PD BACKGROUND & RECOMMENDATION REPORT (PL-CCI-2022-002)

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Mori, Ashley From: test <mvpvv@hawaii.rr.com> Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2022 1:03 PM To: LPCtestimony; WPCtestimony Cc: Van Pernis, Alexandra Subject: BILL 194 WHY THE HAWAII COUNTY LEEWARD PLANNING COMMISSION (LPC) AND THE WINDWARD PLANNING COMMISSION SHOULD SUPPRT COUNCIL BILL 194 PLACING AUTHORITY TO AMEND REZONING/SUBDIVISION ORDINANCES WITH THE MAKER OF THE ORDINANCES, THE. COUNTY COUNCIL., (CC). 1. Only the County Council (CC) has the authority to make ordinances, such as rezoning ordinances, and only the CC has the authority to modify or extend or delay an ordinance's effective dates. 2. There is no authority, statute or rule authorizing the County's Planning Director (PD) to grant or allow any extensions or delays for completion of ordinance conditions or requirements, or to "resurrect" an expired ordinance, for any reason. However, a provision for such extensions, unauthorized by the CC and not reviewed by the public, is often put in ordinances DRAFTED BY THE PD, which purports to give him or her such unauthorized CC power, without notice to the CC or the public. Thus in serving major developers, the PD usurps CC authority AND violates its own requirements„ while ignoring the public's need or additional conditions/infrastructure/affordable housing. The PD and Commissions by rule are not supposed to act to facilitate a real estate sale. 3. The PD also puts in these ordinances for such extensions, a requirement that the PD will grant such extensions only if necessitated "BY CONDITIONS BEYOND THE CONTROL OF THE APPLICANT". "Beyond the control" is legally snd practically defined as such things as floods and labor strikes, etc. The PD admits that it has no rules on "beyond the control" and requires no proof of that, and does not investigate that. Instead, the PD accepts and grants requests for extensions of time without any "beyond the control" circumstances, without CC or public input, and without consideration of the need for more conditions/infrastructure/affordable housing arising during the delays. The applicant/developer often wants delay just to find and facilitate a buyer for the approved project, or because delay brings a better profit, or the applicant didn't have the money or financing to develop when application was made. THIS INVITES LITIGATION! 4. Applicant/Developers often apply for up-zoniing and subdivision with NO INTENTION to develop, and no financial capability ability to do so. They apply only so that their conditions and contributions will be set on that early date. They applicant developer may imply or misrepresents it's going to develop in the proposed ordinance's time frame (e.g. 5 years). 5 to 15 year free extensions/delays are later obtained from the PD, privately without CC or public input. There are 10 thousand + residential units thus approved but not built. Their conditions,/infrastructur/affordable housing also missing to the County and the public's damage. 5. Requiring the ordinance maker, here the CC, to consider and act on any amendments or extensions of an ordinance, is modern land planning, from New York City to San Luis Obispo. 6. Public confidence in land planning would be greatly increased if the present broken system, which is tipped in the developer's favor, is replaced with this modern and responsive system. 7. The possibilities of corruption would be reduced or eliminated. 8. A huge number of matters coming before the LPC are requests for lengthy delays, without any further impositions arising from the lengthy delays. Very often, the delays are just to find a buyer and facilitate a real estate sale. The Bill Planning Dep;. Exhibit 3