Chapter 27 Flood Plain Management

Home

§ 27-12 HAWAII COUNTY CODE "Hardship" as related to article 5, variances, of this chapter means the hardship that would result from a failure to grant the requested variance. The director of public works requires that the variance be exceptional, unusual, and peculiar to the property involved. Mere economic or financial hardship alone is not exceptional. Inconvenience, aesthetic considerations, physical disabilities, personal preferences, or the disapproval of one's neighbors likewise cannot, as a rule, qualify as exceptional hardships. All of these problems can be resolved through other means, without granting a variance. This is so even if the alternative means are more expensive or complicated than building with a variance, or if they require the property owner to put the parcel to a different use than originally intended, or to build elsewhere. "Highest adjacent grade" means the highest natural elevation of the ground surface prior to construction next to the proposed walls of a structure. "Historic structure" means any structure that is: (1) Listed individually in the National Register of Historic Places (a listing maintained by the Department of Interior) or preliminarily determined by the Secretary of the Interior as meeting the requirements for individual listing on the National Register; (2) Certified or preliminarily determined by the Secretary of the Interior as contributing to the historical significance of a registered historic district or a district preliminarily determined by the Secretary of the Interior to qualify as a registered historic district; (3) Individually listed on a State of Hawai`i inventory of historic places where the historic preservation program has been approved by the Secretary of the Interior; or (4) Individually listed on a local inventory of historic places in communities with historic preservation programs that have been certified either: (A) By an approved State program as determined by the Secretary of the Interior, or (B) Directly by the Secretary of the Interior in states without approved programs. "Levee" means a man-made structure, usually an earthen embankment, designed and constructed in accordance with sound engineering practices to contain, control, or divert the flow of water so as to provide protection from temporary flooding. "Levee system" means a flood protection system which consists of a levee, or levees, and associated structures, such as closure and drainage devices, which are constructed and operated in accord with sound engineering practices. "Lowest floor" means the lowest floor of the lowest enclosed area (including basement). An unfinished or flood resistant enclosure, usable solely for parking of vehicles, building access, or storage in an area other than a basement area is not considered a building's lowest floor provided that such enclosure is not built so as to render the structure in violation of the applicable nonelevation design requirements of this chapter. 27-8