HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0666.013 2006-2008
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Harry Kim C6ristop6er J• Yuen
Mayor Director
'';;i•g;•w~:•° Brad Kurokawa, ASLA
LEED®AP
~DHkCt~i ~?XfV2X11 Deputy Director
PLANNING DEPARTMENT
101 Pauatti S[reet, Sui[e 3 Hilo, Hawau 96720-0224
(808) 961-8288 FAX (808) 961-8742
October 3, 2007
Honorable Pete Hoffinann -
Chair and Presiding Officer
and Members of the County Council
COUNTY COUNCIL
333 Kilauea Avenue, Second Floor
Hilo, HI 96720
Dear Chair Hoffmann and Members of the County Council:
SUBJECT: BILL 176 -CULTURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION
I am writing to provide some further comments and concerns about Bill 176, establishing
a Cultural Resources Commission. I fully support the goals of the cultural and historic
preservation, and will send the council a staff memo which explains how historic site
preservation is supposed to be handled within the Planning Department.
The proposal increases the workload and responsibilities of the Planning Department
without providing additional resources, including personnel. I would request, therefore,
that if the Council passes this bill, the effective date, rather than the current effective date
of July 1, 2008, that the effective date be: "July 1, 2008, or upon the appropriation of
funds for at least one new position in the Planning Department to handle duties related to
the Cultural Resources Commission, whichever occurs later."
I haven't attempted to do a thorough analysis of the bill itself, but there a few aspects of
the bill clearly need revision. Subsection (c) of "Powers and duties" says that "The
commission shall maintain a system for the survey, inventory and nomination of historic
properties and archaeologic sites within the County, as well as a system of monitoring,
that is compatible with that of the State historic preservation office." This is a major task
that cannot be done by a volunteer group whose members continually change. It can only
be done by an agency with professional staff. It is clearly something that SHPD is
supposed to do, and to try to duplicate this, or do it on the County level, is a waste of
resources. This subsection should be deleted.
Coma. No._~~
Ref. To:
I~:f. iJate OCT p 3 2007
Hawaii County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer.
Honorable Pete Hoffmann
Chair and Presiding Officer
and Members of the County Council
COUNTY COUNCIL
Page 2
October 3, 2007
Subsection (e) of "Powers and duties" says that the commission "shall request and
consider the State historic preservation officer's review and comment on al] county
undertakings, including the granting of permits." If the intent is to have the commission
review archaeological reports submitted as part of land use permits, that are already
covered by (i). The problem with this clause in subsection (e) is that many of the SHPD
reviews aze done on a short time frame, such as on grading permits, and this would
introduce a significant delay. The problem is not so serious with respect to rezonings and
other land use permits that go to the county council. But just to give an idea of the
logistical issues involved with this: archaeological reports sometimes are hundreds of
pages long and the Planning Depaztment staff will have to copy these for the nine
commissioners, for every report received. This clause in subsection (e) should be
deleted. It would be fine to say that the commission should be given an opportunity to
comment on all county projects that may affect historic sites.
Sincerely,
CHRISTOPHER J. EN
Planning Director
CJY:pak
Wpwin60/Chris 07 -Hoffmann -Bill 176 -Cultural Resources Commission