PD Background & Recommendation Report (PL-CCI-2024-000005) Bill 123

Home

also add or remove conditions in an `ohana dwelling permit. Typically, the entire process of issuing an `ohana dwelling permit takes approximately 60 days to complete. Once a landowner receives their approval then they are able to apply to the Department of Public Works- Building Division for a building permit which is a separate process with an additional timing component. As mentioned earlier, Bill 123 as written, hopes to lift restrictions and limits of additional dwellings by first, repealing the current `ohana dwelling application requirements. The County Council sees that the current `ohana dwelling application process no longer serves its purpose except to impose an additional burden on a landowner and the Department. In addition, it creates confusion with social changes that now recognize additional dwelling units as either accessory dwelling units, additional dwellings, farm dwellings and/or second dwellings. Secondly, the County Council sees the housing struggles within the County and one of the biggest impacts that Bill 123 will have is that there will no longer be a limitation on the amount of ADUs that can be placed on a building site. The current `ohana dwelling regulations allow for one `ohana dwelling unit per building site with a single family dwelling. That limitation is proposed to be removed in Bill 123. Effectively, Bill 123 will allow a landowner to apply directly for a building permit if their parcel falls within the approved districts and removes the existing sixty day Department application process. Department staff would still be required to review the ADU, as they currently do during the building permit process. It will be at this point that staff will determine if the criteria and standards have been met in order for an ADU to be issued for a building site. While Bill 123 hopes to streamline the building permit process for ADU's, the County Council recognizes that infrastructure requirements, standards and prohibitions must still be in place in order to effectively increase housing density and maintain characteristics of surrounding neighborhoods. Therefore, while the County Council is proposing to remove the current height restriction of twenty-five feet, Bill 123 requires that ADUs comply with the height limit for the zoning district in which the building site is situated. Therefore, the height restriction for an ADU will now be thirty-five feet. In addition, Bill 123 will require that an ADU comply with minimum yard setback -7-