COM 1568.000 2006-2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

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RECOMMENDATION The Planning Director recommends that the Planning Commission send a negative recommendation to the Council on the proposed amendment to the Zoning Code. Because the County does not currently meet the proposed standards, especially for police and parks, the bill would create a moratorium on rezoning in the County for all districts ewcegt-$eat}rI~i}s. For Puna, North Kona, South Kona, and South Kohala; the ban on new zoning would last until the County more than doubled the developed park space in the district. At the same time, this rezoning ban would do nothing to increase the number of parks or police officers.. It would penalize property owners by forbidding them from getting zoning changes when they cannot themselves remedy the situation with respect to parks, police, or fire stations. It would, in fact, ban rezoning on the grounds that insufficient developed park space existed in the district, even though the zoning request might include public park lands that would reduce the problem. Rezoning decisions should be made on their merits, guided by the General Plan and Community Development Plans. If a site is a not a good one for the development proposed by the rezoning, it should bi denied. The denial can be based on many different reasons, like traffic congestion, flooding, historic sites, inconsistency with the LUPAG map, the desire to avoid sprawl or protect open space, and ady of the other factors that go into good land use planning. The lack of public facilities to serve a development may be a legitimate reason for denying a rezoning. For example, if a large residential rezoning was proposed on Saddle Road, say fifteen miles above Hilo, the distance from police and fire stations would be a legitimate reason to deny rezoning, even though the South Hilo district as a whole might have enough police officers and firefighters. But this can be addressed when the rezoning is considered, rather than apply an inflexible district-wide rule. The number of police and fire personnel authorized in any area is completely under the control of the County government. If the County wants a policy of "x" number of police officers per 1,000 population, or "x" number of firefighters per station, it is entirely up to the County to appropriate the necessary funding. A private landowner seeking rezoning has no power to get the County to hire more police officers or -6-