A message from Save Our Neighborhoods

A message from Save Our Neighborhoods

Dear SONnies and Friends of O'ahu's residential neighborhoods,

Please forward this important call to everyone in your email list

 

PLEASE SEND TESTIMONY, ATTEND AND TESTIFY at this important Council Meeting:

Wednesday, Nov 1  10:00 am  Council Chambers Honolulu Hale (these resolutions are well down the agenda, so you should be safe arriving at 1:30 which is the end of the scheduled lunch recess)

Last week, the Honolulu City Council Committee on Zoning kicked the can down the road to the full council by passing ALL FOUR STR (Short-Term Rental) resolutions to this Wednesday's meeting.

Many of you submitted testimony and testified in-person at the Zoning Committee meeting - thanks very much.  Many of you did not. 

 

The 9,000 + illegal STRs are not only a blight on neighborhood life, STRs are one of the major causes of high rents and homelessness for the working poor.

 

These bills are the showdown for our neighborhoods and housing for everyone living O'ahu.  For a quick estimate of how many short-term rentals (STR) are in your neighborhood, click airdna.com and type in your 5-digit zip code.  Then scout around other O'ahu zip codes and you will see that there are THOUSANDS more.  This site may not be 100% accurate but also does not cover all hosting platforms - many operators are not listed on the major hosting platforms and are not shown.  Remember, most of these are ILLEGAL under Honolulu zoning law and are removing much-needed rental housing from local families.

 

There are two forces at work here; 1) Those trying to turn our residential neighborhoods into mini-hotels.  They will be supporting 163 and 301.  They include current-illegal operators, those providing services to illegal operators or otherwise making $$ from them, and their political backers who have friends/supporters in this industry, and 2) Those of us working to preserve/return residential-zoned housing for O'ahu's families and insisting that the City enforce the existing law forbidding short-term rentals.  We support 052 & 164.

 

 

Resolution 17-052 CD-1 (Menor - our favorite Reso)

• Changes the basis of the existing law from "provide" (a Short-term rental) to "offer", which will allow advertising to be used as proof.
• Allows neighbor to go to state court to force the DPP to enforce the law against illegal vacation rentals
• Fine proceeds to go to the DPP for enforcement
• Makes DPP’s records on enforcement open to public scrutiny
• Allow neighbor to directly sue the offending STR operator
• Requires hosting platforms to report STR property information to the DPP

Resolution 17-163 (Martin - permitting - boo)

• Adds a permitting process for new TVRs
• No neighbor community input in permitting process
• No specified limits on # of permits.
• Holds owner responsible for advertising content, which cannot be enforced without major investigation effort
• Adds Enforcement techniques untried and unlikely to work

Resolution 17-164 (Martin - enforcement only)

• Stricter rules for advertising
• Makes it easier for City to collect fines and liens against offenders
• Could be a good starting point for discussion.
• Some enforcement measures

Resolution 17-301 (Anderson - permitting - boo)

• No community input. 
• Would turn R5 neighborhoods into resorts without proper rezoning. Would work against long-term rentals and affordable housing. Also would work against the ADU bills just passed by the city.
• Who would enforce to ensure that the owner actually lives there and is on site full-time?
• Forcing people to have to file police complaints means they have to take time off of work to go to court. Puts additional burden on the police and takes them away from investigating serious crime.

This is the last step in the Council.  Resolutions passed will be transmitted to the Honolulu Planning Commission and then back to the Council in bill form for final consideration and then to the mayor for signing into law.

 

!!THE ILLEGAL OPERATORS AND THEIR SUPPORTERS WILL BE THERE IN FORCE!!

 

The main problem with enforcement has been lack of political willpower on the part of administration/corporation counsel/DPP over the past 20 years of the Internet.  For example, in a recent letter from the mayor to a neighborhood board member, Caldwell writes: "As you may know, the public is currently divided on whether short term rentals in stable residential neighborhoods is a good idea."   This is just not true.  Over the past 10 years, public opinion has swayed the Council and the Legislature in numerous showdowns that the residential public is adamantly opposed to this invasion of our residential neighborhoods, loss of housing, disruption, and the constant flow of overnight strangers.

 

MAKE SURE THAT YOU ATTEND AND TESTIFY ON ALL FOUR RESOLUTIONS

 

Even if you do not sign up in advance or at the meeting, you can still testify after all the registered speakers testify.

 

For the past 12 years, SONHawai'i has been pushing the city to enforce the land use laws to shut down these illegal hotel operations in our residential neighborhoods.  SONHawai'i's and the residential public's position is reasonable and clear:

 

TWO YEARS OF PROVEN EFFECTIVE ENFORCEMENT BEFORE EVEN CONSIDERING PERMITTING

 

That means shutting down the thousands of currently-illegal operations and putting the horse back in front of the cart.  Two of these resolutions (052 & 164) will help make that possible.

 

One minute PER Agenda item - 4 min total. 

 

Please also right now Submit the testimony form and add your own comments. This does not have to be word-for-word the same testimony that you give in person at the meeting. Remember, there are FOUR items to submit testimony, so submit the form FOUR times, once for 17-052 (SUPPORT), once for 17-163 (OPPOSE), once for 17-164 (SUPPORT and add comment to combine with 052) and lastly for 17-301 (OPPOSE).  The link to the testimony form is:  http://www.honolulu.gov/ccl-testimony-form.html which is sometimes slow to load - after you 'submit' for one item, hit the  <  (back button) to return to the previous page, change the reso number, fill the form again then click 'submit' again.

 

Some of last week's testimonies submitted through the above portal did not get posted on the Council website!

 

So, to make sure that all nine councilmembers see your written testimony, send them all an email of your testimony by pasting all the following addresses in the "to" line of your email: emartin@honolulu.gov; kmpine@honolulu.gov; ianderson@honolulu.gov; tozawa@honolulu.gov; akobayashi@honolulu.gov;
cafukunaga@honolulu.gov; jmanahan@honolulu.gov; belefante@honolulu.gov; rmenor@honolulu.gov Submit right away so that councilmembers will see it in time!

 

Please forward this important call to everyone in your email list. Include associations, housing & homelessness advocates, social organizations and neighborhood groups – this affects us all.

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　  We have prevailed each time in the past, but it takes some effort - especially YOUR effort

Please, help right now to Save O’ahu’s Neighborhoods

Larry Bartley,

Executive Director

sonhawaii@hawaii.rr.com

Developers nibbling at our Ag zoned land.

This is from our neighbors to the north, Kahaluu Neighborhood Board. Developers keep nibbling away at our Ag zoned land.

***

Aloha,

Just a heads up that the amended KPSCP will be up for first reading before the City Council on Wednesday, October 5 at Kapolei Hale. Below are excerpts from Kahalu'u Neighborhood Board's letter to government officials in strong opposition to moving the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) into Kahalu'u.  I will attend the October 5th meeting to testify in opposition.

 1)  The Kahalu'u Neighborhood Board #29 is concerned that we must preserve the integrity of the Sustainable Community Plan by keeping agricultural land in agriculture.

 2)  We believe that It is vital to protect the health of our streams and sources of pure water in Kahalu'u from storm water pollution and leaking septic systems.  Increased development will lead to increased degradation of Kahalu'u stream and Kahalu'u lagoon.  

3)  We strongly oppose the 8/3/16 Planning Commission's recommendation to move the UGB by inserting the development project at 47-605 Melekula Road (TMK 1-4-7-46:006: Ronald DeReis, owner) into the Ko'olaupoko Sustainable Communities Plan.  The property is currently zoned for AG-2 and preservation.  Development of this property destroys a riparian buffer zone necessary for the health of Kahalu'u stream.

 4)  Expanding residential development by extending the Urban Growth Boundary into Kahalu'u agricultural land violates the intent of the Oahu General Plan.

Please send your individual testimony to the City Council members as soon as possible.  Public testimony is critical at every step of the way!  I suggest you share this message with everyone in your address book.  Mahalo, Flora Obayashi, Chair, Kahalu‘u Neighborhood Board #29

Send a copy of your testimony to:

Mayor Kirk Caldwell, mayor@honolulu.gov

Council Chair Ernie Martin, District 2, 768-5002

Council Member Ikaika Anderson, District 3, 768-5003

Council Member Trevor Ozawa, Zoning and Planning Committee Chair, 768-5004

Council Member Kymberly Pine, 768-5001

Council Member Ann Kobayashi, 768-5005

Council Member Carol Fukunaga,768-5006

Council Member Joey Manahan, 768-5007

Council Member Brandon Elefante 768-5008

George Atta, Department of Planning and Permitting

Senator Gil Riviere, senriviere@capitol.hawaii.gov, 586-7330

Senator Jill Tokuda, sentokuda@capitol.hawaii.gov, 587-7215

Representative Jarrett Keohokalole, repkeohokalole@capitol.hawaii.gov, 586-8540

Representative Feki Pouha, reppouha@capitol.hawaii.gov, 586-6380 

Mr. Jim Niermann (Mr. DeReis' representative)

Mayor's Livable Communities Project

Honolulu Age Friendly Cities Action Plan

Go to:  www.KupunaToKeiki.com and download Making Honolulu Age-Friendly – An Action Plan. (Please note that it may take several minutes for the file to download to your computer – it is a large file).

We encourage you to read the plan and try to submit written comments by Friday, May 1, 2015. Please submit written comments only, either via mail or email:

1.     Mail to:

University of Hawai`i

Center on Aging

1960 East West Road, BioMed T705B

Honolulu, HI 96822 

2.     Email to:

Kupuna2keiki@gmail.com

If you have any questions or need special accommodations, please contact the UH Center on Aging (consultants for this initiative) at 956-5001. We look forward to hearing from you!

Use the following testimony for ideas or just edit to reflect you point of view:

As a member of the Kaneohe Neighborhood Board, my comments focus on the Kane’ohe community and to a lesser extent on Ko'olaupoko as a whole.

This plan is quite comprehensive and is obviously the work of the lot of very knowledgeable people in our community. I hope it doesn't end up like so many other plans is a book on the bookshelf.

One of the major deficiencies I see is the lack of a fiscal plan. I recognized that as a conceptual plan this document stops at identifying implementation strategies. Planning how to accomplish those strategies will require detailed planning for each one of them.

Kaneohe has been the subject of much planning, but none of those plans have been implemented. Currently there are six major plans which should be integrated.

1. The livability plan
2. the blue zone project
3. the Koolaupoko sustainable communities plan
4. the Kaneohe city plan
5. the Koolaupoko watershed management plan
6. the Kaneohe resilient communities plan featuring HHARP/CERT

Because the Blue Zone Project and the Livable Communities Program are both being implemented at the same time and have similar goals, i hope their respective leadership groups can come together to avoid confusion and competition.

Past planning has identified many opportunities to make Kaneohe a more livable community.

Transportation:

inadequate sidewalks: the present method of funding sidewalk improvements requires adjacent property owners pay for the cost of the sidewalks. This is reasonable where the sidewalk benefits the adjacent property owner, but it is unfair and impractical for property owners to have to pay for sidewalk improvements that benefit our community as a whole. Sidewalks in such areas should be financed by CIP appropriations.

Most of our aging population at some point will be no longer able to drive. They need a way to be able to get around in our community. We need some kind of jitney service that will provide local transportation. Handy van service needs to be improved so the wait time for a vehicle is more reasonable. Most of our aging population does not meet the definition of handicapped as it applies to the handy van so the van is not a solution for the majority of our population who cannot drive.

Bus service throughout Windward Oahu needs to be improved.

Complete streets need to be implemented on Kaneohe Bay Drive from Castle High School to Mikiola Drive and out the old Kaneohe Bay drive to Aikahi. Even more important is complete street treatment to Kamehameha Highway from the Windward City Shopping Center to the Windward Mall. In this section of Kamehameha highway, we need to implement micro parks that will encourage residents to walk, shop and socialize.

We need to get serious about safe routes to schools, and we need to recognize that Pahia St crosswalk on Kamehameha Hwy is the most dangerous crossing in Windward Oahu. Safe shoulders  for non-vehicular traffic on Kamehameha Hwy should be extended all the way to Kualoa Ranch and beyond.

Sustainable Agriculture:

Ko’olaupoko has some of the most productive agricultural land on Oahu. We have more Loi than any other part of the island. The health and productivity of Kaneohe Bay depends on freshwater flowing into the bay. The serious failing of the Koolaupoko Sustainable Watershed Plan was a failure to look at meteorological predictions that forecast long periods of extreme drought punctuated by intense storms. Our local communities and farmers must have first priority in water distribution.

Sustainable agriculture growing local food provides us a buffer when strikes or storms disrupt our supply lines. Fresh fruits and vegetables are healthier and buying them supports our local farmers. obstacles preventing farmers from selling to local government organizations should be removed and farmers co-op's that can centralize purchasing will encourage local groceries and restaurants to feature local produce.

Housing:

Multigenerational housing is the norm. while no one wants to see high-rises and connie only we have a choice of urbanizing our farmland were building up. micro housing is more suitable for seniors and we should look for more ways to implement micro housing without impacting agricultural and conservation lands.

Aging in place:

intergenerational networking is important both from the standpoint of young people and the elderly. Caring for the elderly in their homes is far cheaper than institutionalizing them. We should be looking at ways to improve and pay for in-home care.

Employment in volunteer opportunities:

One of the major factors contributing to a long and productive life is a life lived with purpose. the transition to retirement is one of the most dangerous periods in a person's life. Because our identity is so much wrapped up in our work, people retiring experience a serious cultural shock. They lose their identity and the reason they get up in the morning. Unless they find a new purpose in life tthey are at high risk.

Volunteering contributes to people's well-being, Volunteers are known to lead to a longer, healthier and more productive life. New retirees need support in making the retirement transition.

The internet provides us all an unparalleled opportunity to create a lucrative business. Rather than looking for a job, retirees should be encouraged to develop a business that provides an outlet for their interests and expertise. As we grow older, our ability to work an eight hour shift diminishes. A business is not for everyone, so we should look for creative ways our jobs can be tailored to our elderly. Part-time, shorter shifts and telecommuting are all options our local businesses could develop.

A community without jobs is a dying community. We should look for ways that our local schools of higher education can both generate new business in our community and retrain our citizens to fill local jobs.

In conclusion, there are many good ideas put forth in this plan. i hope it can be integrated into our communities so that it can be sustained through changes in administrations.  I am particularly concerned that throughout this planning document our police are being depended on to patrol parks and address other problems which are social issues.  The most important mission of our police is to protect our communities from major crimes and violence.  We must make sure mission creep does not interfere with HPDs ability to preform it’s major mission.

Bill Sager

Speak Up, Kaneohe: Comments Are Sought On Alcohol Ban, Age-Friendly Environments, Ag Land

Kaneohe residents can make their voices heard in April on three important issues for our island: alcohol and drug use on the Kaneohe Sandbar, age-friendly environments and protections for agricultural land.

The alcohol proposal would make permanent a ban against alcohol, drugs and disorderly behavior at the Kaneohe Sandbar during three-day holiday weekends. The ban has been in effect since 2012 but will expire this year without changes.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources will hold a hearing on the proposal from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 7, at the Heeia Elementary School Cafeteria, 46-202 Haiku Road, in Kaneohe.

Mail & E-mail Encouraged For Age-Friendly Plan

The age-friendly proposal would establish guidelines for outdoor spaces, transportation, social and civic involvement, and community support, such as health services.

 

For example, the proposal is designed to encourage outdoor spaces that are multigenerational, accessible, clean, crime-free and close to other services and amenities. 

The City and County of Honolulu will accept written comments through April 28. Mail your thoughts to University of Hawaii, Center on Aging, 1960 East-West Road, BioMed T-705B, Honolulu, HI 96822. Send e-mail to Kupuna2Keiki@gmail.com.

The age-friendly proposal mirrors some elements of the Blue Zones Project, a neighbor-to-neighbor initiative designed to improve the living environment so that residents can live longer, happier, more productive lives.

Windward Meeting Scheduled On Land Proposal

The agricultural land proposal would create tighter rules against urban development for 56,000 acres, including some tracts in the Kaneohe area. The land would have to be currently in agricultural production, have enough water and offer productive growing conditions.

The City and County of Honolulu will hold three public meetings on the proposal. They include a meeting on April 15 in Hale Akoakoa Room 105 at Windward Community College from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. A map of the proposed tracts is available online.

Candidate Information Is Posted Online

Check out the candidate profiles of the community-minded residents running for seats on the Kaneohe Neighborhood Board.

They offer expertise in the military, security, port operations, occupational education, the law, higher education, real estate, airline operations, medicine, public affairs, long-term care and conservation.

 

That’s pretty impressive!

The election will be held online from April 24 through May 15. The new neighborhood board will take office July 1 and serve through June 30, 2017.

Even though the candidate filing deadline has passed, there are still good opportunities to serve as a Kaneohe neighborhood representative. If you are interested in serving, contact Neighborhood Board Chairman Mo Radke at moradke@gmail.com, or come to a board meeting. The board meets on the third Thursday of each month at Benjamin Parker Elementary School, starting at 7 p.m.

Impact Of Tunnel Trucks May Speed Road Repairs

Concern is growing about street damage from the new Kaneohe-to-Kailua sewer tunnel.

The Kaneohe Neighborhood Board learned at its March meeting that the city likely will speed up a plan to repave Kulauli Street because of damage caused by heavy trucks working on the project.

Street Serves Neighborhood, School

Kulauli Street runs through a residential neighborhood and past Puohala Elementary School before ending at the Kaneohe Regional Wastewater Pre-Treatment Facility. The pre-treatment facility is one end point for the tunnel, which will carry sewage to a treatment plant in Kailua.

When competed, the tunnel's 3-mile route will take it southwest from the pre-treatment facility and under Kaneohe Bay Drive. Then it will make a gradual turn under the Oneawa Hills until it heads northeast to the Kailua plant.

Project Designed To Cut Pollution, Protect Bay

The tunnel project is expected to cost $200 million. It is part of an agreement between the federal government and the city to reduce sewage pollution and protect natural resources such as Kaneohe Bay.

The construction management team has set up a hotline for the tunnel project at (808) 445-9079 and info@kktunnel.net.