COM 0674.000 2000-2002 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Honorable James Y. Arakaki, Chairman and Members of the County Council Page 4 Police services are available from the County's Police Station at Kealakehe, approximately three miles from the project site. Fire and emergency services are available from the station at the intersection of Palani Road and the Queen Kaahumanu Highway, approximately two miles from the site. Electricity and telephone services are currently available to the project area. The property has no severe geological or topographical problems which cannot be properly rectified or which would render the land unusable. The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) designates the property as Zone AE along the northern boundary of the parcel. However, the project area will be in the area designated X or an area outside of the 500-year flood plain. Any improvements to the property must comply with Chapter 27 of the County Code relating to Flood Hazard Control. Thus, the reclassification does meet with the standard which states that the lands included within the urban district shall be those with satisfactory topography and drainage and reasonably free from the danger of floods, tsunami and unstable soil conditions and other adverse environmental effects." While the subject property is within the State Land Use Agricultural and County's Agricultural-Sa zoned districts and was historically used for pasture, it is not currently being used for active agricultural purposes. The State of Hawaii's Agricultural Lands of Importance to the State of Hawaii (ALISH) Map does not classify the subject property in any category. The Land Use Study Bureau's Overall Master Productivity Rating for the soils in the area is "C"-Fair, "D"-Poor and "E" or Very Poor. The project site has been previously graded and utilized for pasture. Much of the lands in the immediate vicinity of the project site are designated Urban and maintain residential dwellings. Kona Kealoha, Kona View Estates and Kona Heights Subdivisions are just some of the residential subdivisions within the immediate vicinity of the project site. Therefore, the reclassification of this 9.746-acre area from the Agricultural to the Urban designation will not be detrimental to the reduction of this area from the agricultural land inventory in the County of Hawaii. From a land use perspective, it is a more feasible alternative to infill urban development within this particular area of North Kona. In doing so, it would tend to alleviate the conversion of more productive agricultural lands in more appropriate locations within the North Kona area for Urban Low Density type uses. Furthermore, an Urban classification would complement the existing and future residential land use patterns of the surrounding properties in view of the adjacent Kealoha, Kailua View Estates, and Kona Heights Subdivisions.