COM 0699.001 1996-1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Dominic Yagong Page -2- Apri16, 1998 as well as about liability concerning the flooding in the area. These relate to the afore- mentioned Chapter 27 of the Hawaii County Code. Chapter 27 is entitled Flood Control and was passed pursuant to Federal law (the U.S. National Flood Insurance Law) and the Hawaii Revised Statutes. Hawaii County Code §27-1. Section 27-4 lists the methods that the Code establishes to accomplish its purposes, including: (a) Restricting or prohibiting uses which are dangerous to health, safety, and property due to water or erosion hazards, or which result in damaging increases in erosion or flood heights or velocities. (b) Requiring that uses vulnerable to floods, including facilities which serve such uses, be protected against flood damage at the time of initial construction. In the present situation, the concern is with portions of Waiakea Heights, Unit II, which Chapter 27 classifies as "Zone AH", which is defined as: ...[T]he special flood hazard area that corresponds to the areas of one-hundred-year shallow flooding (usually areas of ponding) where average depths are between one and three feet. Whole-foot base flood elevations derived from the detailed hydraulic analyses have been determined at selected intervals within this zone. Hawaii County Code §27-12(a)(67). This does not mean that nothing may be built in an area zoned "AH". Structures may be built in those areas if they comply with standards set out in Hawaii County Code §§27-20 and 27-21. The seller of the property would be likely to protect itself by disclosing the appropriate flood control information at the time of the sale. In approving development in such zones, the obligation of the County is to review subdivision development plans submitted by the owner to assess compliance with the law, not to conduct their own engineering studies to ensure the validity and correctness of the developer's plans. Cootey v. Sun Investment, Inc., 68 Haw. 480 (1986).