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<br /> <br /> 4/30/2006 7:04 PM FROM: Fax T0: 961-8912 PAGE: 001 OF 002 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Written Testimony from Barbara E. Scott <br /> 75-5782 Lopeka Place <br /> Kailua-Kona, HI 96740 <br /> (808) 327-1277 <br /> County Council Meeting <br /> May 2, 2006 <br /> <br /> BILL 246, ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 23, SUBDIVISION CODE <br /> <br /> STACY K. HIGH, Chair & Presiding Officer <br /> VIRGINIA ISBELL, Rice Choir <br /> JAMES Y. ARAKAKI _ <br /> PETE HOFFMANN <br /> FRED C. HOLSCHUH, M.D. <br /> VIRGINIA ISBELL <br /> DONALD IKEDA _ <br /> BOBJACOBSON <br /> K. ANGEL PILAGO <br /> GARY SAFARIK <br /> Honorable Chairman Higa, Vice Chair Isbell <br /> and Distinguished Council Members: <br /> The Subdivision Code includes reasonable preliminary development application requirements. <br /> Although there is room for improvement in the Subdivision Code, apparently Mr. Yuen has <br /> designed the proposed "housekeeping" amendments to address expediency for development <br /> approvals, (due to the massive number of applications held in the Planning Department offices). <br /> Mr. Yuen's comments, published in the Sunday April 30, 2006 edition of West Hawaii Today <br /> (WHT), chastise those who oppose his proposed amendments as opposed to development. It is <br /> important for Mr. Yuen to recognize that the majority of Hawaii County residents are opposed to <br /> irresponsible development. Mayor Kim's constituency has the reasonable expectation for <br /> responsible development without cavalier and arbitrary enforcement practices. In the WHT <br /> article, Yuen identified the Subdivision Code purpose to "govem details specific to a <br /> development after the owner is given the right to build on the property." In my opinion, the <br /> proposed Subdivision Code amendments do not address those details, but only a method to rush <br /> subdivision applications through the approval process with the business-as-usual practice. <br /> Mr. Yuen also pointed out that land use is determined at an earlier Council proceeding, before <br /> subdivision application submission to the Planning Department; therefore Yuen would like <br /> County residents to think that concerns about land use issues are irrelevant to subdivision <br /> applications. Think again. <br /> The public may or may not be aware of the practice for Parcel Consolidation and Resubdivision <br /> (PC&R), which allows a property owner to create smaller lots from a larger parcel under a State <br /> Land Use Boundary Amendment application. This is the procedure where the parcel division <br /> request does not identify plans for the property. The redesignated smaller parcels often <br /> miraculously reappear before the County Council at a not-much-later date, and under different <br /> LLC names and/or "property owner(s)" (who may have entered into a co-tenancy agreement <br /> with the developer/property owner as an investor(s)). This practice allows development of large <br /> <br /> CWt. No. 761.31 <br /> Ref. TpAM60Ni Coumn <br /> Ref. Dote 6 <br />