COM 0998.003 2006-2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Honorable Angel Pilago, Chair And Members of the Committee on Planning COMMITTEE ON PLANNING Page 5 March 5, 2008 property was in the state land use urban district, county zoned A-5a. The owner of the 63 acre property did not seek rezoning, and has obtained SMA permit approval to subdivide the property into five acre lots. What the owner did with that property is basically what is being proposed for this property. The Kohala LLC property clearly would have a beneficial economic use with the RA-5a zoning; it would have a market value of several million dollars. "Equal Protection" There is also a claim that the rezoning to RA-5a would violate "equal protection", apparently because, according to the landowner's attorney, property has rarely been downzoned to a lower intensity of use in Hawai'i County against the wishes of the landowner. Equal protection, in zoning, simply requires that the decision have a rational basis: that is, that there is some logical reason to treat one piece of property differently from another. For this reason, equal protection arguments against zoning decisions rarely succeed, because land generally has unique aspects. In the case of the Kohala LLC property, the proposed RA-Sa zoning would, in fact, be basically the same as the adjacent shoreline property in either direction. This property is mentioned in the General Plan as an example of natural beauty, and is in an area where legislative resolutions call for the preservation of open space. The landowner's attorney incorrectly states that the General Plan policies for natural beauty have not changed since this property was zoned in 1997. In fact, the 2005 General Plan added two new policies that are relevant: "73(h) Protect the views of areas endowed with natural beauty by carefully considering the effects of proposed construction during all land use reviews" and "73(i) Do not allow incompatible construction in areas of natural beauty." Whether downzoning is rare or not is irrelevant. It is one of the basic land use options available to this county and any other local government. Hawai'i County has, in fact, downzoned property against the landowner's wishes. In 1982, several ordinances were passed downzoning property in Keaukaha from V-35 to RS-10 or A-5a, in many cases, against the objections of the property owner. Ord. 735, and Ords. 781-786. We are faced with a decision what to do with the zoning on this property because the time for the RS-15 zoning has lapsed. Hawai'i County has not actually rezoned any shoreline property in the last seven years, except for a 1.4 acre State-owned property in Kawaihae, where the State dedicated a much larger adjacent area to open space.