takes me an hour and a half to three (3) hours to pick flowers, and I get out there at the crack of dawn. You also have kids walking from 6:30 a.m. on, that go to Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School and Kauai High School. They catch the early bus. So they are on the road. It is probably maybe twelve (12). I am not certain, but there is more than a handful. That is it. Thank you. Are there any questions? Committee Chair Yukimura: Yes, I have a question. There is this petition we have that is entitled Safe Routes to Koloa School. Is this from you and your group? Mr. Blake: Yes. I had to testify for the State and I saw that is how that is wrote their support log. So that is the easiest one to do. "testifier position" should have been "support or no support." The ones that all said "teacher, teacher, teacher," they all agreed, and this was in support of the Safe Routes to School. There are Waikomo residents. I did not get all of them because a couple of them were not home the two (2) times that I went. I had to clean the yard this weekend too, so I could not spend the whole weekend on it. Then, there are also some businesses in K6loa. Committee Chair Yukimura: So you are saying that the column that says "testifier position" means that they are in favor of it? Mr. Blake: Yes. We asked them, I explained that when we addressed the faculty meeting. Then, I noticed that they had put all teacher things, so we clarified it that this was in support, and they all agreed to it. There were four (4) of us that heard that; Lee Steinmetz, Lyle Tabata, Michael Moule, and myself. Committee Chair Yukimura: Okay. The place where is says "present at hearing," and you have this whole column of"no," that means present in hearing? Mr. Blake: This hearing. Committee Chair Yukimura: Okay. Of the support column, we are to assume that everybody supports it, except one (1)? Mr. Blake: There are four (4) of them. Committee Chair Yukimura: One (1) no, one (1) undecided? PUBLIC HEARING 8 MAY 4, 2016 RESOLUTION NO. 2016-39 Mr. Blake: Three (3) no's and one (1) undecided. Committee Chair Yukimura: Okay. Mr. Blake: Two (2) of the no's, when we tracked that, when the Fire Department and the Department of Public Works decide on what type of traffic calming they can install on the road. Committee Chair Yukimura: Okay, that is kind of hard to tell. But I think... Mr. Blake: Well, we will be pushing for it. Committee Chair Yukimura: Okay. I do not doubt that you are pushing for it. It is just hard to know where people stand. But thank you for the explanation. Councilmember Kagawa: I have a question. Committee Chair Yukimura: Yes. Councilmember Kagawa: I have a clarifying question on the totals that you have. There were thirty-nine (39) on Monday that were walking and four (4) biking. Is that what you said? Mr. Blake: Yes. Councilmember Kagawa: Is the count just in the morning? Mr. Blake: The afternoon had more people walking. Councilmember Kagawa: Is the thirty-nine (39) adding the morning and afterschool or is it just one (1) way? Mr. Blake: No, it is just morning. I just counted the morning. Councilmember Kagawa: Just the morning count, okay. Mr. Blake: That is everything. Councilmember Kagawa: That is all I wanted to know. PUBLIC HEARING 9 MAY 4, 2016 RESOLUTION NO. 2016-39 Mr. Blake: But in the afternoon, it seems like there are more kids walking home. There is way more noise in the afternoon with kids just chattering. Councilmember Kagawa: Maybe they are just happy to go home. Mr. Blake: Could be. Councilmember Kagawa: I am just kidding. Thank you. Mr. Blake: We have good students. Committee Chair Yukimura: Thank you very much. Mr. Blake: Thank you. Committee Chair Yukimura: Is there anyone else who would like to speak for the second time? Ms. Sparks: Norma Doctor Sparks again. I just wanted to reiterate again, that this is not a question of whether or not I support the walk to school program. The real issue for me is whether the proposed changes actually protects children and whether the new traffic patterns in Koloa would have unintended consequences. I believe that there should be additional data. There is data right now that is being collected by the Department of Education (DOE), Kaua`i District Office, in which students were asked to complete a survey about how they went to school and when they returned, and what mode of transportation as well. I think that should be something that should be public and should be analyzed to really determine the numbers of children that actually would use that. Nowhere in that survey, however, asks whether or not the parents or the child agrees or disagrees about whether or not the traffic pattern should be changed, particularly the one-way. I really just want further information. I would like to have a more detailed analysis of what might be occurring in the rest of Koloa, not just in that specific area of Waikomo Road and Po`ipu Road, but throughout Koloa as well. If, in fact, after analyses that the County decides that it does have a plan that it would like to implement, I would like to propose that a pilot be made first. It can be such as in the mornings, the traffic could go one (1) way and in the afternoon, it would go in another way to test the one-way changes or also just coning off the areas first to see how that really works when children are going to be walking there and cars would be going in and out of that one (1) section. I do think that walking to school is an important thing. I walked to school and actually, I did walk in that area most of the time because as I said, our property was in the Waikomo area. I do want to make sure that for the rest of Koloa, that we do have traffic patterns that will not be an inconvenience. I do not believe that is what the standard is. The PUBLIC HEARING 10 MAY 4, 2016 RESOLUTION NO. 2016-39 standard would be whether the congestion would actually possibly create more of a liability for the County and more harm to people in KOloa. Thank you very much. Committee Chair Yukimura: Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to testify for the second or first time? If not, this public hearing is closed and this matter will be up in Committee next week. Thank you. There being no further testimony, the public hearing adjourned at 1:54 p.m. Respectfully submitted, CR411\1L---JAD OUNTAIN-TANIGAWA County Clerk :aa