2015-30 VLRP req to PD-design district

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A PROPOSAL FOR A VOLCANO VILLAGE DESIGN DISTRICT 28 July 2015 — Volcano Community Association The highest priority action in the Volcano Long Range Plan is to establish a Volcano Village Design District. The Volcano Long Range Plan is a plan for action that arises from the Puna Community Development Plan of September 2008. The PCDP stipulates preparation of a Village Community Center for Volcano. To this end, volunteer planners in the community present the following vision for such a district, with a request for professional planners in the County Planning Department for guidance, advice, and strategy to enable the proposed Design District to secure status as County Ordinance The proposed Village Design District considers guidelines for building and landscape design. The purpose of such a district is to maintain the historic, rural character of Volcano Village by presenting those who would develop new commercial sites with expectations promoted by the community for building appearance, landscape, and land use within the proposed design area. Current land use zoning within the proposed Volcano Village Design District boundary includes residential (RS -10 and RS -20), Village Commercial (CV), Agricultural (A -1a and A -3a), and Open (0). The guiding principles for the proposed Volcano Village Design District are: (1) Controlling commercial development to promote employment and economic growth in Volcano (2) Increasing services and opportunities for residents (3) Supporting the needs of tourism in the area (4) Preservation of residential use and open space within the district The Proposed Village Design District A Volcano Village Design District would be established along Old Volcano Road from where it intersects Highway 11, mauka of the Village just before the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park boundary, and makai to where Old Volcano Road ends near the Highway 11 mile marker 26. The distance along this corridor is about 1 mile. The area includes several historic structures on both sides of Old Volcano Road, and extends mauka toward Kilauea Road to a limit that will be determined through consultation with affected property owners and County Planners. Precedence has been established to contain the commercial core of the Village to those lots fronting Old Volcano Road. The Volcano community is located in upper elevation ecosystems named by Native Hawaiians as Wao Akua or Wao Ma 'ukele. These were considered wilderness, visited only by those directed there by a chief for the collection of feathers, adz stones, and logs for canoes. No remains of native Hawai'ian settlement have ever been found. The earliest settlers came in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These were mostly