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Honorable J. Curtis Tyler, III <br />Councilman <br />Hawaii County Council <br />Page 2 <br />October 22, 2001 <br />This approach has the virtue of not arousing opposition from those who have non- <br />conforming signs. It does mean that for an indefinite period, those businesses may be <br />allowed to have signs that are larger than new businesses, and that the "look" that the <br />sign code is trying to achieve may never happen. <br />The alternative is to set some absolute deadline for all signs to comply, like six years. <br />This is legal as long as there is a reasonable time for the investment in the sign to be <br />amortized. <br />How to handle the non -conforming signs is, in the end, a judgment call: how important is <br />it to phase out non -conforming signs, versus the expense to businesses that will <br />eventually have to replace their signs if there is a fixed period. <br />More specific comments: <br />Temporary signs and banners: Sec. 3-10(a)(1)(A) should make it clear that <br />"special events" do not include ordinary commercial activities such as special sales. <br />Variances by Council. Sec. 3-23 provides that the Council shall decide on all <br />variances. Corporation Counsel should be consulted on the question whether this is a <br />function that can be given to the Council. As a practical matter, variance hearings have <br />proven extremely time-consuming for the Planning Commission, and because of <br />committees and multiple hearings, these would probably be even more time consuming <br />for the Council. I would support giving the Kailua Village Design Commission control <br />over sign variances within Kailua Village, again subject to Corporation Counsel deciding <br />whether this function can be delegated to that body. <br />KAILUA VILLAGE ISSUES <br />The bill has three different areas in Kailua-Kona. 1. The Kailua Village, defined as <br />under the present code, a very broad area consisting of approximately 825 acres and <br />including most of the area makai of the Queen Kaahumanu Highway. 2. The "village <br />core" defined as "the area bounded by or adjacent to Alii Drive, Palani Road, Kuakini <br />Highway and Hualalai Road". 3. The "Kona Industrial Subdivision" which is not <br />