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COUNTY OF HAWAII PLANNING DEPARTMENT PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE KONA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN BACKGROUND AND RECOMMENDATION PLANNING DIRECTOR INITIATION AND RECOMMENDATION The Planning Director by way of Article 3 and 6 of the Hawaii County Charter, Section 15.1 of the General Plan, and Ordinance No. 08-131 is the initiator of amendments to the Kona Community Development Plan(KCDP),and requests that the Leeward Planning Commission send a favorable recommendation to the County Council for adoption by ordinance of the proposed amendments to the KCDP provided in Exhibit A, (KCDP Amendment Package or Amendment Package). PURPOSE The purpose of the Amendment Package is to amend the KCDP adopted by Ordinance No. 08-131 and effective September 25, 2008, in order to refine language in the KCDP that conflicts with Hawaii County Codes (HCC) and Administrative Rules if such language is construed as being mandatory. The Amendment Package is not intended to be a comprehensive review of the KCDP; instead the Amendment Package is intended to alleviate conflicts for the County and its Agencies arising from mandatory language in the KCDP which is inconsistent with HCC and Administrative Rules, commitments to provide support or fiinding for projects and/or actions that the County currently cannot fulfill, and policies and actions mandated by the KCDP which are beyond the authority of the General Plan or KCDP. The Amendment Package also aims to refine certain mandatory language of the KCDP that bound developers to concurrency requirements which resulted in hindering the KCDP's implementation for proposed priority areas of development. The appellate court proceeding known as the Missler Case(No. CAAP-13-0002347) provides the legal impetus for the Director to re-evaluate certain language in the KCDP if it is interpreted as being mandatory. In the Missler Case the Intermediate Court of Appeals found that the KCDP has the force of law as an ordinance and regional implementer of the General Plan and that certain language in the KCDP was mandatory for the County. The County had not previously interpreted that language in the KCDP as being mandatory, which led to the unintended and unanticipated conflicts and issues described above. Thus, this Amendment Package is put forth to the Leeward Planning Commission as an intermediate action intended to better implement the KCDP, alleviate the Planning Department from taking actions or having obligations that conflict with the HCC or Administrative Rules, and protect the County from legal actions taken against the Planning Department similar in nature to the Missler Case.