08-17-2010, 06:31 PM
Aloha All,
Four and a half hours from start to finish and the resolution to grant an extension to Woodland Center passed out of committee with a 7-2 vote. The dissenting votes were cast by Dominic Yagong and Brenda Ford. After the nearly 30 person testimony the council got down to business. Present in the Hilo Council room were the attorneys for the Developer and for the owners of another business in Pahoa. For awhile, it appeared they may require the insertion of completion of the right lane in and out of 130 onto Kahakai, mauka side, as a compromise to grant the extension to Woodland while taking under advisement the concerns for traffic and public safety by those who testified to that point.
At one point when it looked like this was going to be the outcome, Mr. Woodland Center's attorney, Mr. Yamanaka, testified that this would be an additional consideration added to the extension that was not before required and that they had met each of the previous conditions. At this point the negotiations began to break down. With Yamanaka's statement the council members, beginning with Kelly Greenwell, realized that if the county required that the Developer stipulate to having the intersection finished before a the certificate of occupancy was issued for any of the 3 buildings currently under construction there would be no incentive to continue to offer the $400k out of the developer's pocket for the intersection. If they could not gain occupancy be the first of November and be opened by the Christmas shopping season, beginning in November, then that seriously altered the deal. Executive session was then called.
Coming out of executive session, it appeared some of the council members decided to play it safe and not rock the boat. Mr. Ikeda asked the developer if he could guarantee that the intersection would be completed by November 15th and Ogasawara [the developer] said he could not guarantee it but he would work toward that end. Mr. Ikeda was fine with the man's word. Thereafter in a quick succession of votes the county council voted against the amendment Dominic Yagong moved to adopt requiring the intersection be completed before occupancy, voted down a public meeting and then voted for the resolution as it was written and introduced on the agenda for the day.
Here is the salient point: EVERYONE who testified from the State's Traffic Engineer, to many of the council members, to at least 17 public testimonies of people who live and drive in the area, ALL agreed Pahoa Rd and 130 and 130 and Post Office road are dangerous. To a person, they also agreed that the opening of an off ramp to Kahakai mauka would alleviate some of the traffic concerns. Though the majority rule was to vote in favor of the developer, the record will forever reflect -- for any future accident victim or family member -- that this was approved by 7 council members -- KNOWING and in some cases admitting to the dangers involved!
“A penny saved is a government oversight.”
Four and a half hours from start to finish and the resolution to grant an extension to Woodland Center passed out of committee with a 7-2 vote. The dissenting votes were cast by Dominic Yagong and Brenda Ford. After the nearly 30 person testimony the council got down to business. Present in the Hilo Council room were the attorneys for the Developer and for the owners of another business in Pahoa. For awhile, it appeared they may require the insertion of completion of the right lane in and out of 130 onto Kahakai, mauka side, as a compromise to grant the extension to Woodland while taking under advisement the concerns for traffic and public safety by those who testified to that point.
At one point when it looked like this was going to be the outcome, Mr. Woodland Center's attorney, Mr. Yamanaka, testified that this would be an additional consideration added to the extension that was not before required and that they had met each of the previous conditions. At this point the negotiations began to break down. With Yamanaka's statement the council members, beginning with Kelly Greenwell, realized that if the county required that the Developer stipulate to having the intersection finished before a the certificate of occupancy was issued for any of the 3 buildings currently under construction there would be no incentive to continue to offer the $400k out of the developer's pocket for the intersection. If they could not gain occupancy be the first of November and be opened by the Christmas shopping season, beginning in November, then that seriously altered the deal. Executive session was then called.
Coming out of executive session, it appeared some of the council members decided to play it safe and not rock the boat. Mr. Ikeda asked the developer if he could guarantee that the intersection would be completed by November 15th and Ogasawara [the developer] said he could not guarantee it but he would work toward that end. Mr. Ikeda was fine with the man's word. Thereafter in a quick succession of votes the county council voted against the amendment Dominic Yagong moved to adopt requiring the intersection be completed before occupancy, voted down a public meeting and then voted for the resolution as it was written and introduced on the agenda for the day.
Here is the salient point: EVERYONE who testified from the State's Traffic Engineer, to many of the council members, to at least 17 public testimonies of people who live and drive in the area, ALL agreed Pahoa Rd and 130 and 130 and Post Office road are dangerous. To a person, they also agreed that the opening of an off ramp to Kahakai mauka would alleviate some of the traffic concerns. Though the majority rule was to vote in favor of the developer, the record will forever reflect -- for any future accident victim or family member -- that this was approved by 7 council members -- KNOWING and in some cases admitting to the dangers involved!
“A penny saved is a government oversight.”
"Q might have done the right thing for the wrong reason, perhaps we need a good kick in our complacency to get us ready for what's ahead" -- Captain Picard, to Guinan (Q Who?)