Documents obtained this week by the Tribune-Herald detail a long history of permit application changes, extension requests and alleged noncompliance with county zoning, building and fire codes by the Hilo Farmers Market.
The market, located in the Downtown Hilo Commercial District, closed for a day on March 25 to comply with a county order to remove tents, tarps and outdoor electrical wiring the county said were noncompliant and a safety hazard to customers and merchants.
The market’s owner and manager, Keith De La Cruz, informed vendors of the closure the previous day, ordering them to obtain their own 10-foot-by-10-foot pop-up tents to continue operating.
The first notice by the county to De La Cruz, informing he was going to be fined if he remained in noncompliance with county codes, was sent by certified mail March 12 by the Department of Public Works Building Division. Three more letters were sent March 14.
The letters, one for each property occupied by the open-air market, informed De La Cruz he would be fined $1,000 per parcel, a total of $4,000, within five business days of receiving the order, and a fine of $1,000 per lot for each day thereafter the violations persist.
Each letter was signed by David Yamamoto, the Building Division chief.
The letters, which were virtually identical, noted De La Cruz was informed about violations of county building and zoning codes on June 1, 2017, and was told then to take corrective action.
In addition, county Planning Director Michael Yee sent De La Cruz a letter dated March 16 stating “the deadline to complete construction of (a) 3-story commercial building” on the main farmers market parcel at the corner of Kamehameha Avenue and Mamo Street adjacent to Reuben’s Mexican Food in downtown Hilo was March 17.
“It has been represented that you want to build a much more scaled down structure on the property,” Yee’s letter said. “Based on this, please submit a letter requesting revocation of” the special management area use permit that was granted to De La Cruz for the three-story structure on March 17, 2008.
De La Cruz also was asked to “provide plans and associated narrative for the proposed temporary structure(s), uses and activities, as well as the proposed downsized single-story open pavilion permanent structure.”
The permit, which required construction within five years, was extended another five years by the county at De La Cruz’s request in March 2013. De La Cruz requested on June 20, 2017, to amend the permit — which allows the sale of produce on Wednesday, Saturday and limited hours on Sunday — to allow the sale of “produce and personal products” seven days a week between 6 a.m. and 5 p.m.
The county now considers the permit to be expired since no construction has taken place.
That parcel, according to an SMA permit application filed by De La Cruz on June 20, 2017, is owned by Hilo Farmers Market LLC. The state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs website lists De La Cruz as the only member of that entity.
De La Cruz said Thursday he’s still hoping to construct a scaled-down building. He didn’t have a cost estimate, but said he’s “trying to keep it under half-a-million” dollars.
For the other three parcels, which are on the opposite side of Mamo Street from the main produce area, Yee asked De La Cruz to provide similar plans and narratives “for the proposed temporary structure(s) … as well as the proposed permanent structure(s) and parking/overnight storage areas.”
Those parcels, according to the SMA permit applications filed June 20, 2017, are owned by Yasumi Iida of Narashino, Japan.
Yee also asked De La Cruz to add the proposed removal of a banyan tree next to the farmers market restaurant area to the permit applications.
The permits are required because of the market’s proximity to the shoreline and its location in a tsunami inundation and flood hazard zone.
De La Cruz said the current situation is causing him “undue stress and frustration.”
“I’d like to try to get this resolved as soon as possible so the market, our vendors and the customers can move forward,” he said. “We want to get the permits done as soon as we can. We had submitted it back in June. It’s already created an inconvenience, and I think a solution would be to try to get our metal building up for the farmers market as soon as possible, as well as addressing the SMAs for the crafts site.”
Mayor Harry Kim issued a lengthy written statement late Thursday night referring to information circulating about the one-day closure of the iconic open-air market as “so wrong and misleading” as to prompt a rebuttal.
“The public should know of truth that their government has sincerely tried to help Mr. De La Cruz comply with the county, state and federal laws to keep the market in operation,” Kim wrote. “A commitment was made and kept by the county to help keep it open and develop a place to be proud of. The choices made that caused this closure and hardships imposed on the tenants were not made by your government.”
Kim’s statement listed areas in which the farmers market was allegedly noncompliant as:
• No building permits. The farmers market has been operating for more than 20 years without any building permits. Temporary structures, such as large tents greater than 120 square feet used for commercial purposes, are required to have a temporary building permit, which is good for 180 days only.
• Nonflammable tent material. Tents larger than 750 square feet are required to have nonflammable or noncombustible tent material.
• Nonpermitted electrical wiring. Electrical wiring was energized, used and operated without required electrical inspections and approval of electrical work performed.
• Extended hours of operation. Farmers market operations exceeded the two days a week allowed by the SMA permit.
• Nonpermitted sign. A large sign was installed without acquiring the required permits.
• No setbacks between tents and property boundary. Temporary structures are required to have a 10-foot setback from the property boundaries and 10-foot spacing between tents.
“The conditions were allowed to persist for all these years in deference to constantly changing plans proposed by the owner,” according to Kim. “Continuous efforts over the past year by the county to guide the owner into compliance were, regretfully, unsuccessful due to delay or no action on the owner’s part. The only way to finally achieve results was to enforce the notice of violation that the owner received in June of 2017 which clearly stated the consequences if the proper permits were not acquired in a timely fashion.
“… The county is committed to assisting the owner in developing a permanent farmers market that can be a fixture of the Hilo landscape, provide a safe environment for the community to shop, and help make Hilo a beautiful and nice place to live.”
Kim’s entire statement, unedited, can be found online at www.hawaiitribune-herald.com.
Email John Burnett@hawaiiitribune-herald.com.
————————————————
Partial chronology of Hilo Farmers Market permit applications, approvals and alleged violations:
• June 20, 1990: Special management area permit issued to Hilo Farmers Market founder Richard “Mike” Rankin for installation of electrical service/meter system.
• Aug. 3, 1994: Special management area permit issued to Rankin for expansion of market and temporary awnings.
• Aug. 4, 1994: Special management area permit issued to Spencer Oliver for grading of property to establish a parking lot.
• March 17, 2008: Special management area permit issued to Keith De La Cruz for a three-story commercial building. That five-year permit was extended another five years in 2013 at De La Cruz’s request, with a deadline of March 18, 2018.
• June 1, 2017: Department of Public Works Building Division sent notice of violation on 10-foot setback and fire-resistant tent material requirements with a compliance deadline of June 30, 2017.
• June 20, 2017: Letter by De La Cruz to Planning Department asks for amendment to special management area permit to allow sale of produce and personal products seven days a week, 6 a.m.-5 p.m.
• June 22, 2017: Planning Department sent notice of violation for sale of “personal property” items for more than two days a week
• June 28, 2017: Hilo Farmers Market submits temporary structure permit application and request for waivers of 10-foot setback and fire-resistant tent material requirements and request for 60-day extension to compliance deadline of June 30, 2017.
• July 10, 2017: Department of Public Works Building Division sends letter denying setback and fire-resistant tent material waivers but granted a compliance deadline extension of Aug. 31, 2017. That deadline was extended again Sept. 8 to Oct. 8, 2017. A third extension was granted Nov. 6 to make the compliance deadline Dec. 31, 2017.
• March 12, 2018: Department of Public Works Building Division sent a letter to De La Cruz for one of four parcels occupied by the farmers market, alleging continued noncompliance with code requirements regarding tarps, tents and wiring, and ordering him to pay a fine of $1,000 for that parcel within five business days of receipt and a fine of $1,000 “for each day in which the violation persists.” Similar letters for the other three parcels were dated March 14. The orders can be appealed to the county Board of Appeals, but fines must be paid while violations persist during appeals process.
• March 24, 2018: De La Cruz sends notice to farmers market vendors notifying them of order to remove tarps and tents, instructing them to “remove all produce boxes and personal items such as poles, hangars or tarps” by the end of the day. The notice said the market will be closed March 25. Vendors are instructed to purchase their own 10-foot-by-10-foot pop-up tents, “straight legged, white color tarp recommended.” The pop-up tents are to be removed at the end of each business day. De La Cruz told vendors he has “been working in good faith to resolve notices of violations received from the county since June 2017.”
• March 25, 2018: Hilo Farmers Market closed for day for removal of tarps and tents on the produce side of the market.
• March 26, 2018: Market reopened with several produce vendors supplying their own pop-up tents, mostly with white canopies. Tarp poles on the crafts side of market were in process of being dismantled.
The County let De La Cruz skate by for years without consequences. That’s not good. About time action was taken.
Lying Harry’s atrous violations of the taxpayers trust and the unrelenting abuse of his over tax and over spend agenda is destroying local families and businesses. Lying Harry has been notified for years of his vile violations and he continues to arrogantly violate taxpayers. Lying Harry take your intolerable public violations with you and do not let the taxpayers door hit your sorry jackass rear end on your way out of the peoples office.
What kind of a damned fool are you? A foolish damned demo rat that has the brains of a fence post apparently. You like Lying Harry are truly stuck on stupid. The problem is Lying Harry and the demo rats phony laws that are in fact causing sever public harm. You swallowed too much of Lying Harry’s rat feces to understand just how abusive the demo rats are.
*yawn*
This farmers market is so famous…… but I’ve seen smaller, temporary farmers markets, done on closed city streets on the weekend for 3 hours a day be far more successful financially and far more popular. People think this is a great farmers market but it makes Hilo look even more BUSTED than it already is. If the owner cared about the vendors and his business HE’D OF FOLLOWED THE RULES LIKE THE REST OF US HAWAII ISLAND BUSINESS OWNERS!
Sounds like a Building Division chief run amok in true Harry Kim style. Say no, shut down, do nothing. Truly government at its worst.
Harry Kim is a liar (see his testimony written on county mayor’s office letterhead to the legislature supporting unconstitutional laws) who can’t get enough tyranny to lord it over the “little people”.
All Lying Harry would need to do to make his case, if it were legitimate, is list all the successful lawsuits against the county filed by people who were injured at the Farmers Market due to “code violations”. Simple. Let’s see the list. The market has been there for at least 20 years, so it must be long list with a resultant huge sum of taxpayer monies paid out to all those victims, right Lying Harry? Show us the list.
I’m disgusted that the people of this island keep electing lying criminal mayors (among others).
So, what now? Perhaps the county could better spend the time holding the owners’ hand by finding the vendors (and the public) a more suitable open space to conduct business. I can think of several places that might work at least as well as the current sites. Let Mr. DELa Cruz get his affairs in order, and give the current sites a much-needed rest in the meantime.
First order of business is for the voters to kick this sorry jackass to the curb. Second is for the voters to exterminate the Council Rats. Third, undo all the damage they have wrongfully inflicted upon the public. Tyrants always need an American boot planted up their back side to send them packing.
10 ft setback on every boundary
Tents 10 ft apart
WTF are you kidding me?
We’re from the govmnt & we’re here to help you…..
by forcing impractical & expensive rules & regs (that we never read before making into law) down your throat until you choke, even though they are marginally appropriate at best,
all while pretending there’s nothing we can do about it so-sorry hands-are-tied,
and expecting you to be both grateful & kiss our petty-tyrant feet.
In other words, screw you citizens, you didn’t build that & we just don’t give a $hit about
what works for you. For the greater good (ours).
Was this really a priority? Nothing else more in need of immediate attention?
This is how the Arab Spring started, and set the Middle East on fire.
26-year-old Mohamed Bouazizi was getting ready to sell fruits and vegetables in the rural town of Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia. He had been shaken down and harassed for several years. He was the sole breadwinner for his widowed mother and six siblings, but he didn’t have a permit to sell the goods. It wasn’t needed. When the police asked Bouazizi to hand over his wooden cart or pay a fine, he refused and a policewoman slapped him.
Angered after being publicly humiliated, and years of petty abuse, Bouazizi marched in front of a government building and set himself on fire.
One of his sisters stated, “What kind of repression do you imagine it takes for a young man to do this? A man who has to feed his family by buying goods on credit when they fine him…and take his goods. In Sidi Bouzid, those with no connections and no money for bribes are humiliated and insulted and not allowed to live.”
Tunisia later made a postage stamp in his honor.
After a revolution.
Sorry I can’t help you with my 550 million dollars that’s your money. Hahahahaha! Big island home of the crooked mayors.
“Extended hours of operation. Farmers market operations exceeded the two days a week allowed by the SMA permit.”
Why not allow the fruits and vegetable parts all week and the rest of the trash just on two days?
Why does Hawaii tribune keep repeating details and documents releases. Do you think this makes us believe the ‘truth’. Is the Hawaii tribune in cahoots with Harry Kim. Is private ownership under public control again. Is there free press or does Harry Kim use the papers to forward his agendas. The county knew about the violations for years and years, and choose inaction like Keith, because Hfm was a success, we all profited from it.
You are now trying to take control of the market by putting it on your land and reaping the profits. Hey are you like haole landowners trying to break the Hawaiian spirit. Displacing people from land for your own profits. History repeats itself. We never learn.
Just got off my shift at Hfm and seen the front page of Hawaii tribune physical paper. Can I get a front page advertisement like harry kim? Would it be free or do I have to pay you?
The comments are so toxic, no one w/ any decent manners would even bother making a comment. They discourage intelligent discourse, and promote rude trolling.
If I appear ‘indecent’ it’s because this is my family’s primary source of income. I am not on government assistance and I don’t want to be forced into that situation because Harry Kim and his County officials did not think this through. When you play games, you affect people’s lives, you affect people’s emotional and mental state. So i would like to apologise to you if you find me offensive, but it seems to me no one seems to be taking the social responsibility to question the counties actions. Will Harry Kim create economic revival or do the opposite.
I personally know of a situation when someone was evicted from his home who went around stabbing people because he had no roof over his head. You lot need to understand what mental headache issues are. The homeless you are trying to get out of the park, their problems primarily stem from not having a home and a variety of other issues.