2014-37 VLRP June 9 2014 Minutes

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The process of establishing a historic district will be (1) to set the boundaries (2) to determine just what we would like to exclude from or add to the existing Hawaii County Code by looking at zones of activity and going through the County Council to have those changes applied to our historic district and (3) to work on specific Design Controls that we desire. Boone prefers to take the latter on due to his demonstrated expertise and credentials. Once established and approved by the County Council, any new construction and remodeling in the proposed Historic District would go first to the Design Guideline Committee, then to the Cultural Resources Commission and finally those recommendations would be submitted to the County Planning/Building Department during the permit process. Lorna raised concerns that the last time the community tried to establish building standards, it stalled. Boone expressed confidence that his proposed draft should work. Paul was concerned with maintaining access to historic properties in the district in case of fire. Sharon would like to see site design, natural forest, and alternative energy addressed also. Boone said that the draft was limited only to the historic building features and it was decided that her concerns could be addressed in other areas of the long range plan. The Sec. of the Interior Guidelines are available online as are the HRS 6 E rules. Dan sent a sign up sheet around to organize a group to review the 2 above documents and Boone's draft. Item #3 Special Overlay District Tim reviewed objectives and the action statement in his handout. His main concern was that establishing a "transition zone" might be moot since the UNESCO and the USA were not engaging at this time. Discussion included perhaps asking Kamehameha Schools bird sanctuary to be a partner and adopting the "transition zone" as a model so that our community would be ready when and if the UNESCO/USA re-establishes relations, in order to obtain official UNESCO designation. In the meantime, we will strive to designate the area as a Special Overlay District zone through County zoning protocols, with minimal obligate conditions. Dan very effectively illustrated our current situation of being surrounded by protected areas with a wall map that indicated the position of the community, and the proposed Historic District, nestled among protected areas.