COM 0032.035 2006-2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

~F e:Of f5w... Y~ COUNTY OF HAWAII STATE OF HAWAII ; RESOLUTION NO. ~~ `~~ . A RESOLUTION PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO CHAPTER 25, ZONING CODE, HAWAII COUNTY CODE 1983 (2005 EDITION, AS AMENDED), RELATING TO RETAIL ESTABLISHMENTS WHEREAS, the County of Hawaii is a unique and special island community with a quality of life, natural beauty, and rural character admired worldwide; and WHEREAS, the protection and preservation of our unique quality of life, natural beauty, and rural character are dependent on proper planning and reasonable growth policies consistent with existing natural conditions and inherent limitations on population and development within an island community; and WHEREAS, the experience of communities across the United States has shown that the development of "superstores," retail businesses significantly larger than any retail store operating within acommunity -generally occupying more than 90,000 gross square feet, offering for sale more than 25,000 different stocldceeping units ("SKU"), and dedicating more than 20,000 gross square feet of floor azea to the sale of groceries -results in tremendous adverse community impacts including traffic congestion, increased demand on government infrastructure, negative environmental consequences, and harmful, often fatal, impacts on small businesses; and WHEREAS, it is the policy of the County of Hawaii General Plan to encourage community-based and pedestrian-friendly design and development to preserve the rural character of Hawaii Island and to support small business development that is consistent with its rural, agricultural, and historic character; and WHEREAS, the council finds that the development of "superstores" would contradict the "smart growth" policies that Hawaii County is striving to implement and would undermine existing plans to manage traffic congestion, encourage pedestrian-friendly small-town community design, and support small businesses that have been an integral part of our island landscape; and WHEREAS, chapter 25, article 1, section 25-1-5, Hawaii County Code 1983 (2005 Edition, as amended) -particularly in its definition of "Retail establishment" -does not adequately address the negative impacts of "superstores" demonstrated in communities across the mainland United States; and WHEREAS, chapter 25, article 2, subsection 25-2-43(b), Hawaii County Code 1983 (2005 Edition, as amended), provides, in pertinent part, that "[t]he council shall refer any proposed council-initiated amendment to this chapter to the director and the commission with requests for their respective comments and recommendations thereon, prior to the first reading of any such amendment..." EXHIBIT