COM 0998.014 2004-2006 - Laserfiche WebLink

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9-11-06; 9:544M;18085283463 ;tAOF5283463 a _9 3 I, f i i Background; t { As we understand the planning process for the County of Hawaii, the General Plan establishes the future vision for the County. It is a direction setting, policy document (guideline or tool) and not intended to be regulatory. It is intended to guide the County's actions and decisions on: Land use and land development regulations; zoning changes; preparing and adopting Development and Public Facility Plans; and preparing and adopting capital improvement plans. The Community Development Plans are intended to implement the purpose and intent of the General Plans for the specific areas in a more precise and detailed manner. Most municipal infrastructure planning processes include a master plan for the development of a specific facility (i.e. building, road, pipeline or other capital improvement to serve the public), which may include a single capital improvement project or a series of capital improvements to be undertaken over a longer period of time based on the projected needs outlined in the General Plan and Community Development Plan. Comments on the Specific Pro ok sal_ We understand that part of the justification for the proposed "concurrency" on rezoning applications is based on the concerns of existing residence regarding the capacity of the existing infrastructure (i.e. roads, sewer, water, parks, schools, etc) to accommodate more growth. Furthermore, the definition of "concurrent with development" in the bill seems to shift the burden of financing and/or implementing the construction of the necessary infrastructure capacity on the applicant. Section "c "of the bill states: `For the purposes of this section, "concurrent with development" shall mean: z. That improvement or strategies are in place at the time of development; or 2. That a financial commitment is in place at the time of preliminary plat or map approval to complete the improvements or strategies within six years of preliminary plat or map approval. I Financial commitment may include: a) Adoption by county council by ordinance of a six year capital improvement program that identifies reasonably anticipated sources of funding for the identified improvements or strategies; b) Agreements with the county to implement improvements or strategies; and c) Agreements with the county to pay for implementing identified improvements or strategies." Rather than implement concurrency, and in this case, effectively shifting the burden of securing the necessary county services to the applicant, the Council should develop j realistic alternative to finance the construction of more infrastructure capacity. j Requiring the applicant to secure future commitments from the County for services and j infrastructure capacity that the County is responsible for planning and building seems i place the applicant in the position of reprioritizing the County's budget with no authority over the County. i i