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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0819.000 2012-2014 O�MtV OF Walter K.M.Lau Managing Director William P.Kenoi +c '• Mayor Randall M.Kurohara DepuV Managing Director Tt Of 14 County of Hawaii Office of the Mayor 25 Aupuni Street,Suite 2603 • Hilo,Hawaii 96720 • (808)961-8211 • Fax(808)961-6553 KONA: 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Hwy.,Bldg.C • Kailua-Kona,Hawaii 96740 (808)323-4444 Fax(808)323-4440 April 4,2014 .es CO J Yoshimoto Council Chair and Members of the County Council -< —i County of Hawaii co _n� 25 Aupuni Street �rr-- rn Hilo, HI 96720 CID Dear Chairman Yoshimoto and Members: .... W Planning Director Initiated Amendment to Chapter 25,Article 4,Division 5 and Article 7, Division 2 of the Hawaii County Code 1983 (2005 Edition,as Amended)Relating to Increased Residential Density, Including Parking Requirements, Within CDH, Downtown Hilo Commercial District Planning Director Initiated Amendments to Chapter 25, Articles 2 and 5 of the Hawaii County Code 1983 / (2005 Edition,As Amended)Relating to Golf Courses and Related Golf Course Uses Planning Director Initiated Amendment to Chapter 16"Amendment Procedures" Section 16.1 "Comprehensive Review"Part 1 of the County of Hawaii General Plan(2005 Edition,As Amended) As required by Chapter 7, Sec. 6-7.5 (a),Hawaii County,Charter,transmitted herewith for the County Council's consideration and action are the Windward and Leeward Planning Commissions' letters and enclosures regarding the above-referenced requests. Sin William P. Kenoi Mayor Enclosures cc: Planning Department $; a 39} Comm. No. �� 1 Ref. To: County of Hawaii is an Equal Oppo numty Provider and Employer Ref. Dote APR 10 2014 u.' ,IV OF jV �r�os•MRM County of Hawaii WINDWARD PLANNING COMMISSION Aupuni Center • 101 Pauahi Street,Suite 3 • Hilo,Hawaii 96720 Phone(808)961-8288 • Fax(808)961-8742 APR 0 n on zo 4X a J Yosh>moto, Council Chair -<-i ce and Members of the County Council 1-t County of Hawaii xr-- 25 Aupuni Street Z'rn Hilo,HI 96720 m n� Dear Chairman Yoshimoto and Council Members: Planning Director Initiated Amendment to Chapter 16"Amendment Procedures" Section 16.1 "Comprehensive Review"Part 1 of the County of Hawaii General Plan(2005 Edition, As Amended) The Windward Planning Commission, at its duly held public hearing on March 6, 2014,considered the Planning Director's request for an amendment to Chapter 16"Amendment Procedures", Section 16.1 "Comprehensive Review,"part(1)of the County of Hawaii General Plan(2005 Edition,as amended)in order to allow for the comprehensive review of the General Plan to be initiated 10 years after adoption of the previous comprehensive amendments, rather than the submittal of the comprehensive amendments to the County Council within that same time frame. The Commission voted to forward a favorable recommendation to the County Council on the request. The draft bill is attached for your favorable consideration. We have also enclosed a copy of the Planning Director's Background and Recommendation and transcript of the hearing for your information. Sincerely, TZ, Ronald Gonzales, Chairman Windward Planning Commission cc: Planning Department-Kona Enclosures Lpdinitiatedamendchap 16GP Hawai`i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer County of Hawaii LEEWARD PLANNING COMMISSION Aupuni Center • 101 Pauahi Street,Suite 3 • Hilo,Hawai'i 96720 Phone(808)961-8288 • Fax(808)961-8742 APR 0 4 2,0� s ZC J Yoshimoto, Council Chair -�--t and Members of the County Council o-< County of Hawaii sr- 25 Aupuni Street >r-n Hilo, HI 96720 v 7C Dear Chairman Yoshimoto and Council Members: Planning Director Initiated Amendment to Chapter 16"Amendment Procedures" Section 16.1 "Comprehensive Review"Part 1 of the County of Hawaii General Plan(2005 Edition As Amended) The Leeward Planning Commission, at its duly held public hearing on March 20, 2014, considered the Planning Director's request for an amendment to Chapter 16"Amendment Procedures", Section 16.1 "Comprehensive Review,"part(1)of the County of Hawaii General Plan(2005 Edition,as amended) in order to allow for the comprehensive review of the General Plan to be initiated 10 years after adoption of the previous comprehensive amendments, rather than the submittal of the comprehensive amendments to the County Council within that same time frame. The Commission voted to forward a favorable recommendation to the County Council on the request. The draft bill is attached for your favorable consideration. We have also enclosed a copy of the Planning Director's Background and Recommendation,transcript of the hearing, and PowerPoint presentation for your information. 2:06�� /Pu� Geraldine Giffin, Chairman Leeward Planning Commission cc: Planning Department-Kona Enclosures Lpdinitiatedamendchap 16GP-LPC Hawai`i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer BRPDlnitGPAmend.GPAmendTiming.doc-02/21/2014 COUNTY OF HAWAII PLANNING DEPARTMENT BACKGROUND AND RECOMMENDATION INITIATOR: PLANNING DIRECTOR CHANGE TO AMENDMENT PROCEDURES OF THE GENERAL PLAN The Planning Director has submitted the attached bill (Exhibit 1)proposing an amendment to Chapter 16"Amendment Procedures", Section 16.1 "Comprehensive Review,"part (1) of the County of Hawaii General Plan(2005 Edition, as amended) in order to allow for the comprehensive review of the General Plan to be initiated 10 years after adoption of the previous comprehensive amendments,rather than the submittal of the comprehensive amendments to the County Council within that same time frame. PROPOSED AMENDMENT The requested amendment would change the timeframe for initiating the General Plan comprehensive review. The amendment is to Section 16.1 "Comprehensive Review,"part(1) of the County of Hawaii General Plan(2005 Edition, as amended) is as follows(material to be deleted is bracketed and struck out, with added material underscored): "The Planning Director shall initiate a comprehensive review of the General Plan and prepare a set of recommended amendments for independent review by the Windward and Leeward Planning Commissions and then adoption by the County Council. The comprehensive review shall be [submitted to the r,,tmty Goia ei fl initiated not more than ten years after the date of adoption of the previous amendments resulting from a comprehensive review." BACKGROUND 2005—Start the Review by February 2015: The General Plan is the policy document for the long-range comprehensive development of the island of Hawaii. Chapter 16 of the General Plan outlines procedures for its amendment. The last comprehensive review of the General Plan concluded with its adoption by Ordinance No. 05-25 in February 2005. Section 16.1(1) specified that"The Planning Director shall initiate a comprehensive review of the General Plan every ten years after the initial date of adoption of the General Plan and the date of adoption of subsequent 1 Re: Bill 239/Comm. 819 amendments resulting from a comprehensive review."(emphasis added) At that point, the comprehensive review had to be initiated by February 2015. 2007— Complete the Review by February 2015: In October 2006, the Planning Director proposed amending Section 16.1(1)to clarify that ten(10) years after the adoption of the previous comprehensive review, the Planning Director must send a new set of comprehensive amendments to the County Council. The Council adopted the following amendment in Ordinance No. 07 70: (material deleted is bracketed and struck out, with added material underscored): "The Planning Director shall initiate a comprehensive review of the General Plan [every subseqttext) and prepare a set of recommended amendments for review by the Planning Commission and adoption by the County Council. The recommended amendments shall be submitted to the County Council not more than ten years after the date of adoption of the previous amendments resulting from a comprehensive review." Thus, the entire comprehensive review process, except for County Council action,must be completed by February 2015. REASONS FOR REQUESTED AMENDMENT 3.5 Years are Needed: During the last comprehensive review, it took more than three(3) years for proposed amendments to be developed and considered by the Planning Commission before being submitted to the County Council. For the next comprehensive review,it is estimated that three and a half(3.5) years will be needed to submit recommended amendments to the County Council. Time is needed for background research and to hear from Community Development Plan action committees,the Planning Commissions, and the broader community. Thus,the comprehensive review process would have had to be initiated in 2011 to meet the deadline established in the General Plan. We Can't Start Yet: However, it is not currently possible to initiate the comprehensive review process: 1) Ordinance No. 07 70 established the February 2015 deadline before any of the Community Development Plans (CDPs) were completed. Because of the comprehensive nature of the CDPs and the scope of community engagement involved in developing the -2- plans, it has taken longer than expected to complete the first round of CDPs. CDPs have been adopted for North and South Kona, Puna, and North and South Kohala,but the CDPs for Ka`u and Hamakua have not yet been completed. It is estimated that those CDPs will be completed in 2014. Because the comprehensive review of the General Plan should be informed by the CDPs, a comprehensive review of the General Plan should not be initiated before the CDPs are complete. 2) Ordinance No. 07 70 also established the February 2015 deadline before Chapter 16 of the Hawaii County Code was amended to establish CDP Action Committees,which are administered by the Planning Department. Since that code amendment in 2008,the Planning Department has struggled to manage four Action Committees,the implementation of four CDPs, and the completion of two more with limited department resources, including staff. Until the initial round of CDPs is completed, the Planning Department does not have the capacity to initiate a comprehensive review of the General Plan. 3) The comprehensive review of the General Plan is a significant undertaking. It requires review of existing plans and policies,research and analysis related to planning priorities, and extensive communication and community engagement, all of which have associated expenses. Due to budget constraints in recent years,no funds have been appropriated for the review process. Start the Review by February 2015: Therefore, it is most prudent to return Chapter 16 of the General Plan to its original form as adopted in 2005. This would again require that the General Plan comprehensive review be initiated by February 2015. COMMENTS FROM THE GENERAL PUBLIC Notice was provided to the public, the Windward and Leeward Planning Commissions, and the County Council on December 23,2013. The notice and background information about the proposed amendment was available at both Planning Department offices and on the Department's web site. On January 22, 2014 in Hilo and on January 29, 2014 in Kona, public workshops were held to explain the proposed amendment and to record public comment. Public comment was accepted through February 6, 2014. No one attended either public workshop, and no public comment was received. -3- RECOMMENDATION In light of the above, the Planning Director recommends that the Leeward and Windward Planning Commissions send a favorable recommendation to the County Council for the proposed amendment to Chapter 16 of the County of Hawaii General Plan as provided by the attached bill. -4- NVilliam,". Kenoi ;Duane Kanuha Mayor Director 301;13Y Command J% Deputy Director Westda%YE Off'lce ':;as-,I-,,aV L,'*.OfICC 74-5044 Ane Keohokaloie--'My 01 2auabi Street,Suite 3 Kailua-Kona,Lavvi'i 967,-) k ,,ounty of Hawtad.,-,. j -4-7 70 Phone(808"323 F'io.Hawal"96"20 V-o,le'808)961-8288 8 08)327-3563 ax 833)S6,-3*742 ax February 20, 2014 Ms. Geraldine Giffin and Mr. Wallace Ishibashi, Chairpersons and Members of the Windward and Leeward Planning Commissions Planning Department, County of Hawaii 101 Pauahi St., Suite 3 Hilo, HI 96720 Dear Chairpersons Giffin and Ishibashi and Commission Members: SUBJECT: Proposed General Plan Amendment Initiated by the Planninp.Director Transmitted herewith is a proposed amendment to Chapter 16 "Amendment Procedures" of the County of Hawaii General Plan. On December 23, 2013, we notified you that the Planning Director was initiating this amendment. Since then, public workshops for the proposed amendment were held on January 22, 2014 in Hilo and on January 29, 2014 in Kona, and public comment was accepted through February 6, 2014. Please transmit your recommendations on the proposed amendment to the County Council within 120 days of this submittal. Sincerelv, .............. ID A'N=KCA I V H A Planning Director RW:cs Enclosure cc: Mayor William P. Kenoi County Council q L) Exhibit -ir II-que;'Oplion. q "rovider ai d bnpiqjvr NSV Of COUNTY OF HAWAII STATE OF HAWAII BILL NO. ORDINANCE NO. AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE COUNTY OF HAWAII GENERAL PLAN, AS ADOPTED BY ORDINANCE NO. 05-25, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF THE GENERAL PLAN. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAII: SECTION 1. Purpose. The purpose of this ordinance is to amend Chapter 16 of the County of Hawaii General Plan in accordance with Section 3-15, Hawaii County Charter, and Section 16.2 Interim Amendments, Hawaii County General Plan. SECTION 2. Ordinance No. 05-25, as amended, is amended by amending paragraph (1) of section 16.1, Comprehensive Review, to read as follows: "(1) The Planning Director shall initiate a comprehensive review of the General Plan and prepare a set of recommended amendments for independent review by the Windward and Leeward Planning Commissions and then adoption by the County Council. The [r-eeemmeaded amendm ] comprehensive review shall be [submit4ed the Co i!] initiated lV 4IIV 1 not more than ten years after the date of adoption of the previous amendments resulting from a comprehensive review." SECTION 3. Material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New material is underscored. In re-printing this ordinance or the General Plan, the brackets, bracketed and stricken material, and underscoring need not be included. 1 SECTION 4. If any provision of this ordinance,or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of the ordinance which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end, the provisions of this ordinance are declared to be severable. SECTION 5. This ordinance shall take effect upon its approval. INTRODUCED BY: COUNCIL MEMBER, COUNTY OF HAWAII Hawaii Date of Introduction: Date of 1" Reading: Date of 2nd Reading: Effective Date: WINDWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAII HEARING TRANSCRIPT MARCH 6, 2014 A regularly advertised hearing on the Planning Director Initiated,Amendment to Chapter 16.1 "Comprehensive Review," Part(1) of the County of Hawaii General Plan (2005 Edition, as amended)was called to order at 10:40 a.m. in the Hilo State Office Building, Conference Rooms A, B, & C, 75 Aupuni Street, Hilo, Hawaii with Chairman Ronald Gonzales presiding. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Ronald Gonzales, Charles Heaukulani, Gregory Henkel, Wallace A. Ishibashi, Jr., Stephen Ono, and Raylene Moses. ABSENT AND EXCUSED: Myles Miyasato. ALSO PRESENT: Margaret Masunaga(Deputy Corporation Counsel for the Windward Planning Commission), Daryn Arai (Planning Program Manager), Jeff Darrow (Staff Planner), Maija Cottle(Staff Planner), Ron Whitmore (Staff Planner), and Sarah Hata-Finley(Secretary). And approximately 17 people from the public in attendance. INITIATOR: PLANNING DIRECTOR Amendment to Chapter 16"Amendment Procedures", Section 16.1 "Comprehensive Review," part(1) of the County of Hawaii General Plan(2005 Edition, as amended) in order to allow for the comprehensive review of the General Plan to be initiated 10 years after adoption of the previous comprehensive amendments,rather than the submittal of the comprehensive amendments to the County Council within that same time frame. GONZALES: Moving along, Item No. 4 on the agenda. It's initiated by the Planning Director. This is Mr. Ron Whitmore. WHITMORE: Yeah, good morning Commissioners, Corporation Counsel, staff,members of the public. Thank you. Yes,my name is Ron Whitmore. I'm a long range planner with the County Planning Department. With me here today also is Bethany Morrison, another long range planner. We've been working on this together. I'd like to take a few minutes to give you an overview of the proposed General Plan amendment, and I'm available to answer any questions. I'd like to cover briefly is the bottom line followed by an overview of the last comprehensive update for the General Plan. An overview of what we anticipate will be the timeline for the upcoming comprehensive update followed by a brief explanation of why the proposed amendment is necessary. A review, again, of the proposed amendments and then a brief overview of the process for this proposed interim amendment to the General Plan. 1 Re: Bill 239/Comm. 819 So, in simplest terms, all the Director is proposing here is a change in the timeframe for the comprehensive review and update of the General Plan. As it currently stands, the update is to be completed up to the point where recommended updates to the Plan are presented to the Council within ten years of the date of adoption of the last General Plan, which would be February 2015, less than a year from now. What the Director is proposing is that the language be returned to how it was originally in 2005 which is to initiate the process by then. Here it is in Ramseyer format so you see the simple language change that is being proposed. Just so you understand how long the process took last time this was done, here's a brief overview of that process. It started in 1998 and after some initial studies and analysis including economic development, land use, infrastructure, and many other issues that are addressed in the General Plan, amendments, proposed amendments were drafted. Those went before the Planning Commission, and then by mid-2002, approximately four years from initiation, it got to Council. So, we did also is take a look at as currently articulated in the Charter, the General Plan, Chapter 16, and the Planning Department and Planning Commission rules, we're summarizing here, the process that we will have to follow for this next comprehensive update. And, again, we anticipate it'll take about 3.5, 3-1/2 years or so from initiation to get to the point where we can present it to Council. Let me just walk you briefly through each of those key steps. The first is the formal initiation by the Planning Director of the comprehensive update, and that involves notice to you, to Council, to the members,to the public, and then following that is 45 days for the public to provide any input or comments on the, any, what the members of the public may consider necessary on changes to the GP. We'll also invite the action committees of the community development plans to provide comment and input. And Council itself has a 120 days minimum to comment and provide suggestions for amendments to the General Plan, so that process we estimate would take up to six months or so. The next step would then be for Planning Department staff and consultants to review the input received during that initial 6-month phase, and then conduct appropriate analysis and based on past precedent, this often involves studies related to community development plans that have been adopted since the last GP update, related plans and strategies from other agencies—County, State, Federal—that may relate to General Plan topics,population analysis, land use analysis, natural cultural resource management analysis, infrastructure, a whole range of topics. As you know, there's many. It's very comprehensive,the General Plan, so with that during this phase, the Planning Department and consultants will look at all relevant issues that may need attention and maybe consideration during the comprehensive review. At the end of that process, which we're just guesstimating based on the past, the last process, could take up to two years. At the end of that, the Planning Director will propose amendments to the General Plan. That then is followed again by public notice of those proposed amendments, a series of public workshops, and then the public has an opportunity to then comment at that stage in the process. And that step then is followed by formal review by the Planning Commissions and associated hearings. And as, again, currently, as currently written in the General Plan in Chapter 16, that the Planning Commissions will have to have reviewed that, held their hearings and made their recommendations and formal submittal to Council, currently all by February of 2015. But, 2 again,we anticipate that process taking three, three and a half to four years from the point of initiation. The final step in the process then is Council review and action, and that could take any amount of time. Last time, it took several years actually, so-. So, why is the proposed amendment necessary? It really comes down to four basic, a few basic challenges. As I've mentioned already, under the current reading of Chapter 16 of the GP, we will, we would have had to initiate the process back in 2011 to have really gotten to the point where we're ready to submit proposed amendments via the Planning Commissions to the County Council. The community development plans, our own in-house capacity, and then budget challenges have made that impossible. The first challenge has been the CDP's. In February, the February 2015 deadline was established before the County started the community development planning process, and at that time we really didn't have an idea how long those would take. The bottom line is they take a considerable amount of time to do well. We have four, three that are adopted—Kona, Puna, North and South Kohala—but two are still underway. We do anticipate that those two will be completed this year. It's important that those community driven planning processes be completed before the GP comprehensive update. The second major challenge is department capacity. Also related to the CDP's, didn't have a good idea when those were included in the last GP update, how much time and effort they would take, and it's extensive it turns out. And we've had some increased capacity in staffing in the Long Range Planning Department. It has-hasn't been sufficient, and only in very recent months have we been fully staffed. And so, it's been a struggle just to complete the first round of CDP's and manage the new action committees that have come along with the adopted community development plans. So we haven't simply had the in-house capacity to take on in addition to all of that the comprehensive update of the General Plan. Then, finally, as everybody knows, we've been facing nationally, and certainly at the State and County levels, significant fiscal challenges, and not only have we not have been offered any budget increases in the last four, five years, they've been consistent budget reductions, and so though we've, the Planning Department,has proposed funding for GP update and other items, the consistent response is"no can." There's no money for anything extra, and so there's simply not the fiscal possibility of an initiating a process like this. So, again,just to review, it's a very simple amendment that's being proposed, and this is Chapter 16 of the General Plan which is the section of the plan after all the substantive sections. It simply covers amendment procedures. It covers both interim amendments, like the one proposed today, and the comprehensive update, and so, so this is, it's a little confusing, but this is an interim amendment being proposed by the Planning Director to amend the chapter, the section of Chapter 16, that addresses the comprehensive update. And, again, it's simply saying rather than get through with 3-1/2 plus years of the update process by next February, we actually initiate it by then, which is how it was originally written in the 2005 General Plan, as adopted. 3 So what will be the implications? Really quite simple. The Planning Department,the Planning Director would have to initiate the comprehensive update by February 2015 which is the 10-year anniversary of when the last GP comprehensive update was adopted. HEAUKULANI: Question, please. WHITMORE: Did you want me to briefly outline the steps that this proposed- HEAUKULANI: No, I'd like to know, I understand, I thought I understood this before this,but I understand the timeframe for initiation. What I don't understand is underneath this proposed amendment, what would be the timeframe for submittal? WHITMORE: There would not be a deadline established for submittal of the proposed amendments to the GP. It would establish a deadline for initiation. HEAUKULANI: So, it's open ended as far as submittal? WHITMORE: That's always been the case with the General Plan. HEAUKULANI: You know, maybe I misunderstood how the two work together, but didn't the amendment to Ordinance No. 07-70 establish a deadline for submittal? WHITMORE: You're referring yeah, so in 05, the GP amendment comprehensive update was adopted. Its original language was similar to what the Planning Director is now proposing it return to. In 07,the Director at the time initiated an amendment that would establish a deadline for submittal, excuse me, submittal to Council. And that was,that would be February of next year. So, this is returning it to how it was in 2005 and had been previous. HEAUKULANI: So, I'm a little uncomfortable with leaving the submittal deadline open ended, but that's my personal opinion. WHITMORE: Would you like me to cover briefly the steps this proposed interim amendment needs to follow from here? ONO: Excuse me. GONZALES: Go ahead, Mr. Ono. ONO: I need for you to go back and walk me through this slowly-- WHITMORE: Sure— ONO: My understanding is that there's a 10-year program but at the present set up, it's not really a 10-year program because after about 4-1/2, 5-1/2 years, you're gonna need to plan for the next, so the plan does not really, is not implemented for ten years basically. Because you need, you're already suggesting changes before we really started the 10-year program. 4 WHITMORE: Yes, after about six years, you would have to begin initiating the next comprehensive update, yes. ONO: Ok, part of the proposal then you're suggesting that we do a complete ten year and then we begin to initiate a, certain changes, as suggested changes, which would then move the time table for the first plan, actually to about 15 years because the original plan would stay in place while all of these proposals take place. WHITMORE: Correct. ONO: So it would not be a 10-year program, it would be a 15-year program, roughly in ending. WHITMORE: I think you're correct in your assessment. It's however you're initiated, by initiating a process after ten years, what you're basically saying is we've got ten years of experience of the current General Plan under our belt, and at that point, we're gonna start a very thorough review of that plan and how well the policies, goals and action items in that have, have been implemented. So with that experience, we can do that process but, yes, it will be roughly be 15 years before any proposed changes to that reach Council. ONO: So your request really would be affecting a, I don't know, a Constitutional change for a 15-year program? WHITMORE: There's, nowhere in the State Constitution or County Charter does, is a time line established for the length of, the time between comprehensive reviews. ONO: Thank you. GONZALES: So, Mr. Whitmore, so basically you're telling us we're not gonna make it anyway, right? WHITMORE: That's the bottom line. It's been impossible to initiate the process so-- GONZALES: All right. Thank you. Do you have anything else? WHITMORE: The only slides I had remaining was to walk the Commission through the steps that this proposed amendment needs to follow from here. GONZALES: You guys want to hear that? Why not? WHITMORE: Really quickly. So we, the Planning Director initiated this amendment on December 23`d of last year. That kicked off a 45-day public comment period. During that period, we held two workshops, one in Hilo, one in Kona. During that time, during that 45-day period, nobody attended either workshop, and no public comment was received. So then on February 201h, I believe, the Director submitted the proposed amendment to the Planning Commissions, both Windward and Leeward. You have 120 days to submit a recommendation to 5 Council, and so we're at the first of the hearings associated with that process. And then your recommendations will go to Council, and they'll make the final call on the proposed amendment. GONZALES: Any other questions? Thank you, Mr. Whitmore. I guess we'll be looking for a motion,please. And I should state for the record, there is no one signed up to testify. Anybody? MASUNAGA: I think Raylene is. MOSES: I move to send a favorable recommendation to the County Council for the proposed amendment of Chapter 16 of the County of Hawaii General Plan as provided. GONZALES: Any second? HENKEL: Second. GONZALES: Discussion? You taking the roll, Maija? COTTLE: Yep. GONZALES: Go ahead. COTTLE: Commission Moses? MOSES: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Henkel? HENKEL: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Heaukulani? HEAUKULANI: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Ishibasbi? ISHIBASHI: Aye. COTTLE: Commissioner Ono? ONO: Aye. COTTLE: And Mr. Chair? GONZALES: Aye. COTTLE: Ok, the motion to forward a favorable recommendation passes six, zero. 6 GONZALES: Thank you. The discussion ended at 11:11 a.m. Respectfully submitted, 6 LdL"L 4" zA --9-�'&, Sarah Y. Hata-Finley, Secretary Windward Planning Commission 7 LEEWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAII HEARING TRANSCRIPT MARCH 20,2014 A regularly advertised hearing on the PLANNING DIRECTOR INITIATED AMENDMENT TO CHAPTER 16,SECTION 16.1,PART(1)OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAIII GENERAL PLAN was called to order at 10:23 a.m.in the West Hawai'i Civic Center,Community Center, Building G,74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, with Chair Geraldine Giffin presiding. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Geraldine Giffin,Brandi Beaudet,Thomas Hickcox, Barbara Nobriga and Thomas Whittemore ABSENT AND EXCUSED: Richard Nelson, III ALSO PRESENT: Duane Kanuha(Planning Director),Margaret Masunaga(Deputy Corporation Counsel),Jeff Darrow(Planner),Maija Cottle(Planner),Ron Whitmore(Planner), Bethany Morrison(Planner) and Noriko Sauer(Commission Secretary) And one person from the public in attendance. INITIATOR: PLANNING DIRECTOR Amendment to Chapter 16"Amendment Procedures",Section 16.1 "Comprehensive Review,"part (1)of the County of Hawai'i General Plan(2005 Edition,as amended)in order to allow for the comprehensive review of the General Plan to be initiated 10 years after adoption of the previous comprehensive amendments,rather than the submittal of the comprehensive amendments to the County Council within that same time frame. GIFFIN: Commissioners,we are now on Agenda Item No.4. The initiator,like the other two, is our Planning Director. Agenda Item No.4 is an amendment,a proposed amendment,to Chapter 16, the Amendment Procedures,Section 16.1 Comprehensive Review,part(1)of the County of Hawaii General Plan,2005 Edition,as amended,in order to review, I'm sorry,in order to allow for the comprehensive review of the General Plan to be initiated ten years after the adoption of the previous comprehensive amendment,rather than the submittal of the comprehensive amendments tc the County Council within that same timeframe. Bethany? MORRISON: Good morning,Commissioners. My name is Bethany Morrison. I'm a long range planner in the Long Range Division in the Planning Department. And also with me today is Ron Whitmore, another long range planner,and we've been working on this project. I just, in addition to the background and recommendation that you've been provided, in addition to that narrative,just have a brief presentation to go over what the proposed amendment is and what that means for us. GIFFIN: Thank you. MORRISON: Okay? So the proposed amendment is to Chapter 16 of the General Plan, and this is a Planning Director initiated interim amendment. The General Plan, I'm sure you are familiar with, 1 Re: Bill 239/Comm. 819 is our long range planning document for the County of Hawaii,and it's required by the State law and also by our County Charter. Our presentation is just going to go over the bottom line,the last comprehensive update process that we went through,what the anticipated update process will be,why the proposed amendments are necessary,exactly what the proposed amendment is,and the interim amendment process that we are going forward with today. So the bottom line is the amendment would change the timeframe for initiating the General Plan comprehensive review. So that actually reverted back to what was adopted during the last comprehensive review update in the February 2005 update. The amendment that's being proposed is that"The Planning Director shall initiate a comprehensive review of the General Plan and prepare a set of recommended amendments for independent review by the Windward and Leeward Planning Commissions and then adoption by the County Council. The comprehensive review shall be initiated not more than ten years after the date of adoption of the previous amendments resulting from a comprehensive review." And again, that date of adoption was February 2005. Our last comprehensive update process took seven years to go through. And you can see here from this timeline,we took a couple of years to do studies and analysis;this included economic study, land use study and infrastructure study. And then it went to,some draft amendments based on those,to the Planning Commission for review. It took four years before the process could get it to County Council for their review and action,and they took another three years to deliberate on that. So it was a lengthy process. Anticipated Comprehensive Update Process:4 Years or More—and this is based on just what the requirements for timing are and trying to understand that the things that are needed for this next update. So there are five steps to the next update:Notice and Initial Input—from the public,County Council,and the Action Committees;Planning Department Review and Propose;Workshops and Comment period;Planning Commission review;and County Council Review and Action. Step 1, Notice and Initial Input, and so this will provide for opportunities for the public,the Community Development Plan Action Committees,and also the County Council to provide input on what proposed amendments they would like to see. Step 2 in the process is reviewing the input that's received,completing an analysis,and this might again include the different studies as last time whether that be land use analysis,population analysis,those types of analysis, and then propose recommendations. Step 3 requires a notice to the public and affected property owners,and a public workshop to review the amendments being proposed,and also a public comment period. And Step 4 will be the Planning Commission review and recommendations. So once the comment period has ended,Planning Director will submit to Planning Commissions for their hearings and also recommendations to County Council. And finally,Step 5 in the process,County Council Review and Action,it will go before the Planning Committee and then to full readings before the Council. So why is the proposed amendment necessary? We've had some challenges in our Planning Department. Currently,the four-year comprehensive review process must be completed before February 2015. And that means we would have had to initiate in 2011 to make the deadline. One of the challenges is that the 2015 deadline was established before the Community Development Plans were completed. The Community Development Plans have taken some time. We have adopted four, and we have two more that are pending completion. And the General Plan update really should not be initiated before those Community Development Plans are complete. Another 2 challenge that we faced is that when the Community Development Plans Action Committees were created,we did not get additional staff,and so our Planning Department staff serve those Action Committees,and that takes a significant amount of time. Also,there were furloughs and vacancies within our department. So without additional staff and funding,the Planning Department has not had the resources to initiate the comprehensive review. And finally, the third challenge would be the budget; the comprehensive review is expensive,requires extensive analysis and research,and due to budget constraints no funds have been appropriated for the review process. Okay,the proposed amendment,once again,is just changing the timeframe for when we would initiate the comprehensive update to initiate"not more than ten years after the date of adoption of the previous amendments resulting from a comprehensive review." Implications of this amendment:The comprehensive process would have to be initiated by February 2015;that means in early this year the Planning Department will have to start planning community engagement,project and knowledge management,review of related documentation,stakeholder analysis,and engagement strategies—and we have already started this process. Also,the Fiscal Year 2014-2015 operating budget will need to include funds for the General Plan update—and we have included a line item for those funds in our draft budget to the County Council. So the current amendment process that we are in right now to make this change to the time line,I'll go over that real quick just so that we understand where the process is. Step 1 is Notice,Workshop, and Input. The Planning Director initiated an amendment. Notice was provided to the Commissions,the Council,and the general public. We held two workshops,one in Hilo and one in Kona;no public attended those workshops. And also,input was to be received but also we did not receive any comments or input from the public. Step 2 is to go before the both Planning Commissions for independent review and separate recommendations. We went before the Windward Planning Commission on March b,and they recommended a positive recommendation with a vote of six to zero. And so now here we are today. And then the third step will be Planning Committee,again, at the County Council, and two full readings at the full Council. And we are available,if you have any questions. GIFFIN: Commissioners,any questions of Bethany? Hearing none,I do,Bethany. Could you please go back to your Step 4? Yeah. My question is in regards to the second bullet point, the hearings within 60 days of receipt. Do you think that the amount of time that you've allocated for this process,this whole Step 4,is sufficient? MORRISON: These deadlines are specifically set up in either the Charter or the General Plan as far as when the timings are required. And so in particular,this particular step is very timely;there is no wiggle room in there. The only deference is that in the Recommendations the Planning Commissions within 150 days of receipt may hear, so there is a little bit of time in there. But the hearing dates are already set forth. GIFFIN: But under the Recommendation there is some wiggle room. Only because I understand you had no public input regarding, you know, this whole initiative. But I just wanted to make sure that in the event you went beyond,that there was some time. 3 MORRISON: Just to make sure that we are clear,this particular process is talking about the comprehensive update and not the interim amendment process that we are going forward with right now. GIFFIN: I got it. Okay. Thank you. MORRISON: So for the interim amendments there was no public comment or concern. GIFFIN: Okay,great. Thank you. Commissioners,any other questions? Hearing none,if you will take a look at Page 4 in the background report,you will see the Director's recommendation. And do I hear a motion? Oh,I should also interject that Agenda Item No.4 there was no one that has signed up for public testimony. HICKCOX: Madam Chair? GIFFIN: Tommy. HICKCOX: I recommend that this Planning Commission send a favorable recommendation to the County Council for the proposed amendment of Chapter 16 of the County of Hawaii General Plan as provided by the attached bill. GIFFIN: Do I hear a second? NOBRIGA: I second. GIFFIN: It's been moved by Commissioner Tommy Hickcox and seconded by Commissioner Barbara Nobriga that we send a favorable recommendation to the County Council for the proposed amendment to Chapter 16 of the County of Hawaii General Plan as provided by the attached bill. MORRISON: Okay,roll call? GIFFIN: Bethany. MORRISON: Thank you. Commissioner Hickcox? HICKCOX: Aye. MORRISON: Commissioner Nobriga? NOBRIGA: Aye. MORRISON: Commissioner Beaudet? BEAUDET: Aye. MORRISON: Commissioner Whittemore? WHITTEMORE: Aye. 4 MORRISON: And Chair Giffin? GIFFIN: Aye. MORRISON: Thank you. GIFFIN: You're welcome. MORRISON: Motion passes. GIFFIN: Thank you very much. You did a good job. The discussion ended at 10:35 am. Respectfully submitted, Noriko Sauer,Secr y Leeward Planning Commission 5 rn 00 0 ON Q U M 40a r N r-I a M .� L o C _ CL m an o s L- V a .- �,�: 4-J Q 11 co 4-J LZ +J �'���; iR �r�'i@ �' F,_,oS'+�ga�ffi ,�rfli�� 'x r `� �,. >' •� �3i° r, A C ss� � i (. 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