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1~~~ <br /> - `4~ <br /> ~~i~ <br /> LAND USE RESEARCH _ <br /> FOUNDATION OF HAWAII <br /> 7uo IIiehop Street, Ste. X928 ~ <br /> Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 <br /> Phone ~u-4717 <br /> Fax 536-oi32 ~ <br /> April i8, 200 <br /> The Honorable Pete Hoffmann, Chair and Presiding Member <br /> County Council, County of Hawaii <br /> z5 Aupuni Street <br /> Hilo, Hawaii 96~2o BY FACSIMILE: (808) 96F-8912 <br /> Dear Council Chair Hoffman and members; <br /> Subject: Bill No. ig6 Ordinance to Amend Chapter a (Housing), Article <br /> I, Section a-4(d), Hawaii County Code, to Include Affordable <br /> Housing Requirements for Industrial Park Developments <br /> My name is Dave Arakawa, Executive Director of the Land Use Research Foundation of <br /> Hawaii ("LURF"). LURF is a private, non-profit research and trade association whose <br /> members include major Hawaii landowners, developers, and a utility company. One of <br /> LURF's missions is to advocate for reasonable and rational land use planning, <br /> legislation, and regulations affecting common problems in Hawaii. <br /> LURF is opposed to Bill r56 because, while we understand the attempt to link <br /> employment centers with the need for more "workforce" housing, requiring industrial or <br /> commercial developments to build workforce housing is counter intuitive and would only <br /> discourage investments in industrial and commercial developments, resulting in no new <br /> job creation at all. <br /> According to Bill r56, the Housing Element of the Hawaii County General Plan (enacted <br /> as Ordinance No. 05-2rj) clearly states that a policy of the County of Hawaii shall be that <br /> "large industries or developments that create a demand for housing shall provide <br /> employee housing based upon a ratio to be determined by an analysis of the locality's <br /> needs." <br /> The County Council finds that industrial developments which are comprised of multiple <br /> individual enterprises are, in fact, large industries which generate substantial <br /> employment and demands for employee housing. Therefore, such industrial <br /> developments should be subject to the affordable housing requirements articulated in <br /> Chapter a (Housing) of the Hawaii County Code. <br /> Based on these findings, Bill F56 proposes to amend Chapter a of the Hawaii County <br /> <br /> Code to require that industrial uses fulfill the affordable housing requirements. <br /> <br /> Specifically, the bill proposes that "industrial enterprises generating more than one <br /> hundred employees on a full-time equivalent basis, whether new or an addition or <br /> <br />