COM 0818.000 2022-2024 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Heather Kimball, Council Chair and Members of the County Council County of Hawai` March 15, 2024 Page 5 As demonstrated above, the applicant has been diligent in complying conditions of approval necessary to facilitate the development of the site. Moreover, the applicant has marketed the site to prospective lessees, but the applicant notes that project starts and completions have been affected by situations like the recession in 2008, rising interest rates, inflation, the global COVID-19 pandemic, and more recently, the tragedy of the Maui fires. Furthermore, while access to the site from the Queen Ka`ahumanu Highway is considered a plus, its right-in-only access with no right-out has dampened some interest. Thus, while the site is locationally compatible with the surrounding commercial uses, it has and will take more than the normal time to find a developer with a project that can be comfortable with that access constraint. Based on the preceding, the Director has determined that the non-performance of required conditions of approval is the result of conditions that could not have been foreseen or are beyond the control of the applicant, and that are not the result of their fault or negligence. Granting of the amendments would not be contrary to the original reasons for granting the change of zone. As discussed above, the original change of zone ordinance from Open to CV-10 ordinance was granted in 1991 to bring match the 0.874-acre rezone area that was no longer needed for highway widening with the remainder of the parcel and to facilitate a commercial development thereon. That ordinance was amended several times over the years, the most recent of which came in 2000. The reasons for granting the original and latest change of zone ordinances have not changed. The subject parcel and much of the surrounding area has been intended for commercial and industrial development for several decades and much of the surrounding properties have been developed for such uses, thus the CV-10 zoning continues to constitute an appropriate land use pattern. Additionally,the CV-10 zoning continues to be consistent with the General Plan, the Kona CDP, the Zoning Code. Finally, all the required off-site infrastructure to support development on the parcel is available and there are no on-site impediments (e.g., topographical, drainage, cultural/archaeological resources, etc.) to the development on the parcel consistent with the requirements of the Zoning Code, other development codes, and any conditions of the amended zoning ordinance.