2026-02-27 PL-BOA-2024-000104 Coupe Family's Response to 1250 Oceanside's Objections - Proposed Amended FOF-COL

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12. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 91-8 states that an interested person may petition an agency for "a declaratory order as to the applicability of any statutory provision or of any rule or order of the agency."Pursuant to Planning Department's Rules of Practice and Procedure ("PRPP") Rule 3-1(a), declaratory orders can be issued as to "the applicability of any statutory provision, ordinance, or any rule or order of the Director or the Department."It is established that under both Chapter 91 and PRPP,the Planning Director's discretion to issue declaratory rulings is limited. 10. Add a new paragraph after that, as follows: 13. The declaratory ruling procedure is one"whereby an interested party could seek agency advice as to how a statute, agency rule, or order would apply to particular circumstances not yet determined." Citizens Against Reckless Development v. Zoning Board of Appeals of*the City and County of Honolulu ("CARD"), 114 Hawaii 184, 197, 159 P.3d 143, 156 (2007). "[T]he declaratory ruling procedure was not intended to be utilized to seek review of agency determinations that have already been made and which have not been timely appealed." Id. at 196, 159 P.3d at 155. Put another way, declaratory rulings are forward-looking whereas appeals of an agency's order or action looks at the past. Id. at 19495, 159 P.3d at 15354 ("where the applicability of relevant law is unknown, either because the agency has not yet acted upon particular factual circumstances, or for some other reason the applicability of some provisions of law have not been brought into consideration."). Further, examinations of the correctness of prior actions have specific appeal procedures which had expired just as the declaring of defaults under the Development Agreement is beyond the scope of the of the Planning Director's authority pursuant to Hawaii County Code § 30-6(a) and because it is not an action of Director, but rather a contract signed by the Mayor. HCC § 30-6(a) ("If, at any time, the office of the mayor finds and determines that the principal has committed a material breach of the terms or conditions of the agreement, the office of the mayor shall serve notice in writing, within thirty days after the finding of a material breach . . ."). Thus, the Planning Director's authority to issue declaratory rulings under Chapter 91 and PRPP does not include the authority to review the actions or orders of another department or government agency, or things that are not a Planning Department order. 11. The third sentence of the old paragraph 11 becomes new paragraph 14: It starts with "Planning Director's order and testimony did not `qualify"'... At the end of that 17