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<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> All county councils regularly commit future councils to the repayment of 25-year general <br /> <br /> obligation bond issues for infiastructure projects. They also regularly commit funds to <br /> specific transportation projects in the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) <br /> <br /> several years ahead of project initiation. These ordinances move the commitment (but <br /> not necessarily the acquisition of funds) forward to the time of subdivision approval, <br /> providing a direct link between the impacts of new developments and the funding needed <br /> <br /> to address those impacts. <br /> <br /> <br /> The department of water supply already issues commitment letters and the ordinance <br /> would just require compliance with the conditions in the commitment letters at the time <br /> <br /> of subdivision. The proposed ordinances would make no changes in the current <br /> procedures or development approval processes of the department of water supply. <br /> <br /> <br /> The transportation requirement would address road and public transportation facilities <br /> and would require that development not create unacceptable levels of service on those <br /> <br /> facilities. The ordinance could go into lots of detail about how the traffic studies would <br /> have to be performed, but any competent transportation engineer (to be hired by the <br /> developer) would know how to do them. The necessary transportation system models are <br /> <br /> already being developed by the transportation and community development plan <br /> consultants for the rapidly growing areas of Kona, Puna and South Kohala. <br /> <br /> <br /> The "level of service" concept (from LOS A through LOS F) is widely used and <br /> documented in the manual these consultants all use, entitled Highway Capacity Manual <br /> <br /> by the Transportation Research Board, National Research Council. The County <br /> Department of Public Works (DPW) and State Department of Transportation (DOT) also <br /> <br /> use the manual in designing transportation facilities. The ordinances set an acceptable <br /> level of service at no lower than LOS D, but the criteria could go as low as LOS E if the <br /> <br /> public is willing to put up with pretty bad congestion, or it could be higher. Everyone <br /> agrees that LOS P is unacceptable by any measure. The rules that define each LOS for <br /> each kind of transportation facility (from highways, to urban streets, to sidewalks to mass <br /> <br /> transit) are laid out in agonizing detail in the manual cited above. <br /> <br /> <br /> 3 <br />