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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0307.016 2006-2008 ~i, ~4' J LAND USE RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF HAWAII - ~ ~ 70o Bishop Street, Ste. 1928 ~ - _ - Honolulu, Hawaii g6A~3 Phone 5zt-4717 Fax 536-ot32 May 16, zoos - The Honorable Pete Hoffmann, Chair & Presiding Officer Hawaii County Council 333 Kilauea Avenue (Ben Franklin Building) 2°a Floor, Council Room Hilo, HI 96~zo By Facsimile: (808) 961-8~4z Dear Chair Hoffmann: RE: An Ordinance Amending Chapter 25, Article 2, Division 4, Hawaii County Code ><98g (2005 Edition) By Adding A New Section Related to Concurrency Conditions My name is Dave Arakawa, Executive Director of the Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii ("LURF"), testifying in opposition to Bill 318, which would add a new section to the Hawaii County Code related to Concurrency Conditions because this bill would just simply shifting the burden for securing infrastructure capacity From the County (who is responsible for providing such services) to the applicants for new developments. We respectfully urge the City Council to consider other creative and realistic alternatives to provide the necessary infrastructure to accommodate future growth. LURF is a private, non-profit research and trade association whose members include major Hawaii landowners, developers and a utility company. One of LURF's missions is to advocate for reasonable and rational land use planning, legislation and regulations affecting common problems in Hawaii. LURF participated in the County of Hawaii's Impact Fee Study. That process has confirmed that funding of infrastructure is primarily done through grants, government bonds, aide packages, various sources of tax revenues (i.e. real property tax, vehicle weight tax, fuel tax, etc.) and other fees, and that impact fees sometimes provide another alternative source of funding for basic infrastructure. Through this process, we have found that impact fees need to be viewed as one element in a range of various municipal financing options to fund basic infrastructure. For example, impact fees are generally used to mitigate impacts from a proposed new developments based on the existing level of service of the infrastructure. Impact fees cannot be used to address deficiencies in existing level of service. Existing Comm. No. 3 a 7a 7 . i Ref. To: ~J,~.~. Ref. seta mNI 1~----" deficiencies are more appropriately addressed through an improvement district or community facilities district funded by special assessments or tax increment financing. LURF believes that rather than implement "concurrency", and in this case, effectively shifting the County's burden of providing the necessary county services to the applicant, the Council should develop realistic alternatives to finance the construction of more infrastructure capacity. Requiring the applicant to secure future commitments from the County for services and infrastructure capacity that the County is responsible for planning and building seems to place the applicant in the position of reprioritizing the County's budget with no authority over the County. We recognize the need to address the current infrastructure deficiencies. We suggest that the Council find alternative ways to increase public infrastructure capacity for existing and future growth by bundling the following tools to provide the necessary financing: r. Increase and/or dedicate a portion of the real property tax revenues to specific infrastructure. 2. The County may issue and sell bonds to provide funds for such improvement districts. Bonds issued to provide funds for such improvements maybe either bonds when the only security therefore is the properties benefited or improved or the assessments thereon or bonds payable from taxes or secured by the taxing power of the county. 3. The County has the power to levy and assess a special tax on property located in a district to finance the special improvements (Community Facilities Districts) and to pay the debt service on any bonds issued to finance the special improvements. q. Tax increment financing (TIF) is a way For governments (usually municipal authorities) to help finance new capital projects by taking advantage of expected property tax returns. A county, for example, may designate as a TIF district a plot of land that is planned to be redeveloped. Then the county can borrow against expected increased tax revenues to build infrastructure such as sewers, roads and transportation services. 5. Impact fees are a municipal assessment against new residential, industrial or commercial development projects to compensate for the added costs of public services generated by new construction. LURF is opposed to simply shifting the burden for securing infrastructure capacity from the County to the applicants for new developments and respectfully recommends that the Counci] consider realistic alternatives to provide the necessary infrastructure to accommodate future growth. Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments on this matter.