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Honorable James Y. Arakaki, Chairman <br />and Members of the County Council <br />Page 5 <br />be constructed on each lot which would double the existing density of the area. <br />Although, the Planning Director supports this rezoning request to allow a two -lot <br />subdivision with one parcel maintaining a minimum lot size of 3 acres, to allow for the <br />construction of an additional home on each of the proposed lots may contribute to a <br />cumulative burden on the existing infrastructure (road, water, etc.), that cannot be <br />supported. Therefore, a condition is included to require restrictive covenants in the deeds <br />of the proposed lots to prohibit a second dwelling unit on each lot. <br />The project site has been previously cleared and utilized for the cultivation of <br />ornamental plants such as dracena, avocado, ti, coffee, and various palms. The Federal <br />Emergency Management Agency Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) designates the <br />project site as being situated within Zone X, an area determined to be outside of the <br />500 -year flood plain. The project site is classified as Other Important Agricultural Lands <br />by the Agricultural Lands of Importance to the State of Hawai `i (ALISH) System. Soils <br />within the property and surrounding area are classified as "C" or "Fair" for agricultural <br />productivity by the Land Study Bureau. A favorable recommendation of this change of <br />zone request will not compromise the potential of the project site to support intensive <br />and/or extensive agricultural uses. A smaller parcel size may provide for increased <br />opportunities for small-scale agricultural activities to be conducted on the lands as <br />proposed by the applicant. The restriction on the construction of additional farm <br />dwellings on each created lot will also preserve these lands for potential agricultural use <br />and limit its conversion into home sites. <br />All utilities and services are available to the site. Access to the project area is <br />provided by the Mamalahoa Highway, which is a State highway that is, for this particular <br />portion, under County jurisdiction. From the Mamalahoa Highway, access to the project <br />site is provided by a 20 -foot wide Homestead Road that maintains a pavement width of <br />10 feet in fair condition. The Subdivision Code requires that subdivisions consisting of <br />lot 3 acres or larger in size requires roadways with pavement widths of at least 20 feet <br />within a minimum 50 -foot wide right-of-way. Given the limited scope of the applicant's <br />request and recommended limitation of no more than one farm dwelling on each of the <br />proposed two lots, improvement of all of the Homestead Roads fronting the project site to <br />standards specified by the Subdivision Code will be unreasonable and notjustified by the <br />anticipated impacts associated with this rezoning request. However, in anticipation of <br />potential future subdivision and development within the project site and surrounding area, <br />this favorable recommendation will require the applicant to designate a minimum 15 -foot <br />wide road -widening casement along all its properly boundaries to accommodate the <br />future widening of these Homestead Roads to a 50 -foot wide roadway. For similar <br />reasons, we feel it is unreasonable to have this applicant improve sight distance at the <br />Mamalahoa Highway -Homestead Road intersection located at least 700 feet from the <br />