COM 0400.114 2002-2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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The Honorable James akaki August 23, 2004 Page 2 • For certain infrastructure that is considered critical to public health and safety, we need certainty to ensure that the necessary improvements to provide adequate capacity will be in place at the time of the project's impacts-i.e., for critical infrastructure, the issuance of a certificate of occupancy should be conditioned upon the completion of the required improvements; • Knowing from recent experience that even with the best intentions of government to expeditiously proceed with construction of a project with programmed funds, unforeseen circumstances may cause delays; hence, the need to condition occupancy on actual completion; • To control the risks of timely completion, a developer could itself undertake the project and be reimbursed by government or subsequent developers in the region; the alternative should be to deny the rezoning until completion is certain, or approve the rezoning with the condition that occupancy not occur until completion and the developer must then deal with the uncertainty of actual completion; • Contributions by developers to accelerate design or construction increase the chances for timely completion, but do not guarantee the actual completion date and therefore do not justify waiving the need to control occupancy until actual completion; however, an acceptable assumption of government risk in recognition of the developer's contributions would be to allow issuance of a building permit if the construction contract for the public improvements has been let. If government approves a permit, then government should accept its responsibility to ensure completion of the public improvements as scheduled. • Government has a responsibility to plan for growth within the limits of prudent financial capability; future development must plan within this framework or contribute resources towards innovative financing. Queen Ka`ahumanu Highway According to the State Department of Transportation, traffic on Queen Ka`ahumanu Highway was at maximum capacity in 1998. This situation has led the State DOT to plan expansion to four lanes from Henry Street to the airport. The first phase of this widening, from Henry Street to Kealakehe Parkway, will be a design build project that will start in 2005. The second phase, from Kealakehe Parkway to the airport, is planned for future development and funding. About the Clifto's O`oma Project The Clifto's project as originally submitted assumes that the Phase II widening of Queen Ka`ahumanu Highway from Kealekehe Parkway to the airport will occur before substantial buildout of the project. The developer's analysis completely depends on the widening of Queen Ka`ahumanu Highway to four lanes to the airport. According to the project's own traffic analysis, at 50%buildout more than 1,000 cars will turn in or out of the project site at the peak hour. At this peak hour, the highway is already congested with over 1,500 vehicles passing this point.