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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/27/2018 Public hearing minutes on RES 2018-23 PUBLIC HEARING JUNE 27, 2018 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kaua`i was called to order by Mel Rapozo, Chair, Committee of the Whole, on Wednesday, June 27, 2018, 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 Ross Kagawa Honorable Arryl Kaneshiro Honorable Derek S.K. Kawakami Honorable JoAnn A. Yukimura Honorable Mel Rapozo Excused: Honorable Arthur Brun The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: "Resolution No. 2018-23 — RESOLUTION PROPOSING A CHARTER AMENDMENT RELATING TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING," which was ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kaua`i on May 30, 2018, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on June 7, 2018. The following communications were received for the record: 1. Arruda, Larry Joseph, dated June 27, 2018 2. Bator, Bonnie, dated June 26, 2018 3. Brier, Laurel, dated June 27, 2018 4. Burrell, Pamela, dated June 26, 2018 5. Catania, Raymond, dated June 27, 2018 6. Clune, Constance, dated June 25, 2018 7. Coan, Susan, dated June 26, 2018 8. Cox, Rauel, dated June 26, 2018 9. de Vries, Diane, dated June 26, 2018 10. Grinpas, Robert, dated June 25, 2018 11. Harder, Joan, dated June 27, 2018 12. Hoeppner, Judie, dated June 26, 2018 13. Imaikalani, Inette and Iokepa, dated June 27, 2018 14. McHenry, Robert and Marion, dated June 27, 2018 15. Miller, Lucy, dated June 25, 2018 16. Miranda, Michael, dated June 26, 2018 17. Muller, Janet, dated June 27, 2018 18. Kashiwaeda, Suzanne, dated June 27, 2018 19. Rexrode, Gary, dated June 25, 2018 PUBLIC HEARING 2 JUNE 27, 2018 RESOLUTION NO. 2018-23 20. Scamahorn, Elizabeth, dated June 26, 2018 21. Strom, Susan 22. Ward, David and Elli, dated June 26, 2018 23. Vasallo, Malia, dated June 26, 2018 24. White, Judith, dated June 25, 2018 The hearing proceeded as follows: SCOTT K. SATO, Deputy County Clerk: We received twenty-three (23) written testimony: eighteen (18) in support and five (5) offering comments, and we currently have ten (10) registered speakers. The first registered speaker is Norma Doctor Sparks, followed by Ray Catania. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. For those of you who have not been here before, if there are any of you, the green light will indicate that you have three (3) minutes to testify and start your time, the orange light indicates that you have thirty (30) seconds left, and the red light indicates that your time is up. You can speak for a second time after everyone else has spoken for their first time. With that, you can start off by introducing yourself for our captioner. NORMA DOCTOR SPARKS: Norma Doctor Sparks. Thank you for allowing us this opportunity. I do believe and support that we need to have more affordable units on Kaua`i. We have, in our family trust, six (6) units, and every time one is vacant, we get at least thirty (30) calls and many of them are young families with children who are looking for a place to stay in. I know that also since we live in paradise and we are so generous with our time that visitors who come here also want to live here as well. Sometimes, they do buy homes and they may or may not live in those homes, which then keeps those houses vacant for part of the time at least, and not available for housing here. We also have issues with developers, which has been a major way to try to get affordable housing funding and that has been taking a long time to get subdivisions built. But also when they are finally built, the cost of the affordable housing supposedly is way high than what people here on Kaua`i can afford. So while I do support the idea of this very unique and creative way to fund ways that we can then increase affordable housing, I do have some comments about it. First, I am concerned that it will be in the Charter, that it is three percent (3%) and I worry about any potential time within the next twenty (20) years when we might have a recession, and that the operating cost for this County, about forty-five percent (45%) of those operating costs, I believe, come from real property taxes. In fact, if we do have some kind of a recession and we have lowered amounts, then I worry that the three percent (3%) may not be easily removed or reduced. So the idea about how to figure it out so that we might, in fact, have an escape clause is something that I would like you to consider. The other thing that I would like you to consider as well that is not part of this, but also in terms of affordable housing and the terms of receiving services from the County, is that you know that affordable housing can be converted to market value for families that live there, and of course, it takes the approval from the County Council, but I think that we need to lengthen it, as I already testified previously, so that housing is maintained there. If we do that then the language in this proposal states preservation. I would like "maintenance" to also be included in there because if these are truly families that need support to maintain PUBLIC HEARING 3 JUNE 27, 2018 RESOLUTION NO. 2018-23 their homes so that it is livable in nice condition is also going to need some dollars from the County. So thank you very much for this opportunity. Again, I support affordable housing. I think this is very creative. Thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: Next speaker. Mr. Sato: The next speaker is Ray Catania, followed by Mark Ombrello. RAYMOND CATANIA: Hi Councilmembers. Raymond Catania. I live in Puhi, 4215 Koli Place, and the reason that is important is because I was fortunate in one of twenty (20) families in 1994 to receive a home for self-help housing in the Puhi area. What happened was that my family was able to settle down into a home, or else, we would not have been able to afford one and a lot of that had to do with Councilmember Yukimura's administration and the administrations after that when she was the mayor. I think it is really important that we set aside some funding for housing for working people, especially the younger ones. I support this Resolution and I hope to see it on the November 6th Election. I want to thank everyone for giving me this chance, in particular, Councilmember Yukimura. Mahalo. Mr. Sato: The next speaker is Mark Ombrello, followed by Marj Dente. MARK OMBRELLO: Good afternoon everyone. My name is Mark Ombrello. I am a professor at Kaua`i Community College (KCC). I am a newcomer here, been here for about one (1) year. I really love it and would like to spend the rest of my life doing what I am doing, which is teaching our young people. While we have a whole range of students that go to our school, one of the real challenges that I face as a parent, as an employee, and as a member of this community is paying my bills and the biggest bill I have to pay is my rent. It is so bad that it is really been a strain personally and there is a big question mark as to whether a guy like me can really make it living here. I also hear from my students, who are young and of course they want to say here, but they look at their future and they see that they may end up living in their mom's house for the rest of their life. So I am totally, totally behind this Resolution and I would be more than willing to be in a dialogue and try to find other ways that can make it more affordable for people to raise a family and contribute to this community. Thank you very much. Mr. Sato: The next speaker is Marj Dente, followed by Taylor Kaluahine Reid. MARJ DENTE: Aloha. I am Marj Dente and I live on the borderline of the Olohena-Waipouli ahupua'a and I am proud to reside there since 1989 and own the property and have been paying the real estate taxes ever since. I am happy to pay these real estate taxes because I think all of them go to a very good purpose, to help me have comfortable living situations here on this island. I completely support this Resolution that Councilmember Yukimura has introduced and I assume hopefully will get approved by all of you, because it is more than important and probably anything else that is an issue right now in our County. I am PUBLIC HEARING 4 JUNE 27, 2018 RESOLUTION NO. 2018-23 happy that my real estate taxes, three percent (3%) or whatever is determined, will go towards that effort. As another issue, I have always been here advocating for a change in the zoning ordinance to allow guest houses to have a cooking facility. This will allow low-income people to be able to live here and be able to prepare their own meals, rather than to have to spend a considerable amount more money to buy their meals out on the economy and bring them home to eat, because they are not allowed to have a cooking facility in a guesthouse. This will increase the amount of affordable housing to the people most in need. So as a separate unit, because it is not part of this Resolution, I would hope that this Council will put together some kind of issue effort to make that happen in the near future and I probably think it goes before the Planning Commission before it comes to you folks, but I am putting the word out. Thank you very much for this opportunity. Mr. Sato: The next speaker is Taylor Kaluahine Reid, followed by Dennis Esaki. TAYLOR KALUAHINE REID: Aloha County Council. Thank you for your time and all of your hard work. My name is Taylor Kaluahine Reid and I support Resolution No. 2018-23. I believe that this charter amendment is a bold step in the right direction towards addressing our affordable housing needs now and in the future; however, I believe that it is essential that the Council develop a plan of action for the use of these housing development funds before or when the amendment is discussed again at the committee meeting in July. A plan of action strategy is crucial for the people of Kaua`i to understand that this fund represents secured money towards building affordable housing and support programs. There is so much talk and campaigning about paving the way for the next generation or it takes a village to raise a child. None of that is going to matter if I or my future children, my community, cannot afford to live here. Councilmembers, if you do not support this Resolution, I want to know why. Future generations will judge you not by what you say, but what you do. Please vote in support of Resolution No. 2018-23. Mahalo. Mr. Sato: The next speaker is Dennis Esaki, followed by Alice Parker. DENNIS ESAKI: Good afternoon. I am Dennis Esaki, speaking on behalf of myself. I am all for housing, but I am against this proposed Resolution. I will tell you why, discuss the problem, and propose solutions. Recently, we have had two (2) large subdivisions bought out by private owners and un-subdivided. After approval, just for a few houses for themselves, it took away about, according to publications, one hundred sixty (160) housing units. It also took away public access easements and other things that went along with it. The County has also lost millions of dollars in property tax. According to housing experts Paul Brubaker and Ricky Cassidy, there should be consequences for such un-subdivision. Open space—there is a percentage of real property taxes goes to the Open Space Fund. Perhaps, assign instead that amount to housing instead of earmarking new amounts. The red tape for regular housing is causing the housing shortage. Unless it is an affordable housing project or another County-sponsored project, which are fast-tracked, regular housing subdivision must wait in line and cost a lot of time and money with many conditions and exactions. For example, the housing ordinance that is meant for PUBLIC HEARING 5 JUNE 27, 2018 RESOLUTION NO. 2018-23 low-income housing is actually having a negative impact since the subdividers stop at ten (10) units or they will go backwards by doing the eleventh one. On that particular ordinance, I understand that it may not even pass rationale nexus legally. In the past, the Hawai`i Housing Finance and Development Corporation (HFDC) had fast-tracked process (inaudible) which helped to build thousands of market homes throughout the State and helped subsidize the lower income housing. By the way, the terminology of "low-income" and "affordable housing" are misnomers. As Abraham Lincoln said, "You can call a dog's tail a leg, but it is still a tail." Also, the State had billions of dollars in assets with HFDC and they had large amounts of revolving funds for housing, with the emphasis on"revolving," which was taken away afterwards. What is available today is only a fraction of what they had before. At one time, this County was against more housing and we are feeling the effects today. Council Chair Rapozo: Dennis, I am sorry, but I am going to have to stop you there. You can come back for your second three (3) minutes once everyone has spoken for the first time. Mr. Esaki: Thank you. Mr. Sato: The next speaker is Alice Parker, followed by Ken Taylor. ALICE PARKER: Greetings. Alice Parker, for the record. Yes, I am for earmarking a certain percent for affordable housing. As the professor spoke, we have to keep our teachers here. When I worked for Elderly Affairs, I had clients up on the north shore, the husband had graduated from an O`ahu high school, but he did not even know how to sign his name. His wife had to teach him. We cannot say we are educating our population if that is the case. We need good teachers and they need to be able to live here. So please, do pass this three percent (3%) of the real estate tax, it sounds reasonable, or definitely a special amount. If prices go up in the future, at least we have got this. If prices go down, we can accommodate. Thank you. Mr. Sato: The next speaker is Ken Taylor, followed by Bridget Hammerquist. KEN TAYLOR: Chair and Members of the Council, Ken Taylor. I am opposed to Resolution No. 2018-23. I feel the County has been negligent in dealing with affordable housing in the past. Kaua`i Lagoons, which is Timbers now, have million dollar homes. When it was originally approved, there was some affordability put forth, but it has all disappeared now. Rice Camp, which was a beautiful spot at downtown Lihu`e should have been built at forty (40) units per acre; instead, we have a bunch of single-story buildings, a couple of two-story buildings, and in the latest phase, a couple of three-story buildings, but it was a lost opportunity to build there. `Ele`ele's affordable housing project is moving forward with a bunch of single-family units—I am sorry, single-family units are only being subsidized by the rest of us and that cannot continue. We need to build that all out at thirty/forty (30/40) units per acre. We have no housing problem; we just have a long age of people. Thank you. PUBLIC HEARING 6 JUNE 27, 2018 RESOLUTION NO. 2018-23 Mr. Sato: The next speaker is Bridget Hammerquist, followed by Aileen Kechloian. BRIDGET HAMMERQUIST: My name is Bridget Hammerquist. Aloha Chair and Members of the Council. I do not often disagree with Ken Taylor, but I really disagree with him on this one. My own children are impacted by what is happening and it is not just on Kaua`i, it is in the State. On Monday night, the station manager for KGMB actually had a fifteen (15) minute piece or ten (10) minute piece, whatever he speaks for, about the one big problem facing the State and it was the need for more affordable housing. I think what we are asking is that the Resolution is reasonable; if it is tweaked or changed some, that is not a big issue. But Resolution No. 2018-23 will put on the ballot an affordable housing charter amendment for people to vote on and that is all that is being asked of the Council today. I agree with the young woman who said, "If you do not approve giving the voters a right to vote on it, we really need to know why not," because there are things changing and those that are critical of what has happened with affordable housing have some right to be. Affordable housing was built with fiscal support from the County and people were allowed to then sell them on the open market ten (10) years out, twenty (20) years out, and it was a windfall. The counties learned from that and the latest efforts of the County—they are not doing that anymore; they are moving toward permanent affordable housing and that is what needs to be done. The units that were just opened for groundbreaking in KOloa at Ko`ae, our prime example of those will be affordable housing, one hundred thirty-four (134) units will be available and they will be affordable in perpetuity. So the County has the ability to do more of that, but the most important thing is that the County has to have a fund to do it with. Equally compelling as open space is the need for affordable housing. My own son cannot buy a home right now, even though he makes a reasonable income. He just does not have...he lives on O`ahu and he does not have the kind of money it takes, so they will probably have to move elsewhere for a while to try to get themselves situated to where they can buy. So whatever we can do now to help our children come home and live with us permanently would be wonderful, and at least give the voters a chance to speak on it. Thank you for listening. Thank you for your time. Mr. Sato: The next speaker is Aileen Kechloian, followed by Bill Peterson. AILEEN KECHLOIAN: Aloha. My name is Aileen Kechloian and I am a resident here. The reason I came today was to support this three percent (3%) or more being given to affordable housing. As everybody here is campaigning for reelection, what I have done is gone on everybody's website and researched what everybody stands for, and everybody here stands for affordable housing. I think that all this is doing is giving your constituents an opportunity to vote on whether or not they want three percent (3%) of their property taxes to go towards affordable housing. I believe, as one of your constituents, that I should have this right. I ask that you vote in favor of this Resolution so that I can send three percent (3%) of my property taxes to the people that really need it and to know in the future that some other project is not going to come along and eat that money up when it comes to budget time. The other concern I do have is that the "coconut wireless" has this as new taxes and it is not new taxes; it is existing taxes. I think it is important for each and every PUBLIC HEARING 7 JUNE 27, 2018 RESOLUTION NO. 2018-23 one of you to let your constituents know that this is not new taxes, that this is existing taxes. I appreciate your time. Aloha. Mr. Sato: The next speaker is Bill Peterson, followed by Anne Walton. BILL PETERSON: Good afternoon. My name is Bill Peterson and I am a resident of Lihu`e, previously of Kapa`a. Thank you for allowing me to speak. I am in support of this Resolution. I do have some questions about where the funding is coming from, because you cannot take three percent (3%) out of the budget without it coming from somewhere. But the need for affordable housing is without a doubt on this island and it has been for a long time. I find myself kind of in a quandary on this issue because I have spoken before this board before in opposition to some of the developments, particularly the Kapa'a developments, because we do not have the infrastructure to support a lot of developments that have been approved, but the problem is that we still need the housing. We just have to find the place we can put it and infrastructure to support it and a way to build it in some function so that we do not end up with a solid parking lot around the island. That is a question for the Planning Commission and I think they have largely dropped the ball on that, unfortunately. I am hoping that you can find the solution for it. I will support an additional three percent (3%) being set aside for this. I think it is important. It is particularly important for the younger kids growing up right now because the housing is...I can afford it because I am an old guy and I have spent a lifetime of collecting stuff and my checkbook shows that, but for the young people coming out of the high schools here, it is really tough. Getting that down payment is darn near impossible. We have to find some way to make that housing affordable for them or they are going to move off-island and there is nobody left down here but old guys like me and that is not a pretty picture. I do speak in favor of this and if you need me to add an extra three percent (3%) to my property tax, I would support that. Thank you. Mr. Sato: The next speaker is Anne Walton, followed by Sandy Herndon. ANNE WALTON: Aloha Council Chair and Members. I fully support the charter amendment as proposed. I do hope that there is a provision for maintaining affordable housing within the inventory overtime. I think if there is any doubt in your minds about the importance of this or the need to move forward with this charter amendment that you should send it to the voters and let the voters speak for themselves. I also hope in doing so that it would bring more voters to the polls this year because this is the number one issue that we have: affordable housing. If it is on the ballot then hopefully people will take this election year more seriously. I fully support this amendment. Thank you. Mr. Sato: The next speaker is Sandy Herndon, followed by Susan Strom. SANDRA HERNDON: Good afternoon Council. Thank you for bringing this very important issue to the point where it can actually be put forward to the public. My name is Sandra Herndon. I have been, for a very long time, very PUBLIC HEARING 8 JUNE 27, 2018 RESOLUTION NO. 2018-23 interested in this issue. I think that the proposed three percent (3%) is reasonable. I also think that there could be some additional verbiage attached to the final wording or the idea as it goes to the ballot. I think it is important that, first of all, any housing that is funded this way...the sale price is in perpetuity; in other words, you do not jack up the price two (2) years later and the whole point is gone. The other thing is perhaps a consideration of some of the tiny houses. As the gentlemen said, a lot of the problems that we see are due to the cost of development. So if we could tie that in somehow, I think that would be very beneficial to anyone that is looking at using these funds to create a new living space for themselves and there are so many people that need that. I fully support the concept of the Council making a decision in favor of putting this forward. I think that it is your duty because we rely on you and this is a very important year...I think for this Council to approve this Resolution and have it move forward to the ballot would be a feather in your caps. Thank you. Mr. Sato: The next speaker is Susan Strom, followed by Felicia Cowden. SUSAN STROM: Aloha Council. I am Susan Strom and I live in Wailua. I am a concerned citizen, and in the interest of time, I will just read my testimony before I turn it in: "I stand in full support of the Resolution, although I would like to offer a few suggestions and ideas. First of all, I have concerns with the price tag of affordable housing is concerned. If you factor the median income of the local population, that dollar amount would be much lower. We cannot compare our affordability to United States' mainland standards or even O`ahu standards for that matter, unless there is some underlying attempt to sell affordable housing to mainland or transplants, which would actually further serve to squeeze out the local population of any chance of permanent housing. Affordable housing cannot be obtained even at two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) to three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) unless you are looking at providing long-term construction jobs as a priority. There are amazingly affordable homes out there that can be shipped in, assembled, or easily and quickly be constructed on island. I do not think the concept of building massive apartment homes or condos is particularly appealing for long-term solutions for locals as it restricts their opportunities for self-sustainability and removes the rural advantages. Maui is a good example of condos running wild. Small homes and sustainable communities have much healthier benefit on all levels and are cheaper to construct than large building units. All of this requires land donations, atrophied farm lands, or some of the appropriated state land to create some of these sustainable communities. They are long-term and they are very healthy. I foresee a large disparity between the construction design and cost and the purchase cost oftentimes. Who exactly needs to profit massively in order for this to happen? Who in the end picks up the tab and slaved debt, but the houseless local? We can do better. What about "rent to own" provisions? Every human should have a right to food, shelter, and water. Our governing bodies need to recognize the need for a priority shift in favor of the local needs over the auctioning off of Kaua`i's precious resources and residences to the highest bidder. Until that stops, the problems here will only continue to amplify. I understand that New Zealand is no longer selling real estate to off-island foreigners. Kaua`i's uniqueness is in her strong culture and real community strength and unity. There are additional sources to tap into for financial support for this endeavor, lodger's tax, tourist tax, and corporate PUBLIC HEARING 9 JUNE 27, 2018 RESOLUTION NO. 2018-23 tax. If we are not taxing these entities, which strain the island's resources, then we should be. We need no industry here to offset costs or create additional worker-bee employment ventures. Foreclosures are also a good resource for long-term rentals. 2020 is a year and a half from now and that does not resolve the immediate housing and rental crisis that we are dealing with right now. Removing airbnb from Kaua`i's home rentals will help greatly. Moloka`i is proposing such an ordinance as we speak. We have distressingly witnessed the destructive profiteering of airbnb on Kaua`i, along with other locations and municipalities. Council Chair Rapozo: I am going to have to stop you there. You can come back for your second three (3) minutes. Ms. Strom: Okay. Thank you. Mr. Sato: The next speaker is Felicia Cowden, followed by Ian Miles. FELICIA COWDEN: Felicia Cowden, for the record. I also support a resolution to put a charter amendment to put this before the voters for the three percent (3%) tax, real property tax sharing that is already in existence. Like what Taylor Reid said, I feel that it is very important that there is language in there that requires that we rethink a little bit about how we do affordable housing. Right now, the last couple of times, it seems like it is almost two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) per unit. When we look at the amount of need, that is an untenable amount to do. There are many different ways we could approach it and one that I have not heard brought up today and I have brought it up for twenty (20) years is when we have the cycles in the market...like even now, we are possibly going into a more difficult time. We can buy the bottom of the market and almost be like a spec investor, the County going in and buying the pieces all over the island. You do not have to worry about infrastructure. It does not take design, any of those kind of things that cost so much money and create delay. The problem is from twenty (20) years ago, we have had this. We need to be able to buy anywhere around the island. That is just one particular example, but it seems to me like one that we could have easily done in past, we could do in future. The high of the market is not the time. I think we can partner with the State and do things like conveyance taxes on the flipping. There is a number of different ways we could look at it, but I am in agreement that it is our number one crisis issue. I understand that when we take three percent (3%) that it is taken away from somewhere else. Where do we get the money for that? We have to look at it, but we need to be able to find a way and I think it is possible. I have a whole stack of ideas from different people where we could have it be more like fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) is maybe what it costs or what we could go in to bringing people into having these. We can modify what we are looking at, having a twenty-year timeline, which is what it seems to be if we just take land a build a fresh piece by the time we have the idea and creating it, the time has passed. But giving this to the voters to voice in on, we can adapt it and I am behind that. It is too critical of an issue to avoid. Thank you. Mr. Sato: The last registered speaker is Ian Miles. PUBLIC HEARING 10 JUNE 27, 2018 RESOLUTION NO. 2018-23 IAN MILES: Hello. Ian Miles. I live up in the north shore. I have six (6) children myself and this is a mess, by far the biggest problem. I have watched this developed...I have been in construction/development my whole life and in time it got worse and worst. What everyone says is absolutely true and whatever way they come at it, there is enough problems to go around here and these little bits, we can attack them, and I would probably end up supporting this three percent (3%) tax, but it is not going to long-term alter the basic fundamental problems because what has happened is since I have been in construction—I am seventy-two (72) now— since I was in my teens, it has gone from about the land costs ten percent (10%) to over fifty percent (50%) of the cost of the house and this is almost all directly to do with government and people not wanting to develop, not wanting to build on nice places, not to overcrowd this island or anywhere else. It is happening across the nation. This is the fundamental problem is driving the high prices. You can think through little fixes here and there, build low-income housing, but I know the first low-income project that I did when I was about twenty (20) in Monterrey County cost over three (3) times as much for the government to build it as it did for a private company. So that is an ongoing problem is the government just is not efficient at doing housing and they have pressures from their constituents because they do not want that island to grow. That means higher houses. In fact, there have been federal rulings to that effect that you have to build low-income housing if you do restrictive zoning. This is a whole cycle, which is going to be an ongoing problem. If you actually wanted to have affordable houses, you would have to just open up state lands, county lands to say you can build there. Former Mayor Lingle, when she was mayor, not governor, yeas ago, I was working in Maui and she opened up some of the Hawaiian Home Lands and said, "Well, you do not have to go through the building department or anything, you can just go out and have your land and build something out there." You could get yourself a four-wheel drive vehicle and go out there. That is the way the country originally developed, but now we have so many rules, that it is adding fifty percent (50%) to the cost of housing. Once you start doing these three percent (3%) stuff, it just keeps that spiral moving in the wrong direction. I do not have a way to change that and you cannot turn back the clock, but I think you have to recognize what the fundamental problem is here, is that so much land out there and are we going to allow uncontrolled development? We could bring that cost of housing way down. Council Chair Rapozo: I am going to have to stop you there. Your three (3) minutes is up. Councilmember Yukimura: I have a question. Council Chair Rapozo: Go ahead. Councilmember Yukimura: Do you have documentation that shows that fifty percent (50%) of the cost of housing is due to rules and regulations? Mr. Miles: I do not have documentation, but I have looked up stuff online and maybe I could find it again. PUBLIC HEARING 11 JUNE 27, 2018 RESOLUTION NO. 2018-23 Councilmember Yukimura: Yes, if you can provide that documentation, I would appreciate it. Mr. Miles: In some areas of the country, it is over sixty percent (60%) now and out in Hawai`i, I think it is around fifty percent (50%). Council Chair Rapozo: You can submit what you have. Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: Next speaker. Mr. Sato: No further registered speakers. Council Chair Rapozo: Anyone else wishing to speak for the first time who has not registered? (Councilmember Kawakami was noted as leaving the meeting.) JESSE BROWN-CLAY: Bummer, Councilmember Kawakami just walked out of the room. Aloha. My name is Jesse Brown-Clay. I wanted to thank all of you for your service on the Council. It is funny that the topic today is affordable housing because I have been working all morning with Habitat for Humanity, salvaging lumber and construction materials that were slotted to go to the landfill. Some of it was never even used before and brand new, so I think there are a lot of aspects of the affordable housing issue that will require refinement and areas for improvement. I do not want to talk to you folks about the issue of affordable housing because you all know...I think all of us in this room know how important it is. I think it is one of the number one issues in the State today and all of you talking about it on your campaigns for reelection and such. All I wanted to say is that I am in very strong support of the Resolution and it going to the ballot for the community to vote on it. I think there is no reason to not have mechanisms to provide financing for affordable housing. It seems that one of the main challenges is to come up with the financing for public projects. In full support of the Resolution, I just wanted to say that with it being an election year, it is going to be wonderful to take note of who chooses to vote how and then to just make that accessible to the community about where you all stand on affordable housing and share that information so that we can make great decisions during the elections this year. Thank you so much. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. Anyone else for the first time? CORAL MILES: Aloha Council. Coral Miles. I am in support of the Resolution, but I would like to see this followed-up by a strong consideration of what Planning and zoning allows. I think that we should be really concerned with smaller, efficient units, and as a previous person said, more units per acreage. I recently read an article in the paper suggesting that we do away with the height limit on Kaua`i. I am strongly against that. By the way, this was proposed by the head of the Board of Realtors...I forget his name right now...I am against that. I am just going to lay that out on the table. I think it has to be followed-up with the thoughts PUBLIC HEARING 12 JUNE 27, 2018 RESOLUTION NO. 2018-23 towards efficiency, not giving out contracts...again, let us benefit the whole economy of Kaua`i—do not give out contracts to people who are from the mainland and off-island. Let us try and keep the work here. There are so many considerations that I think we do not follow. Those recent apartments, which I know were supported and proposed/helped by Councilmember Yukimura that were built in Princeville, to me, looked like Idaho ski lodges or something. I think they are the most...I will use the word "ugly"...places I have ever seen. I do not know how many of you know what they look like, but they are so out of sync with our community. Those kinds of things I think we should be paying attention to. That is just my further thought. I am in support of the Resolution. Thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. SABRA KAUKA: Aloha kahou. Sabra Kauka. Good afternoon Councilmembers. It is good to see all of you. I came here today to speak for the Resolution and to support affordable housing. I have many friends who work two (2) and three (3) jobs and yet they are still stressed to pay their rent because it is just exorbitant. I also see the need to put that housing close to where their jobs are, hopefully to decrease our traffic on the highway, but most importantly, to keep the needs of our community in mind, in the forefront. That is first. Thank you for your time. Mahalo. Council Chair Rapozo: Anyone else wishing to testify? JANET BOYD: Hello Councilmembers. Thank you for bringing this issue forward at this time. I know that all candidates are bringing this affordable housing issue up. My name is Janet Boyd and I am coming just to represent many of the displaced. I actually went through it this January and just now we found a place to live. I just wanted to give a little bit of what happened in my situation. There is this aspect of greed and just predatory...I do not want to push all realtors into this, but just this predatory need of upping rents and "what can we make?" My situation is that I lived in a house for five (5) years with my significant other and he had lived there for seven (7) years and we figured we had paid...not that it counts for anything, but it is sixty-one thousand dollars ($61,000) of rent. On the 28th of January, we were told that we were going to have an addition to our building, a main addition on the main wall and we were given only three (3) days' notice. I approached the man that week and he said, "Oh, by the way, you are going to live through construction." He had just upped our rent...it was still an affordable rent at the time... "We are going to up your rent, you are going to have to sit through our real estate agents coming through and showing other people and you are going to have to reapply for a rent that will now be doubled." We were left in the middle of January looking for housing, of which we could find nothing affordable. We gave our notice, but then I realized...I went to the Planning Department and he had no plans...there were no plans for the extra building. It is still a cesspool, not a septic system. These things...people are just getting greedy and pushing people off. The cost to us...we were lucky that we found affordable housing. I had some family help with money, but I paid an extra six thousand dollars ($6,000) to seven thousand dollars ($7,000) for this through this month. We cannot afford that. We live paycheck to paycheck. I feel honored...we were not born on this island...we were not born in Hawai`i, but I PUBLIC HEARING 13 JUNE 27, 2018 RESOLUTION NO. 2018-23 feel honored to live here. I know it is difficult. The both of us have lived here before twice and we know it is a struggle. This is wrong. It is like predatory. The landlords just see how much they can get and up the price. Thank you for listening. Council Chair Rapozo: Anyone else wishing to testify for the first time? Second time? Just come on up. Alice. Ms. Parker: Alice Parker, for the record. You might also consider in affordable housing, small places. My daughter lived in California in Lake County, which is now burning up, like the Big Island that she lives on now. She lived in a place that was about the size of a single-car garage. She did not have running water, so she used the pail. But when she moved to the Big Island, she did have a small house...this time, she did have a little building that actually had real running water there and a catchment basin. We do not do catchment basins here, but one hundred eighty (180) square feet or two hundred (200) square feet is perfectly livable. I have been talking with (inaudible), who is concerned, especially about veteran housing and he is talking about yurts, which are about two hundred (200) square feet. That is fine, you can get by with that and get water in there, and later on, you can save and perhaps get an "affordable place." Anyhow, think about small places. If they look unsightly, you can always plant trees. Thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: Anyone else for the second time? Ken. Mr. Taylor: Chair and Members of the Council, Ken Taylor. As I pointed out earlier of the missed opportunities, I now want to talk about what needs to be done to make affordable housing available. You need to rezone all of this area from here over to the hospital and all the way down to the highway so that affordable housing can be built with higher zoning, thirty (30) to forty (40) units per acre. The developers will build adequate housing. Seems to me that a couple of years ago, you folks passed a resolution that would allow second units on all residential lots of a certain size—I do not know what happened to that, but the last I heard, it had not been finalized at the Planning Department. That was another ordinance that was supposed to provide for some affordable housing. Again, had no cost...it was not too long ago that we sat here and listened to you folks wanting to raise the sales tax so you could fix the roads, but there was no money available in the general fund to fix the roads. Now, we want to take three percent (3%) and I have seen these kind of things happen and what happens is that down the road, the fire department needs more money and we are going to be crying saying that we have to cut fire because we do not have the money, unless we raise taxes or that we are going to have to cut police because we do not have the money, so we have to raise taxes, and on and on it will go. I grew up in a community that has had affordable housing problems since way back in the `70s. Every year, the same kinds of conversations have gone on, but nothing has happened, a few units here and a few there. Today, we call tract houses "workforce housing." Is that not a fancy name for a tract house? That whole development down there in Hanama`ulu should have been built out at thirty (30) or forty (40) units per acre instead of single-family units. It has to stop. We need to do the proper planning if we want affordable housing. Thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. Anyone else for the second time? PUBLIC HEARING 14 JUNE 27, 2018 RESOLUTION NO. 2018-23 Ms. Miles: Thank you. Coral Miles. I just forgot one point that I wanted to make, which to me, "in perpetuity" sounds great, but we have to be realistic. So I think "in perpetuity in increments," say ten (10) years it remains the same and the next ten (10) years, we could add a certain percentage and so on, every ten (10) years increase it. To say totally in perpetuity, I think, is unrealistic. The second thing is speaking to what the gentleman just said, allowing "mother-in-law units" on large lots, changing the zoning that way. You go, "People are going to abuse that. They are going to not rent to family or say not allow family." But there could be restrictions and ways that we could regulate that, but it would help relieve some of the housing. Thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. Mr. Esaki: Aloha again. Dennis Esaki. I agree with one of the previous speakers, Marj Dente. We should allow kitchens in guest houses, even on agricultural lands. They are allowed to be built, you can sleep in it, use the bathroom in it, you can eat it in, but you cannot have a kitchen in it. This would open up hundreds of housing units and it would not cost the County a penny. There is a quote from Dr. Paul Brubaker, a local economist, one of the top economist here: "You cannot maximize social welfare more than if you remove all distortions. Production quotas, no matter how you dress them up, like calling them `workforce housing requirements,' distort the housing market, resulting in less new housing and less affordable housing. Reducing the amount of new housing that can be built is the problem; it is not the solution. However, branding does not make bad public policy better, it just makes clear that it is so bad that the government has to cover it up." Finally, Kaua`i has no representatives on the State Public Housing Authority, the Land Use Commission, the Hawaiian Home Lands, and many other boards and commissions. These are important boards with respect to housing. I do not know why anybody else is worried about it. Thank you. Councilmember Yukimura: Dennis, for your first three (3) minutes, at the very beginning of your testimony, you talked about two (2) subdivisions that took away access and easements. Could you explain that? I did not understand what you were trying to say. Mr. Esaki: There are public subdivisions on record. I will let you go check the public records. Councilmember Yukimura: What was your point in talking about them here? Mr. Esaki: That it takes away housing. Councilmember Yukimura: What takes away housing? Mr. Esaki: If somebody buys a whole project for themselves and says, "I am not going to build eight (8) houses" and they just build one (1) for their own self, that takes away housing. PUBLIC HEARING 15 JUNE 27, 2018 RESOLUTION NO. 2018-23 Councilmember Yukimura: So I guess you are thinking that we should not allow that? Mr. Esaki: I said that both Ricky Cassidy and Paul Brubaker said that there should be some consequence to it. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Can you provide the quote of Brubaker? Mr. Esaki: Yes. Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: Anyone else wishing to speak for the second time? Seeing none, this public hearing is adjourned. Thank you. There being no further testimony, the public hearing adjourned at 2:27 p.m. Respectfully submitted, l'41 SCOTT K. SATO Deputy County Clerk :ct