2024-09-25 PL-INT-2024-008750 GP 2045 Draft Comments - C. Flaherty

Home

Beginning in the summer 2020, the County and Focused Planning Solutions LLC reviewed the comments to the 2019 proposed future land use map and recommended several revisions to the map at that time. Additionally, new sources of data were explored to help guide proposed revisions. From the review, several considerations were identified to be explored and addressed. Consideration:The 2019 future land use designations removed Urban Expansion as a designation. Within Urban Growth Boundaries (UGB), LUPAG Urban Expansion areas were defaulted to urban uses, predominantly Low Density Urban. An unintended consequence of this method was some large shifts to urban uses in areas of the County with no planned development in the plan horizon and no existing or planned infrastructure to support such development. Action: Review all LUPAG Urban Expansion designated areas to determine the criteria for proposed change in future land use. Properties designated as a specific change due to CDP guidance or other area plans were accepted as intended. Properties that were assigned the default urban uses were reviewed for consistency with State Land Use, CDP use, zoning, proposed conservation areas, or other potential plans. In CDPs with future centers identified, urban uses were assigned based on proximity to centers. The criteria used for determining appropriate land use designations: • Assigned future land use is from an existing plan document. • Earlier versions of LUPAG show a specific land use, not Urban Expansion. • Comments from public review propose land uses and County concurs with consistency. • Area is within a TOD or Center from CDPs. • Property is under public ownership with intended future use • Privately owned property has a known area plan • Where no plan is identified, use existing data for agriculture use, SLUD, access to infrastructure, and/or zoning district to determine appropriate designations. Following these steps, a determination was made for UE parcels. Consideration:The 2019 future land use map introduced the Natural Areas designation as a broad category of open space with no intended agricultural use. LUPAG designations of Open and Extensive Agriculture were considered as appropriate candidates to transition to Natural Areas. About 25%of LUPAG is currently classified as Extensive Agriculture. In the 2019 plan,45%of that land area changed to the Pastoral land use designation based on 2015 UH-Hilo agriculture study of pasture lands and 47%of LUPAG Extensive Agriculture was re-designated to Natural Areas. In current LUPAG, only about 1.4%of the County is designated Open. About 36%of that land area was re-designated to Natural Areas. Some of these resulting Natural Areas were identified during the review as not consistent with existing or intended property use. Action: Areas of the LUPAG map currently designated Extensive Agriculture that were proposed to transition to Natural Areas in the 2019 proposed land use plan were reviewed for their existing and planned uses.The following additional data sources were explored to better understand existing and intended future use: ,00 Focused Planning Solutions LLC '"` Page 2 of 18