Upzone equals huge uptick in property value
by Nancy Cook Lauer
West Hawaii Today
ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com
Saturday, May 9, 2009 7:01 AM HST
HILO -- The value of a Hilo parcel has more than quadrupled since it was rezoned by the County Council in 2004, leading one council member to question whether the county should be stricter about making property owners adhere to their stated plans for rezoning.West Hawaii Today
ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com
Saturday, May 9, 2009 7:01 AM HST
Hamakua Councilman Dominic Yagong says the new use -- a medical complex and senior housing -- is just as "admirable" as student housing, the use for which it was rezoned. But he thinks the system of council approval for rezoning could be improved to curb land speculation and needless property value increases.
"They just add millions and millions of value to the property based on the council's action," Yagong said. "We need to make sure we are not just upzoning land and adding value to it not for the purpose that was stated during the public process."
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It was purchased last month by Wailani Development LLC, a group that was formed in February by Peter, Stephen and Andrew Matsuura, according to state corporation records.
Developers have requested a five-year extension to start building a medical services and senior housing center instead of student housing.
Western United Life Assurance Co., the parent company of the property owner at the time of the rezoning, went bankrupt and the land was put up for sale.
Yagong had at first opposed the student housing project because he was concerned about building heights and flooding issues in particular. But he came around after receiving assurances about those issues from the developer and also because he recognized the need for more student housing.
Health care is also an important need in the community, Yagong said, and since the 2004 rezoning, there are new student housing projects coming up, so he's more comfortable with the change on this specific project.
County Planning Director Bobby Jean Leithead-Todd said the project won't have to go back before the council as long as the project remains a similar or less-intensive use of the land. Anything that increases density or other conditions from the original rezoning would have to go before the Planning Commission, she said.
"From a broad-based land use perspective, it's already surrounded by residential land, it's already classified as urban under state land use," Leithead-Todd said. "The question becomes more like traffic concerns, drainage issues."
Leithead-Todd said the developer will be holding community meetings to get public input on the plan.
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hilojohnny wrote on May 10, 2009 6:43 AM: