Hilo zoning screwup gets a pass

A politically connected pumping company will be allowed to keep a baseyard it built in a Hilo neighborhood that’s zoned residential, despite constructing a five-bay industrial warehouse after getting a permit for a single-family home.

The County Council Planning Committee on Wednesday railed at county officials for not catching the project before it was built, but then voted 7-2 to move an after-the-fact rezoning forward to the full council level.

Dissenters Brenda Ford and Margaret Wille first tried to postpone the vote until the county and the applicants could come back to show penalties and fines had been assessed and paid or some other form of amends were being made for the error.

But Hilo Councilman Dennis Onishi prevailed upon fellow committee members to move Bill 278 to the next council vote, saying that should give everyone time to get an update on reparations.

At issue is a 7,324-square-foot steel-framed metal building on Hinano Street that includes 5,996 square feet of garage space and five 20-foot-high bay doors. The remaining 1,218 square feet is supposedly devoted to living space, according to the plans approved by the Department of Public Works.

Neighbor Arlene Kimata, who has been following the rezoning issue since the baseyard first went into operation last fall, told the council allowing a simple after-the-fact rezoning increases public skepticism about fairness in the county and leads to voter apathy. It was Kimata’s first experience testifying before the council.

“This application is rife with examples of intentional, willful deception to the county planning processes,” Kimata said. “I ask the county to demand that all developers play fair and follow the rules. Property owners should not be allowed to just do what they want, ask the county to ignore violations and rubber-stamp approval. County should not reward scofflaws for fraudulent behavior.”

Most council members were quick to agree something went awry during plan approval by the Planning Department and building permit approval by the Department of Public Works.

“How did the Building Division approve these building plans?” Onishi asked. “Didn’t they notice that this is a humongous warehouse?”

Public Works Director Warren Lee said his department doesn’t check for the use of the structure. It checks electrical, plumbing and fire code compliance, he said.

Maybe, Lee added, “It is a residential structure with a five-car garage.”

Lee said afterward he didn’t know the building permit applicant LK &RR Enterprises LLC, was a company owned by his Automotive Division Chief Randy Riley and the same business partner who also own Kamaaina Pumping, a company that has held a million-plus-dollar pumping contract with the county for many years.

But Lee said it wouldn’t have mattered. Everyone gets treated the same, he said.

Planning Program Manager Daryn Arai said, “We do see on a frequent basis construction activities which give us pause,” but said it’s not the county’s purview to tell people what kind of a residence they can live in.

That didn’t satisfy some council members.

“It’s time to admit the process was flawed and we made a mistake,” said Hamakua Councilwoman Valerie Poindexter. “Those are red flags all over the place.”

Poindexter said she hopes the departments are engaging in corrective activity and the situation won’t happen again.

“This is not unique,” Wille said. “How shameful this is. We want people to be able to trust us. … If it looks like a tiger and they say it’s a donkey, then OK … we look like fools.”

Kamaaina Pumping officers did not return a telephone call Wednesday afternoon.

But planning consultant Syndey Fuke, representing the applicant, told council members that his client went through all the permit application process and got approvals all along the way. “Regrettably,” Fuke said, his client maybe was “jumping the gun” in building what he built.