Zoning & Planning - Regular Meeting

Aloha and good morning, everyone. It is Thursday, June 25th, 2026, and the time is now 9.02 a.m. Will the Committee on Zoning and Planning please come to order? I would like to welcome the following committee members, Councilmember Cordero, Councilmember Okimoto, and Councilmember Tupoula. And entering the chamber now is Vice Chair Waters. Although remote verbal testimony is being permitted, this is a regular in-person meeting and not a remote meeting by Interactive Conference Technology under HRS section 92-3.7. Therefore, the meeting will continue notwithstanding loss of audiovisual communication with remote testifiers or loss of the public broadcast of the meeting. Members or the public will be allowed to provide verbal testimony on all items on the agenda when each item is taken up in two ways. in person in the council chamber and remotely via video conference or phone. Before testifying, each person shall state their name for the record. Each speaker may not have anyone else read their statement and will be limited to a one-minute presentation per item. Or persons who registered to testify in person will be called upon first. Persons who did not register will be given an opportunity to offer testimony after the registered testifiers. Once in-person testimony is concluded, I will proceed to the remote testifiers. When I call your name or the last three digits of your phone number, please follow the prompts to unmute. As both English and Hawaiian are official languages of the State of Hawaii, pursuant to Article 15, Section 4 of the Hawaii State Constitution and Section 113 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, members of the public may testify in either language. For verbal testimonies offered in Olelo Hawaii, additional time, as may be necessary, will be allowed for the testifier to provide an English translation of their testimony. written testimonies, including the testifier's address, email address and phone number, will be available to the public as described in the posted agenda. As a courtesy, please turn off or silence all cell phones for the duration of this meeting. Thank you. For moving to agenda item number one for action, resolution 26-140. This resolution accepts a gift to the city of travel and related expenses valued at $659.60 from the Hawaii County Planning Department for three Department of Planning and Permitting branch chiefs to attend the regional planning focus group in Hilo, Hawaii, which was held on June 10, 2026. The purpose of the focus group was to share practical experiences regarding long-range and regional planning, We have posted on the agenda a technical CD1 version of the resolution, which I submitted. For your information, a summary of the amendments is listed on the agenda. Before I call up the administration, I would like to take public testimony. Proceeding first with in-person testimony, clerks, do we have any in-person testifiers?

Chair, there are none.

Is there anyone else in the council chamber who would like to testify? Seeing none, please, proceeding with remote testimony, clerks, do we have any remote testifiers for this item? Chair, there are none. And if anyone is standing by online, please raise your hand. Seeing none, for the administration, we have Dawn Takayuchi-Upuna, Director of the Department of Planning and Permitting.

Good morning, Chair, members of the committee. We are supportive of this resolution. Thank you.

Members, do we have any questions? If not, the chair recommends that resolution 26-140 be amended to the post at CD1. Any discussion, any objections or reservations? Hearing none, the resolution has been amended to a CD1. The chair then recommends that resolution 26-140 CD1 be reported out for adoption. Any discussion, any objections or reservations? Hearing none, so ordered. Moving to agenda item number two for action, resolution 26-150. This resolution directs the director of the Department of Planning and Permitting to process a council-initiated amendment to the land use ordinance, ROH chapter 21, relating to large attached dwellings. Amendments to the land use ordinance proposed by the council are processed by the Department of Planning and Permitting. reviewed by the Planning Commission. The Department's report and Commission's recommendations are then transmitted to the Council for action on the proposal. I will now defer to the introducer of the resolution, Vice Chair Waters, for the explanation.

I introduce this measure because the size and bulk of large detached dwellings continue to be of concern in the residential neighborhoods, especially in my district. The floor area of garages and carports are not included when calculating a dwelling's floor area ratio. The measure amends the land use ordinance provision that applies to large detached dwellings, which are dwellings with a floor area ratio of more than 0.6. but capped at 0.7 to provide that parking areas up to a maximum of 400 square feet for each unit may be excluded from the floor area. And the remaining parking areas are included as a floor area. This measure applies only to the density calculated for large detached dwellings, as all other floor area calculations stay the same, including the calculation of floor area to determine parking requirements under the LUO Article 6. In a nutshell, this is based on growth of monster homes in Kaimuki and now extending all over the island, where outside investors come in, knock down perfectly good houses and put up these monster homes, oftentimes renting them out to adults unrelated to each other, taking up parking all over the place. And especially in my district where parking is really, street parking is really a premium. It causes all kinds of havoc. And this is trying to close a loophole that the developers have been using. So again, this is really a monster homes bill. So thank you so much.

Thank you. Before I call up the administration, I would like to take public testimony. Proceeding first with in-person testimony in the chamber. Clerks, do we have any in-person testifiers? Is there anyone in the chamber who would like to testify on this item? Seeing none, proceeding with remote testimony. Clerks, do we have any remote testifiers?

Chair, there are none.

Moving forward for the administration, we have Dawn Takujiapuna, director of the Department of Planning and Permitting.

Thank you, Chair. We are supportive of the resolution, and we will review it and come back to the council. Thank you.

Thank you. Any questions for the director? If not, I will be recommending that we postpone action on resolution 26-150 today to give the Department of Planning and Permitting more time to review and respond to this proposed land use ordinance amendment pursuant to ROH section 2-24.3, which provides for a 30 day period for the department to request additional information on the proposal. I plan to put this resolution on the agenda for the next committee meeting on July 16th, 2026. The chair, sorry, moving to agenda item number three. Sorry. The chair recommends that action on resolution 26-150 be postponed to the next zoning and planning committee meeting on July 16, 2026. Any discussion, any objections or reservations? Hearing none, so ordered. Moving to agenda item number three for action. Resolution 26-134. This resolution approves the expenditure of funds from the Clean Water and Natural Lands Fund to acquire a perpetual conservation easement over approximately 170 acres of land encompassing 12 parcels known as Keikipuka o Kalaiwila in Kahuku, O'ahu. We have posted on the agenda a CD1 version of the resolution, which I submitted. For your information, a summary of the amendments is listed on the agenda. Resolution 26-134 is a reintroduction of Resolution 25-176, which was filed pursuant to ROH Section 1-2.5, which sets a one-year filing period on pending resolutions. The proposal was initially submitted to the Department of Housing and Land Management and the Clean Water and Natural Lands Advisory Commission by the Trust for Public Land and the North Shore Community Land Trust. Both land trusts are nonprofit 501c3 organizations. As proposed in the initial application, the public land trust will serve as the project manager to facilitate due diligence and the acquisition of the conservation easement. and the North Shore Trust will acquire and own the property and fee simple and be responsible for the stewardship and management of the property. Under the initial application, the North Shore Trust would acquire in fee simple the parcels valued at $25 million from current owners NSR Farms LLC, NSH Farms LLC, and NSP Farms LLC. As part of this land purchase transaction, the city would acquire a perpetual conservation easement over the property and an estimated price ranging from $10.5 million up to 16 million. According to the initial application, the balance of the purchase price of the property would be obtained from various funding sources, including 3 million from the state Legacy Land Conservation Program at the Department of Land and Natural Resources, and $4 million from the U.S. Department of War's Readiness Environmental Protection Integration Program. The property is one of the last remaining intact coastal dune ecosystems on Oahu, which provides habitat to several native endangered species, contains cultural and historical sites, and includes significant watershed lands, forests, beaches, coastal areas, and agricultural lands. The Clean Water and Natural Lands Advisory Commission found that the proposal strongly aligns with all seven purposes of the Clean Water and Natural Lands Fund under Charter Section 9-204 , which requires the funds to be used to acquire real estate or perpetual conservation easement for, first, the protection of significant watershed lands to preserve water quality and water supply. Second, the preservation of significant forests, beaches, coastal areas, and agricultural lands. Third, public outdoor recreation and education, including access to beaches and mountains. Fourth, preservation of historic or culturally important land areas and sites. Fifth, protection of significant habitats or ecosystems, including buffer zones. Sixth, conservation of land to significantly reduce erosion, floods, landslides, and runoff. Or seven, acquisition of public access to public land and open space to you at a significant public benefit. Based on the initial application, the Advisory Commission recommends that the funds from the Clean Water and Natural Lands Fund be used to fully fund the city's acquisition of a conservation easement over the Kekepuka or Kalaiwila parcels in an amount not to exceed the appraised value of the conservation easement, subject to administration advice upon the completion of due diligence and negotiations. Recently, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs has shown interest in acquiring the Kalaiwila parcels, and OHA's Investment and Land Management Committee approved the performance of due diligence activities to potentially acquire the land. Upon acquisition, OHA plans to engage a steward in a long-term lease to serve as the manager and steward of the land. on june 12 2026 oha presented a proposal to the commission that modifies the application for the clay wheel up parcels to reflect oha as a co-applicant with the trust republic land and north shore community land trust the commission considers the modified application considered the modified application and recommended approval of the expenditures from the cwl nl fund for the modified application Please refer to Department of Communication 419-2026 for the Department of Housing and Land Management. OHA anticipates that initial efforts will focus on the development of a community-led management plan and restoration of the native coastal dune habitat through invasive species removal, native outplanting and predator control, while also caring for the property's cultural sites and traditional aquaculture systems. OHA's stewardship vision also includes managed public access, educational and cultural programming, subsistence in cultural gathering practices, and appropriate recreational access to the coastline. The proposed CD1 version of the resolution modifies the structure of the transaction so that OHA will acquire the fee-simple ownership interest in the 12 parcels, with the City holding a conservation easement of the land to ensure permanent protection in perpetuity. Specifically, the CD1 first provides for up to $14 million from the funds to be used for the city to acquire a perpetual conservation easement over the Kalaiwila parcels, with the specific amount to be subject to a formal conservation easement appraisal. Second, it requires the administration to complete all due diligence as deemed necessary or desirable by the Department of Corporation Council and requires that standard transaction closing practices be implemented, including obtaining a formal conservation easement appraisal and title review. Third, It requires that all commitments relating to the protection, preservation, conservation, stewardship of the land comprising Kauaiwila included in the modified application submitted by OHA, TPL, and NSCLT be incorporated into final grant of conservation easement and declaration of covenants. Fourth, it provides that if the acquisition transaction is terminated or canceled for any reason by any party, the resolution is null and void. Fifth, it provides for better tracking of the acquisition transaction by providing that six months after the effective date of the resolution and every six months thereafter until the conservation easement transaction closes, the director of housing and land management is required to submit a report to the council detailing the progress of the city's due diligence efforts and the status of the perpetual conservation easement transaction. Finally, it attaches as exhibits A1 and A2 maps depicting the location of the Kalaiwila parcels. Committee members, if you don't mind, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees is simultaneously having a board meeting. And so what I would like to do is to have the CEO, Summer Silva, she'll be online to provide comments both on this agenda item, as well as the next agenda item relating to Pu'uhonua o Wailupe. Clerks, is Ms. Silva online? Yes, Chair. Aloha and good morning. Aloha, good morning. Summer, thank you for joining us. Do you have any comments that you would like to make on behalf of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs?

We absolutely do, and thank you for this accommodation and also just for... entertaining and being proactive and taking such a bold step forward in stewarding lands that we have shared inheritance and kuleana and responsibility for. Mahalo for your council members as well, for their support in the evolving development of this idea and the proposal. I think this goes to OLA's core mission which understands that natural resources are the cultural resources and caring for ʻāina is akin to caring for our people and the communities over which we are responsible for stewarding the clean water, natural lands program and funding perpetuates this collective inheritance and shared kuleana that the health of our lands is inextricable from the health of our people and OHA in particular is poised to receive and responsibly steward more lands. You know, we've had internal restructuring and new targeted and updated policies in our land paella, our land division, around procedures and stewardship plans that are both short-term and visionary in what we foresee using our land assets towards and always in service to our beneficiaries. You know, OHA's philosophy and practice of stewardship recognizes and honors the genealogy and mo'olelo of these storied places that we're responsible for or that institutions entrust us to become responsible for. The voices of our communities most closely connected to these lands who have a pilina and a really deep and felt sense of aloha aina and malama for them. or the foundations on which we co-steward and strengthen our relationship with those communities. And then protecting these places for us means continuing the familial and ancestral and cultural inheritance that we are also responsible as an agency to steward and to affirmatively safeguard. And so the two land acquisitions highlight, I think, our partnership efforts with the North Shore Community Land Trust and Puʻuhonuaʻo Wailupe the Hui that has been dedicated to that stewardship. And we step into the space with a lot of aloha for the work that they have both done in their communities and with respect to these lands and take our charge as stewards and as the agency responsible for the title and the long-term care for these properties very seriously. And we look forward to working in partnership with them and with the city moving forward on this particular initiative. The Board of Trustees is wholeheartedly supportive of this endeavor. And I think I can speak for them that we encourage the city to continue to explore these kinds of initiatives it's a model not just for the city but for the state and it's one that we are taking very very seriously advocating for advancing it up lifts our shared responsibility to our communities and the most precious cultural and natural resources that we have that make Hawaii unique so mahalo for your time Much appreciated.

Thank you so much. And before I ask any of the members if they have any question, I wanted to thank OHA for their leadership. You couldn't have two land acquisitions that are different. And what I appreciate is your acknowledgment that with regard to your kuleana, It's not just in the large land parcels, but it is in smaller parcels that need caring for. And in concert with community members from that area, you also have a kuleana, and it doesn't harm OHA, but many of these organizations, because of the complexity of this process, need a title holder that will be able to help the preservation of these lands in perpetuity. And I look at OHA in that regard, and I hope that moving forward, you could be looking at these creative opportunities not as a potential burden, but as you stated, a kuleana of OHA. So thank you, and thank you to the Board of Trustees for supporting these two initiatives. Members, are there any questions for Summer? If not, we're going to move on to the presentation for this agenda item. We have Reyna Ramolete from the Trust for Public Lands and Adam Borrello from the North Shore Community Land Trust, who will be providing a brief presentation. For your information, the presentation is available online as Miscellaneous Communication 264-2026. Welcome and good morning.

Aloha mai kakou. Chair, Kia Aina, and the rest of the council members, thank you for having us here today. We're so excited about this opportunity to protect this 171-acre aina in Kahuku in partnership with the city, with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, North Shore Community Land Trust, the State Legacy Land Conservation Program, as well as REPI. It really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. My name is Raina Ramalete. I'm with Trust for Public Land. We've been protecting land across our islands for about 50 years, have protected over 79,000 acres in partnership with community and government agencies. This is just a zoomed in aerial just to orient those of you that haven't visited this property. It's 171 acres, primarily zoned Ag 2. You can see there's a couple of blue squares, one large blue square in the middle and smaller, and those are actually not part of the lands that we are acquiring. They're actually private inholdings. There are some still Kuleana residents that still own property in that blue area, as well as other private landowners. So just to be clear, that is not part of this land protection effort. If you can see this more zoomed out map, you can see that Kalaiwila is adjacent to the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge, as well as just next door to the Turtle Bay Resort area. And you can see as well the Kahugu Training Area is just mauka of this property, which is why RAPI funding has been awarded from the Department of Defense. So it really is a very rare opportunity. I can't emphasize that enough. There are no lands of this size that are zoned agriculture along our coast, Makai of the Highway. This is the last piece. And so it really is very special. And just to share a little bit more about the project structure. Trust for Public Land, we are a project manager. We are also a buyer in interest because we handle a lot of the real estate negotiations, the real estate due diligence, the helping to raise and defend public funding for these kinds of projects. The proposed future owner is the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, with whom we've done many projects over the years. Waukeleopuna being one of the first times ceded lands, actually the first time ceded lands were ever returned to a Hawaiian entity. We did that in partnership with OHA and we're proud to be with them here today. And the North Shore Community Land Trust as well. We've had a long and wonderful relationship with the North Shore community and this organization that has really been at the forefront of fighting to defend and protect and steward their lands and waters. and we're really excited that they are the proposed long-term steward in partnership with OHA. And the city will hold a conservation easement, which is a really critical real estate tool to actually protect Aina in perpetuity. It is a real estate interest. The city will will do an appraisal of the conservation easement and work with all of the partners to come up with terms so that these lands and its resources can be protected forever. As Councilmember Kia'aina shared, we have already raised $3 million from the State Legacy Land Conservation Program, as well as $4 million from the RAPI Program, and we're here asking the city today for $14 million. for the conservation easement. And this is just a quick slide of all of, so to bring you to this aina, since we're here in Honolulu, all of the incredible cultural resources, including a koa and heiau, and as well as existing aquaculture that's being used to grow ogre and tilapia and seaweed, Excuse me. What is the term I'm thinking of? I can't think of it right now. And then as well as future agroforestry, which the North Shore Community Land Trust has been working on in a parcel nearby. This coastline is so rare in terms of its coastal sand dune ecosystem. It's home for many threatened and endangered species. And this community has been experts at creating habitat and safe havens for honu, for monk seal pupping, and particularly for the moli. And you can't see the photos right now, but it's going to be an incredible opportunity to do educational and cultural programs for the surrounding community and for all of Hawai'i. so that they can come to this area and experience and learn and take care of our precious resources. And just to quickly go over the threat of development, you probably saw in that map slide on the left-hand side is the Marconi subdivision. And that is exactly what might happen to this property if it gets into the wrong hands. Because it's zoned Ag 2, there's a potential to subdivide into two acre parcels, 170 acre piece of property. And so really the threat is very much real. The property has gone under and fallen out of contract and is under contract again. And really this passing of this resolution is gonna put us in strong standing to negotiate with the landowner to try and get it under contract. So we're really excited to get to this point. And mahalo, I'll be available for any questions.

Thank you. Members, you're more than free to ask questions of Raina, as well as we have representatives from the North Shore Community Land Trust, as well as the Office of Hawaiian Affairs in the chamber. Any questions? Council Member Topola.

Hi, Aloha. Thank you for being here. My question is regarding the amount of money that is being allocated to acquire the land is significant and it's great that there's so many different sources willing to protect the land. What is the maintenance cost and is it something that the North Shore Land Trust is going to be able to shoulder year after year? Do you know?

That's something that we are currently exploring. Unfortunately, we have not been able to get certain due diligence from the seller, they have agreed to provide that to us if we get under contract with them. We do know that there are current agricultural leases on the property that provide income. We have an estimation of what that might be, but we don't actually have the paperwork because it's really until the funding is put in place, we can't really begin due due diligence in earnest, just because of how difficult it has been to negotiate. But the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and North Shore Community Land Trust are in close conversation and dialogue about how to sustainably fund the stewardship into the future.

That's great. It's 171 acres, so it's significant. And so whatever does happen after you guys are able to kind of finish this due diligence, this hurdle and get into the next one, then maintenance discussion is going to be so important because we don't want to acquire it and then let it go, you know, to the wayside. So thank you very much for being here and for your presentation. Thank you. Thank you, Chair.

And Councilmember Tupola, you know the Clean Water Natural Lands Fund, they have a sliver of maintenance, so you might also wait till they come up and ask them as well. Members, any other questions? Councilmember, Vice Chair Waters, any questions?

Yeah, thank you. You did say that it's currently in contract. What's the likelihood of that falling out of contract?

Well, it has fallen out of contract previously. I do think that because we haven't been able to show that we have the financing, that's why it continues to go under contract. I do think that there has also been conversations with the landowner's representative that even if... that sale goes through that the potential buyer is interested in working with us. So let's say it goes into other hands. We did explore this with a prior buyer who was under contract of what we could do in terms of either a conservation easement or really focusing in on a particular area of the property that is more vulnerable, which is the coastline. Because it's complicated. It would all depend on what the buyer was willing to do. We really do only do voluntary land conservation, so it's really going to depend on what their priorities are and if there is a fit with the funding sources as well as with OHA in terms of how we could proceed with a sale to even another buyer or a purchase from another buyer.

I see. And then the property, if you're looking Makai, the property on the right-hand side is a forest reserve. What's the property on the left-hand side? Let me just go back to the... Yeah, I think that slide is a good slide.

On the left-hand side, that's private property. It's part of a Marconi subdivision. That property was bought and subdivided into an agricultural subdivision. It's been the subject of some, I guess, violations and controversy with the state because there has been building, I guess, unpermitted structures as well as destruction of some habitat along the coast. So you can kind of even see more closely here what's happening there. There's some warehouses. There's houses.

Just a thought for future reference. Maybe we take the part of Makai of those warehouses and purchase that too.

You know, I don't know if the North Shore is able to, Community Land Trust is able to talk, but I do think they're in discussions with some of those private owners to see if there can be like an appropriate buffer zone. Marco?

Adam Borrello, Executive Director from the North Shore Community Land Trust. Again, thank you, members, for the opportunity this morning. With regard to that coastal ban, it is subject to a contested case hearing right now based on the habitat violations and destruction that Raina had referred to. And we're hopeful that part of that conversation, if you look to the left, that highlighted in purple unit is just over four acres. That was given to us as part of, given to the North Shore Community Land Trust as part of a previous contested case hearing that resulted in the death of a Moli and other violations and so in lieu of the penalties, board of land and natural resources actually the settlement was for that to come in fee to the land trust. So we're hopeful that there can be discussions along a coastal band setback at least which would then connect because right next to that is 30 acres that we currently steward and and are working to restore tim tuishevsky our conservation director who's very familiar with our work there we've been doing it since 2015. um so yeah we're hopeful we could connect that coastal band ecosystem that chair kia referred to in our opening remarks from there all the way through to um james campbell and beyond kahuka which has been previously on the along the coastline preserve so you know fingers crossed that could happen chair waters yeah

Thank you so much. Thank you for your hard work. Thank you, Chair.

Members, any other questions? If not, before I call up the administration, I would like to take public testimony. Proceeding first with in-person testimony in the chamber. Clerks, do we have any in-person testifiers?

Chair, we have a few standing by.

Adam, I didn't know, I know you're on standby, but did you want to testify? I just want to... Press the button and then just identify yourself again because we're going to official public testimony.

Okay, just quickly, I'll largely stand on my written testimony, but just for the members that, you know, haven't had an opportunity to know who we are as an organization. First, thank you for your leadership, Chair Kiana, in getting out to the parcel for our site visits and the conversation with OHA and Clean Water and Natural Land that have us here today. I just wanted to share for the other members that Don't know. The North Shore Community Land Trust was founded in 1997 with the mission to protect, steward, and enhance natural landscapes, cultural heritage, and the rural character of Ahupua'a from Kahuku to Ka'ena. Since our inception, the North Shore Community Land Trust has raised over $70 million to protect in perpetuity over 4,000 acres of land along the North Shore. Building on this success, has also initiated several stewardship and restoration projects with relevance to . Since 2015, as I had mentioned previously, we've led the restoration and stewardship efforts. on 30 of the acres that were protected by two large conservation easements that we helped to put in place protecting over 1,000 acres and part of the negotiations to reduce the concentration of development at Turtle Bay. These efforts have come a long way to benefit many species of rare native plants, seabirds, and marine life, and the environment is very similar to the environment at Kalaio'ila. So we're excited to have this opportunity, or at least have the potential for this opportunity become a reality, and we appreciate the leadership. Kavela will testify later with regard to the cultural significance of the site as well. So thank you so much.

Thank you so much. The next testifier is Tim Taibouzouski.

Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for this opportunity today. I'm Tim with North Shore Community Land Trust. I'm the Director of Conservation, focusing on our restoration efforts at Kaleo Kauna O'o, which is on the Turtle Bay Resort property. And I just wanted to highlight the unique opportunity here with this coastal strand on this property. You know, I've been to a lot of different restoration sites throughout Hawaii, coastal restoration sites, and kind of learning, you know, my craft. And I have to say, this is one of the few sites I've ever been to that is almost entirely intact of native plant species. Very few invasive species in the area at the moment. I think that has a lot to do with it just kind of its remoteness and lack of kind of human encroachment to the area. And so I think it's a really unique special opportunity to preserve that area and allow future generations to experience that kind of unique coastal strand habitat. So I just wanted to highlight that real quickly before to bring that up to everybody. Thank you for your time. Appreciate it.

Thank you. The next testifier is Kahi Pacaro.

All right. Aloha mai kakou. My name is Kahi Piccaro. I am the chair of the Clean Water and Natural Lands Commission. Thank you, City Council, for this opportunity to speak. I wanted to just first give some context for the people that don't understand quite what the Clean Water and Natural Lands Commission is. In 2016, the city charter, our voters voted to create this fund to protect lands, to protect our watershed and important lands. And recently, we've got the opportunity to review a couple applications. And we unanimously decided to support these two. So my testimony is also going to be cognizant to the next property that we're going to be speaking about as well. So 1% of our property taxes goes to protect lands. We are sitting on a large amount of money and we want to protect as many lands as possible. So we appreciate the expediency of the City Council and the vision, especially Chair Kiana for figuring out that we should include OHA into this operation. We've been very grateful for that. And just wanted to, from our side at the Clean Water Natural Lands Commission, we are in full support of these two properties. And thank you very much for your time.

Thank you. And thank you so much for your leadership. If you don't mind, when the administration comes up later, just be on standby. So if any of the members have any questions with the administration, I think it's fair for them to be able to talk to you as well. Okay?

My pleasure.

Thank you. Is there anyone else in the council chamber who would like to testify on this item? Please come forward to the testifier podium and begin by stating your name. If not, clerks, we're going to... Oh, aloha. Good morning, Denise.

Aloha, Chair Kea'aina and members of the committee. My name is Denise Antolini. I'm here to testify in very strong support of this amazing proposal. So three things. First, I was actually the first chair of the Clean Water and Natural Lands Commission, so yay. And it is an amazing contribution to the citizens of Hawaii, and the City Council plays a critical role in moving projects along. Second point, thank you, Chair Kea-Aina, for moving things along. Third, Chair Waters, the vision is exactly what you stated, and you can see it. My last point is, in 2005, this city council did something very similar to fund Waimea Valley's acquisition and to put the title under OHA. It was historic. It's been very successful. Not easy. very successful in partnership with the trust for public land north shore community land trust and so many others that vote was historic and i think today's vote is also historic mahalo thank you so much is there anyone else in the chamber who would like to testify if not clerks do we have any remote testifiers chair we have a few standing by you the first testifier is carmella visa

Aloha, chairs and members of the committee. My name is Carmela Vita. I'm an assistant professor of environmental science at Hawaii Pacific University. And today I'm speaking on my own behalf and not on behalf of the university. I strongly support Resolution 26-134. My laboratory conducts research at the adjacent James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge. And we also partner closely with the North Shore Community Land Trust at Waile'e. Through that partnership, I've seen firsthand how the North Shore Community Land Trust transforms protected landscapes into living classrooms. Our undergraduate and graduate students, along with interns from nearby Kahuku High School, have gained hands-on experience in ecological restoration, water quality monitoring, and scientific research while working alongside community members on INAH. These experiences cannot be replicated in a classroom. They prepare students for careers in science, stewardship, and natural resource management, while fostering pulina to the places they call home and the communities they serve. Protecting Ke Kupuka Kaleiwawila is more than an investment in conservation, it's an investment in future generations. Just minutes from Kahuku High School, preserving this landscape will create lasting opportunities for Kahuku High School students, university students, and the broader community to learn Malama'aina and become lifelong stewards of this remarkable place. I respectfully urge you to support this resolution. Mahalo for your time and consideration.

Thank you, Carmela. You know, apart from the conservation aspects, I think one of the most exciting opportunities would be for both educational and cultural opportunities. So I fully concur with you. The next testifier is Larry Makoheni.

Chair, testifier is not logged on.

Next testifier is June James.

Good morning, June. Hello, good morning. This is a good day for many of us who live there. We look forward to working with TPL and OHA and the North Shore Trust. This really is one of those most unique um property that we really should not let it loose you know let it go away um so we are i am fortunate to be able to farm in one of the blue squares that you are talking about and um uh We also have neighbors who have actually lived there since the family have connection since the days of Kamehameha III and the Delta Hopkins and then even pre-war ownership. So we look forward to it and whatever you do, just land banking. This opportunity might not come up again and we can worry about the maintenance or whatever later on but I strongly encourage you the land banquet and so much of the land actually is in natural state so it wouldn't cost too much to maintain that but we look forward to it and we look forward to being included as the about five small property owners as part of this process and thank you for doing this it is very important as oahu gets smaller and smaller We need to especially protect this and especially we would like to see this whole coastline here not become just a private playground for the affluent people next door, where you can have a penthouse that will be on the market for about $20 million and a unit about $6 million. So you can see that it really is a good thing for OHA and the city and everyone else to protect the public access.

Thank you very much. I did have one question because I see your pictures on your farm. Is your farm there? Yeah, yeah. Okay, I was wondering where it was. Okay, good for you. Right in the blue square. I'm out there. You better have some bananas for me, okay? do have bananas but we have lost about 100 uh coconut trees that's okay that's okay with those things okay good to see you good to see you the next testifier is kauhane sorry if i mispronounced that chair testifier is not logged on okay the next testifier is nicholas paletela

Testifier is not logged on.

Is there anyone standing by who would like to testify? I see a number, last three digits, 869. Is that individual on? Yes, Chair.

Aloha. Aloha kakou. Can you folks hear me?

Yes, we can.

Aloha kakou. I am Lifelong resident of ,, also a stewardship and restoration specialist with North Shore Community Land Trust. Apologies for the technical difficulty and only being able to call in. But I just wanted to highlight some of the cultural significance of Kalaiawila, which I have learned over a few years of research during my graduate school years, as well as recently as this opportunity has come up. So the place named Kalaiawila itself means the point of lightning, so lai meaning a point of land, one of these points of land projecting out on the northernmost coast of O'ahu, and uila meaning lightning. And this point of land shares a name with a heiau that once existed in the area. Unfortunately, the heiau is no longer documented, but it could be a great opportunity for the community to conduct archaeology and potentially re-identify the site of it and restore that space. There was also once a fishing shrine, which was used by kupuna when the seas were rough, as they often are along the windy and high wave coast of the North Shore, to calm the seas and allow the people to go out and fish along this area. There's a small natural pond known as Kukio, which is said to have once contained many different types of fish. as well as along the shoreline, two islets known as Cahoa. And between these two islets, there's a mo'olelo that says that a woman who lived in this area would once put her clothing into a calabash, dive into the water, and disappear for some time as long as a week. And when she would come back, she'd be wearing a lay of cove, the bright orange flowers of the cove or the cordia tree. And it was later discovered that she was going to a supernatural mythical land known as uh so this is just a little bit of the cultural significance of this area it was used obviously as a fishing site a place for gathering paakai or sea salt limu and also there was a settlement in the area as well agriculture agroforestry so relating to kalaiwila this idea of lightning as well as that supernatural land in this day and age there's so few places on oahu like this we really hope that all of us and the future generations can be transported and energized by this place and inspired to continue to protect and be together as a community. So mahalo for the opportunity to testify.

And thank you so much for sharing all of your experience and knowledge about the area. Is there anyone else standing by online? Okay, thank you. For the administration, we have Kevin Anger, director of the Department of Housing and Land Management. Enough? Sure. Ben, why don't you come up and you can introduce yourself.

Good morning, Chair, committee members, Van Matsushige, Program Manager, Conservation Office, DHLM. I don't have anything to add to the already very strong application that was presented today. I did want to touch just a little bit about what council member mentioned regarding the stewardship and management of the property. We do have a stewardship fund that we're launching that will assist groups like North Shore Community Land Trust to do the work that they do on the property. So we're very cognizant of the need of community groups and the funding to steward the property. I'm available for any questions.

Thank you. So members, any questions for Van or for the Chair of the Advisory Commission? Council Member Okamoto.

Thank you, Chair. Really quick question, and I'm not sure if it's for you or for Commission Chair Pokhara. The fund was mentioned. I wanted to know what the amount in the Clean Water Natural Lands Fund is currently. I think as of record, I have from August 2025, it was $35 million. But do you know what its current balance is?

So we don't have a balance like your bank account. We get it from BFS, but it is about $7 million is what we're given last year.

$7 million.

$70 million, sorry.

$70 million. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Chair.

Members, are there any other questions? Thank you so much. The chair recommends that resolution 26-134 be amended to the post at CD1. Any discussion, any objections or reservations? Hearing none, the resolution has been amended to a CD1. The chair then recommends that resolution 26-134 CD1 be reported out for adoption. Any discussion, any objections or reservations? Hearing none, so ordered. Moving to agenda item number four for action, resolution 26-151. This resolution approves the expenditure of funds from the Clean Water Natural Lands Fund to acquire a perpetual conservation easement over an approximately 2.9-acre parcel in Huaylupe. We have distributed a hand-carried CD1 version of the resolution, OCS-2026-0407, which I submitted. For your information, a summary is attached to the CD1. The proposed CD1 makes clarifying amendments and provides for more robust resolve clauses, similar to the clauses in the previous resolution that the committee just considered. The proposal was submitted to the Department of Housing and Land Management and the Clean Water and Natural Lands Advisory Commission. by Puʻohonua Oʻailupe, a 501c3 nonprofit organization that works to protect iwi kupuna, cultural sites, natural resources, and traditional Native Hawaiian rights and practices. Upon acquisition, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs will acquire the fee simple ownership interest in the property, with the city holding a conservation easement. at an estimated price of up to $7 million to ensure permanent protection and perpetuity, and Puʻohonuaʻōwailupe will continue its stewardship and protection of the site. The current landowner, L&K Investments LLC, is willing to sell the land, and with the landowner's permission, Puʻohonua Oʻailupe has been stewarding this land since June 2022. An archaeological inventory survey for the site was completed in 2024 by the International Archaeological Research Institute Inc., which I will be referring to as the consultant. The survey documented two rock shelters with burials, a trail segment with associated walls, and two modified ceremonial pits. These sites are interpreted as a cultural landscape that extends across a large portion of the site. Stewardship will be guided by a 2025 preservation plan prepared by the consultant and involves restoration of native species, use of hand tools only, erosion mitigation, site security, pathway maintenance, ongoing consultation with Wailupe descendants, OHA, the city, the consultant and other community partners, observance of cultural protocols and incorporation of community work days. The commission found that the proposal aligns with five purposes of the CWNL fund, public outdoor recreation education, including access to beaches and mountains, preservation of historic or culturally important land area and sites, protection of significant habitat or ecosystems, including buffer zones, and conservation of land to significantly reduce erosion, floods, landslides, and runoff. Protecting this property, would provide for the perpetual protection of iwi kupuna under burial treatment and preservation plans approved by the State Historic Preservation Division. It will safeguard irreplaceable burial caves, cultural landscapes, and historical resources. It will facilitate access for lineal and cultural descendants and provide educational and cultural programming for the community. And it would be an important and essential consideration for the city in acquiring a perpetual conservation easement over the property. Council Chair Waters, as the council member for the district, would you like to provide further comment?

I'll wait till after everybody's testified, but thank you so much.

Thank you. Moving forward, joining us in the council chamber is Heilani Sonoropale from Puʻohonua o Wailupe, who will be providing a brief presentation. For your information, the presentation is available online as Miscellaneous Communication 265-2026. Welcome.

Thank you for this opportunity to share a little bit about our organization, Puʻuhonua o Wailupe. My name is Helani Sonorapale. I am the treasurer, the current board treasurer of Puʻuhonua o Wailupe. This is a beautiful picture from the 1940s of our site, of where the site is located in Wailupe in East Oʻahu. Okay. Great. So just a little bit about who we are. Puʻuhonua o Wailupe is the cultural stewards, as Chair Kiana had stated. The site is a 2.9-acre site identified as TMK 36023006, CPR 0001 through 0008, located on Vili Vili Nui Ridge in Wailupe, Oʻahu, in the ahupuaʻa of Waikiki on the island of Oʻahu. Our organization was formed on February 12, 2022, after community members halted heavy machinery activities that threatened burial sites on the property. We are now a 501c3 nonprofit comprised of Wailupe lineal descendants, cultural practitioners, environmental advocates, and iwi kupuna protectors. Puʻuhono o Wailupe is also a recognized Native Hawaiian organization. We are recognized by the Department of Interior. We have participated in cultural consultations for government projects in Wailupe and the surrounding areas. A little bit more. Our president is here, Michael Hikalia. Can you stand, Uncle Michael? He's our president and elder. He is a direct lineal descendant of Po'onui and Lekalua. He also brought some of his artifacts with him from his family, and he really carries that oral history of Wailupe before Western contact. Our vice presidents are Malia Marquez, who's also a Kanaka Maoli cultural practitioner. Thank you, uncle. and she also is a protector of sacred places, marine resources. Second vice president is Alfred Medeiros, long defender of Hawaiian burials and a sports organizer, a sports event organizer for youth. Our secretary, Komela Aiu, who is also here. Can you stand, Komela? She was born and raised in Wailupe. She is also trained in nonprofit organizational capacity building. Myself, I am an educator of over 30 years. I'm Kanaka Maoli, and I have been recognized and given numerous awards for my environmental advocacy. Our other board member is Wayne Tanaka, who is the executive director of Sierra Club, and also a environmental advocate. Okay, so just a little bit about ourselves. I know if you have any questions about who we are and where we come from. Okay, next one. So let me, yes, okay. So the parcel is located in East O'ahu and it is, the address is 5203 Kekilani Circle. So I've added some maps of where this parcel is located. It's kind of a T. It is in the middle of a suburb. It's right behind Ainahaina Elementary School, who we work often with. And if you look at the testimonies, we also have a testimony from the principal of Ainahaina Elementary School. Sorry. Okay, cultural sites. So there are a total of six traditional Hawaiian burials and cultural sites that are registered with the State Historic Preservation Division and the cultural landscape. And they make up part of the whole cultural landscape, which is almost half of the parcel. And that is site number 50-80-15-09457. All human remains that have been found on the parcel are preserved in place and have been preserved in place. Because of the additional known burial caves and archeological features adjacent to the property on Vili Vili Nui Ridge and with the many historical accounts of burials being found in this area, we suspect that there are more burials on the parcel and therefore should not be disturbed or developed. our partnerships, Puʻuhonuaʻo Wailupe and OHA submitted a joint application to the Clean Water and Natural Lands Commission on September 16, 2025, to acquire a conservation easement over the property. Under the proposal, the City and County of Honolulu would hold the conservation easement, while the title will be held by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Puʻuhonuaʻo Wailupe, a Native Hawaiian organization in 501c3, would serve as the cultural stewards of the site. We also have a consultant that we work very closely with, an archeological consultant, International Archeological Research Institute. And I also want to point out that our application for the Clean Water Natural Lands Fund was supported by three neighborhood boards, Waimanalo, Hawaii Kai, and Kuli'uokalani'iki. It's also supported by the Holy Nativity Church in Wailupe, there are letters of support in our application. Also, the Native Hawaiian Legal Corps put a letter of support for our application, Sierra Club Hawaii, Kilohana United Methodist Church, the Board of Water Supply, Mauna Loa Fishpond Heritage Center, and Hawaii State Representative Mark Hasham, Kumu Hula, Kauai Kapu, Kalani Hewitt. And then in the testimonies that have been submitted for this hearing, we have testimony also from teachers from Kaiser High School who have brought their students to our site for educational and cultural purposes. We also have a testimony from Matthew Casey. He's the environmental engineer for the US Coast Guard, one of our neighbors and partners in the community. Okay. The proposed acquisition will preserve a historically and culturally significant landscape, protect open space and natural resources, support conservation efforts and reduce erosion and runoff, and provide opportunities for public education about the cultural and historical importance of Wailupe. It fulfills multiple purposes of the Clean Water and Natural Lands Fund as set forth in Charter Section 9-204.2. The purchase price of the conservation easement shall not exceed the fair market value established by a new independent appraisal that will be commissioned by the city, and the amount is capped at $7 million. So just because it says $7 million doesn't mean it's going to cost $7 million. We suspect it's going to be much less. Thank you, but the owner is very flexible and supportive of this proposal, and we mahalo him as well for being supportive of iwi kupuna being protected. Mahalo nui. If you have any questions, let me know.

Thank you. Members, do we have any question? No question? Well, I just wanted to thank you for your leadership. I know this wasn't easy. You know, we're all here smiles today for both of these land acquisitions, but I know all of you guys today, both the administration and the community and all of your partners, this is not an easy task. So just wanted to commend you for your leadership in the community and for being here today.

Thank you.

Before I call up the administration, I would like to take public testimony proceeding first with in-person testimony in the council chamber. Clerks, do we have any in-person testifiers for this item?

Chair, we have one standing by.

The first testifier is Kumela Ayu.

Aloha. Thank you for your time and dedication to this process. I just wanted to share that we see often in the news opportunities or situations where people stand in front of bulldozers to stop or protect EV, and they often are contentious. And this particular situation at Wailupe, that happened. But actually what happened was conversations and community coming together in a way that is collaborative and has the opportunity to be long-lasting. I grew up in Wailupe Valley. Just a correction, I was flown, not born here. I was flown and grown here. But I looked at these cliffs for most of my childhood, and I didn't know what was there. And now that I know, as a settler, I have an opportunity to understand the culture and the significance of this place in a different way. And I encourage you to help us protect that. And by allowing the community as stewards, we also get to learn and build Pilina with the place in a new way. So I'm here in support, and I appreciate this opportunity for collaboration. And I think it's a unique opportunity. The way we've come together is really unique and should be celebrated.

and maybe can be a as you said chair an opportunity for the future thank you thank you so much you know i will have to say for other times in our communities across the archipelago where you're dealing with iwi kupuna it is normally contentious and still is and so to see the diversity of support between hawaiians and non-hawaiians and all the government agencies and advocacy organization it's just a tremendous opportunity so thank you If there's anyone else in the council chamber would like to testify, please come forward to the testifier podium and begin by stating your name.

Aloha, everybody. I just wanted to say thank you and Council Chair Kea'aina and the rest of the council. Yeah, before I get so emotional, but I just wanted to send my appreciation and my mahalos to all you folks. I thank you, folks. Aloha.

If you could identify yourself for the record.

Sorry, I'm sorry. My name is Michael Hikalea. I'm the current president of . I'm Nene O Descending. And gosh, I'm lost for words, but mahalo you folks. Thank you so much.

Thank you for being here and thank you for your leadership as well.

Thank you.

Next testifier.

Aloha. My name is Mia-Lisa Otis. Thank you, chair, vice chair, and committee for allowing Puʻuhonuaʻo Wailupe a chance at preservation. I am the advisor of Puʻuhonuaʻo Wailupe, and I've been there from day one. And one thing that sticks out to me is that when the historian and I first learned about the land, we climbed like billy goats up there and It's amazing just to see like trails just pop up in front of you or hails like such significant items and places in one little three-acre. And the partnership of the landowner, the state, OHA, and city just coming together to preserve this place is so beautiful. And it reminds me how the historian and I were up there. We found one Uhaloa bush up there. And we just got it because we were all into and we spread it like seeds. So I appreciate you spreading seeds for the generation to come.

Mahalo.

Thank you.

Aloha, Chair and City Council. It's me again, Kali Picarro. I'm the Chair of the Clean Water and Natural Lands Commission. I stand in full support, and so does our entire commission, to protect this land. This is just a great example of our tax dollars working and our government working, so I applaud all of us in working together collaboratively across the spectrum to make this happen. And I just want to encourage the other City Council members to work with your communities to also bring us more applications. This area is very heavy. We protect it a lot here, and I'd love to protect more here, but this is an island-wide opportunity. So please encourage your residents to bring properties in front of the Clean Water Natural Lands Commission. Thank you. Thank you.

Is there anyone else in the chamber who would like to testify? If not, we're going to go to... Aloha.

Aloha, respectful council and chair. My name is Linda Molina and I am here to absolutely before this spell because I see we as We in this planet, we are all, God put us to being as guardians of the land. So this organization, I have my utmost respect for preserving the land and the water of this precious Hawaii that we all love very much. So I absolutely want this to happen. Thank you very much. Thank you. Anybody else?

Aloha chair and committee vice chair and committee members. I'm Chris Kramer. I wanted to testify in strong support. I live in Wailupe and this site was always known to be a special place for the iwi kupuna to rest. Glad it's finally happening and wanted to just express our community's support.

Thank you and good to see you, Chris. Is there anyone else in person who would like to testify? If not, we're going to move to remote testifiers. Clerks, are there any remote testifiers?

Chair, we have one standing by.

Aloha, June. You're on.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Wonderful. I have been following this since day one, and I'm so happy that those who have respect for sacred and special places have come to this point. It certainly is really, really important as Oahu becomes more and more developed. And just, you know, things are cemented over without much respect. I'm so happy to see this happening. And because the size does not matter. But I appreciate all the work and the vision of so many people who are involved in this. So small, large, less, go on and preserve more. And this was why I so totally objected against the city selling the little Pequoy Park. You know, small, big, we all need open spaces and happy places and sacred and special places. So thank you very much.

Thank you for your testimony. Clerks, do we have any other remote testifiers? Chair, there are none. For the administration?

Marine chair, vice chair and committee members, conservation office, HLM. Nothing else to add except that this is an example of the diversity of projects that we're evaluating and hopefully we can bring more to the committee and the council. Mahalo.

Thank you so much because I do agree that this is just the beginning. And we all look forward to working with you on future projects. And for those in the community, I will be having a workshop for not only the Clean Water Natural Lands Fund, but all of the other major players at Windward Community College in August. uh encourage you to help with regard to identifying organizations would be interested and i'll work with my colleagues so that they could also send non-profit organizations to the workshop do you have any questions vice chair okay thank you so much uh the chair recommends that resolution 26-151 be amended to the hand carried cd1 ocs 2026-0407 any discussion any objections reservations hearing none

Sorry. I didn't have any questions, but I definitely have comments.

Yeah, myself as well.

Oh, you go first.

No, at the appropriate time.

Oh, on the CD1 or the resolution? Oh, I'm sorry. How about we just, before I move, how about we talk now? Make your comments now.

Okay.

Sorry.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you for putting this on. But, you know, heartfelt aloha to all those participants who've gotten it to this point. Yeah, thank you, Helene, and your team. Brother Mike, who actually is a retired city worker and I've known for years and years. Chris Kramer, who was on the Clean Water and Natural Lands Commission. Kahipa Carl, and the entire team, really. But this hasn't come easy. I still remember the scraps at the Aina-Haina-Kulio'o neighborhood board. where the developer would come in, right, and the community was just relentless, like, no, we're not going to let you build this. He went forward anyway and dug one huge, huge dent into the mountain and then put up one rock wall, and we still fought. And there are caves there. And if you go up there, folks, you can see it yourself. You can feel the mana there. And there's like these faces in the rock. And I got pictures of it. And it's just really, really a special place. So I really admire Helani and Mike and everyone involved, your passion and hard work. because it wouldn't have happened, right? But for you guys. And, you know, I actually have to thank the developer, too, because at first, that guy was doing the haka. No, no, I have my permit, right? And I was like, bro, you know what a permit from Shifty. And DPP actually said, we got the permit, but we lost it. Remember that, Chris? Like, it was crazy. But ultimately, the developers said, you know what, I'm going to work with the community. And he did. This is not over, by the way. We still have a lot of work to do. We still got to do the due diligence and all that stuff. But the developer came around and said, you know what? I want the community to have this. And he lets the group on the property who's currently stewarding it. So I got to thank the developer. I don't want to say his name, though. But we all know who he is. But the other thing, I want to thank you, Chair. because I love what you put in the CD1. It says, it adds a further be resolved clause to provide that six months after the effective date of this resolution and every six months thereafter until the land acquisition transaction closes, the department of housing and land management director is required to submit a report to the council detailing the progress of the city's due diligence efforts and the status of the city's perpetual conservation easement so thank you for that i love that that way we we know what's going on we don't just wait and you know but hopefully it puts a little bit pressure on you van appreciate your hard work too but We've got to get this done. The committee has been waiting a long time. So thank you all. This is a wonderful, wonderful thing. Mahalo.

Thank you, Chair, for your comments and relaying the history. With regard to working with the Clean Water Natural Lands Fund director, as well as his staff, I am confident that not only are they going to be able to abide by that condition, but even without it, I think that they realize their kuleana. They take it quite seriously. We wouldn't be here today. And I'm hoping that all of the future projects are being considered by the commission as well as their team moves forward in an expeditious fashion. And sometimes, you guys, we need to help them. We need to help them with regard to any challenges that they have in the system because it's a very complicated process. Yeah.

I may also just thank Office of Wine Affairs. I left them out in my mahalos, but they are also a key element in this. Thank you.

Okay, thank you so much. Any other comments? Council Member Tupola.

Yeah, I just wanted to mahalo the whole group that did it. You know, it happened actually during our time here in Council. It's a fairly new hui that organized to kind of preserve this. go through the whole process. So it's amazing just to see the whole thing happen. You know, I grew up in Mauna Loa area and there's such few Native Hawaiian sites that are being preserved in chair waters. Thank you for the few sites you guys are getting protected because it used to be a huge agricultural fishing area for our island. years ago. And so it's so nice to see some of this preserved and to see people want to know the stories and want to know the history of the area. That's the only way we can actually grow ownership and stewardship of our land. So I'm grateful for the Clean Water Natural Land Commission and I did actually submit a few from my district just for clarity. And maybe I got really frustrated. Maybe I need to go back in there and do it again. But we do have a lot of cultural sites, although we have none that are being supported by the Clean Water Natural Land Fund. We don't want it to be none. So I will go in and try it again. I mean, the Eatons are doing stuff in Ewa. I mean, so many people in Waianae preserve things. And we want the help of the city. So I will try again. Because seeing this gives me hope. that the whole process can actually be completed.

And, you know, that's what this is all about. And I have to say, you may want to also have a workshop because what I'm finding is when is our communities, you know, we think that they know all of these various avenues. They do not. So what I was going to do is not just have the Clean Water and Natural Lands Fund. I'm going to have the Land Legacy Fund there, the Department of Wars people there, Trust for Public Land, Office of Wine Affairs, so that the community can all ask them questions and how they can partner. I highly recommend it.

Council Member Cordero. Thank you, Chair Kea-Aina. I do also want to mahalo the community. It is something that, you know, within our first two years, Chair Kea-Aina, Council Member Tipola, we experienced. We saw some of the scraps play out here in the council chambers. So mahalo to Healani. Mia-Lisa, I do want to highlight what you said. It was contentious. I do want to note that it just came down to conversations between, I don't know if it was Mia-Lisa or it was Kumela that brought this up, but it came between conversations between community, but also Chair Waters mentioned between the developer being amenable to that conversation as well. So I just want to really highlight that explicit point that everyone mentioned, especially Kumela, the community, Healani, and Mia Lisa brought up as well. So mahalo, Chair.

Thank you so much. OK, moving forward, the chair recommends that Resolution 26-151 be amended to the hand-carried CD1, OCS 2026-0407. Any discussion, any objections or reservations? Hearing none, the resolution has been amended to a CD1. The chair then recommends that Resolution 26-151 CD1 be reported out for adoption. Any discussion, any objections or reservations? Hearing none, so ordered. Members, if you don't mind, I'm going to be taking a five-minute recess. Thank you.

... ... Thank you.

Aloha, welcome back. The Zoning and Planning Committee is reconvened. Moving to agenda item number five, for action, Bill 37-2025, CD1. This bill amends portions 7.292 acres of the state land use district boundary amendment, Haleiwa Quadrangle, from the agricultural district to the urban district for certain lands situated in the Haleiwa Special District, Haleiwa, Oahu, Hawaii. Before I go into the background on this, this bill, which I know that all of you know well. I would like to bring in Council Member Matt Weier, who is going to be zooming in to provide some remarks. Is he on yet? When he's on, clerk, could you let me know? Yes. Okay. And what I'll do, if the members will... indulge me. This is going to be quite a lengthy introduction given its history, but at any time, because he is under some time constraints, he's actually at the airport, and because he is the council member for this district and it's a very important issue, I want to make sure to afford him the opportunity to share his mana'o. So again, clerks, at any time that you see him online, please let me know, and I'm going to pause my remarks, okay? So as I mentioned earlier, the action item, I just wanna provide some background. While this is a state land use district boundary amendment, HRS section 205-3.1 allows the county land use decision-making authority to determine district boundary amendments involving land areas of 15 acres or less, so long as the land is not located in the state land use conservation district and is not designated as important agricultural lands. The property subject to the boundary amendment is an approximately 7.292 acre portion, referred to as the petition area, of an approximately 7.525 acre zoning lot located within the Haleiwa Special District and referred to as the Haleiwa property. The remaining 0.233 portion of the Haleiwa property is already classified as within the state land use urban district and consists of a portion of Opaewula Road, This boundary amendment is the first step for the applicant to obtain regulatory entitlements for the proposed development of the Haleiwa property with approximately 150 to 156 low-rise apartment dwelling units, approximately 30,000 square feet of commercial space, parking, and a wastewater management system. Once the site is classified as within the state land use urban district, It will allow for a rezone of the site from the AG-1 Restricted Agricultural District to the B-1 Neighborhood Business District and A-1 Low Density Apartment District. Opaula Road is currently zoned P2 General Preservation District, and while excluded from the petition area, it will be included in the zone change application. Under R8 Section 23-1.6, all petitions for state land use district boundary amendments must be reviewed from this perspective. of first, contribution to the general welfare and prosperity of city residents, whether a public use need or problem presently exists to serve as a basis for the proposed state land use district boundary amendment, and third, consistency with the Hawaii State Plan and the O'ahu General Plan. I would like to go over the difference between an ordinance to approve a state land use district boundary amendment and an ordinance to approve a zone change. Often a state land use district boundary amendment is the first step in a long approval process that would need to occur before a particular project could be developed on a specific site. Boundary amendments do not result in the approval of projects that are not otherwise entitled for development. For example, The most common boundary amendment is from the state land use agricultural district to the state land use urban district to allow for more intense development of the site, but this would require a rezone of the site from an agricultural zoning district to a more intensive zoning district. At the time a state land use district boundary amendment is considered, many of the details for a proposed project have not yet been finalized and may be subject to change when the applicant applies for a zone change approval. When a zone change application is submitted to the Department of Planning and Permitting, specific details regarding the proposed project are disclosed and the zone change ordinance is accompanied by unilateral agreement that includes conditions of approval intended to mitigate adverse impacts and specific project. for example at the time a zone change application is submitted for the halaiva property details for the project would be finalized and as previously indicated by the department the corresponding unilateral agreement could include conditions imposing affordability requirements that may modify the number and area median income levels for the project's housing component The unilateral agreement may also include conditions requiring the implementation of traffic mitigation measures to address traffic impacts directly attributed to the project. At the zone change approval stage, There will also be more opportunity for community engagement on the specific project that is being proposed. For example, the zone change approval process includes neighborhood board presentations and community outreach prior to the submittal of the zone change application, processing by the Department of Planning and Permitting that includes sending requests for comments to public agencies, community organizations, adjoining property owners, and other interested parties. processing by the Planning Commission that includes a public hearing, and three readings before the Council that includes a public hearing on second reading. There was a lot of discussion about consistency with the 2011 North Shore Sustainable Communities Plan. The plan's vision is to maintain the rural character, agricultural lands, open space, natural environment, recreational resources, and scenic beauty of Oahu's northern coast. In line with the general plan's policies to preserve the open space and county atmosphere of the rural areas, growth is limited to infill areas within or adjacent to built up areas to accommodate existing and future housing with employment needs. The plan identifies the petition area as entirely within the community growth boundary. designates the petition area as county country town and identifies the petition area for infill development the department indicated that they are working that would be the department of planning and permitting indicated that they are working on the draft of an updated north shore plan but consideration of bill 37 requires consistency with the applicable development plan that is in effect at a time of consideration According to the department, the development of Haleiwa property has been in the works for over a decade and began shortly after adoption of the 2011 North Shore Plan. The Haleiwa property is located within the Haleiwa Special District. which is intended to mean the largely rural character of the area, any project proposed for development must obtain a special district major permit, which is processed by the department and involves review for compliance with the Haleiwa Special District design guidance and requirements. The applicant's agent made presentations on this bill at four prior committee meetings. When the bill was heard for discussion purposes only, at the regular zoning building held on May 29, 2025, and at a special zoning meeting held on the evening of June 17, 2025, and when the bill was considered for action at the regular zoning meeting on June 26, 2025, when the CD1 version of the bill was reported out of committee for second reading and a public hearing, and then again at the regular zoning and planning meeting on July 28, 2025, when the CD was reported out of committee for third reading. At the full council meeting on August 6th, 2025 for final passage of the bill, the bill was recommitted back to the zoning committee. In response to community concern about the project, During the period beginning August 2025 up to April of this year, I conducted and due diligent efforts with potential buyers of the property, including the city, as well as the commandment schools. By departmental communication 112-2026, the Department of Housing and Land Management and the communications are on your desk stated that upon completion of its preliminary due diligence, the administration does not intend to pursue acquisition or direct development of the parcel. The department concurs with the Department of Planning and Permitting that appropriately plan housing development at the site, including affordable housing, would align with adopted planning policies and the city's broader housing objectives, including those set forth in the 2025-2028 Strategic Housing Plan. While the city does not seek to acquire or directly develop the property, the department strongly supports the council's consideration of residential development at this site, subject to compliance with applicable laws and regulatory requirements. As a result of these developments, And I did not feel that it would be fair to not hold this bill indefinitely. For the last few months, the council was busy with the annual budgetary process, so I felt that it was reasonable at this time to take a vote on the bill. Before calling up the agent for the applicant, I would like to allow for Councilmember Weyer. Aloha, Councilmember Weyer. Are you online? i am uh chair council member wire uh please if you would like to make any manao uh share your manao on this i would greatly appreciate it i know that you are time constrained and so i would hold off on the on on the presentation until you give your remarks appreciate that um you know i understand uh

and the comments you made and the work you've done. I also wanna flag, I appreciate the work on the Clean Water National Land Fund resolutions. Earlier, I wasn't able to jump on. Knowing I'm not a voting member, I just wanted to relay, I still oppose moving this measure forward. I think the community, and I'm sure the testimony will overview some of the concerns, particularly in looking at this parcel as it sits between the flood zones uh backstop by bypass without access i know there's a lot of certainly legitimate concern and i have concerns about just uh density involved in the initial proposed project is the forward to the community on top of the discussion about whether or not it's affordable or workforce housing that's early in the discussions but none of the financing or the directions seem to provide a larger affordability for the community outside of the city's existing including zoning requirements and so I think ultimately I'll you know rest on the comments of the community and the testimony because I think they're definitely indicative of how we can best move forward on this and we continue to oppose it as it moves forward to the council if it doesn't allow the committee to follow.

Thank you, Councilmember. Members, since he is the member of the district, did any of you have any questions to ask the Councilmember? Councilmember, do you mind? Councilmember Tupola would like to ask you a question. Of course.

Yeah, thank you so much. Thanks for tuning in. I just want to know, are you in support or opposition of Bill 37?

I think we're both trying to mute myself and the clerk's opposition.

Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you for making the time.

Of course. Thank you.

For the agent, we have Jim Hayes from Planning Solutions, Inc., who will be providing a brief presentation. For your information, the presentation is available online as Miscellaneous Communication 267-2026.

Thank you, Chair. Jim Hayes of Planning Solutions representing the applicant. Appreciate the introduction, Chair. I'll go through my presentation quickly since you covered several of the points. But Bill 37 is only mentioned or only designed to change the state land use district from ag to urban. The bill will not approve any development or use of the land. As you can see here, the site outlined in red is between Kamehameha Highway and Joseph P. Leong Highway, which is known as the Haleiwa Bypass. It's outside of the special management area, so it's relatively removed from the shoreline, coastline. The site is zoned restricted agricultural AG1. But although it's zoned for agriculture, several conditions render it not well-suited for agriculture, including its shape and topography. lack of access to agricultural water, proximity to Haleiwa Town, and poor soil conditions after its use as a staging area during construction of the bypass. Looking at an aerial photograph, you can see that the area in red here, the project site, is undeveloped and unused at this time. It is a remnant parcel that was formed when DOT acquired right away for the bypass. This graphic shows flood zones and coastal hazard areas. And as this demonstrates, the site is outside of those hazard areas, which is an important aspect of why development is appropriate in this location. The site is also outside of the tsunami evacuation zone. Now the real important aspect of this proposal, and the chair talked about this, is that it is consistent with the local plans regarding the area. And ROH Chapter 23, Section 1.6 establishes the standards and criteria for district boundary amendments. And our application and the chair's due diligence has thoroughly addressed those criteria. Consistency with the county's long-term plans are an important aspect of those criteria. And the council's adopted North Shore Sustainable Communities Plan, which reflects public input received during its preparation, establishes the city's growth and land use direction. The plan provides residents and developers with some certainty regarding their futures and the land use in their neighborhoods. It establishes the community growth boundary and says development outside of that line is discouraged, but appropriate development inside that line should proceed. The subject site is clearly within the community growth boundary. It is also within the Country Town District, shown in the hashed area on this graphic. And as you can see, it's in the central portion of that Haleiwa Town District. The plan states that allowing development within the boundary preserves areas outside of the boundary for agriculture and open space. It states that Haleiwa should be promoted as a country town by emphasizing infill along Kamehameha Highway, including areas makai of the bypass. Lastly, the plan says housing, including rental multifamily structures, should be sited in and around Haleiwa Town on lands outside of flood zones, exactly the kind of site that this is. Bill 37 is before you now because DPP and the Planning Commission agree that the proposed redistricting satisfies the Chapter 23 criteria, including consistency with long-term plans. Passing Bill 37 will confirm the reliability of established land use policy and is an important first step to providing needed infill and housing in the North Shore community. This map illustrates the proposed boundary amendment area, the petition area in the hatching there. So the area, the bill would move roughly 7.3 acres from the state agricultural district in yellow to the state urban district. And you can see that a state urban district already exists just to the west, and that's the Haleiwa central part of town. Amending the boundary, as the chair has outlined in her initial comments, does not approve any development. It does not approve a zone change. After, should Bill 37 pass, the only development allowed or the only use allowed on that property will continue to be agricultural in nature until a zone change application is completed and submitted and considered by this council. So the applicant is fully aware of the requirements and fully intends to comply with those as far as community outreach, working with the neighborhood board, agencies, and organizations as the zone change application is prepared. This is a conceptual drawing of the current proposed development. But Bill 37 does not approve this development. So I'm not going to go into details about it. The chair already went into some information regarding the proposal in her opening remarks. And as she also stated, any housing project on this parcel of this nature would require affordable housing requirements or trigger affordable housing requirements. And a unilateral agreement would be prepared that fully addresses the affordable housing and other aspects of a future zone change should that proceed. So with that, I'll end my presentation. And I'm available for any questions.

Members, any questions?

Council Member Topolo. Hi. Aloha. Thank you for being here. So since last year, May 2025 till today, what has changed or what have you done differently to prepare for the hearing today? Just so that we should know, because we did hear this about a year ago. So I wanted to know, is there something new? Did you do more?

The bill has been in standby mode and so has the project. Like I said a moment ago, the applicant is fully committed, should Bill 37 pass, to working with the community on the zone change application and refining the proposal, but did not warrant an investment in that regard until Bill 37 is passed.

Yeah, I asked because I did meet with applicant and I just asked for two things. And I said, perhaps if these two things were met, there might be a little bit more common ground, a little bit of compromise. Are you aware of the two things that I asked or shall I share?

Please share.

First, I reiterated a portion of the North Shore Sustainable Communities Plan 3.5.2, where it says guidelines. So specifically, the picture that you put up that's not approved, I asked that this be taken off the presentation because it's misleading. So it's on the presentation, but it's not being approved. So this happened last year, May. in the conversations we had it was very apparent that attaching it to bill 37 was very confusing because then people are like okay you guys are all for the this development and again you said it but i don't understand why it's still included till today in this it doesn't need to be i even asked a director does this map or does this proposed drawing need to be included she said no it doesn't need to be included but it's still included so that could have been easy like remove page still there I ask that because the picture itself is showing low density apartments. So it's 10 to 20 units per acre. In the North Shore Sustainable Communities Plan, it says that except for small pockets of existing apartments in Mokule'a, almost all of the housing on North Shore consists of single family residences. So there's only three options in the North Shore, rural, rural residential or low density apartment. So when I had the meeting with the applicant, I asked, why is this choosing low density apartment? Yes, you can do housing and infill. Yes, the boundary amendment is suggested to be done in the North Shore Sustainability Plan. But why did we choose low density apartment when there's rural characteristics in the area? Because this is 10 to 20 units per acre, whereas rural residential is five to eight units. So I said, either take this proposal off so that it doesn't anger people because we're not supporting a particular housing proposal or bring it down to rural residential, which neither was done. So that was the first request. wasn't entertained. The second request I had was, can you please rally more support? At least half, if not more than half. Last time we did this, there were 753 testimonies in opposition. It would be nice if there was 300 in support, or 400, or close to 700. But it was so, so far off. So I said, please rally that support, because that's really going to be the discrepancy that we have to handle as a council, because we're not just building developments, we're building communities. and communities equal working with other community members. And still today we have an overwhelming 183 opposition and nine support. So I know you were unaware of those two things, but I did take the time to meet with the applicant since last year. These were the things that I requested and it still wasn't done today, which is unfortunate because I feel like we're just watching a rerun without any work, but I will say she did work. She went out and asked the administration if they would entertain buying the property. She didn't need to do that. She did that because one of the properties in my district that we own, we put housing on it, and guess what? Our studios are 500 for the studio, lowest in my whole district. It's hard to get housing down that cheap. Our four bedrooms are 2,000 something. So again, she was trying to find a way to compromise and she put in the work. So it's important that when we come to these conversations that there be work on the part of the applicant, on the part of us as council members because what we're trying to find is common ground. We can't make everybody happy, but we can't just sit on things and then hope when we come back that it'll be better even though we didn't put in any work from the last time. So thank you so much for your presentation. Thank you, Chair.

Yeah, I take that to heart. And like I said, should the bill move forward, the applicant is committed to working with the community on the zone change application. And to the extent appropriate, revising the proposal to reflect the community plan and input received.

Members, are there any other questions for Mr. Hayes? You know, I probably brought it up, but I'm going to bring it up anyway. I brought it up before, but with regard to, and I know that this is just a boundary amendment, but with regard to your proposed projection of affordable housing units versus market rent, you have currently 70% market and 30% affordable. Is there any way that the affordable could be increased?

Well, as that slide outlines, I'll put it back up here. Yeah, this is just sort of the starting point to comply with the existing rules and that as the proposal is developed further during the zone change process, there'll be discussion via unilateral agreement, negotiations with the city as far as how this is implemented and if and how these numbers can change to make the development more appropriate to the area. So certainly there's opportunity for these numbers to change, but I think it's premature to say exactly how they'll change at this point in time.

Okay. But you're saying that the reason you have these numbers, it's because it's required. So you're meeting the minimum requirement for affordable housing for this project. Is that correct?

I'm not saying that this is how the project is going to go. I'm providing this information for public information so that people understand, should the project move forward, this is the bare minimum that would be required.

That is correct. But I just need to let you know, given the concerns expressed by the community in all of the hearings, It's easy to say during the zoning change stage, but it certainly wouldn't have hurt to increase the numbers because you could. Not that you were required, but you could. So I just wanted to make that comment because I believe I'm a little rusty here, but I do believe I raised this issue before. So similar to what Councilmember Topolo is saying, sometimes it's not just a matter of updating the cover sheet and coming and give the same presentation. I think you need to look at things in your presentation that you might be able to go the extra mile on. So that's just a statement. I'm expecting you to answer that. So if there's no other questions, we're going to move forward with testimony before I call up the administration. Thank you. I would like to take public testimony. Proceeding first with in-person testimony in the chamber. Clerks, do we have any in-person testifiers for this item?

Chair, we have a lot standing by.

Okay, the first testifier that signed up is Sam Kim.

Thank you, Chair, Vice Chair, Waters, members of this committee. My name is Sam Kim. I'm the Government Relations for the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters, testifying in strong support of Bill 37, CD1. We'll be standing on our written testimony, but just one point I'd like to emphasize is that this bill is seizing a real chance to build housing, to which saying no would leave usable land sitting idle on their label that no longer fits. This parcel did not earn its agricultural label by being good farmland, but inherited that label in a statewide classification drawn more than half a century ago, built on plantation-era soil data. An article by Hawaii Business details how these aging ratings still guide land use today, and long after they stopped, reflecting how or where farming actually happens. So although nearly half of our land is designated for agriculture, only 8% of that land is being utilized to grow our crops. Considering the serious housing shortage we're facing, it's only common sense for us to re-examine these designations to see how it can be used to better serve our community and most importantly the people. The ground in question proves this very point. It's a leftover remnant when the state built the bypass highway which resulted in soil being altered and its access to irrigation being cut off. The city's own planners have stated they see little farming future here and it does nothing to ease the housing shortage families on the North Shore are living through. we can't ask for more housing and then refuse the steps that create it and if we want costs to come down supply has to grow where it is needed most and this parcel parcel is a sensible place to start so with these considerations in mind uh we respectfully ask this committee to move bill 37 forward thank you thank you the next testifier is jason robichaud

Good morning, and thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Jason Robichaud. I'm a member of the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters in support of Bill 37. I've heard the concern that the rents may not be low enough, and I take that seriously. To be honest with you, that's a fair thing to ask about. This very stage is where those details still get shaped. Affordability, unit types, and design are all decided in the steps that come after this vote. If those promises matter, this council can attach them as real enforceable conditions as the project moves forward. That's the way to hold the project accountable, and we would support it. If we reject the bill now, we do not get a more affordable project. We get no project at all, and the land stays empty. Let us stay at the table and shape something better. I respectfully ask for your support of Bill 37. Mahalo.

Thank you, and I appreciate your mana'o on the affordables and when there could be negotiations with regard to the percentages. The next testifier is Villamor Alcala.

Good morning. My name is Villamor Alcala, a member with the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters. I am testifying in strong support of Bill 37. I want to remind everyone that this bill is not a blank check. It comes with real safeguards built in. Before any zoning changes can be moved ahead, the developer has to provide an updated traffic study accepted by both the city and the state. So the very traffic concerns you are hearing tonight are written into the bill. as a requirement at the right stage. There are also limits on how dense the project can be and conditions tied to every step of approval. These guardrails exist to protect the community and make sure the project is done right. Rejecting the bill now would throw away the chance to hold the project to those standards. I respectfully ask you to keep those protections in place to approve the Bill 37. Thank you. Mahalo.

Thank you. The next testifier is Arnold Aquino.

Good morning, chair, vice chair, and council members. My name is Arnold Aquino. I'm the member of Hawaii Regional Council of Conventors, and I appreciate the chance to speak in support of Bill 37 today. I want to point to something important. The city's own housing department took a close look at this property. They visited the site, studied it carefully, and weighed the cost. In the end, they decided the city will not buy or build on the parcel itself, but they also said clearly that they will support the council moving forward with the housing at this location. The agreed added fits the North Shore community plan and the city's own housing goals. When the city housing experts and its planners both point the same way, that should carry real weight. I respectfully ask you to approve Bill 37. Thank you for your time and consideration. Mahalo.

Thank you for your testimony. The next testifier is Fred Tamayo.

Good morning Chair and members of the committee and thank you for a chance to speak today. My name is Fred Tamayo and I'm a member of the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters testifying in support of Bill 37. I want to be clear about something that often gets confused that this bill does not approve a finished project. It does not lock in a final design and it does not set the rents. What it does is move this forward into the real planning phase where the details get worked out with the community. The traffic study, the unit types, the affordability, and the design are all shaped in the steps that follow. Many of the concerns you are hearing tonight are about the later stage, not about the vote in front of you. If we say no at this first step, we lose any chance to influence what gets built. I would rather stay at the table and help make it better. I respectfully ask you to pass Bill 37 so the conversation can continue. Mahalo for your time and consideration.

Thank you. Thank you so much. The next testifier is Juan Padastal Jr.

Good morning, Chair, Vice Chair, members of the committee. My name is Junior Padastan. I'm a member of the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters. Thank you for the chance to speak in support of Bill 37. When we talk about a project like this, we're also talking about work for our local people. Building this home to create thousands of hours of steady work for tradespeople across the islands. It'll open up opportunities for local contractors and small businesses. and the shops planned alongside the homes will support jobs long after construction ends. Good projects like this help working people earn a living and build their skills right here at home instead of looking for work elsewhere. The same families doing this work are the ones who need a place to live near it. Housing and good jobs go hand in hand, and this bill helps deliver both. I respectfully ask that you stand with local workers and support Bill 37. Mahalo.

Thank you. The next testifier is Matthew Chung.

Good morning. Thank you chairs and committee for allowing me this opportunity to speak in front of you today. My name is Matthew Chung. I am a proud member of the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters testifying in support of Bill 37. There's been a lot of talk about protecting farmland and I understand why people care about because I care about the same thing. But this particular piece of land has not been farmed in over a generation. And when the bypass was built, the strip was cut off from the old plantation irrigation and has no farm water today. It currently sits surrounded by stores, highways, and everyday business activities. By leaving it idle, it has not grown any food, and it has not helped a single family find a home. protecting real agriculture matters to all of us. And this bill keeps protection in place for the working farms nearby. By putting housing on this one landlocked lot is a smart use of unused land that is already in the middle of town. It also keeps us from pushing development out of the open spaces we all want to protect. I respectfully ask for your support of Bill 37. Mahalo for your time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next testifier, Tricia Takeda.

Good morning, chair, vice chair, council members, and committees. My name is Tricia Taketa, and I'm a member of the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters. I'm here today in strong support of Bill 37. Across our islands, working people spend hours in traffic every day because they cannot afford to live near their jobs. They leave home sometimes 3 to 4 AM in the morning. well before sunrise and get back home long after dark this is a time away from their family they will never get back many of the people this housing would help cannot take a weekday morning morning off to come down here to testify their absence from this room is not the same as an absence of need khalifa backyards is a chance to give local workers a place to live closer to where they already work and serve. This is not luxury housing. It is housing for everyday people who keep this community running. I respectfully ask you to support Bill 37 and take a real step towards housing for local people. Thank you for your time.

Mahalo. Thank you. The next is Dennis Ivela Nueva.

Chair Tessie Farr has left.

No problem. Mark Anthony Clemente.

Hello, members of the committee. My name is Mark Anthony Clemente, political director for the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters, representing more than 6,000 skilled union carpenters and tradespeople statewide. We respectfully support Bill 37CD1. At its core, this bill is asking whether we are willing to create opportunities for local families to remain in the communities they call home. Every year an average of 4,500 local residents leave because housing has become unattainable and they no longer see a future here. That's an average of 12 people every single day, two to three families leaving the state. You know, you've heard from the members from our union talk about why they support this bill. And I just want to say, if we reject every opportunity to create workforce housing before that review can even happen, we shouldn't be surprised when we're spending FaceTime or Zoom celebrating things like birthdays, graduations, and other personal life milestones when our children and grandchildren continue to leave the state. Thank you again, and for these reasons, we respectfully urge your support for this measure.

Thank you so much. Is there anyone else in the council chamber who would like to testify on this matter in person? Please come forward to the testifier podium and begin by stating your name.

Sorry. Aloha. Kathleen ,, I'm here representing the North Shore Neighborhood Board, who's taking a strong position against this project. We just suffered devastating floods that some of you did tour. And thank you, council member. I appreciate your comments. This project is seven acres. They want to put 10 pounds of potatoes in a five, seven acre slot. It's too much. It was a choke point during the recent tsunami evacuation. This would add to it. You're now going to add about 300 people to this area if you figure two per unit, 150 units. How in the heck are they going to get out? I'm in the middle of trying to plan for our community. And now I have to take this into account, and I have no place. One way in, one way out. I'd also like to make some points. As you all know me, words matter. How you present yourself matter. First of all, from the city's own hazard tool, which I went on and took a look at. Now, maybe it's not extreme, but to say it's not in the tsunami evacuation zone is incorrect. It's in the extreme tsunami evacuation zone, but if you're going to say it, let's be correct. and say it correctly. Secondly, it's in the low to moderate flooding zone. Again, it's not in the high flood area. But again, don't say it's not in the flood zone, because it is. Again, 95% of our food is imported. We can't eat houses. And we do have other projects on the North Shore. They're going to be coming before our board. So we're not saying no to development in general. We're just saying no to this project because it's in a very bad and poor location. One more point, egg water. Mr. Hayes said, oh, well, there's no egg water. Well, it's the same water they're going to use to give the people. There is a line right there on Kamehameha Highway that a farmer could tap into. And any good farmer will look at that land and say, I can make something grow there. So let's be careful with how we phrase and how we position things and not be extreme because those points are not true. Thank you.

Members, any questions? Thank you. Thank you. Next testifier.

Aloha, Chair Keya Aina and members of the committee. Denise Antolini, North Shore resident. I oppose Bill 37. I want to make three points. First one, I'm a hollow chair. You put a tremendous amount of effort in the interim into looking at alternatives, working with the city, meeting with us and others, and we really appreciate that. And Council Member Cipolla also, thank you for reaching out to the applicant. As you noted, the project presentation hasn't changed. A bit, and it's still got inaccuracies in it. So while you've made an effort, we've made a tremendous effort, the effort hasn't been shown on part of the applicant, and I think that's telling. The total number of testimonies to date in opposition to Bill 37, if my count is correct, is 2,104. That might set a record. Sorry, apologies to the clerk's office. That might set a record. That's a huge amount of opposition. And as Council Member Topola said, she asked them to rally support. And the only support is from the Carpenters Union, which aloha to them, but they don't live in the area. And I think that you will give it the appropriate weight. Let me just end, if I can, and say the boundary amendment opens the barn door that can never be closed to urbanization. And if this passes, every single ag parcel in the community growth boundary will go the same direction. It will forever transform Holly Eva. The time to stop it is now. Once the horse is out of the barn, you can't stop it when it's in zoning. You can change the paint color. but it's not going to change fundamentally what this project does to Haleiwa. Thank you for voting no today. Mahalo.

Anybody else?

Good morning, respectful council. First of all, I want to say thank you so much for researching for us and supporting our community. We can tell how hard you have been working on we have in the Haleiwa community. It came to my surprise when I got this news that, you know, they intend to change this rural land into developed land again. So I wanna say respectfully, some points that I see very dangerous for our community if this goes through. So, The reasons are – a really important reason to me is the geographical structure. As we all know, the Haleiwa area is only a very narrow road. It's one way each way, right? We experienced the big collapse during the tsunami last year, like the – luckily the tsunami, it wasn't a tsunami. But if we're really realistic our situation in the islands, it's not a matter if it happens. I hope it never happens, but at some point it will end up happening. Right now our roads are super collapsed in general. So adding more housing to there, imagine if we really have to escape. It's going to be a devastation for our community. The geography of the land and the roads there, it cannot expand. You cannot make double roads because it's a very, very small section to have the roads. So that, to begin, for me, The other point that I would like to say damaging the community living. We as residents in Haleiwa are already experienced. We can't really go out most of the day unless you go early in the morning, early in the evening, because the traffic is horrible.

If you could wrap up your testimony, please.

Yeah, just, I got to say something. Also, going into this project, changing the land, it will affect the economy of the town because imagine a big construction site for this little, all the business are gonna be extremely affected by this thing, this changing of the land. The other one I wanted to mention Sorry, just a second. Oh, then agricultural land. I stated last time I have a degree in agronomy, and I know that that land is actually very rich because it's sedimentary land. So it's very fertile, that it has not been used for agriculture because I don't know if someone owns that land, right? So they haven't used it for land, but the potential is there. So that would be to conclude my testimony. I strongly oppose. Thank you for representing us. And I hope, you know, we have 2,000 people say no. You know, this has caused a lot of stress to our lives, knowing that at any moment, you know, we're going to have a monster construction site there. You know, what can happen in the future for our safety as residents of Haleiwa Town and the whole North Shore. Thank you so much, and I hope you don't pass this law. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else?

Next, testifier, please.

Aloha Chair, Vice Chair, and Council Members. Thank you for allowing our community to have this opportunity to come before you once again. I have three things I'd like to discuss. One is ag land needs to stay ag land. Number two, provision of housing on the North Shore. And number three, safety for our community. On the idea that ag land needs to stay ag land, have you ever wondered about the chain of events from when this parcel was purchased till now? The property was owned ag when it was purchased. I'm wondering what steps were taken in an attempt to work with the land under the agricultural designation. Is it wise to consider a change based on a statement that the attempt to grow anything was unsuccessful? there any accountability for this project in this time in the timeline i think that any major change should be scrutinized carefully just not accepted as stated across the street from this parcel kokua foundation has seven acres and they are very successful in growing kalo and a bunch of other plants I'm just wondering, how are they so successful when this guy says he's not? Number two, last July 28th, when we testified here, Ms. Okimoto asked me a great question. She said, where do you think housing should be? Well, I want to let you know that there's a project in the works over by Wailua Sugar Mill for housing, and that's not in the middle of our town. Number three, last year, July 29, the day after we were here, we all watched the traffic in Haleiwa and Wailua jammed into a dangerous standstill with the tsunami evacuation. Even though we had adequate warning because it was a distant earthquake, it took hours to get out of the tsunami evacuation zone in Haleiwa and Wailua. If this had been a locally generated tsunami where coastline evacuation needs to be done within 10 to 20 minutes, many lives could have been lost. In a densely populated project like this, in the middle of Haleiwa Town, it could potentially contribute to many deaths from the ability to evacuate. I humbly thank you for this opportunity and hope that you vote no.

Thank you so much. Ma'am, I'm so sorry. If you could identify yourself for the record. Barbara Lupo. Thank you. Sorry. Any questions? Okay. Next testifier.

Aloha. My name is Cheryl Matsumoto, and I strongly oppose Bill 37. I participate on a community's committee that's currently discussing our disaster preparedness plan for the Wailua and Haleiwa area. It's ironic that while we are discussing disaster preparedness and the urgent need for evacuation routes capable of moving our community to safety during an emergency, we are also simultaneously considering a boundary amendment change for this project that could convert valuable agricultural land to urban. The boundary amendment change for this project could increase Haleiwa's population and place additional strain on our roads and infrastructure, worsening the very challenges we are seeking to address through our disaster planning. In an emergency, limited evacuation capacity can have serious consequences. Adding more residents and traffic to an already constrained transportation network moves us away from a viable solution. There's no question that O'ahu faces a housing shortage. However, we can't address that shortage by placing housing wherever vacant land happens to exist. Growth must be planned strategically and directed to locations that can accommodate additional residents without compromising infrastructure capacity, environmental sustainability, and public safety. The proposed boundary amendment for this project fails to meet these requirements and further complicate emergency evacuation efforts for North Shore residents. Last year, community members came before you and described the frightening gridlock experienced by both residents and visitors attempting to leave Haleiwa Town. Those concerns remain unresolved today. I respectfully ask that you listen to the community, prioritize public safety and responsible planning, and oppose Bill 37. Thank you. Thank you, next testifier.

Hello, good morning, and thank you for this opportunity. My name is Johnette Wicker, and I live out here on the North Shore in Pupukea, and I oppose Bill 37 mainly for the reason because what everybody brought up was the traffic. Haleiwa was said that it is 1.5 miles from one end to the other, and every day we have to deal with the traffic. And looking at this project, I'm looking at where the entrance and the exit is, it looks like it's right in the heart of Haleiwa, where it gets very congested with not only tourists, but local. And a part of affordable housing, let's be realistic, who's gonna live out on the North Shore and work at these jobs which are gonna provide money. Most of the jobs out there are retail or low paying jobs and nobody can afford $2,500 a month rent. They're gonna have to go out of Haleiwa and stay in traffic. The closest place to big jobs is Turtle Bay. Everything in Haleiwa is set in place as a local resident. Going through Haleiwa, I don't like going through Haleiwa anymore because I can't get in and I can't get out. But mainly this affordable housing thing, I just don't believe that putting houses in Haleiwa and expecting our local people to live there and work there is something that is realistic. I truly think that Haleiwa will lose its charm once you start doing this urban sprawl. We're going to lose that country feeling. and just the residents alone will just be so miserable and will hate Haleiwa Town because of that. I know my time is coming up, and I just wanted to state the traffic and the crowdiness of Haleiwa Town, and thank you for your time.

Thank you. Anybody else who would like to testify?

Good morning. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I just wanted to come back to the chair's marks at the beginning, where I understood there were three criteria for changing this boundary. And the first one was the benefit to the Commonwealth. And I feel very strongly as a Wailua resident that this is not a benefit to the Commonwealth, as my neighbors have already said. We experienced trauma and very dramatic situation trying to evacuate for both the floods and the tsunami. And it was still reeling in the community from these emergencies. And we know that wildfire and flooding and tsunami warnings can face us again, so I think In my opinion, there's no benefit to the Commonwealth for adding additional stress onto the existing infrastructure at this time. I don't feel that it's consistent with many of the things we've heard about the rural character of Haleiwa. and what the community intends for the future. I understand that the chair also mentioned that we have to rely on the sustainable plans that we already have. But we can't ignore the things that have happened in 2025 that we know are real. And we have learned more about what can happen and what we need in the community. So I hope that the council can take that into consideration.

um oppose this measure for thank you if you could also identify yourself oh sorry gwen fournier i'm sorry we can't hear you gwendoline fournier okay thank you next testifier please hi jim hayes land use planner if i sit over there i don't get to talk again so i wanted to testify briefly as a land use planner on this topic As a land use planner, we're some of the first people that developers come to in the community when they seek opportunities to develop land. And as a land use planner professional, we screen those projects that are brought to us for their compliance with local rules and their potential impact on the community. And we only take on those projects that we think have a good chance of success. Perhaps the council didn't listen to my presentation because they had heard it before. But I did say some things that were different this time, and I wanted to reiterate those. And specifically, when people come to us as land use planners and they ask, is this project got legs or not? Like I said, we go to those plans, and we look at the community growth boundary, and we look at flood zones, and we look at tsunami evacuation zones. This is a location that will not have to evacuate if there's a tsunami warning, will not have to evacuate if there's a flood. It's in the community growth boundary. And for all those reasons, it's the kind of project that we take on. And I respect the community and worked with them on several projects. And we will continue to work with them on this project if it proceeds. But the council has an important obligation, I think, to confirm the reliability of the plans that it has previously passed. North Shore Sustainable Communities Plan and the O'ahu Plan all indicate that this property and this area with these characteristics are appropriate for urban growth. in a responsible manner. And I encourage you to vote yes on this bill in order to demonstrate the consistency of these plans and to provide some reliability so that others see that these plans are implemented and it doesn't encourage them to go outside of those plans and look to develop outside of the urban growth boundary and place pressure on those agricultural lands. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Is there anyone else in the chamber who would like to testify?

I am in firm opposition to amend portions of the state land use district boundary map from agricultural district to urban. This urbanization will take away affordability and the diversity of our small country plantation surf town. Urbanization is the basic foundation that effectively leads to whitening public spaces. It will continue to welcome foreign desires in native lands, which results in the displacement of kanaka, generational families, people born and raised here. True local residents of Haleiwa have nothing to gain from this project. Gentrification is not integration, but a new form of segregation. Sure, gentrification will create short-term jobs for the Carpenter Union members who are here of the Hawaii's Regional Carpenters. regional council of carpenters it's a no-brainer to why they support it and hundreds of them do this urbanization only brings money to their pockets temporarily but let's be real all those union workers who did submit the testimony online just copy pasted and submitted the same letter they don't live here they don't live in north shore they don't have to deal with what we have to deal with every day They just have their hand in the pot. They're not looking out for the future generations. They're living for the moment, which is just generating capital for the rich, which continues to suppress the middle class. This project imposes 156 units in a three-story apartment building with underground parking and storm trees, as well as 30,000 square feet of retail space. Just an FYI, Holly Eva Town to date does not have any three-story buildings, underground parkings, or storm drains. This seven-acre sits on the highest point in the heart of Holly Eva Town. If this parcel was paved over, guess where all that water from the February 21st, March 10th, March 19th, and April 10th flooding would have gone? Holly Eva Town residents and the shops there would have been underwater. And we can't make like putting storm drains in will help. That's the very reason Waialua flooded. Over 65 storm drains backed up in Waialua due to being tied into plantation ditches, along with two rivers being diverted. That all flowed into one small outlet at Kiapoko. These man-made diversions are the very reason the Kiapoko outlet could not handle the vast bottleneck of water. So it started overflowing out the storm drains into neighborhoods, which resulted into many generational homes flooding, thus still displacing residents to date. Some of these neighborhoods were not in flood zones, but flooded due to these unmaintained man-made systems. Don't believe me? Please check out the website I have helped worked on, stormwater.supersistence.org. It was made for community by community. It's free to help everyone better understand the topography of the land here, as well as across the entire Pai'aina. It shows everything from streams, storm drains, manholes, ditches, inlets, outlets, wetlands, and so much more. State departments have been using it as well, from DFM, DLNR, DEM, and HAIMA are aware of this website we have worked on. Which brings me to my next point, the tsunami threat that happened less than a year ago, July 29th. North Shore was gridlocked traffic for hours. Haleiwa is the gateway to North Shore. One road in, one road out. From my dad's house, which is in Haleiwa Harbor, which is literally less than a one minute drive from this parcel, it took us 1.5 hours to drive from his house to get to Waialua High School, which is a 3.5 mile, radius, basically. It normally should take 10 minutes to get their tops. It literally took us an hour and a half. It really put into perspective how poor our town's infrastructure is. The last thing the heart of Haleiwa needs is more development. We need more preservation over progression. Keep agricultural land ag. I'm sure you all saw the news when Moloka'i never got three shipments of goods and how that impacted their island, resulting in empty grocery shelves. This project, this potential project, this urbanization is irresponsible. And if it goes through, what happens when the next disaster hits and lives are lost? You're put in the position to do right by the land and by the people of Hawaii. So what side of history will we be on? Keeping country country or urbanizing it famous are the children of Hawaii, ever loyal to the land. And I just want to wrap it up by saying for the last four years I am a farmer. The soil wasn't really good, so I've actually worked on soil re-gentrification on the land that I'm on. And we got it to the point of where our soil is really happy and healthy. We are able to grow over 120 exotic fruit trees, as well as many native trees. And I have over 11 varieties of collo, 13 types of banana. What I'm getting at, this land, even though they're saying that they can't farm it, there's potential in it. There's soil gentrification, and that is the potential to feed communities and feed the future. Mahalo for listening and your time.

Is there anyone else in the chamber who would like to testify?

Aloha, Chair Kiana. My name is Larry McElhenney. I think my primary objective in testifying today is to thank Chair Keohane for all the work she's put in on this issue. We really appreciate you looking at alternative uses for this property. I think that's terrific what you did. Member Tupoula, also your hard questions. It's almost like the developer wants the council and the community to design their project for them if it's approved. So I'm going to keep this real short. I just want to refer back to all the terrific testimonies you heard over the last year or so. Over 2,000 testimonies, I think, was the number. But I really want to emphasize the importance The disaster preparedness issue, it was spoken about repeatedly today, and that's critical. The traffic in that area already is unbearable, and in the event of some kind of an emergency, it makes no sense whatsoever to add to that problem. Thanks again, folks. Good job. Great day today here. You guys have done some good work. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else in the chamber who would like to testify? If not, clerks, do we have any online testifiers?

Chair, we have a few standing by.

The first person I have on the list is Linda Molina. Oh, you're Linda. Linda, OK. And then Larry. Nicholas Palatella?

Testifier is not logged on.

Barb Luke Bowe.

Earl Dahlin. The CIFIRE is not logged on. Raquel Achoo.

Aloha, Raquel.

Aloha, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Mahalo Chair, Mahalo committee members. Raquel Achu, Wailua Moku in strong opposition of Bill 37. I have submitted written testimony and stand by that. I highly encourage you to please review my notes on there. I'll admit a bit lengthy, but I'd like to touch on a couple more. One of the more critical points here is I understand the project in front of you today is not the actual project. It's about the amendment. But make no mistake, this amendment is the step in the door to impact this Kāiaulu in a way that we cannot support. I am not denying that the potential of suggested or reasonable uses of this space could ultimately require an amendment in the future. But in this case, we are talking about a very specific project. for this amendment that I cannot support. If the amendment is granted, it will increase value to this land. If the project itself does not get granted, the inflated value of that land remains with that amendment, which is unfair to an actual agricultural use or someone who's interested in that use. The project has many concerns, yes, but the North Shore is under siege under a frivolous amount of frivolous projects that we have to address. And to Denise Antolini's point, it will set a precedent for future ideas and projects in our ag lands. With all due respect, the carpenters, great group of guys, wonderful, wahine, everything, but they don't live there. They don't face the challenges we face. You've heard enough about our emergency situations. The claims of employment opportunities will not pay a living wage to pay for these not affordable units because that does not exist. I respectfully ask that you please consider the impacts of what this amendment could do, especially if the project doesn't get approved anyway. Mahalo for your time.

Thank you. The next is Aloha Vement.

Testifier is not logged on. Okay.

Clerks, I see a couple of hands there. Is there a list or would you like me to just call who I see on the remote? Okay, well, first I do see Chun James. Chun, would you like to testify?

Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Aloha. I am a real estate broker. I am not against development, but I'm also aware that all things good and controversial and bad can be done in the name of housing or affordable housing. I can tell you that consistently I have friends along this area and this traffic is going to actually affect from Kahaluu all the way to the North Shore because we are the only two-way camp highway hundred year old road that services all of us. We have had so many Kamaaina people telling us that they cannot even get out into Kem Highway because of the traffic. And we know about Kona Law. We know about the Waimea Falls block. So there is a lot happening. You know, the spirit and the letter of the law can be two very different things. But those of us who are affected by it certainly should have more standing. Also, I want to say that It's okay to develop. The past Oahu General Plan, we should remember that the city has also carved a corridor path from Wailai, Kahala, all the way to Perth City. So look at development opportunities along that corridor there. I mean, there are a lot of opportunities there. out there, even with the thought development that's going to come up. So there are a lot there. I mean, I have a lot of carpenter friends that we, you know, we live with, we, you know, work with. But look at that. But the Oahu General Plant exists for a very good reason. Thank you. Yeah, we should wrap up, please. Yeah, we should not cement the entire Oahu General Plan. There are many options that developers can use and to consider carrying capacity. Thank you very much.

Have a good day. Thank you. There's someone online with a label Zoom user. Could you unmute yourself if you would like to testify?

yes you have to unmute sir okay there you go thank you yes i strongly oppose this um and i i've been listening to the whole thing all morning long there's a lot of valid points why we shouldn't let this go through as far as i've had a issues with injury and to get out of the house to get to safety is already hard enough for me to sit in a car for two hours as we tried to leave for the evacuations for this tsunami was really hard. So the traffic, I've been living here since 1990 and I've seen the change in the traffic tremendously, mostly in the last 20 years. As everyone made the point that it would be a safety hazard if we had this go through, especially for the Kapuna. And I just wanted to pose this and I wanted to thank you for taking me on this right now. Thank you.

Thank you. Sir, would you mind identifying yourself?

My name is Brian Wise.

Thank you so much. The next testifier is the last three digits of your number is 159. Is that person on? Clerks?

Chair, the testifier is not responding.

Okay, is there anyone else who is online? If you'd like to testify, please raise the hand button. If not, we're going to move forward. For the administration, we have Don Takaguchi-Upuna, Director of the Department of Planning and Permitting.

Good morning, Cherokee I know vice chair waters and members of the committee. My name is Dina Wong I'm the chief planner for GPP's planning division and we support bill 37 CD 1 and I I wanted to thank you Cherokee I know for the intro you gave just going over the background and the process on a boundary amendment and his own change out that it was really informative and I think helpful for all to hear I So we are here to answer any questions you or members have. Thank you.

Colleagues, I have a couple of questions. Is it okay I'm going to ask a couple of questions and then move forward? So, and I know you have a team there. So I understand that this property was one of the potential sites for a Haleiwa Mobility Hub. as part of the Urban Mobility Hub Planning Study led by the O'ahu Metropolitan Planning Organization, the city, and SSFM International. What is the status of this proposed use of the Haleiwa property?

Okay, before I respond, I just want to preface it by saying I do not have a chance to talk to anybody from OMPO or DTS. But someone in your team has. Oh, I'm sorry.

Thomas has a more recent update. No problem.

Thomas Blair, staff planner for the Department of Planning and Permitting. So there was a memo that was done in 2024 and 2025. They've done a few community outreach events. The OMPO has identified three potential sites for the mobility hub. One is this site, which they identify as the basin. The second one is across the street. And the third is around Weed Circle. Recently, DOT Highways has secured $250,000 in funding, which they're going to use by the end of June to issue, hopefully, an RFP for the start of scope of work for Mobility Hub.

But that scope of work would be for all of the identified sites, not just for this site, is that correct?

Their statement says we want the funds to support a current essential need for the project in alignment with the green fee. So the green fee is what that money comes from. But no, there's no specific site.

Okay, I just need to make sure. And the second question related to that is, with the development of the mobility hub on, say, if it was this property, would it require a boundary amendment to reclassify the property?

Yeah. So all three of those sites are currently in ag. So any of those three sites would have to undergo a boundary amendment. So if this boundary amendment that's before you today transitions it to urban, then this site would probably move up that preference. Okay.

A second has to do with, you know, I mentioned it in my statement, but I think it's just important for the community to hear your position with regard to the North Shore Sustainable Communities Plan. I know that you have the 2025 draft. And the basis for your current position is 2011. So my question to you is, what is your position with regard to the potential change in the final North Shore Sustainable Communities Plan versus the current plan what is your recommendation? Do you believe that we should still move forward? Or do you believe that if the potential was that it might change the boundary lines, that you guys would think that it was worth pausing instead of moving forward? So I just wanted your comments on that.

I think this is my turn to speak up on this point. Good morning, Chair, Vice Chair, members of the committee. I'm Franz Krantz for the Planning Department, Department of Planning and Permitting. And I've been overseeing the five-year review of the North Shore Sustainable Communities Plan. infill development or promoting infill development is one of the most basic principles of good urban planning. The community growth boundary is a tool to confine where growth occurs, if it's going to occur, and where not to. This site has been in the community growth boundary since the first sustainable communities plan for the North Shore. It is in the 2011 one, and it will be in the 2026, 2027 draft as well. And I'll just say, I think it goes to the point that urban designation will be required for almost any use going forward, whether it's residential, whether it's public institutional, whether it's transportation. It's just one of those first steps.

Okay, thank you for that clarification. My next question handles two issues, but of course it's been raised previously. in today's testimonies as well. And the only difference is that, comparatively to the other hearings we had, which was pre-Konolo, this is one of the first hearings post-Konolo. And not just the post-Konolo, but including the challenge we had with the tsunami evacuation. So my question is, with regard to the comments about perhaps the city council needs to be more careful or the city in general with regard to the community's continuing concerns over traffic congestion and also just safety relating to evacuations for whatever reason, right? Natural disasters or manmade disasters. I guess my question is, what bearing does that have with regard to how DPP looks at the feasibility of this project being at this property?

The feasibility for any type of project is going to be based on how traffic is managed, how it's handled. Unfortunately, the situation is what it is out there, whether it's two lanes, one way in and out. A disaster does create a concentration at a very minute particular point in time. The community out there does face and struggles with traffic on a daily basis. I think we've heard that testimony. To overcome that entirely so that there is no delays at all, in my mind, would require massive amounts of money, massive amounts of construction to build more roads, build more capacity. But we're trying to get away from that, are we not? We don't want to build more roads because it encourages more traffic. The idea is to try to create alternative modes of travel, whether it's transit, whether it's more facilities for biking and walking, things like that of that nature. So it's a valid concern. We don't have our transportation experts with us today to answer what they see, but there are capital improvement programs with respect to OMPO's five-year transportation plan. There are things in the works that are coming down the road, but it takes time to address all of those.

So on the traffic, you're saying regardless of whether this project was built, there's still going to be traffic?

Correct.

Is it going to worsen it?

It has the potential to add volume. Will it worsen it? It depends on what time of day, where they're going. It's not an absolute.

Got it. But how would you mitigate that?

There is a signal there. There's a sequencing of traffic signals to help it flow better. In an unprecedented example like a disaster, none of those things would actually work. It's more during the normal time periods where traffic management and transportation management tools and methods are employed.

Okay, before I move to my colleagues, can you make a comment about the evacuation? It's similar, it's along the same inquiry with regard to the traffic. Talk to me about evacuation and the city's, I guess, plans and whether or not this project would impact any plans, long-term plans that you have on evacuation.

Well, I think our Department of Emergency Management might be in a better position to answer this, but for DPP, I am considered the department's emergency coordinator. That doesn't mean I have a lot of authority. It just means that I help with some of that coordination for the department and how we can assist. in not only preparation, but during an evacuation. I was down in the Situation Room during the tsunami. All parts of the island were affected by that same issue. How do you make it so that there are no types of issues with respect to frustrations, delays, what have you? We just hope Mother Nature never does it. I mean, I can't hope that. And all of our plans, even starting with a primary urban center, we've devoted chapters to align with DEMs, with their hazard mitigation plans. So it's one of those things that has been added to these plans with the five-year reviews.

Thank you. Okay, I'm going to go to questions. Council Member Topolo.

Thank you so much. Thank you for being here. I did have a feeling that in the 2025 sustainable community plans, more likely than not, the growth boundary would still be there, because that was something that's been there historically. And just for clarification for the public, when we talk about the growth boundary, and this is what was written in the 2011, and I'm guessing it'll be written in the 2025. Community growth boundary may include parks, agricultural, preservation. It could be commercial, industrial. It could have roads, parks. So community growth boundary does not identify specifically only housing. It could be many things, but basically it means the community can grow up to this point and kind of, you know, sustain itself but contain itself. So with that being said, in the 2011 North Shore Sustainable Communities Plan, This is the part that I've always honed in on. I know that these hearings are hard to remember all the things said, but in 3.5.2, it has guidelines for housing. Okay, so I'm the housing chair, so I'm reading the housing section of this. There are three specific housing options. You can do rural, residential, or low-density apartment. It says... Except for small pockets of existing apartments in Mokuleia, almost all the housing on the North Shore consists of single family residences. So if you go to the section 3.5.2.3, it says low density apartment. So then it says, this category consists predominantly of two- to four-story townhouses, complexes, stacked flats, low-rise apartment buildings. The existing apartment zone districts in Mokulea are recognized. No new apartment districts in Mokulea are recommended. Although new apartment districts may be appropriate adjacent to Waialua and Haleiwa town centers where increased densities that address affordability are desired. So I'm bringing that up because it's suggesting that there is a rule characteristic throughout the North Shore that in Waialua that there was approved low density apartments. So that's 10 to 15 on a per acre. So that's a little bit more housing than other rural areas. So it does not specify that in the growth boundary, in the infill, that we just immediately go to low-density apartment. It doesn't say that. It doesn't specify that. And I doubt it's going to specify that in the 2025 one. It's going to keep it broad. But what I'm saying is that on the North Shore, the only area where that's allowed is that one pocket in Mowgli, and it's suggested not to grow it because they're trying to maintain a rule characteristic. With that being said, then you have two options, rule or or you have rural apartment. So if we go to, or sorry, rural residential, if we go to rural residential, then it's five to eight units an acre. If we are back at rural, which is like the very basic, then it's one unit an acre. So what I'm bringing up is I'm reading this plan in its totality. I'm not reading like parts of it. I read the whole thing over and over again, trying to put the pieces together in my head. So if there was a project, which unfortunately it's tied to this bill, which I ask that it not be because we're not voting on a project. But here we are looking at a presentation that still includes the project when we could have just took those pages off. But here we are talking about the project again that actually is low density apartment. So my question to you is because a new plan is coming out, likely the new plan will say the same about where the housing goes. Am I correct to assume that if the growth boundary is passed or if it's increased, right, are we sticking with rural and rural residential in that or is it going to still kind of remain ambiguous?

Well, I'm glad you've read it as thoroughly as you have. That's quite a testament to your commitment to understanding the plan. These plans, as you point out, are designed not to be parcel by parcel specific in terms of what it can be. I do not think that we're in the current draft that we've actually identified areas where particular types of housing will occur. Generally, yes, maintaining the rural character. Yeah. The zone change, and I think it's been pointed out a number of times this morning, the zone change is really where the community, council, everyone comes together to influence, to put their imprint, their stamp, if you will, to shape what this will look like. What is the character that you ultimately and finally want it to be? So I think I would edge towards remaining more ambiguous than specific.

Yeah, and I say that because also in the North Shore Sustainability Community Plan, it references the O'ahu General Plan where it says that 1.7% of the population would be on the North Shore, and we're already over that. We're already 1.8%, maybe more. We'll see what the population looks like, and that's not including how many tourists come through day in, day out. The amount of population that was in the Oahu general plan for this specific community is more than what we're supposed to be at. We know that there's more tourists than residents there coming through the town. So that's also written in the plan. So I know that it's going to be vague and broad, but these are the things that I have to consider as a council member when we take votes is that we wrote these plans. So we wrote the plan that, oh, we're going to try to stay about 1.7% of the population and we're over it. Oh, we're going to try to keep it rule characteristic. Oh, but we're going to do low density apartments. So I'm taking these broad suggestions from the plan because we wrote it. Look, you're working hours and hours and hours writing this. So I think we should stick with it. So if it says rule characteristic, then we should stick with rule characteristic because that's what we wrote. That's what we spent hours doing. That's what we identified as what the community is going to look like. It already says Mokulea has the only apartment area and that it's recommended that it stay that way. So I don't want us doing work in the city where we're saying this, doing that, spending hours writing this plan, and then we somewhat interpret it and then pretty much ignore it. We shouldn't do that. I don't want to discount all the work you're doing. So I'm just saying that as somebody who's trying to use all the plans that the city puts together, trying to digest it into what we have. again i wish that this project wasn't tied to this bill because we would be able to avoid all of this because then we could talk about the growth boundary amendment but we're talking about that because somebody wanted to do a project and here we are looking at a project that i believe is not consistent with the north shore sustainable community plan that's where there's a little bit of dissension here so I do agree that you guys are, you know, in support of the boundary amendment, but unfortunately these two issues have not been separated out, not last time and unfortunately not this time. But thank you for all your work. I appreciate it.

If I could add one other thing is that as important as a tool the community growth boundary is, and the community was very adamant about keeping it where it is except for one change to allow for MilCamp, the potential for the MilCamp development, It doesn't mean, it's not a guarantee that all the available parcels within the community growth boundary are to be developed. There's a number of them that are much more worthy of agricultural protection within Haleiwa than this one. Yeah. And whether it's a mobility hub, whether it's any type of development, it just needs this first step, this first stage of state land use district boundary amendment.

Well, and how wonderful would that be if we were looking at a bill with something attached that said mobility center, agricultural park, parking lot, but we're not looking at that. So that's where it's a little bit misguiding to the community because you're saying stuff that I believe that I read, which is the growth boundary can be many things. It could be this. It could be that. But unfortunately, we're just looking at the growth boundary in relation to building this particular project with this many houses at this affordability rate. Too specific. too specific because I'm not voting on that. I'm not voting for all that. So unfortunately it was tied to this and not bifurcated and that's why we're having this discussion in a convoluted manner instead of in a specific manner as pertaining to how the North Shore Sustainability Plan is guiding the community, if that makes sense. Yeah, thank you so much. Thank you, Chair.

Members, are there any other questions? Vice Chair Waters.

Thank you so much. Just want to follow up on a previous testimony that The city administration is considering a mobility hub for the North Shore and has identified three potential parcels. One of them is the backyard project, the very one that we're discussing today. Is that correct? That is correct, yes. Okay. And then the previous testifier said that the other two areas, one is directly across the street. That would be across from the Joseph Leong Highway?

No, that is directly across Kamehameha Highway from this site. So it would be more out towards Ka'ena Point from the site.

So... Okay, the guy behind you is nodding his head to my question. But you're saying no. Sorry. Yeah, you got to put the...

Sorry, it's directly across the street from the highway. It is Bishop Estates Makai land.

Okay, and that's currently Ag land as well, right? Correct. Okay. And then there's a third site. Where is that third site located?

Yeah, it's northeast of Weed Circle. It's immediately adjacent to Weed Circle.

I see. Okay, and how, you said you got some money to study it from the green growth initiative? Yeah, $250,000. From the legislature? Yes. Okay. Okay. And can you just explain to us in the community, what is a mobility hub?

So there's a, you can go on OMPO's website. I believe it's on there. I'm not sure. There's a memorandum. It describes the types of features. It's primarily to look at how to alleviate traffic. It could incorporate like a major bus station or transfer station. In their memorandum, they also talked about working in different community facilities, restrooms, open space, gathering space. It's too preliminary to describe exactly what they're proposing. But yeah, it's mostly to alleviate traffic.

Sure. And just want to make sure that you reach out to the community in your decision on which place to put it. Is it true that you're going to need a boundary amendment to do a mobility hub?

Yes, yes. And it's also in their feasibility study. They say what entitlements each of the sites have and which they would need to change. And all of them require a district boundary amendment.

And lastly, following up on what the previous testifier said, that there are much more worthy areas to be protected than this one. I'm assuming he's talking about the portion across from the highway would probably be more worthy to protect.

Yeah, so currently it's in active ag, or there's a farm stand in that area, so for the mobility hub study, yes.

Yeah, okay. Thank you. Thank you, Chair.

Members, any other questions? I would like, thank you, I would like to call the representative for the landowner, not necessarily the agent because I don't believe that you may have the authority to speak on behalf of the landowner. Yes. And I'm going to talk about the Clean Water and Natural Lands Fund because we had two agenda items today where we were able to move forward on land acquisitions. And the scope of the Clean Water and Natural Lands Fund is preservation, of course. It's agriculture, and it's historic preservation. And I mentioned before, but I just want it for the record. I feel as the chair, my job was to ensure that a private landowner is treated fairly with regard to the compliance of the processes and laws that are before us. But having said that, I've been very empathetic with the community, not just because of some of the social concerns that they have, but the fact that in an ideal world, someone would have purchased this property and had agriculture on it. And in an ideal world, it would have been nice that we had the time because that's not before us. uh for the city to have entertained the acquisition of this through the clean water natural lands fund which it clearly um is authorized to do so but we don't have that time so i just want to ask the landowner this is a private landowner um whether or not they would have been interested in it, okay? Because I feel that my job was to try to explore the potential acquisition of this property from those who are most likely. That was the Kamehameha schools. They have a lot of land out there. They are not interested. I thought, I went to the managing director and they went to the Department of Housing and Land Management and then they did their due diligence and came back with a negative, but that they still support DPP's position. But I think we never explored the Clean Water and Natural Lands Fund because in order for that to occur, it would not just be the interest of the community. and other stakeholders, but there has to be a willing partner from the landowner. So I'm not trying to put you on the spot, but in my own mind, because that's how I logically think, I just need to ask you, would the private landowner be interested in discussions with the city's clean water natural lands fund program to sell it so that we could potentially Work with the community and other stakeholders to have agriculture on that property Thank You chair Iikaika Anderson on behalf of my client Andy Anderson the owner of the subject parcel madam chair are you asking whether my client would be interested in selling the parcel to the city via the clean water natural lands fund acquisition yes that that is the question because um i feel that my job is to and then the fact that we just had two land acquisitions today uh that my job was just to ensure that as we move forward and make decisions here that all aspects were explored. And so I just wanted to, as we are moving to make, I'm gonna move to make my recommendation, I guess I needed to know if the owner would be, is open to acquisition by the city via the Clean Water Natural Lands Fund program.

Well, Andy, I appreciate you, Chair, going above and beyond and doing your due diligence in pursuing potential sales with the Kamehameha Schools as well as with the City Department of Housing and understand the lengthy process that all of that has taken. But we sincerely appreciate your efforts. In regards to clean water and natural lands fund acquisition, no, we wouldn't be open to that at this time.

Members, any questions? Thank you very much.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

We are in discussion.

Council Member Topola. First off, I need to give you your flowers. You did so much, and you continue to do so much. I feel like I need to make it very apparent to the community that you have been very fair to the applicant, and you have also been very aware that there could be potential compromises ideas or different paths we could have taken you took took almost all of them and you're still looking for more so your efforts are applaudable so thank you thank you for doing that um i do think that with the 700 plus you know testimonies in opposition today we're up around 400 testimonies in opposition likely this goes to council it'll It'll be much more than that for the final vote. My issue was that the majority of the community's concerns could have been summarized into two things that I asked them to do that were not done. One thing was either propose a project that has more rule characteristics because that would be more amenable. That's what they're asking. Keep things rule instead of, you know, the... low density apartment model that they're using. And secondly, get more people from the community or testifiers in support, because this could go well, but there needs to be a lot of dialogue. You appreciate dialogue. You have it all the time. So it's unfortunate, because I feel like since last year till today, nothing has happened. Perhaps words were said differently, as said by the presenter. But that's not what I was asking for. Literally, when you have thousands of people in the community talking to you and you're listening to what they're saying and we're asking for one or two changes and no changes can be made, what are we supposed to say to them? We heard all 2,000 of your voices, but we decided on no changes. Cannot be, cannot be because that's not what we do here at the city council. I've seen us go back and forth. You know, I've seen you do it. I've seen her do it. Okay, is this the affordability? Can we do this? All I asked was take off this presentation from this paper, take it away from this particular boundary amendment that has no association with it and it couldn't be done. It's still here. So with that being said, you know, I do support the growth boundary amendment change. But again, it's tied to something that hasn't changed. There's been no progress. You can see we're still at the same standstill. Except for your efforts, we're still at the same standstill. We know that the Kona lows hit the North Shore super hard. We know that it's overpopulated, that it needs more infrastructure help. I'm just saying, you know, I support housing 100%. we're doing a lot of other things as a city council to take away remove barriers from housing make sure that we can get it up and going but we gotta remember that we're not just doing housing with no thought of what it costs we have to do housing with the thought that we're building communities we're building communities where people can operate where they can thrive and if it needs to thrive then we need to hear the people who live within that community so for those reasons of course i can support the growth boundary amendment for all the reasons stated

i can't support this bill so i i thank you chair for all your efforts vice chair waters thank you chair you know you and i and actually this whole body has been very sensitive to the concerns of the north shore community and in fact what the North Shore community is dealing with, we all deal with in our districts. You know, I also want to thank you for your efforts. You know, this was teed up to be voted on before the full council, but for your efforts to bring this back to committee and figure out other alternatives, You know, so I want to thank you as well. But I want to point out a letter dated February 24th, actually, by Kevin Auger, Director of the Department of Housing and Land Management. Based on their review and consideration of the city's broader fiscal commitments, capital program demands, and competing municipal priorities, the administration does not intend to pursue acquisition. Right? I think that was pretty clear in your comments, but I just wanted to point out that They actually did look at it, and they don't want to do it. The administration did not want to take on this project. But as I mentioned, we are sensitive to this community's concern. You know, we supported the community in fighting against the gondola project, which I hope will come out from DPP shortly. We supported $26 million in last year's budget to purchase Shark's Cove. And just today, we're supporting $14 million for the Kalaiwila project. So I think we have listened to this community. it does affect me to think about converting Ag land to residential. But as one of the testifiers noted that there are much more properties within the community that warrant protection in light of the fact that they're going to probably put the utility or mobility hub right there. Because across the street of the Joseph Leong portion would be way worse in my mind. So I am going to vote up, and I just wanted to go on the record for my reasons why. And I do support actually putting housing there, but a mobility hub would work as well. Thank you.

Okay. For discussion before I make my recommendation, so Council Member Cridero.

Thank you, Chair Kea-Aina. I do want to mahalo you. I know I supported your recommendation before the full council. It is noted in the February letter. It does come down to me for the usable land versus the capacity and capability of the impacts that the North Shore community faces on the daily, but especially in big massive events like the tsunami evacuations and more, and the Kona lows as well. But the site itself, I know when, Mr. Hayes came before me and we had a discussion at our very first discussion. I had concerns about the actual, I was talking about setbacks, I was talking about the site itself, and that's the reason why I voted with reservations in the first council meeting. I listened to different aspects and considered what could occur at the site as we had hearings. And whether it be through post Kona Low, I also am looking at where it sits in between two major thoroughfares. And while I do support development, I aim to support that in my part of O'ahu, within the primary urban center. And I do want to note that It really comes down to the usable land versus the capacity and capability for the community. And with that, I'll be voting no against this bill. Mahalo.

Thank you. Council Member Okimoto. Thank you, Chair. Just for discussion, I want to thank you. I think the efforts that you put into this, I know that it's been longstanding. And I really personally appreciate you listening, as you stated, and has been shared to the community, working with the administration and with the landowner. I will be listening to your proposals because I think that you have the greatest grasp on this project. I do take into consideration the comments that were stated by council members Tupola and Cordero, but also Chair Waters. I think those are all great points, but I personally just want to thank you because I don't know of any other situation where the council member has invested so much since I've been sitting in this seat. So thank you very much, Chair.

Greatly appreciate it. I don't know of any other project that I probably invested more time in, including in my district. Um. But it's delicate because I think our job as policymakers is to try to find that balance, which is why I asked that last question, because my job is always try to see how we can achieve the community's objectives. And sometimes when we're given situations, our balances also ensure that a private landlord or an applicant is treated fairly through the process, whether we like it or not. So it is going to be my recommendation that Bill 37-2025-CD1 be reported out for passage on third reading so that we could have continued discussion with all of the council members here. And so I just want to ask, noting the aye from Chair Waters and the two objections from Councilmember Tupola and the objection from Councilmember Cordero, I guess I just wanted to ask what your vote would be. And I deliberately didn't ask any of you individually what your vote was. And the reason being is because I i want you to vote independently because it is a very complicated issue and um and i just feel that every you guys know how i handle things sorry right and so that's what i'm doing here so i am recommending that it move out um for uh passage on third reading so um okay so i can i um i guess i need to ask your your your vote

chair considering all that you've done in the work i i will at this time be voting yes um i do have reservations but i will take it to the full council knowing that it's third reading but i i'm trusting in you because i know that you've put in the most work into this uh and we will have a uh continuing dialogue with all of the members uh so we don't need a roll call vote for this so again

The chair recommends that bill 37, 2025 CD1 be reported out for final for passage on third reading, noting the objections of council member Topola and council member Cordero, the bill moves forward for passage on third reading. I just wanted to mahalo everyone for being here today, including the community. There being no further business, this meeting is adjourned.