COM 0045.025 2002-2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Honorable Leningrad Elarionoff, Chair and Members of the Committee on Planning COUNTY COUNCIL Page 5 December 15, 2003 2. Urban Expansion Areas The current LUPAG maps have enormous areas identified as "Alternate Urban Expansion" that far exceed any conceivable need for urban lands in the next twenty years or more. By having such large areas, the General Plan fails to fulfill one of the main purposes of a master land use plan: to focus and channel urban development to desired areas, with an incremental pattern of development. The proposed LUPAG map changes trim the alternate urban expansion areas around Kea'au and Honoka'a. In the current LUPAG map, the urban expansion area for Kea'au, mauka of Volcano Highway, encompasses about 3500 acres. The proposed amendment reduces this considerable, but the urban area of Kea'au, including both sides of the highway, will still exceed 3000 acres. This is still far more than any reasonable estimate of the area needed for the urban growth of Kea'au in the next twenty years or more. The urban expansion area for Honoka'a in the present LUPAG map stretches almost two miles west of the present town. Even after the proposed reduction, the potential urban area of Honoka'a will be at least five times the area presently occupied by the town and its adjoining residential districts. 3. Agricultural Designations The Council had a workshop on April 21, 2003, regarding the treatment of agricultural areas in the General Plan. The current General Plan has three agricultural categories: Intensive Agricultural, Extensive Agricultural, and Orchards. In general, the Intensive Agricultural lands aze those with deep soil; the Extensive Agricultural lands are mostly lava or high elevation lands with soil, and the Orchards include many of the older subdivisions, as well as some areas that have mixed soil and lava, including most of the Kona Coffee Belt. The current General Plan does not contain strong policy guidelines how these different categories should be treated for rezoning purposes. The draft General Plan replaces these three categories with two: Important Agricultural and Extensive Agricultural. The Orchards category has been dropped entirely. Most of the subdivisions that were in Orchards are now in the new "Rural" category. The basic policy distinction between Important