COM 0910.003 1996-1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Honorable Russell S. Kokubun, Chairman, and Members Page 5 October 3, 1989 each lot in fee simple, however, the developer then takes the proper steps, pursuant to HRS SS514A, et. seq., to create a condominium property regime. He applies for an ohana permit for each lot within the subdivision. His plan is to create two subdivision 'apartments' on each subdivided lot and sell them to different owners under the condominium property regime statute. Since each 10,000 square foot piece of land complies with the Hawaii County Code's definition of 'lot,' there is nothing which legally bars each of these ohana permit applications from being granted. They must be considered as any other permits, and approved or denied on the same standards. • IV. Conclusion The practice of using condominium developments to create single family residential housing has been the object of criticism. As was noted above, the developments are sometimes viewed as attempts to evade subdivision improvement requirements. Another recent criticism is that by combining condominium ownership with subdivisions and ohana permits, zoning laws concerning density can be circumvented. It should be noted that in the example given above, the subdivision in question looks like a subdivision of single family residences set on 5,000 square foot lots, all within an area which is zoned RS-10. Without amending the zoning code, the property now contains population density twice that deemed proper by legislation. While these criticisms point to valid problems, these problems are not caused by the nature of condominiums. There are ways of dealing with the situations noted above, and they would require changing the County Code with regard to subdivisions and ohana permits. As was stated in part II, supra, the County of Hawaii now has the power to drastically change the code section on ohana permits, even to the point of abolishing the ohana permit altogether. Changes made in the ohana section of the code could control the double density problem illustrated by the above-cited example. One suggestion would be for a minimum size for any piece of land, regardless of ownership type, in order to receive an ohana permit. For example, if the law stated that ohana permits could not be granted for any lot of less than 15,000 square feet, then the situation noted above could not occur. Such a change would also assure that areas zoned for single family residential use would not have a density greater than one residence per 7,500 square foot lot. The focus of ,