02-18-2010, 06:37 AM
HPP planning alert. Just when you though you had a nice view.
I was dismayed to find that a 150' monopole tower was approved for the property next to ours on 13th Avenue. New state legislation removed the use permit requirement and prevented any public say on the tower application. We had been awaiting a second notification with the date of a hearing since the original November letter informing us of the application, and feel tricked and cheated when the County planners decided that new state law made no hearing required. Even the new County regulations regarding towers will not apply to this project because it slipped in before they may take effect.
We realize that some additional towers are inevitable, what is wrong here is that the place for towers is clearly on the large twenty-acre lots created when HPP was originally subdivided. These lots were for community and commercial activities, and what better way to emphasize them than with large infrastructure that would also be available to the future intense uses on those sites. I wrote to the owners of half of these lots, the Watumulls, and got no response. Since there are vast land holdings owned by them along the coast up to Hilo, some day they will be asking for County approval for development. Why does the County not recognize this and use some leverage to get the original developers of HPP to make space available for towers. Neighbors are concerned about proximity to the towers, and the most spacing possible from residences is at the center of the large parcels, its is as simple as that.
Who owns the other large parcels in HPP? The association does. My understanding is that some time back the association invited T-Mobile to come and put a tower on one of its large lots on Makuu, and that the project was halted when the issue was raised over the Watumull's legal right to block any income-producing activity on association land. I think a good lawyer could challenge this, as towers appear to be a needed part of the community. The dark side of this is what happened next.
My neighbor Lloyd Cabral bought an existing home in HPP about five years after we purchased our land. He was on the Board of Directors at the time that T-Mobile was being offered a tower location by HPP. My understanding of what happened after someone determined HPP was prevented from hosting a tower is that Lloyd invited T-Mobile to his front yard, which is where they are preparing to build.
The story told by T-Mobile's agent Laurie Ann K. Chan (808.587.7770 ext 111) to the County planners is that "HPP welcomes T-Mobile to the location on 13th Avenue". Really?
Who in charge at HPP was she referring to? What neighbor groups? I was told by her that the 13th Avenue site was arrived at by the careful analysis of her engineering staff, and that no other sites were suitable. Utter nonsense! This was the low-hanging fruit, a willing owner ready to go, who came to them through his office as a representative of HPP and was acting in his own self-interest.
When Lloyd came over to us to ask us to support his tower project, we told him we did not want to look out our windows at a tower. All five of our lots have a clear view of the tower whose daytime silhouette mars our view and whose flashing red lights will replace our starry night sky. His answer was "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". His house and patio do not give him views of the tower, so from his perspective he is loses nothing.
Currently everyone in HPP can look forward to a tower of up to 500' looming over them. T-Mobile does not care, County planners blame the state revised statute HR 205-4.5
that allows towers anywhere at all in HPP (remember we are zoned ag land and the state does not realize the residential reality here), and the state Land Use Commission
(never mind the flowery website language about protecting our natural environment) defers that they only deal with properties over 15 acres. I did remind them about our 20 acre parcels and suggested they could somehow intervene to bring the Watumulls to the table.
Our paradise is lost, we lose good neighbors who will move away because of this, and it seems we are powerless to stop this wreckless, unplanned development. Wake up the rest of you, go outside and appreciate your view while you still have it.
I was dismayed to find that a 150' monopole tower was approved for the property next to ours on 13th Avenue. New state legislation removed the use permit requirement and prevented any public say on the tower application. We had been awaiting a second notification with the date of a hearing since the original November letter informing us of the application, and feel tricked and cheated when the County planners decided that new state law made no hearing required. Even the new County regulations regarding towers will not apply to this project because it slipped in before they may take effect.
We realize that some additional towers are inevitable, what is wrong here is that the place for towers is clearly on the large twenty-acre lots created when HPP was originally subdivided. These lots were for community and commercial activities, and what better way to emphasize them than with large infrastructure that would also be available to the future intense uses on those sites. I wrote to the owners of half of these lots, the Watumulls, and got no response. Since there are vast land holdings owned by them along the coast up to Hilo, some day they will be asking for County approval for development. Why does the County not recognize this and use some leverage to get the original developers of HPP to make space available for towers. Neighbors are concerned about proximity to the towers, and the most spacing possible from residences is at the center of the large parcels, its is as simple as that.
Who owns the other large parcels in HPP? The association does. My understanding is that some time back the association invited T-Mobile to come and put a tower on one of its large lots on Makuu, and that the project was halted when the issue was raised over the Watumull's legal right to block any income-producing activity on association land. I think a good lawyer could challenge this, as towers appear to be a needed part of the community. The dark side of this is what happened next.
My neighbor Lloyd Cabral bought an existing home in HPP about five years after we purchased our land. He was on the Board of Directors at the time that T-Mobile was being offered a tower location by HPP. My understanding of what happened after someone determined HPP was prevented from hosting a tower is that Lloyd invited T-Mobile to his front yard, which is where they are preparing to build.
The story told by T-Mobile's agent Laurie Ann K. Chan (808.587.7770 ext 111) to the County planners is that "HPP welcomes T-Mobile to the location on 13th Avenue". Really?
Who in charge at HPP was she referring to? What neighbor groups? I was told by her that the 13th Avenue site was arrived at by the careful analysis of her engineering staff, and that no other sites were suitable. Utter nonsense! This was the low-hanging fruit, a willing owner ready to go, who came to them through his office as a representative of HPP and was acting in his own self-interest.
When Lloyd came over to us to ask us to support his tower project, we told him we did not want to look out our windows at a tower. All five of our lots have a clear view of the tower whose daytime silhouette mars our view and whose flashing red lights will replace our starry night sky. His answer was "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". His house and patio do not give him views of the tower, so from his perspective he is loses nothing.
Currently everyone in HPP can look forward to a tower of up to 500' looming over them. T-Mobile does not care, County planners blame the state revised statute HR 205-4.5
that allows towers anywhere at all in HPP (remember we are zoned ag land and the state does not realize the residential reality here), and the state Land Use Commission
(never mind the flowery website language about protecting our natural environment) defers that they only deal with properties over 15 acres. I did remind them about our 20 acre parcels and suggested they could somehow intervene to bring the Watumulls to the table.
Our paradise is lost, we lose good neighbors who will move away because of this, and it seems we are powerless to stop this wreckless, unplanned development. Wake up the rest of you, go outside and appreciate your view while you still have it.
John Maloney
310.562.0362
johnmaloney3@me.com
Hawaii Architect AR8082
310.562.0362
johnmaloney3@me.com
Hawaii Architect AR8082