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HomeMy WebLinkAbout 11/17/2021 Planning Committee minutes MINUTES PLANNING COMMITTEE November 17, 2021 A meeting of the Planning Committee of the Council of the County of Kaua`i, State of Hawai`i, was called to order by Mason K. Chock, Chair, at the Council Chambers, 4396 Rice Street, Suite 201, Lihu`e, Kaua`i, on Wednesday, November 17, 2021, at 11:24 a.m., after which the following Members answered the call of the roll: Honorable Bernard P. Carvalho, Jr. Honorable Bill DeCosta Honorable Luke A. Evslin Honorable Mason K. Chock Honorable Felicia Cowden, Ex-Officio Member Honorable Arryl Kaneshiro, Ex-Officio Member Excused: Honorable KipuKai Kuali`i Minutes of the November 3, 2021 Planning Committee Meeting. Upon motion duly made by Councilmember Carvalho, seconded by Councilmember DeCosta, and carried by a vote of 4:0:1 (Councilmember Kuali`i was excused), the Minutes of the November 3, 2021 Planning Committee Meeting was approved. The Committee proceeded on its agenda items as follows: Bill No. 2831 A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ZONING CONDITIONS IN ORDINANCE NO. PM-2006-383, AS AMENDED BY ORDINANCE NO. PM-2009-394, RELATING TO ZONING DESIGNATION IN NAWILIWILI, KAUAI (Tower Kauai Lagoons Sub 1, LLC; 2014 Kauai Lagoons Golf, LLC; Tower Kauai Lagoons Land, LLC; Tower Kauai Lagoons Sub 7, LLC, Applicant) (ZA-2021-3) (This item was Deferred.) Councilmember Carvalho moved to approve Bill No. 2831, seconded by Councilmember DeCosta. Committee Chair Chock: Members, before I get too far down the road on this, I want to make a recommendation to defer. We have been working on this for some time and the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in progress with the applicant is close to finalization, but after meeting with County Attorney Matthew M. Bracken and others, we want to get further along and present it to you—that is the direction I believe we should move today. With that being said, I know the PL COMMITTEE MEETING 2 NOVEMBER 17, 2021 applicants are present today and wanted a few minutes to address the Council. Good morning. There being no objections, the rules were suspended. MICHAEL BELLES (via remote technology): Good morning, Planning Chair Chock and Members of the Planning Committee, together with the members of the entire County Council. For the record, my name is Michael Belles, representing the applicant. Sitting around the table is the usual cast of characters that you have seen in our meetings. Sitting behind me is Gary Siracusa; he is the Director of Construction for Hokuala. Sitting across from him is Rebecca Candilasa, who is the Senior Planner from Wilson Okamoto &Associates Incorporated. Sitting across from me is Max Graham, a partner at our firm. As the Chair pointed out, last week Friday we met with Committee Chair Chock and Councilmember Evslin to go over the then draft of the MOU, and also participating in the meeting was Deputy Planning Director Jodi A. Higuchi Sayegusa. I think we had a fulfilling and full-throated discussion about the MOU. Based on the feedback, we have been working on revisions to the MOU, and following that meeting on Friday, we met on Monday and Tuesday with the Deputy Planning Director and Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Inspector, Les Milnes of the Planning Department, to go over additional amendments to the MOU and the attached exhibits. It is our hope and expectation that early next week, following additional meetings with the Planning Department staff, we will have the ability to get a final draft of the MOU to the County Council—that is our intent. But just as we gave a brief overview and introduction to Councilmembers Chock and Evslin, we would also like to be able to give a brief presentation to the entire Council today, so all seven (7) Members know what Councilmembers Evslin and Chock were privy to as of last week Friday, as well as looking forward to how we see the agreement being amended and the process. With that, I will turn it over to Mr. Graham. MAX GRAHAM (via remote technology): Good morning, Councilmembers. We met with Councilmembers Chock and Evslin last Friday and went over the initial draft of the MOU, then we met with the Planning Department (Deputy Planning Director Jodi Higuchi Sayegusa and CZM Inspector Les Milnes) on Tuesday. We reviewed with them the same MOU that we reviewed with the Councilmembers. Based on their feedback, we worked yesterday and came up with an amended MOU, which we sent back to the Planning Department to look at, which went out this morning. So we are working as fast as we can to try to incorporate all the comments we received, and it is going to take more meetings. We have another meeting set up Monday with the Planning Department to look at things. Basically, as we explained to Councilmembers Chock and Evslin, the purpose of the MOU is to have the parties agree as to the obligations of the applicant with regard to the conditions contained in the ordinances and in the Special Management Area (SMA) permits relating to the Hokuala project. This is primarily with regard to access across the property and access to the shoreline areas along the southern part of the property, including the Running Waters beach area, and the public improvements including the pavilions and amenities associated with the coastal area on the southern portion of the project. The reason for doing this is because we had a number of ordinances, and the ordinances contained conditions...so the ordinances allowed the zoning on the project PL COMMITTEE MEETING 3 NOVEMBER 17, 2021 property, then we had to go to the Planning Commission to get the approvals for the specific projects on the property, and the Planning Commission granted the SMA permit and related permits together with additional conditions. We are trying to put into one place an understanding of what is required by these conditions, with the idea being that the memorandum simply is our understanding between the County and the owner of what needs to be done in order to provide access across the property and to provide public amenities for the shoreline areas based on the conditions contained in the ordinances and the SMA permit. We want to be clear that it is not intended to drive those conditions, those conditions impose responsibilities. The memorandum is simply an expression of our mutual understanding of what those responsibilities are. Part of what we are trying to do is to amend the exhibits, which contain the "Public Access Plan" and the "Public Shoreline Lateral Access Plan," so that on an annual basis we will be able to update and amend the exhibits to show where the public has access over the property and to show the shoreline areas and the public improvements associated with those areas. It allows all of us, both the County and the owner, to keep apprised of how the requirements of the conditions are being met. So, we have updated those exhibits. Councilmembers Evslin and Chock, just so you know, at the meeting with you and the meeting with the Planning Department, the exhibits have been further amended to show the access down to Kuki`i Point, that was one thing that we had discussed. It also shows the access on the west side of the property, from the pathway straight across to the west pavilion along the upper cliff line of the property. So we are trying to incorporate changes as requested and we have revised the MOU to modify the provisions concerning any modifications to the pathway system or to the passive beach park system. So, I think we are getting closer and we will meet with the Planning Department and try to get as close as we can to a final draft, so we can get it back to you. Well, we hope to get the most recent draft of the MOU to you, Councilmembers, by next week. That is the status of our process so far. Committee Chair Chock: Thank you very much for the update. Mr. Belles: I want to add one more thing. One of the challenges has been to embrace all of the legislation, whether it be ordinances, entitlements, or permits that have been issued over a period of over thirty-five (35) years, and we are trying to reconcile provisions that are either inconsistent or they need further clarification, so there is uniformity amongst everything, so that we do not have inconsistent or contrary provisions in different documents. In this MOU that Max Graham explained, the intent is to have a mutual understanding and agreement between the County of Kaua`i and the landowner in terms of what it means and how we move forward after 2021. We welcome any questions the Members of the Council may have. Thank you. Committee Chair Chock: We will be hearing this on December 1st. Do you have any questions prior to us moving in the direction of deferral? Councilmember Cowden: It is not really a question, I just want to thank Vice Chair Chock, Councilmember Evslin, and the team from Hokuala for working together and the good work today will make a big difference ten (10) or twenty (20) years in the future. We are regularly dealing with those types of struggles when this PL COMMITTEE MEETING 4 NOVEMBER 17, 2021 has not been done in the past in other places, so I want to acknowledge and thank you all for the quality work, that is important. Committee Chair Chock: Thank you. Are there any further questions? Councilmember Carvalho moved to defer Bill No. 2831, seconded by Councilmember DeCosta, and carried by vote of 4:0:1 (Councilmember Kuali`i was excused). Committee Chair Chock: The motion passes. The Committee proceeded on its agenda item, as shown in the following Committee Report, which is incorporated herein by reference: CR-PL 2021-04: on Bill No. 2838 A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 8, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO TRANSIENT ACCOMMODATIONS (Kaua`i County Council, Applicant) (ZA-2021-2 — Planning Commission Recommendation) (Approved.) There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:39 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Jessica Young Council Services Assistant I APPROVED at the Committee Meeting held on December 1, 2021: MASON K. CHOCK Chair, PL Committee