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zoning laws, which includes looking at heights, setbacks, and the proposed use of buildings. The <br />Department also processes applications for rezonings, special permits, and other kinds of permits <br />and approvals. The actual planning side of the Department, which involves whether new <br />communities should be allowed to be developed, has been given "short shrift" over the years. <br />Mr. Yuen said the Department has been adding more positions to keep up with work. <br />Due to great increases in business activity and construction, more people were needed to process <br />permits. In 1998, the County processed about 800 new resident building permits. Last year, the <br />County processed over 3,000. <br />When Mr. Yuen started with the Department in December 2000, he felt there were certain <br />duties it should not be doing, and he asked the staff to help identify these areas. Each time they <br />identified something they should not need to do, he would go to the Council to try to have the <br />law changed. An example was with the Zoning Code, which said that every structure in a Resort <br />Zone or Multi - Family Zone needed plan approval. Plan approval comes before the building <br />permit approval. For commercial buildings this procedure made sense, as it involved checking <br />out the parking lot, layout, etc. However, primarily in West Hawaii, many single - family <br />dwellings were going up on land zoned Resort. Hotels were also being converted into luxury <br />homes. The Department was receiving dozens of plan approvals for single- family homes, which <br />meant a separate stage of work prior to the building approval stage. This was frustrating, <br />because plan approvals required looking at the same issues as the building approvals. So he <br />went to the Council and got the law changed. This is saving about one day a week of work in the <br />Kona office. <br />Mr. Yuen explained that there was also a problem involving setbacks. If a setback was <br />violated, a variance was required to fix it. The process ideally would take about a month and a <br />half, but it usually took longer. Some of the discrepancies in the setback were small, a matter of <br />inches. So he went to the Council to propose a de minimis variance, wherein if the setback was <br />within a tolerance of a few inches, a letter could be written rather than processing a variance, and <br />it would be considered legal. <br />Another example of trying to change the law to be more efficient is with the Subdivision <br />Code. Over the past 30 years, the Planning Department's procedure in dealing with subdivisions <br />evolved. However, they were challenged recently in court because of a Kona subdivision which <br />did not meet with the strict letter of the law. This challenge caused the County's procedure in <br />doing subdivisions to suddenly be under significant doubt, and would possibly require them to <br />redo a large group that had already been processed through. He expressed his thanks to the <br />Council for passing changes allowing them to operate in a more practical manner. <br />Another area in which the Planning Department has tried to be more efficient is in <br />computer automation. Mr. Yuen said that when he started with the Department, the most basic <br />information on a piece of property, as well as any changes to it, was written on paper tax maps <br />held in large binders. The Department has since gone to a complete geographic information <br />system so that all basic land use information is now available at computer terminals. They still <br />have many records that can only be found by looking through physical files, but they are <br />working on a more comprehensive electronic data and record - keeping system. <br />Mr. Yuen said he would be happy to answer any questions or take suggestions. <br />2 <br />