2017-04-10 Joint Meeting Exh A (Amend Commission Rules)

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rules that aren’t on the presentation slide, that you’ve seen from reviewing the rules, let me know at the very end and we can work through those as well. All right, so with that I’ll go ahead and start. The first major change that we’re proposing is to change Rule 3, which is the rule for Declaratory Rulings. We’re proposing to decrease the filing fee from 500 dollars to 200 dollars. And the purpose of the reduction in fee is that declaratory rulings are initiated to request that the Commission clarify conditions of a permit or application of law. This benefits both applicant and the Planning Department. Historically applicants have declined requesting declaratory rulings due in part because of the high filing fee. So we’re just requesting to reduce that filing fee to make it easier for the applicant to get clarity on some of the conditions of their permits. Are there any questions on that before I move forward? Okay. The next rule relates to contested case procedure, that’s Rule 4, and before I show you the changes, I want to just generally go through what a contested case procedure is through the entire abbreviated process. So typically what happens is when an applicant applies for a permit, let’s use a Use Permit as an example, they submit an application to Planning, and we place that application on your agenda. And the applicant’s required to send notification to surrounding property owners of the application and of the hearing date, and then the Planning Department is required to publish notice of the meeting, of the first hearing, in the newspaper. And so those are two ways that the public gets notified. The hearing is then held, and sometimes, not all the times, but sometimes you’ll have somebody who wants to intervene and file a petition for standing in a contested case. Those people that want to intervene need to file a 200-dollar filing fee, and those are usually people who have some interests in the application, or they feel that they will be harmed in some way if the application is approved beyond concerns of just the general public. This can also be a person who has some actual interest in the land, financial interest in the land. So at that first meeting, the commission determines whether to grant standing to that person who’s applied for intervention, or to deny the petition for standing. If the petition is denied, the hearing continues as a normal hearing like your application for Mr. In earlier today for the Leeward Commission. If standing is granted, then the hearing goes into what’s called a contested case procedure, and typically the hearing is continued to allow time for the parties to have a pre-hearing conference to work out what their specific concerns are, to provide evidence, to work out witnesses and witness statements, and it becomes like a quasi-judicial proceeding. The applicant and the other parties can ask questions of one another. And currently, the way our rule is written now, the public is allowed to testify during these contested case proceedings. We have had contested case proceedings in the past where sometimes this public testimony can take a whole day before the intervenor and the parties are actually able to state what their concerns are in the case, and that is helpful to have the public testimony, but it also takes time from the intervenor who paid their 200-dollar filing fee and who wants to state their case. It also adds to the cost of the transcripts, and just to the time of hiring the hearings officer so it becomes an additional burden for the tax payers, because it’s the county that pays those costs. So what would then happen, typically, is the hearings officer will hear the case and then they’ll make a recommendation report to the commission. They bring that report back to the commission at a hearing, and that hearing is always noticed in the paper; the Planning Department notices that hearing, and currently the rule says that the applicant again has to notify all of their surrounding property owners of that decision hearing before the Planning Commission. So that is generally the current process. 2 EXHIBIT A