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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/03/2018 Public Works/Parks & Recreation Committee minutes L. MINUTES PUBLIC WORKS / PARKS & RECREATION COMMITTEE January 3, 2018 A meeting of the Public Works / Parks & Recreation Committee of the Council of the County of Kaua`i, State of Hawaii, was called to order by Ross Kagawa, Chair, at the Council Chambers, 4396 Rice Street, Suite 201, Lihu`e, Kaua`i, on Wednesday, January 3, 2018, at 11:29 a.m., after which the following Members answered the call of the roll: Honorable Arthur Brun (present at 11:37 a.m.) Honorable Mason K. Chock Honorable Arryl Kaneshiro Honorable JoAnn A. Yukimura Honorable Ross Kagawa Honorable Derek S.K. Kawakami, Ex-Officio Member Honorable Mel Rapozo, Ex-Officio Member The Committee proceeded on its agenda item as follows: Bill No. 2612 A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 14, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE PLUMBING CODE (This item was Deferred to the July 5, 2018 Committee Meeting.) Committee Chair Kagawa: Happy New Year everybody. Before I ask for the motion to defer, for both of these Bills, Bill No. 2612 and Bill No. 2613 coming up, I am going to ask to defer these items to July 5, 2018. The reason is because no county has passed these code updates yet and I have said it many times that I believe that the codes should be passed consistently with the other counties. I do not think I would like to make Kaua`i the guinea pig and go first. I have discussed this with members of the Contractors Association of Kaua`i (CAK), as well as the plumbing and electrical unions, and they are all okay. It is still recommended that people use newer codes if they want to. They are free to be safer and they can do it the more expensive way with safety in mind; however, the current codes will still be in effect and people can choose which way they want to go. At this point, I am too afraid that if we do it first that we could be imposing some high cost on our residents and commercial businesses that may be unnecessary, because I think the current codes are sufficient. That is just the word that I am getting from the professionals. We, here at the Council, are laypeople. As far as the workers and the inspectors that I have talked to...I have done due diligence on this item and I think the sentiment is that it is not advantageous for us to be first. Let us wait until the City & County of Honolulu goes. Once they go, PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 2 JANUARY 3, 2018 hopefully in six (6) months, they will adopt it. I think they are in the process of discussing these items. Again, my recommendation is to defer to July 5, 2018. Members, any discussion? If not, may I get a motion? Councilmember Chock moved to defer Bill No. 2612 to the July 5, 2018 Committee Meeting, seconded by Councilmember Kaneshiro, and carried by a vote of 4:0:1 (Councilmember Brun was excused). Committee Chair Kagawa: Next item, please. Bill No. 2613 A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 13 OF THE KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE ELECTRICAL CODE (This item was Deferred to the July 5, 2018 Committee Meeting.) Committee Chair Kagawa: Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: I understand that the Electrical Code actually has some energy conserving provisions that will bring us closer to our goal of sustainability and I guess I do not agree with the idea of just deferring to wait for another county, but I have not marshalled all of the evidence nor talked to everyone that I would like to talk to, so I will not oppose the deferral. I just feel that we actually should be doing our homework and if it is a meritorious thing, then we should pass it, not just "follow the leader." I have not done my own homework, so I will be voting for the deferral. Committee Chair Kagawa: Again, my reasoning from the onset has been some opposition that was raised from the community, including contractors and the Contractors Association of Kauai. Even for them, it was just a bit of hesitancy, not sure of the total impact of adopting this new code, and it is to the effect of, "Do we want to ready, fire, aim or do we want to make sure that these code changes are not going to harm the residents, are not going to harm to commercial businesses to the point that it is unreasonable?" Determining reasonable and unreasonable is always the difficulty, so I hear your concerns. The good thing that I can tell you is that I think some of the Building Division, as the new applicants come forth, they have been pushing the new codes and recommending them to owners to put it in. You can buy all of these new code things at Home Depot and what have you, some of these new switches that are safer where they will possibly trip faster. Again, the old code has not proved to be a safety hazard and if the old code is still working, the new code may be significantly higher in cost, so do we want to be first and make Kaua`i the most expensive to build? I think that is always the hesitancy. We want to make sure that when we do something that we do not have unforeseen circumstances or consequences, which has been my hesitancy. I am opened to your concern. We can go with a shorter deferral date if you wish. Again, we discussed this with the Contractors Association and other union members and they are comfortable with the six-month deferral and they are hopeful that by that time, by July 5th, that Honolulu PWPR COMMITTEE MEETING 3 JANUARY 3, 2018 will have passed it and we can just adopt it and make sure we do the proper amendments. There are some amendments that they have asked for that is regarding who can pull the permit, whether the general, the electrician, or the plumber and what have you. We are going to try and clean up those types of amendments all at one time in July. There is no sense in amending now, because when we hit the bill, who knows how much more amendments we are going to have. I want to thank Christiane for giving me that bit of advice, because we just want to do it the simple way. My advice is to wait six (6) months and I would like to have the new codes implemented by then. I think Honolulu will adopt it by then. (Councilmember Brun was noted as present.) Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you. Committee Chair Kagawa: Thank you, Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Kaneshiro moved to defer Bill No. 2613 to the July 5, 2018 Committee Meeting, seconded by Councilmember Brun, and unanimously carried. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:37 a.m. Respectfully submitted, 144 Codie K. Tabalba Council Services Assistant I APPROVED at the Committee Meeting held on January 31, 2018: R SS KAGAWA Chair, PWPR Committee