COM 0888.000 2008-2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

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The Honorable J Yoshimoto, Chairman and Members of the County Council Page 7 by Ordinance No. 08 151, Section 3.2 of the North Kohala Community Development Plan states that self -help homes and other affordable housing projects should be located on lands that are within the Low Density Urban areas on the LUPAG map. In North Kohala, the Village Centers of Hawi, Kapaau, Halawa and Niulii are designated Low Density Urban. The requested change of zone will not create a significant adverse impact upon the natural resources of the area. The majority of the project site is designated Prime Agricultural Land. Portions of the eastern section of the project site are designated Other Important Agricultural Land and Unclassified. The Land Use Study Bureau's Overall Master Productivity Rating for the soil is `B" or "Very Good ". Soils within the project site consist of Kohala silty clay, 3 to 12 percent slopes (KhC). While the project site is situated within the County's A -20a zoned district and is identified as prime agricultural land with good soil, it is not currently being used for active or intensive agricultural purposes. Thousands of acres of the former Kohala Sugar Company lands were previously utilized for sugar cane cultivation between 1862 and 1973 and were designated as prime agricultural land. The lands have not been intensively utilized for agricultural activities since the close of the sugar company in 1973. Although the soil type would have justified designating this property in the "Important Agricultural Lands" LUPAG category, this is the type of area referred to on Page 14 -8 of the General Plan: "Certain areas that could have been classified as Important Agricultural lands have been placed within urban land use categories. Generally, these are adjacent to existing urban areas. This represents a decision that the orderly development of those urban areas justifies the eventual conversion of those lands to urban use." The requested rezoning will not be detrimental to the reduction of the agricultural land inventory in the County of Hawaii as the property has not been intensively used for agricultural purposes for a long period of time and is designated for urban growth. From a land use perspective, it is a more feasible alternative to infill urban development within this particular area of North Kohala. In doing so, it would tend to alleviate the conversion of more productive agricultural lands in more appropriate locations within the North Kohala area for urban types of uses. The request would not unreasonably burden the public agencies to provide roads and streets, water, drainage, police and fire protection. There are no significant adverse impacts to public utilities and facilities generated by this project. Potential impacts have been identified and assessed and appropriate mitigative measures will be incorporated within this favorable recommendation. Access to the proposed development