Recomended Hāmākua CDP Policy Rationale

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Figure 1: Wainaku/Kaiwiki Land Use Guide Map Rationale: The Wainaku/Kaiwiki community is considered a 'bedroom extension' of Hilo due to its proximity and lack of urban core. The Land Use Guide Map directs future Low Density Urban growth within the existing urban neighborhoods along Wainaku Street and up an intermittent corridor up Kaiwiki Road until approximately the gym area. Along the lower section of Kaiwiki Road, it remains as consistent as possible with the current LUPAG LDU designation except that it is more parcel -specific at its southern edge (it eliminates splitting designations within parcels). The recommended change also designates LUPAG Rural for several parcels just mauka of Maikalani Street. In the area south of Kulana Kea Drive, the recommended_change is to designate a few of these parcels as LUPAG Rural in order to keep this area consistent with its current land use as a large lot rural subdivision, to accommodate rural development, and preserve the larger agricultural parcels mauka for productive agriculture. In summary, the changes for Wainaku result in an overall shrinking of the LUPAG LDU area and add the LUPAG Rural Designation in some larger lots off Kaiwiki and some mauka of Ha'aheo School. The advantages to these proposed changes will be that growth at the Low Density Urban densities will be guided closer to Wainaku Street, while some areas mauka of the LDU areas will be Rural parcels to accommodate the desire for small family/subsistence farms and to preserve larger agricultural lands (mauka the gym) to remain intact for productive agricultural use. See the rationale for policies: Policy 4 and Policy 5 and the existing General Plan Policy 14.1.3 (j). Note: The CDP land use guide designations reflect the County's preferred land use for specific areas, but the CDP does not change the General Plan LUPAG map, the underlying State Land Use District, or County Zoning. Even if the CDP land use guide map recommendations are incorporated into the LUPAG, a property owner may still need to go through a SLU Boundary Amendment and/or County Rezoning process to ultimately obtain a land use consistent with this designation. However, due to water system constraints in many Planning Area communities, County water system improvements may be required for a Change of Zone due to concurrency rules (see Zoning Code, §25-2-46 (m)). In other words, a CDP land use guide designation or a LUPAG designation does not automatically grant a type of land use, it merely conveys that the County Planning Department would likely support this change of land use through a SLU amendment or Change of Zone if all other requirements have been met. For more information, refer to pages 178-184 of Appendix V413. Figure 2: Pauka'a Land Use Guide Map Rationale: Pauka'a is considered a 'bedroom extension' of Hilo due to its proximity to Hilo and its lack of commercial core. The current LUPAG Low Density Urban designation makai of the Highway 19 stretches from Honoli'i all the way to Papa'ikou in a relatively solid block, while the mauka LDU extends into agricultural lands adjacent to the Honoli'i Stream/gulch area. The CDP Land Use Guide Map designates the LDU area makai of the Highway 19 extending north to the Hikini Place neighborhood to be consistent with the existing State Land Use Urban District. Mauka of Highway 19, the proposed LUPAG LDU and Rural designations extend into the smaller agricultural areas along the mauka edge of Kulana Street in order to accommodate residential and rural development options and in order to preserve the larger areas of agricultural lands mauka for productive agriculture. In summary, the recommendations for Pauka'a result in an overall shrinking of the LDU area on the makai side of the highway, and add the Rural Designation in the larger lots mauka of Kulana Street. The advantages to these proposed changes will be that growth at the LDU density will be kept closer to already developed areas and mauka of the highway, while allowing larger -lot rural parcels to develop mauka of the LDU neighborhoods to accommodate the desire for small family/subsistence farms and to preserve the large acreage agricultural lands to remain intact 261Page