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HomeMy WebLinkAboutREP PC 036 08/14/2001 2000-2002 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON PLANNING DATE: August 14, 2001 RE: C-221/Bill No. 63 PLACE: Councilroom TIME: 1:41 p.m. Chair and Members Hawaii County Council Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Your Committee on Planning, to which was referred Bill No. 63, transmitted jointly with Bill Nos. 61 and 62 by Mayor Harry Kim per Communication No. 221, dated May 10, 2001, regarding the Change of Zone request initiated by the Planning Director, at Waikoekoe and Kanahonua, Hamakua, Hawaii, TMK: 4-8-06: 43 and portions of 9 and 11, reports as follows: Bill No. 63 amends Section 25-8-15 (Hamakua District Zone Map), Article 8, Chapter 25 (Zoning Code) of the Hawaii County Code, by changing the district classification for approximately 7l acres of land from a Single Family Residential (RS-15), Resort-Hotel (V-18 and V-43) and Agricultural A-1 a) to an Agricultural (A-40a) zoned district. The subject properties, owned in fee by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, Mr. Augusta H. Stange, and Ms. Margaret Griggs, were once part of the proposed Amanresort development located in Kukuihaele, makai of the Honoka`a-Waipi`o Road (Highway 240) and the Old Government Road. In 1994, Royal Coast Resorts Corporation and Silverlink Holdings Ltd. (Royal Coast), applied for a Change of Zone to reclassify lands from RS-15 to V-43 and from A-40a to RS-7.5, RS-15, V-18, V-43 and A-la. They also applied for four State Land Use Boundary Amendments from Agricultural to Urban District and a General Plan Amendment in order to develop the Amanresort. The General Plan Amendment request was withdrawn after the area was determined to be Retreat Resort by the Planning Director under the floating zone concept. The change of zone and state land use boundary amendment applications were approved by the County Council, effective June 8, 1994. The approvals allowed Royal Coast to develop the Amanhideaway, which would have included the following development and related amenities on approximately 98 acres of land: 1. Develop a 36-unit retreat resort; 2. Convert the existing plantation manager's house into a 4-unit inn; 3. Establish seven one-acre residential-resort lots and up to 10 units of employee housing units on the site; and 4. Create 38 one-acre agricultural lots. The total number of resort units proposed were 47 units, for a total density of 85 units on the subject properties. Ordinance No. 94-63 conveyed additional land located to the rear of the adjoining RS-15 and RS-7.5 zoned residential lots. No additional time extensions were received for this project and due to inactivity and noncompliance with the conditions of Ordinance No. 94-63, the Planning Director is seeking to downzone the subject properties to their original PC-36 PC-36 Page 2 August 14, 2001 A-40a zoning designation. A copy of a letter dated February 4, 2001, from Eugene McCain, Jr., to Councilman Dominic Yagong, stated that the applicant does not intend to pursue a resort development and has no objections to the down zoning of the affected properties. Trees of Kukuihaele, LLC (Tom Heers), applied for a change of zone in September 2000 to reclassify TMK: 4-8-6: 3, 13 and portion of 44 from RS-15 and V-43 to V-25 in order to develop 40 hales on approximately 32 acres. Concurrently, they requested that reference to TMK: 4-8-6:13 and 44 be deleted to relieve their parcels from being encumbered by the Amanresort ordinance. The recommendation also proposed that conditions within Ordinance No. 94-63 be repealed. The General Plan Land Use Pattern Allocation Guide (LUPAG) map designates the area as Low Density Urban, however, the area was determined to be Retreat Resort by the Planning Director. The General Plan document provides for a floating zone concept for retreat resort areas in order to take advantage of new concepts, trends, economic influences, unique resources and other situations which may occur that would make a retreat resort a viable option for an area. The Retreat Resort Area is identified in the General Plan as "an area which provides the user with rest, quiet, and isolation for an environmental experience". The maximum hotel units allowable are up to 100 rooms. The property is not situated within the Special Management Area, as they are located over a mile from the coastline. The Northwest Hawaii Community Development Plan, adopted as Ordinance No. 445 in 1979, did not include Zone Guide maps for the Kukuihaele area. The Hamakua Regional Plan, endorsed by the County Council on November 8, 1990, recommends the Kukuihaele-Waipi`o area for retreat resort (up to l 00 units), preserving the rural character and preserving the cultural and scenic integrity of the rim to Waipi`o Valley. The soils within the project area is Paauhau silty clay loams with slow runoff and slight erosion, which were used for sugarcane cultivation. The Land Study Bureau designation is "C" or fair. The ALISH designation is Prime Agricultural lands and the gulch areas are identified as Other Important Lands. The FIRM designation is Zone "X", which is an area outside of the 500-year flood plain. Surrounding properties in the Kukuihaele village include approximately 60 homes with a population of about 300. Single family residences are located to the south of the properties, (Tiger Camp Plantation, Kona Camp and around the "Last Chance Store"). The subject properties are a little over one mile from the Waipi`o Valley lookout and approximately 6.4 miles from Honoka`a Town. Access to the subject parcels is from the Old Government Road, which is maintained by the County and is approximately 21 feet wide. PC-36 PC-36 Page 3 August 14, 2001 Extensive on and off-site water improvements would have been required to accommodate the original Amanresort. There are no municipal sewage systems available, therefore, cesspools will be used to dispose of wastewater. This measure originally surfaced on June 5, 2001, and was deferred because Committee Member Dominic Yagong and landowner, Mr. Augusta Stange, were not present to provide comments and express their concerns regarding the proposed downzoning. At today's meeting, Mr. Stange's representative, Bob Bethea, stated that his client wanted to retain the A-la designation for his property. Committee Member Yagong then stated that he supports what Mr. Stange is trying to do with his property and he supports the downzoning of the properties back to the original designation. He further explained that half of the property lies on the cliff and having Mr. Stange get the FA-1 acre zoning would allow him to build some beautiful homes there. However, he questioned whether Mr. Stange's request to carve out his land from the remaining Aman properties would be procedurally correct or not. Your Chair then explained that when the 1996 Zoning Code was approved, the A-la designation was eliminated; therefore, the proper designation for Mr. Stange's properties would be FA-la. She also explained that at the advice of the Corporation Counsel, if the Committee wants to carve the parcel out, they could recommend amendments and changes and send it back to the Planning Department, as opposed to downzoning everything and then beginning from square one with the Ag-40 designation. Committee Member Curtis Tyler explained that the applicant still owes real property taxes from the 1994-1995 fiscal year, to the present, in the amount of $40,954.67. Planning Director, Chris Yuen then explained that the Planning Department has not received an application from Mr. Stange to rezone the property to one-acre lots. He explained that "before the Council does that, there ought to be an application. It ought to go to the Planning Commission for hearings and consideration and come up here for that decision....It is necessary ...for them to bring the property taxes current before they do-before they can come in with that application and have it considered". Mr. Yuen further stated that he spoke to Mr. Stange at the Planning Commission meeting and explained that the recommendation to rezone to Ag-40 is to bring it back to where it was, not to imply that the parcel ought to be a 40-acre parcel. He further explained to Your Committee that if they were considering an application, they "would have an application. You would have comments on it by the Planning Commission. You would have a site plan. You would have a map. You would have a County Environmental report. You'd have a number of things that you don't have here today". Mr. Yuen then explained that if Your Committee acted on Mr. Stange's request to carve out the parcel, they "would be trying to do a rezoning that did not go through the rezoning process. And there's been no public notice that this might be the outcome of this...And it's not gone to the PC-36 PC-36 Page 4 August l4, 2001 Planning Commission as a rezoning action, to take the property to 1-acre-to Family 1-acre zoning. On the legality side, I think the letter from Corporation Counsel says that you gotta build-that is the title is rezoned to 40-acres and for you to change it at the Council to end up with a 1-acre is not the right thing to do". After a considerable amount of discussion on this matter and after carefully reviewing the placement of the Stange parcel, Your Committee decided that because the parcel spans three different zoning designations (Resort, A I -a and A-40a), the cleanest way to deal with this matter is to pass the bills as presented by the Planning Department and allow Mr. Stange and the other owners to apply for a separate rezoning. Your Committee did not entertain further discussion on this measure. Your Committee concurs with the Planning Commission and the Planning Director for recommending a favorable consideration for the Change of Zone request. Your Committee on Planning is in accord with the intent and purpose of Bill No. 63, and recommends it pass first reading. AYES NOES A & E EX LEI~THEAD-TODD X Respectfully submitted TYLER x COMMITTEE ON P ANNING ARAKAKI X CIIUNG X F.I,ARIONOF'F X BO Y JEAN LEITHEAD-TODD, CHAIR JACOBSON X PISICCHIO X PC REPORT NO. 36 SAEARIK X ADOPTED: AU~ 2 ~ Z001 YAGONG X