COM 0885.000 2022-2024 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Heather Kimball, Council Chair and Members of the County Council County of Hawai`i May 04, 2024 Page 3 ■ Implement Council Resolution Nos. 330-96 and 58-97 in land use approvals. ■ Create incentives for landowners to retain and re-establish forest cover in upland watershed areas with emphasis on native forest species. Among the most significant of the island's natural resources are upland forests that provide the essential groundwater recharge areas. All groundwater sources in North and South Kona ultimately depend upon recharge that primarily occurs in a band between the 1,500 and 5,500-foot elevations. In the lower part of this band, rainfall dominates from approximately the 1,500 to 3,000-foot elevation. In the upper part of this band, above the 3,000-foot elevation, fog that collects on trees and drips to the ground is a major contributor to the aquifer. In recognition of the importance of the mauka Kona area for watershed and other environmental values, the County Council established a policy in Resolution No. 330-96 (1996) that no lands in North or South Kona above 2,500 feet in elevation (except in the existing Kaloko Mauka Subdivision) should be rezoned to lot sizes less than 20 acres, without a corresponding reduction in density on contiguous lands. In Kaloko Mauka, the Council found that the concerns could be mitigated by specific rezoning conditions which would require that at least 80 % of the property be kept in forest cover, in the area above 3,000 feet in elevation (Resolution No. 58-97). One of the conditions included in Resolution No. 58-97 was to restrict the number of dwellings to one per lot. The Planning Director recommends a restriction against a second dwelling on each lot to minimize the density of development in the native forest, similar to a condition included with other past rezones in the subdivision. Conditions of approval will be included to meet the forest cover and density requirements of the resolutions mentioned above. No professional flora or faunal surveys were conducted of the subject property; however, the applicant conducted a review of information associated with similar rezonings in the general area which did not disclose any habitats associated with protected species of plants or animals, thus they do not believe that any endangered flora or faunal resources are likely to be located within the property. The subject property is heavily forested with native trees and shrubs such as `Ohi`a, tree fern, other native trees and shrubs, and non-native vegetation. Wildlife at the property, as witnessed in records of other nearby properties, consists of turkeys, hawks, Chinese pheasants, and other forest birds. Vegetative cover is a mixture of native and non-native species. According to the State Department of Land and Natural Resources— Division of Forestry and Wildlife, the Hoary Bat or `Ope`ape`a, the Blackburn's Sphinx Moth, the