Recomended Hāmākua CDP Policy Rationale

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Areas that are clearly beyond the designated urban growth boundaries shall be preserved as rural or agricultural lands to maintain open space, scenic view planes, and natural beauty areas. Note: See Policy 6 for more information on Industrial areas. This policy clarifies that the urban growth boundary established with the Hamakua CDP Land Use Guide Map establishes parcel -specific UGBs whenever practical at the intersection between Urban and Rural/Agricultural land uses. The CDP strategy of designating parcel -specific Urban designations adds clarity and specificity, increases transparency into the land use designation process, and more accurately reflects the County's and the Community's land use goals and intentions. Rationale: The Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) identifies areas where growth will be encouraged and areas that are to be protected for agriculture. UGBs are intended to accommodate anticipated growth and to separate areas appropriate for future residential development from areas intended for agricultural use. This is sometimes referred to as "Town and Country' zoning, which requires that development occur only in towns and villages, with the surrounding rural areas remaining undeveloped and available for farming, forestry, natural area preservation, and recreation. The LUPAG map includes land use categories that effectively establish an UGB between the agricultural categories (Orchard, Extensive Agriculture, and Important Agriculture), the rural category, and the urban categories (Low, Medium, and High Density Urban, Industrial, Urban Expansion, and Resort). This policy clarifies that the UGB established with the Hamakua CDP Land Use Guide Map establishes parcel specific UGBs whenever practical. This strategy of moving toward parcel -specific mapping for the Hamakua CDP Land Use Guide Map reflects a shift from the 2005 General Plan's LUPAG direction of being generalized guidance. (See the rationale for Policy 1 for a further discussion of the General Plan LUPAG). As noted, the LUPAG maps were originally broad, flexible tools intended to guide the direction and types of desirable growth for each area of the County. This general approach to guiding land use and growth allowed for interpretive flexibility and was based, at least in part, on the challenges of creating detailed maps specific enough to demonstrate land use designations at a parcel level. However, by allowing general, 'blob' style LUPAG maps, parcels were often split into various LUPAG designations in ways that were more arbitrary than they were intentional. This, at times, led to property owners desiring clearer direction about their land use designations and future development options and led some property owners to seek further Planning Department interpretations of their property in relation to the general LUPAG designations. Now that the CDPs have the opportunity and the technology to easily and efficiently create parcel -specific LUPAG maps, it is a more proactive planning strategy to clearly articulate LUPAG designations in the Hamakua CDP at a parcel level and decrease the prevalence of splitting LUPAG designations arbitrarily. A compelling reason for an exception to this approach would be when part of a parcel is in an Open LUPAG designation (such as when part of a parcel is within the State Land Use Conservation district — e.g., along the coastline or in mauka forests). Any part of a parcel that is designated as LUPAG Open would remain Open for that specific area of the parcel. Other exceptions to this parcel -specific strategy would be when the parcel is large and may need to reflect two (or more) different types of LUPAG designations. For example, when the parcel borders a town where part of it would be within the urban growth boundary, and yet the large parcel stretches farther into agricultural areas where an Agricultural designation is appropriate. The CDP strategy of using parcel -specific LUPAG designations when possible, adds clarity, specificity, and increases transparency into the land use designation process and more accurately reflects the County's and the Community's land use goals and intentions. 151 Page