Opinion ID: 1036927
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: October 18, 2007 meeting

Text: On October 11, 2007, the LUC filed a “Meeting Agenda” with the Office of the County Clerk for a meeting to take place on October 18, 2007 at 9:00 a.m. The agenda identified the subject matter of the meeting as “LU-38 CHANGE IN ZONING AND PROJECT DISTRICT PHASE I APPROVAL FOR ‘HONUA#ULA/WAILEA 670’ RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT.” The agenda provided that the LUC was in receipt of two proposed bills that it would be considering; one bill would repeal Chapter 19.90 of the Maui County Code and establish a new Chapter 19.90A (Project District bill) and the second bill would repeal Ordinance No. 2171 (1992) and establish conditional zoning for the 670 acres of land involved in the 3  FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST’S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER  project (Change in Zoning bill). The agenda also stated that oral or written testimony on any agenda item would be accepted. The minutes for the October 18 meeting reflect that forty people attended the meeting, in addition to the LUC members, staff and certain named individuals.3 Approximately twenty-eight people testified at the meeting, including Petitioners Conniff and Kanahele. Each person was given approximately four minutes to speak. The LUC closed the public testimony portion of the meeting after everyone who had submitted requests to testify had done so. The LUC began deliberating at 2:40 p.m. At 4:55 p.m., LUC Chair Michael J. Molina announced, “This meeting for October 18th, 2007, related to LU-38 is in recess until Monday morning, October 22nd, 9:00 a.m., here in the Council chambers.” No new agenda was posted for the October 22 reconvened meeting. There is nothing in the record indicating that the date and time of the continued hearing was posted at the Council’s chambers or at any other location. The October 22, 2007 reconvened meeting began at 9:07 3 For each meeting, the minutes reflect who was present. The council members, staff, administrators, and certain individuals such as Charles Jencks, Honua#ula’s representative, attorneys for Honua#ula, and Honua#ula’s entitlement consultant are listed by name. There is also a notation for “additional attendees.” For the October 18, 2007 meeting, the minutes reflected that there were forty additional attendees. For most of the twelve LUC reconvened meetings, there were between five and ten additional attendees. However, it is unknown whether the additional attendees were present in connection with the named individuals or were members of the general public. 4  FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST’S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER  a.m. The record does not reflect any discussion among the LUC members regarding whether the public had been given any notice of the meeting aside from the oral announcement at the conclusion of the prior meeting. At the beginning of the meeting, Chair Molina announced that the board would take a break at 1:00 p.m. and “come back a little later in the afternoon,” at around 3:30 p.m. because “we have some Members that have to leave for some prior commitments.” Chair Molina continued, “For the public’s information, this is an off-week and Members do make prior commitments to address other matters in our community. . . . And, so, that is why today . . . we have some what [sic] of an unusual schedule and how we will proceed.” The meeting was recessed t 12:51 p.m. and then reconvened again at 3:50 p.m. Chair Molina explained that although the plan had been to meet until 5 p.m. that day, the LUC only had a “bare quorum” present and therefore it was his opinion that it would be better to reconvene at another date and time.4 He announced, “So, with that being said, this meeting is in recess until tomorrow, Tuesday, October 23rd, 9:00 a.m., right here in the Council Chambers.” The meeting was recessed at 3:53 p.m. 4 Five members of the nine-member Council constitute a quorum. Charter of the County of Maui (CCM) § 3-5(4) (2013), available at http://www.co.maui.hi.us/documents/24/197/Charter%20(2013%20Edition)_201303212 115480964.pdf. “Unless otherwise provided . . . , no action of the council shall be valid or binding unless adopted by a vote of five or more members of the council.” Id. 5  FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST’S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER  The meeting, which had been initially noticed for October 18, 2007, was reconvened and then continued successively in the same manner on October 23, 25, 29, November 1, 5, 7, 8, 13, 16, 19, and 20. Thus the October 18 meeting was continued and reconvened twelve times until the final meeting on November 20. The circuit court entered a finding that each meeting was reconvened “due to time constraints or the loss of quorum.” During this time that the LUC reconvened twelve meetings, the LUC met twice, on October 31, 2007 and November 14, 2007, in order to consider unrelated permit applications. The LUC posted agendas for both meetings. For the Wailea 670 bills, no new agendas were posted for the twelve reconvened meetings. At the end of each meeting, the LUC would announce the new date, time and place for the reconvened meeting. There is no indication in the record that the LUC gave any other form of public notice for the meetings. The LUC employed two criteria in determining when to schedule the next continued meeting; the availability of the committee members, and the LUC’s belief, expressed on at least three separate occasions, that the continuance was required to be held within five days.5 The result was that the continued 5 For example, at the end of the October 25, 2007 reconvened meeting, during the members’ discussion of scheduling the next meeting, Chair Molina stated, “The only options we have as far as recess dates I’m looking at, it’s either the 29th or the 30th.” An LUC member commented, “[I]t’s too bad that the number of days required to recess ends on the 30th, because the following day, . . . that would have been ideal to continue,” to which Chair (continued...) 6  FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST’S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER  meetings were scheduled in an unpredictable manner.6 Meetings were scheduled in the mornings, afternoons, and evenings and varied significantly in length. In addition, many meetings were scheduled back-to-back, or only one or two days hence. The transcripts of the meetings do not reflect any discussion or consideration of whether the continued date and time would be convenient or reasonable for the public to attend. The circuit court found that during the twelve reconvened meetings, “the LUC considered reports and other documents and information related to the Wailea 670 Bills.” The circuit court found that “[t]he deliberation process from October 22 through November 20, 2007 encompassed over 45 hours of deliberation by the LUC as part of the decision making process.” (Emphasis added). After October 18, 2007, no further oral testimony from the public was received by the LUC. With the exception of two meetings (November 13 and 16), the LUC members sought and received extensive input from Mr. Jencks, Honua#ula’s representative. Mr. Jencks was present at every reconvened (...continued) Molina responded, “Yeah, it’s unfortunate.” 6 The reconvened meeting times were as follows, excluding recesses taken throughout the meetings: October 22, 2007 (9:07 a.m. to 3:53 p.m.); October 23 (9:12 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.); October 25 (9:04 a.m. to 10:50 a.m.); October 29 (5:36 p.m. to 8:49 p.m.); November 1 (1:33 p.m. to 5:33 p.m.); November 5 (9:07 a.m. to 3:50 p.m.); November 7 (9:06 a.m. to 3:11 p.m.); November 8 (1:35 p.m. to 3:44 p.m.); November 13 (5:32 p.m. to 9:40 p.m.); November 16 (1:40 p.m. to 1:48 p.m.); November 19 (9:15 a.m. to 4:04 p.m.); November 20 (2:35 p.m. to 4:24 p.m.). 7  FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST’S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER  meeting. At the conclusion of the final reconvened meeting on November 20, 2007, the LUC approved the Wailea 670 bills and forwarded them to the MCC for formal consideration. The LUC prepared a report to the MCC and recommended that the MCC pass the Wailea 670 bills on first reading.