Recomended Hāmākua CDP Policy Rationale

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■ Parcels having a median size of between 2 — 3 acres but in no case less than 1 acre in size. Areas beyond both the Urban Growth Boundary and Rural areas are to be preserved for agricultural uses, open space, scenic viewsheds, and natural beauty areas. Rationale: The recent growth within the Hamakua Planning Area has primarily occurred on mauka agricultural lands and in the homestead areas. Particularly in the homestead areas, the parcels are often already smaller sizes than their underlying zoning designation; for example, there are many homestead areas with agricultural lots sized less than twenty acres despite their Ag -20 zoning. These preexisting lots have created a challenging land use scenario because in practice, the majority of these areas are "de facto" rural subdivisions within a State and County land use system that historically underutilized the State Land Use Rural District and Rural LUPAG designations. This policy is intended to set appropriate criteria for when this Rural designation can be used. Note the General Plan's LUPAG description for Rural describes the category as including existing subdivisions in the State Land Agricultural and Rural districts that have a significant residential component. While rural lot sizes can vary from 9,000 -square feet to five acres, new recommended Rural designations in the Hamakua CDP have corresponding County zoning densities of a maximum of 1 unit per 1 acre. As noted in the General Plan, the allowable uses within these areas (with appropriate zoning) may include commercial facilities that serve the residential and agricultural uses in the area, and community and public facilities. The Rural designation does not necessarily mean that these areas should be further subdivided to smaller lots as most lack the infrastructure necessary to allow further subdivision. The General Plan describes rural development this way: "Rural -style residential -agricultural developments may include either new small-scale rural communities or extensions of existing rural communities. Such development provides opportunities for a mix of residential and small-scale agricultural activities. However, the primary intent of these developments would be to provide an added range to housing opportunities. Along with this housing, the large lots of these rural areas will provide opportunities for part-time agriculture, gardening activities and the raising of livestock on a small scale. By providing opportunities to satisfy the demand for a rural lifestyle on marginal agricultural land, the pressures to develop important agricultural land for these purposes would be decreased." (General Plan 14.2.1) This General Plan description of rural -style residential -agriculture developments presents some ambiguity, particularly about what constitutes "marginal agricultural lands" that are appropriate for this style of rural residential development. For the purposes of the Hamakua CDP, the intent of recommending LUPAG Rural designations in some areas is to accommodate existing land uses, to create a transition area of small farm/residential land uses between the urban LDU and the larger lot agricultural areas (often zoned Ag -20), and to accommodate a flexibility in housing options to provide an incentive to develop rural parcels closer to residential communities with adequate infrastructure instead of developing rural -residential uses on large, potentially productive agricultural lands. See also Factor 3, from Policy 12. For more information on homestead and rural settlements, see pages 174-176 of Appendix V413. Policy 5 In the official Land Use Guide Map, the urban growth boundary between developed areas (designated "Low/Medium Density Urban") and lands designated as agricultural or rural (designated "Important Agriculture Land" or "Extensive Agriculture" or "Rural") is intended to be parcel -specific in the Hamakua CDP planning area. 141 Page