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Honorable James Y. Arakaki, Chairman <br />and Members of the County Council <br />Page 5 <br />infrastructure. Therefore, it is determined that the request is consistent with the urban <br />form depicted on the LUPAG Map for this area of North Kona. <br />The Kona Regional Plan, adopted by the Planning Commission in April 1984, <br />designates the area as Residential -4 units/acre (RES 4). Although this suggests that lower <br />density residential developments are appropriate for this area, later planning documents <br />indicate otherwise. The Keahole to Kailua Development Plan, which was adopted as <br />Resolution Number 296-91 by the County Council on April 3, 1991, was guided by an <br />overall goal to develop a mixed residential, commercial, resort, industrial and recreational <br />community, with approximately 8,000 or more residential units. Although the subject <br />property is not within the project area identified in the plan, it is immediately adjacent to <br />its southern boundary, which runs along the north side of Palani Road. Most recently, on <br />June 22, 1998, the State Land Use Commission approved a County of Hawaii Planning <br />Department Petition to amend the State Land Use Boundary from the Agricultural to the <br />Urban District for an area including the subject project site. This affirms that the area of <br />the subject development proposal is suited to urban types of commercial and multiple <br />family residential developments. Therefore, it is determined that the request is consistent <br />with other land use planning documents for this area of North Kona. <br />If the change of zone request is approved, the applicant intends to enter into an <br />agreement with a private developer to develop a multiple -family residential and <br />commercial retail project. It should be noted, however, that the applicant is not <br />proposing a subdivision of the area at this time. The applicant is proceeding with this <br />request for rezoning on the basis of the recent State Land Use Boundary Amendment <br />from the Agricultural to the Urban District and the County's General Plan designation of <br />the area for Urban Expansion. The applicant's request is intended to secure entitlements <br />to position itself for future residential and commercial opportunities. The applicant is <br />seeking Residential—Commercial Mixed Use zoning now to begin site and area wide <br />planning (to be integrated with the applicant's overall master plan), infrastructure <br />planning, and traffic planning. Subsequently, the proposed site plan does not represent a <br />formal proposal but rather was completed for the purposes of assessing environmental <br />impacts and infrastructure requirements. The plan is based on similar commercial <br />developments in the area and is assumed to be representative of future development <br />scenarios. <br />The residential component of the proposed development would consist of over <br />250 dwelling units, averaging 600 to 800 square feet per unit, located on 14.5 acres of <br />land on the mauka portion of the project area. The applicant intends to provide 325 <br />parking stalls, 2 parks and landscaping buffers within the residential area of the <br />development. The commercial component of the development would consist of <br />approximately 25,000 square feet of single -story inline commercial retail space smd 150 <br />parking stalls located on approximately 3.5 acres on the makai portion of the property, <br />