HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0056.028 2006-2008 Murashige, Laura
From: John Schinnerer [john@eco-living.net]
Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 10:26 PM
To: counciltestimony@co.hawaii.hi.us r_•. ~ :
Cc: Yoshimoto, J; Naeole, Emily; Yagong, Dominic; Ikeda, Donald; Higa, Stacy; Jacobson, Bob;
Hoffmann, Pete; Ford, Brenda; Pilago, K. Angel; p inala?~a~~w~i~i.~; ~-Roy
Takemoto; cohmayor@co.hawaii.hi.us JIl'T'f
Subject: Testimony on Bill 221 _ , ,
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Aloha,
I am writing to state my opinion that Bill 221, and any and all such rezoning
applications, should be tabled, deferred or otherwise put on hold until the community-
based Puna Community Development planning process (CDP) is completed.
More importantly, this sort of a rezoning request, and the cases being made concerning it,
show how the County and more importantly the communities it serves need new tools to deal
with situations such as this.
One issue with this request is that once rezoned, there is no requirement that the
originally proposed commercial project be actually carried out. The applicant could build
anything that is allowed within the new zoning designation, or simply flip the property,
at suddenly higher commercial zone value, to someone else who could likewise do anything
allowed under the new zoning.
Current zoning and planning laws and tools cannot support careful and thoughtful
development in Puna (or anywhere else). The crudeness of the broad designations and rules
for "commercial," "agricultural," "rural,"
"urban" and so on are inadequate and inappropriate for the needs of community-based
development - somewhat like trying to use a baseball bat to do brain surgery.
Much more fine-grained, flexible, community-based zoning, regulatory and approval tools
are needed to correct this situation. The people who actually inhabit the communities need
more control over what can happen in their home places - especially when absentee
landowners with no direct accountability to the communities are involved.
If developers will truly be serving the communities' needs, they will have no problem
gaining support for their specific projects in a more appropriate legal and regulatory
framework.
Where they are not serving the communities' needs, they will no longer be able to impose
their projects on communities that do not want them.
What Puna communities want is being discovered through the CDP process.
Please respect the energy, resources and time being given to this process by citizen
volunteers and County staff alike and defer this and all other such requests until
completion of the Puna CDP.
Furthermore, please take initiative to address the shortcomings of existing zoning and
other land use regulatory tools and propose appropriate changes.
mahalo,
John Schinnerer
HC2 Box 6482
Kea'au, HI 96749
962-6529
John Schinnerer - MA, Whole Systems Design Comm. No. V `L~•!A
Vrs~eaNd
Ref. To:
- Eco-Living -
Whole Systems Design Services Ref. Uate
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