COM 0235.000 2010-2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

LEEWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAI`I HEARING TRANSCRIPT APRIL 21, 2011 A regularly advertised hearing on the PLANNING DIRECTOR INITIATED AMENDMENT TO CHAPTER 25, RELATING TO ADDITION OF CIVIL DEFENSE SIRENS TO CONCURRENCY REQUIREMENTS was called to order at 1:07 p.m. in the West Hawai`i Civic Center, Community Center, Building G, 74 -5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Kailua -Kona, Hawai`i, with Chair Geraldine Giffin presiding. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Geraldine Giffin, Brandi Beaudet, Lani Bowman, Thomas Hickcox, Wayne Iokepa and Richard Nelson ABSENT AND EXCUSED: Thomas Whittemore STAFF PRESENT: Julie Mecklenburg (Deputy Corporation Counsel), Margaret Masunaga (Deputy Planning Director), Daryn Arai (Planning Program Manager), Jeff Darrow (Staff Planner) and Maija Cottle (Staff Planner) And one person from the public in attendance. INITIATOR: PLANNING DIRECTOR INITIATED Amendment to Chapter 25 (Zoning), Article 2, Division 4, Section 25 -2 -46 of the Hawai`i County Code 1983 (2005 Edition, as amended) relating to the Addition of Civil Defense Sirens to Concurrency Requirements. GIFFIN: We are on Agenda Item No. 3. And this is relating to the addition of Civil Defense sirens to concurrency requirements. Daryn? ARAI: Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, Commissioners. I'm going to try and make this brief. I think the background and recommendation report that we transmitted to you explains thoroughly why this bill is before you. It's different from the bill that you heard earlier that was transmitted down from the County Council, which previously tried to include a requirement for the installation of tsunami sirens as part of plan approval, which is a departmental administrative review. And as you recall, the Director did not support that bill, and the Planning Commission, both Leeward and Windward, voted to send an unfavorable recommendation. That bill currently has been tabled and it's awaiting this bill that the administration put together for you. And what it simply does is it ties in the installation of tsunami sirens as a requirement of concurrency. As you are aware, the State has undertaken efforts to install sirens at locations throughout the island, throughout the state for that matter, but the amount of monies that have been secured would not address all of the sirens that are needed to provide adequate coverage. That being said, a concurrency requirement basically specifies that a proposed development may not be approved, if it would cause levels of service of public facilities to fall below a specified baseline. What this proposed bill is attempting to do is basically, say, if an area is not serviced by a tsunami siren, then a proposed rezoning or time extension for the performance of a zoning requirement shall not be considered, or shall not be approved. It applies to certain types of projects 1