Hawaii Island Political Races

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Hawaii Island Political Races

About the home rule stuff you mentioned, I am not familiar about that so
I cannot comment further about it. In regards to your comments about
Cliftos I absolutely do not understand your logic. Do you even know
where this project was planned to be built ? From Puna to Waikoloa
is closer than Puna to Kona Int'l Airport.I should know I drove from Hilo
to Kona today.

There was absoultely no benefit whatsoever for Puna folks in regards
to Cliftos. There was a negliable benefit for the people living Waikoloa
though. More shopping would be closer to them. But I guess you don't
care how jammed up Queen Kaahumanu Highway gets at peak hours.
This project would've jammed it up further.

I guess I know why it doesn't matter to you. Lemme see within
the last 6 years how many new roads have opened in East Hawaii.....
hmmmmmm. No wonder there is a portion of people in West Hawaii
who want a seperate county.

It's not that I don't care about the traffic mess, you gotta remember I came from Honolulu where an eight mile drive in the morning to work from West Oahu can take as long as the drive from Hilo to Kona (okay slight exaggeration) More like Volcano to Kona and that's on a good day!

You cannot stop development but that's not the point here. Safarik represents Lower Puna whose business is in East Hawaii, not West. Who knows now that Puna seems to rule the county council now maybe there will actually be some focus on this district as it needs it. Hilo development seems to be working it's way towards Puna with developments in homestead land which could be the deathnail to the business sector in downtown Hilo.

Let's see just how supportive Safarik is towards those in his district. This should be an interesting turn of power in Hawaii County.

As for Home rule, the State Legislature empowered each of the Island's counties with Home rule. Each island county was granted limited (but broad) powers to determine land zoning in their respective counties. With these powers came the issuing of permits to build or develope as each county saw best fit. It was determined that the counties knew best what to do with their lands over the State as a whole.

However as we know about Hawaii County, they seem to do things without full understanding of the implications of their decisions, for example Hokulia. Need I say more? Well one of the permitting processes that Hawaii County is trying to keep is health and safety. Hawaii County has argued to the State Attorney General that their county divisions can sufficently address those concerns and issue the appropriate use permits for developments in certain zoned areas.

Mark Bennett (State Attorney General under Lingle) has submitted his opinion stating that only the State can address public health and safety and the permit that addresses those concerns are the State's Special Use Permit.

This opinion takes public health and safety permits out of the county level and puts it back in the State level, taking away a very important piece of land zoned developmental power out of the hands of the county, basically limiting the county's Home rule advantage.

Now on a scale of Hokulia, that opinion seemed justified since the County erred in their original decision to support it's development. However in much smaller developments such as a Public Charter School, a law was passed several years ago under the Cayatano Administration allowing these kinds of schools to be built on State owned Agricultural land zoned A1. This law was passed (bipartisian) so start up charter schools could build on AG-A1 lands without the need of special use permits (which can run into the tens of thousands of dollars to complete by the developer).

Home rule was granted to the counties to address what a special use permit would have been required but at a much lower cost to the developer. In this case the developer was the PCS board. These board members are not rich folks, their parents and teachers of that PCS. Funding for those schools come from the DOE and special use permits from the State are not budgeted into the operating costs of any start up PCS. There in lies the problem with special use permits and PCS schools.

If special use permits are required for public charter schools to be built on cheap ag-A1 lands then the cost of development out weighs any benefit of building on those lands!

Okay so don't build there, then where? All other lands are either cost prohibitive (commercial land) or prohibitive to build period (conservation lands)

Problem with Hawaii County is that there are two charter schools that were given the go ahead to buy Ag-1A lands and build with the promise that public health and safety permits would be granted. Those schools spent a major portion of their budget to buy these lands only to find out that Hawaii County reversed their decision in midstream and turned this issue over to the State regarding public health and safety.

Were these schools damaged? You bet, and because it's a state entity (DOE PCS school) representation was supposed to be thru the State Attorney General who has biased himself with his opinion unsupportive of the state entity it was enacted to protect.

Now Chris Yuen (Hawaii County Planning Director) has told the media that he wants to enforce Home rule again to regain the power his County council practically gave back to the State.

Home rule is vitally important to each county. That way the counties have power to grant or deny development in their respective counties instead of leaving it up to the state.

[Konaguy]

Re: Hawaii Island Political Races

Safarik represents Lower Puna whose business is in East Hawaii, not West.

But the WHOLE council has to vote on projects like Clifto's.
Yes the council members are responsible for their own districts.But they vote on islandwide issues like Cliftos.
Thus I believe each council member has a responsibility
to each district on the island also. It is one ISLAND
county not 9 individual counties.

On a related note you never elaborated on your flawed
thinking why you supported Cliftos ?

By my count 3 major highways opened in East Hawaii
in the last 6 years. In West Hawaii zero new highways
opened in that time span. My point is the infrastructure
needs to catch up with the growth. Sadly I don't think
you see that.

I drove around Hilo for two days this week. Aside from
the construction going on at Makaala Street and Kaumana
Drive,It was a breeze getting around Hilo. Unlike Kona
where it is gridlock central.

Hilo development seems to be working it's way towards Puna with developments in homestead land which could be the deathnail to the business sector in downtown Hilo.

I heard the same thing when Wal-Mart opened 7 years ago.
The downtown area in Hilo is flourishing and doing well
last I checked and I don't think the upcoming opening
of Home Depot [and possibly in the future Costco] is going to change that.

These big box retailers are looking at the DHHL land since
there is a lot of open space and closer to where the population growth is in Puna.

Home rule is vitally important to each county. That way the counties have power to grant or deny development in their respective counties instead of leaving it up to the state.

I disagree I believe the county should not have home rule on
planning decisions. Look at the mess the county got us into
with Hokulia...nuff said.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Hawaii Island Political Races

I agree that the entire council must vote as one entity however I do feel that his recent flip flop on his vote this close to an election smells of something more than just a man with a conscious. Look at the facts here, he changed his mind and voted against the project (which I have no interest in at all) and now he's sits as the council's chair voted by the majority which he is not a part of. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out. There was a lot of back room politics going on that led to him chairing the council.

Look I'm glad the power has shifted from East to West, I have no problem with that as I haven't been here long enough to care. Doing business from Honolulu to both Hilo and Kona I understand the "second-fiddle" nature Kona has had to regard itself next to Hilo. I have friends in Kona who felt the rub from Hilo and I truly understand that situation.

I've driven around Kona during your grid-lock central and quite frankly that's a typical off hour traffic situation in Honolulu anytime of the day. Grid lock is basically shutting your engine off and playing poker with four other guys stuck in traffic just like you, at least you eventually move. Hilo is a breeze as you said and honestly in comparison to Kona it is better. Kona was just built haphazardly without regard to future growth. I remember when the Keahoe airport was built. Wayyy out there on lavaland connected to the heart of Kona by a thin ribbon of asphalt. Now everthing is tied to that highway with homes above and businesses below and somehow everyone there has to cross that ribbon of highway to get to work. You guys need an H-1 freeway.

And you said it Aaron, Puna is the direction of population growth and the time will come when Hawaii County will be in the same situation Kauai County is in right now, which way to develop! But I disagree with you wholehartedly about Walmart and the future Costco not impacting downtown Hilo's business stability. Look at what happened to Kaikoo mall when the Prince Kuhio mall opened up, and that is just the start. Kea'au is developing rapidly where it's residental and small commercial growth will be a magnet to development outside of Hilo. So why in the world are the major highway projects in the other direction out of Hilo? The Pahoa widening project is a safety issue and will have little business impact between Pahoa and Kea'au so I can understand that project.

And on the issue of Homerule, coming from Honolulu where the buck stops there, I think it's a good idea where local zoning laws can be dealt with at a more grassroots level. The Big Island has the most agricultural lands than the rest of the counties and as such those decisions should be kept at the county level where accountability is greater. There is a beauracratic black hole in Honolulu where outer island issues simply dissappear. You cannot escape those issues when it's in your own backyard.

Hokulia? I'm sorry I cannot defend the current council's behavior on that one but it all comes down to who you vote for. Now maybe Kona will get the respect it deserves with the majority of the county council coming from West Hawaii.

And I may be wrong about Clifto, but word around my neighborhood is that it will affect those working in that direction. But you may be right, heck I don't live out West, you do so I hope you are right.




I agree with you that highway building has gone to the wrong side of the island. Kona needs the infrastructure to handle it's growing population.

[Konaguy]

Re: Hawaii Island Political Races

One other thing in regards to Cliftos. There was a lot of people from
Waikoloa whom wanted the project to go forward. The primary reason
was because of lack of shopping and the long distance to shopping in Kailua-Kona.This was getting more pressing because of all the housing coming down the pipeline in Waikoloa in the coming years.
But my thoughts on that is if they want more shopping it should
be built closer to Waikoloa resorts/Waikoloa village and not effect the
quality of life of people living nearby where Cliftos was planned.

I guess that was what your driving at ? As I still do not get what
your hearing about how Cliftos would effect Waikoloa. Except
if it is what I wrote I wrote above. I don't see how it would
effect the people working in Waikoloa ?

Cliftos was just a hotel, retail and housing project ?

Yes you could say Safarik's vote was done because of the elections.
But I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Bear in mind he wasn't
the only one that changed his vote. Michael Tulang did also.

Yes I know the Kona gridlock is not in the same league as Honolulu.
But I can remember when there was one stop light in the middle
of Kailua Village and there was hardly any cars on the road

I'm not sure if 7 years is fair enough time line to see what impacts
Wal-Mart has had on the Hilo downtown. But as far as I can tell
downtown has adapted nicely to the competition. Despite the fact
that it lies in tsunami innudation zone and as far as I understand
the older buildings in downtown cannot be altered. I have lived here
long enough to not be terribly concerned about it. If downtown
can survive Wal-Mart it can [almost] anything [Besides a tsunami]

Hokulia was actually approved by the council 10 years ago. None
of the recent council members had a hand in it. But i digress
that is getting O/T.

[BKHale2007]

Re: Hawaii Island Political Races

Aaron and Craig, you both make good points. Since the '46 and '60 tsunamis, Hilo has been expanding more and more inland and Puna-ward. The Industrial Area along Kanoelehua Avenue was built in the 60s. Kaikoo Mall was built in the late 60s on higher ground, albeit in the tsunami zone.

I remember in the mid-80s, when the Prince Kuhio Plaza opened, that the downtown and surrounding area was affected in two ways: Woolworth was replaced almost immediately by Spencer's health club, an example of the downtown adapting by offering trendier businesses (Spencer's is still going strong, by the way). Just outside downtown, the building formerly occupied by Safeway was a vacant hulk throughout the late 80s. It was the site of a used-car dealership ca. 1991. Several years later Ben Franklin Crafts, Shiigi Drugs, City Bank (these three were former tenants of Kaikoo Mall), etc. set up shop there.

Even after PKP opened in 1985, Kaikoo Mall was thriving, but in the early 90s it began to empty out. The first big blow, in my recollection, was the relocation of JC Penney to PKP in late 1995. When the Kaikoo branch of Sure Save (a local supermarket chain which has been struggling, and has since closed all but its Keaau store) closed in 1998, the mall was all but abandoned. The last few businesses moved out, and the mall is now being demolished. However, the former JC Penney and Firestone part of the mall was renovated as county offices.

When Wal-Mart opened in 1996, there was much concern it would affect the downtown, but the downtown was in a sense immunized by PKP's being built, and found its niche in trendy businesses and historical buildings as far back as the 80s.