REP PC 105 04/14/1998 1996-1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON PLANNING DATE: Apri114, 1998 Re: C-760Bi11 No. 211 PLACE: Councilroom TIME: 2:37 p.m. Chair and Members Hawaii County Council Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Your Committee on Planning, to which was referred Bill No. 211, transmitted by Mayor Stephen K. Yamashiro per Communication No. 760 dated March 4, 1998, reports as follows: The purpose of Bill No. 211 is to initiate a charter amendment of the Hawaii County Charter (1991), relating to the Planning Director, Planning Commission and Board of Appeals. At its February 2Q 1998 meeting, the Planning Commission recommended the approval of the proposed bill to provide a more effective appeals system to reduce duplication and conflicts with state law, and to eliminate the existing conflict of the duties of the Planning Commission and the Boazd of Appeals. The groposed bill would also place the Board of Appeals, for administrative purposes, in the Office of the Corporation Counsel instead of the Planning Department. The Commission requested that the Council give consideration to alternative methods of solving the problem of having attorneys from the Corporation Counsel's Office representing the Planning Director/Chief Engineer, Planning Commission and Board of Appeals. The Commission felt the Board of Appeals needed to have outside counsel to make it completely independent of the County. Bill No. 211 is identical to Bill No. 277, which was first heazd in the Planning Committee on June 18, 1996. Your Committee passed Bill No. 277 with the recommendation that the public should have the opportunity to decide whether this charter amendment should be adopted. However, on the Council's third and final reading, Bill No. 277 did not muster the six votes to pass. At today's meeting, Planning Director Virginia Goldstein explained each proposed change. Your Committee agreed that the proposed amendments were matters of great concern, but the placement of the Board of Appeals with the Corporation Counsel was another matter. Currently, the County of Hawaii Charter grants both the Board of Appeals as well, in some instances, the Planning Commission the ability or the function of heazing appeals of the Planning Director. The proposed amendment would eliminate the review and approval of appeals by the Planning Commission on the variances which are granted by the Planning Director, and the appealed variances would then go directly to the Boazd of Appeals. The proposal to move the Boazd of Appeals to the Corporation Counsel would make a cleaz separation between the functions of the department. PC Report No. 105