Printable version (copy and paste into browser):

 http://www.honolulu.gov/nco/nb22/09/22200903Min.pdf

WAIPAHU NEIGHBORHOOD BOARD

DRAFT REGULAR MEETING MINUTES

THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2009

FILCOM CENTER

Call To Order – Chair Richard Oshiro called the meeting to order at 7:20 p.m. With a quorum of 11 members present, this 19 member Board requires 10 members for a quorum and to take official Board action.

Members Present – Edmund Alfonso, Maureen Andrade, Marty Burke, Cory Chun, Lorraine Duhaylonsod, Connie Herolaga, Robert Kakalia, Kerry Nishimoto, Richard Oshiro, Chuck Wheatley, and George Yakowenko.

Members Absent – Romeo Garcia, Terry Healey, William Maglinti, Steven Antonio, Joe Hunkin Jr., Thomas Maus, and Rito Saniatan.                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Guests – Baybee Hufana-Ablan (Mayor Hannemann’s Representative), Senators Michelle Kidani and Clarence Nishihara, Councilmember Nestor Garcia, Sgt. Kaneshiro (Honolulu Police Department-HPD), David Festerling (Governor’s Representative), Danielle Bass-Representative Yamane’s Office, Naomi Hanohano (Board of Water Supply-BWS), Karen Scharfenstein (Councilmember Okino’s Office), Pat Lee (Honolulu High Capacity Transit Corridor Project-HHCTCP), Adam Rosa (Van Meter Williams Pollack), Blaine Tsugawa (Senator Nishihara’s Office), Ilalo Parayno, and Mary Chanel-Benjamin (Neighborhood Commission Office-NCO).

Introduction – Board members and guests introduced themselves.

Organization of Board – Sub-district 9 has one vacancy; Chair Oshiro offered the vacancy to any qualified resident. There were no nominations or volunteers at this time.

Chair’s Announcements – Chair Oshiro said according to the new Neighborhood Plan (NP) if a board member was absent for three regular board meetings within a one year period, beginning July 1 and ending June 30, the board shall notify the member of the absences in writing sent by U. S. Postal certified mail to the member’s last known address within seven calendar days of the third absence.

Questions, answers and concerns:

1)       Yakowenko was not too familiar with the new NP and realized its intent was to facilitate members with meeting order and their oath to uphold rules. He added Maglinti has missed several meetings now as he was a candidate for another Board according to the NCO website. Chair Oshiro has not received any resignation letter from anyone and the Board needed to authorize NCO to send out letters.

Approval of Regular Meeting Minutes – Chair Oshiro deferred approving the February 26, 2009 regular meeting minutes as they were not completed.

Treasurer’s Report – Andrade reported in the month of February 2009 the Operating Account expended $32.28 for printing and postage leaving a balance of $927.42; the Publicity Account expended $250 for the January 2009 videotaping leaving a balance of $1,250: the Refreshment Account remained at $120. This left a closing appropriated balance of $2,262.16.

OFFICIAL REPORTS:

Honolulu Fire Department (HFD) – HPD currently were called to an emergency.

Honolulu Police Department (HPD) – Sgt. Kaneshiro circulated the February 2009 statistics which included: 33 auto thefts, 28 burglaries, 59 criminal property damages (CPD), 2 sex assaults, 59 thefts and 41 unauthorized entries into motor vehicles (UEMV). HPD received 5,741 calls within District 3.

Questions, answers and concerns:

1)       Burke said reports from the Waipio Gentry area of an alleged abusive situation by someone identifying himself as a residential parking enforcement personnel; he was issuing parking citations. He allegedly identified himself as an auxiliary civilian parking enforcement officer. Residents claimed the officer was verbally abusive and did not give explanations why vehicles were being cited except that vehicles were blocking intersections. Yakowenko said there was a special volunteer enforcement program which only reported certain illegal situations such as the use of disabled parking stalls without a legal parking pass. Sgt. Kaneshiro said he will follow up and urged residents to call the Pearl City HPD station if the abusive officer re-appeared.

Mayor Hannemann’s report – Baybee Hufana-Ablan reported previous concerns: 1) the City Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) reviewed their records and found no issued permits for building use to Saniatan for either of the months of October 2008 and January 2009. Contact the Mililani Complex Supervisor at 623-3170 if needed to clear up any discrepancy. 2) An evaluation by the City Department of Design and Construction’s (DDC) consultant determined that there were other issues with the Waipahu Plantation Village building besides the leaking roof; major renovations may exceed $1 million dollars. DPR has requested $120 million in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 Capital Budget for renovations. 3) The City Department of Environmental Services (ENV) will monitor residences if reports were received that the gray trash cart was not enough. During the monitoring period by ENV, green waste in the gray cart cannot be collected; must be separately collected. Excess household trash may be placed in trash bags and left beside the gray cart. Someone from the refuse yard will inspect the cart, collect the bags of excess trash, and record the information. They will then determine whether the residence should be issued another gray cart; a letter will be sent to the residence. The call center has no records of monitoring the residences of the addresses submitted last month; they will inform those residents of the process. The carts are not for sale; the service actually costs much more than the carts. The carts get the most efficient system when they are full. The size of the refuse routes were based on the number of bins issued about 1,000 maximum per route.  4) The 2009-2010 FY budgets are currently being heard by City Council; increases to bus fares and some City paid facilities were being considered.  5) The NCO Neighborhood Board elections voting runs from May 6 through 22 for the 2009-2011 Board terms which begins July 1, 2009 with elected members. Bryan Mick can be reached at 768-3717 for further information.

Questions, answers and concerns:

1)       Herolaga suggested the concern over elders not being computer-savvy; a non-electronic voting place could be helpful to provide more voting power.

2)       Wheatley reported a safety hazard fronting Don Quijote in Waipahu; a bus stop was moved leaving a break in the cement with an iron pipe sticking out. Also on Pupu Street, a problem with hanging pairs of sneakers on electrical wires was increasing and was reported to be a gang initiation sign. City and State representatives will try to confirm jurisdiction  on removing these shoes.   

RESIDENTS’ CONCERNS: There were no concerns.

COMMUNITY REPORTS:

A. Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park/Waipio Soccer Complex – Burke reported the committee met at 7:00 p.m., the second Monday of each month at the park’s aquatics complex and the meeting was open to the public. Communities were getting much use out of the park, and he commended park staff for keeping the park in great condition.

B. Honolulu High-Capacity Transit Corridor – P. Lee reported that transit ridership throughout the nation was on the rise; families were looking for ways to trim their budgets due to the economic slowdown. Taking public transportation can save a family about $8,000 per vehicle costs. Ongoing Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization (OMPO) and Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) meetings were ongoing to prepare for the 20-mile preliminary engineer phase for the rail project and encouraged the public to attend the meetings.

C. OMPO Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) – R. Kakalia reported there was a Freeway Service Patrol (FSP) program that will provide motorist assistance to reduce congestion within a designated test area. The FSP will offer patrol trucks during the morning and afternoon rush hour traffic to assist stranded motorists, clear minor incidents while also assisting with the safety management of traffic around major incident scenes on the H-1 and H-2 Freeways. This service commences the summer of 2009.

E. Waipahu Community Foundation – Burke reported that March 5, 2009 will be the deadline for applying for qualifying 501C3 non-profit organizations wishing to provide services to organized district youth groups. The foundation committee will be meeting to decide on qualified applicants with a June 1, 2009 deadline to award funds.

F. Board of Water Supply (BWS) – N. Hanohano reported two main-breaks in the district in January and none in February.  The BWS was pleased to announce that Wayne Hashiro recently joined the BWS as the new manager and chief engineer. W. Hashiro will be responsible for the overall strategic direction and management of the BWS; focusing on furthering the department’s mission, “Water for Life-Ka Wai Ola,” and expanding its efforts to become a truly world-class water utility. Hashiro was previously the city’s Managing Director. The Maui native has worked as a professional engineer and manager for over 34 years developing diverse engineering, project management, employee leadership as well as an extensive experience while with the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The Halawa Xeriscape Garden will hold workshops geared toward community education on March 21 and May 9 from 10:00 a.m. to noon on how worms can turn food waste into organic fertilizer. To register, call 748-5363 or email to tours@hbws.org and visit www.boardofwatersupply.com for further BWS information. Addressing a request for chemical ground testing for a 30 year old home, one should call BWS for a special reading; however the recent water report was due out in June 2009.

G. Other Community Reports – There were no other reports.

H. NB Permitted Interaction Groups (P.I.G) – There were no reports available.

PRESENTATIONS –

The Waipahu Neighborhood TOD Plan: The Summary of the Public Review Draft (PRD) was prepared by Van Meter Williams Pollack encompassing the two stations along Farrington Highway. A. Rosa reported he was the district representative assisting with the community process and was happy to report there were about 125 attendees at the Tuesday meeting. The deadline for comments on the PRD was May 8, 2009; submit comments and suggestions to: City Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP), 650 South King Street, 7^th Floor, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 or by faxing to 768-6743, attention to Lori Honma and also by email to A. Rosa at: adam@vmwp.com. The Waipahu Neighborhood TOD was the first in a series of focused community based planning efforts led by the DPP for future station areas along the transit line. The plan focused on the areas within half and a quarter mile of the proposed transit stations and is intended to provide a vision for improvements and future urban redevelopment adjacent to the Farrington/Leoku and Farrington/Mokuola transit stations. It was the goal of the plan to foster more livable communities that took advantage of the benefits of transit; specifically, reducing transportation costs for residents, businesses and workers. While taking advantage of more efficient use of land, TOD can provide more walkable, healthier, economically vibrant neighborhoods, safe bicycling environments, and convenient access to daily household needs. The summary of recommendations for Farrington/Mokuola were: Transit plazas, revitalization of “Old Town” area, restoration of Kapakahi Stream and Festival Market Place Plaza, mini parks adjacent to infill development, infill mixed use and retail along Waipahu Depot Road (WDR), Farrington Highway (FH) and Waipahu Street (WS). Summary of Recommendations for Farrington/Leoku were: Transit plazas on Farrington plazas, Leoole “main street” mixed use development connection Pearl Harbor; gateway office development at Fort Weaver Road and FH, live/work buildings of FH, affordable housing redevelopment makai of FH, along with both areas consolidation of parking spaces. The following five steps were for the City in the near future to put the plan into action and to ensure the framework for TOD and improvements: 1. Address the flooding issues at FH and Mokuola. 2. Create the Waipahu TOD zoning regulations. 3. Identify possible incentives at the City, State and Federal levels. 4. Work with property owners that were interested in redeveloping according to the plan. 5. Identify short-term public improvement projects in the station areas. 

Questions, answers and concerns:

1)       Chair Oshiro said he has been following the TOD plan with reservations on how change has affected the district for the past 20 years. He said the Hawaii Plantation Village era should be a model as it should not be lost as Hawaii makes history with the rail transit.

2)       Wheatley said that his apartment building catered to the elders and asked if the Pupu Street noise codes changed from residential to commercial coding. DPP does not deal with noise complaints; however, comments should still be sent in for input as well as attending meetings to voice opinions before the due date for consideration for such coding. The State Department of Health (DOH) was the agency that usually dealt with noise levels.

3)       Kakalia thought the plan did not have any references or replicas from the late 1800s when Waipahu came to be what it is now known as the “gathering place”. A. Rosa said there will be public arts in station buildings along with a unique graphic historic trail plan which will be described in the plan documents. According to DPP there were a few rezoning plans from the Waipahu area to Nanakuli to coincide with the rail transit including the Disney project taking interest in the old train tracks in Kapolei.  

4)       I. Parayno said there were also two schools on FH that have to be considered in the noise level which possibly may interrupt with student focus and forcing schools to close windows. I Parayno went on to say, that the two schools, Waipahu High and Middle Schools, were not equipped with air conditioning. P. Lee said the environmental impact statement was addressing this issue; a wall in the plan was projected to lessen noise level at major projects. Chair Oshiro said he projected several community meetings would be addressing some of these community issues which is why everyone should be attending when announced. A. Rosa said to keep in mind the rail will be on tracks and not roadways which studies showed had more of vibration effects.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS – Resolution from Mililani Mauka Neighborhood Board No. 35 request OMPO add to the 2035 Oahu Regional Transportation Plan a rail transit connection in the Central Oahu Corridor. This item was deferred without opposition until further study or information was received.

GOVERNMENT REPORTS –

City Councilmember (CM) Garcia reported on March 2, Mayor Hannemann released the FY 2010 proposed budget for the City; these key measures included: Bills 15 through 27, proposing fee increases for adult bus fares, zoo and park fees, golf courses, special duty officers, alarm permit fees, real property taxes, abandoned vehicle fees, and proposed decrease costs for City Capital Budget, City Operating Budget, also General Obligation Bond Sales, and a Creation of Transit Improvement Bond fund and sales. The City Council was presently conducting a thorough review of these proposals with close consideration of various vital resident services and possibly postpones or eliminates services that did not meet criteria. The recovery act was signed giving Hawaii $2 billion in stimulus funding. An agreement was made with the Navy to cover portable bathrooms at Waipio Park (with the City to share in this cost) while permanent ones were on the way. The Waipio Access Road will also receive improvements under the Navy’s stimulus funding. There was also a possible proposal regarding the Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial façade to be moved to a final resting place which could be at the Mink Central Oahu Regional Park (MCORP); he will confer with Burke to possibly attend the April community meeting.

Questions, answers and concerns:

1)       Chair Oshiro reiterated long overdue needed improvements to the plantation building and pool. CM Garcia said he was aware the building had some repairs pending before the roof could be repaired; as chair of the budget committee, there were many pending projects on the entire island of Oahu.   

2)       Burke said he was still waiting a respond regarding the MCORP improvement request for the 2010 budget. CM Garcia asked Burke to forward him the request letter; he has also met with the park management regarding a solution for fence barriers.  

Governor’s Representative – D. Festerling reported that the Council of Revenues’ (COR) lowered revenue projections to reflect the continuing impact the national and international economic conditions are having on our State’s economy. The Governor has met with union leaders, social services agencies, community organizations and cabinet members to develop a new financial plan which was time consuming for all. Governor Lingle also submitted a balanced financial plan to the Legislature that closed the $650 million revenue shortfall for the remainder of the FY 2009, plus 2010 and 2011, based on the COR January 9 forecast. This plan balanced the budget without raising taxes, without any layoffs or furloughs of State employees and without making significant cuts to essential public services or programs. This plan was in addition to the one recommended to the Legislature on January 27 to address the $81 million shortfall for FY09, as well as the FY2010 to 2011 biennium budget and to balance the financial plan submitted in December which included a detailed plan for the projected $1.1 billion in revenue shortfall. The plan submitted last week incorporated $320 million in Medicaid reimbursement funds from the federal stimulus package. The State was working on taking advantage of the federal stimulus funds that were available to Hawaii; however, the funds were not recurring funds and therefore cannot rely on them to solve all of the revenue challenges. At a time of need, free dental, vision and physical screenings were available for anyone needing services; screenings were March 21, beginning at 8:00 a.m. to noon at the Aloha Center, Brigham Young University Campus sponsored by DOH, the Kahuku Medical Center and other community organizations. The 2^nd Annual NASA/BAE Systems First in Hawaii Regional Robotics Competition will be on March 26 through 28 at Stan Sheriff Center at the University of Hawaii at Manoa Campus; admission was free and parking in the structure was $3. Responses to previous concerns: 1) DOT did not have enforcement powers on State Highways, however, HPD assistance was requested to provide zipper lane enforcements on a periodic perspective since there were not many areas for HPD to pull violators over. Once DOT builds the H-1 contra flow, which will confine motorists within the HOV lanes for the entire stretch much like the zipper lane, enforcement will be much simpler as it can occur at the exit of the contra flow facility and violators can be easily pulled to the side in a safe manner. 2) Currently, DOT does not have plans to change the zipper lane occupancy back to two or less due to HOV3 facility proven to be successful as it moved more people in fewer cars in far less time. Studies reported the commute time savings of about 15 minutes from Waikele in the zipper lane, and 10 minutes in the general purpose lane both into Iwilei District. DOT will continue to monitor and assess traffic control for their entire construction project, including the proposed H-1 freeway project at Middle Street. Under the current law, it was not possible to open the zipper lane to all vehicles during an accident on H-1 town bound; however, under the current House Bill 866 (HB866), HD1, currently at Legislature will give the DOT Director authority to allow such uses of the HOV lanes when accidents were involved. It also has been done on occasion with media advisories to motorists via message boards and traffic reports by the Traffic Management Center. Results and evaluation data for the zipper and commute lanes were available at www.hawaii.gov/news/honolulu-advertiser-fewer-cars-more-users-of.    

Questions, answers and concerns:

1)       Chair Oshiro asked why the State Attorney General opposed the State ID bill; D. Festerling said City Council offered amendments to the bill and will offer findings as soon as possible.

2)       Wheatley said the Superferry shutdown was a big loss for the tourist industry and bad timing for the Hawaii economy as well. D. Festerling said the State was looking at options to possibly reassure its return to Hawaii sometime in the future.

Senator Nishihara reported the Waipio Access Road has been a public health issue without sidewalk improvements; regardless of jurisdiction of property versus roadways an environmental assessment was needed, the Aloha Club House was also affected safety wise without sidewalk improvements. The State was still reviewing the Superferry ruling and will report back next month. The Waipahu Elementary School was also in need of $140,000 for building repairs which was proposed for the FY 2010-11.

Questions, answers and concerns:

1)       Yakowenko inquired regarding the fireworks ban. Senator Nishihara said he has not followed the bill and could not comment at this time. He added he does however supported several tourism bills, a bill to exempt  those citizens 75 years and older from jury duty, as well as a tax exemption on unemployment benefits, and the text messaging cell phone bill.  

Senator Kidani reported the Senate Bills 609 and 610 (SB 609/610) regarding fireworks prohibition was out of committee and will carry over to the next session. The clothesline bill has passed and the Princeville bill allowing associations with the restriction was currently being heard in the House. The Ways and Means revenue bills were still alive except for the half percent county tax bill which did not pass. Senator Kidani was present when 16 Eagle Boy Scouts were presented their awards by the Gentry Waipio Association. Important dates in April: 9^th, filing deadline for Second Decking; 16^th Second Crossover and last day for Third Reading of Bills; 17^th First Crossover for concurrent amendments; 24^th Second Crossover for concurrent resolutions; and the 30^th was the last day to file non-fiscal bills to deck for Final Reading. March 21, April 4 and 9 were upcoming dates for an opportunity to donate blood to the Blood Bank of Hawaii; call 845-9966 for further information. She also circulated Health Insurance for Kids with Quest or Medicaid. She encouraged community comments and suggestions; please contact her at senkidani@capitol.hawaii.gov or 586-7100.

Questions, answers and concerns:

1)       Chair Oshiro was curious if the half State tax bill could be resurrected in the future. Senator Kidani said it did not cross over; it could possibly become a House bill again. She voted with reservations on the bill. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Viewing of the Waipahu Neighborhood Board No. 22 on Olelo Channel 49 network is on Fridays at 9:00 p.m. The next regular Board meeting is scheduled for April 23, 2009.

ADJOURMENT: The meeting adjourned at 9:47 p.m.  

Submitted by M. Chanel-Benjamin, NA