HomeMy WebLinkAboutRES 253 Draft 02 1994-1996COUNTY OF HAWAII..' STATE OF HAWAII
RESOLUTION N0. 2~3 ~6
(DRAFT 2)
RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE HAWAII STATE LEGISLATURE TO AMEND
CHAPTER 205-6 OF HAWAII REVISED STATUTES REGARDING SPECIAL
PERMITS
WHEREAS, Chapter 205-6 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes,("H.R.S.") entitled
"Special Permit," provides that planning commissions of the several counties of Hawaii
which are not "advisory only" may permit "unusual and reasonable" uses within
agricultural and rural districts other than as provided for and allowed by those district
classifications pursuant to Chapter 205-2, H.R.S.; and
WHEREAS, this authority is applicable to all counties except Oahu which by
charter has the only "advisory-only" planning commission; and
WHEREAS, the authority to grant a special permit allowing a desired use is
conditioned solely upon the fmding of the planning commission that the proposed use
would "promote the effectiveness and objectives" of Chapter 205, H.R.S.; and
WHEREAS, the planning commissions are thus not required by state law to
consider and abide by county general plans, regional or community development plans,
zoning codes or the particular use restrictions of the various county zone districts
pertaining to lands in the agricultural and rural land use districts; and
WHEREAS, most of the land in Hawaii County is eligible for special permitting
by its planning commission because of its being classified into the agricultural land use
district by the land use commission; and
WHEREAS, the increasing number and scale of commercial and industrial use
proposals presented to and approved by its planning commission for land within the
agricultural district has become a matter of serious concern to the council, as the scale of
impacts from such uses now frequently results in policy -rather than administrative -
decisions being made for the county by its planning commission; and
WHEREAS, such policy decisions are the province and responsibility of the
county council according to the charter of the county of Hawaii; and in particulaz the
council is ultimately responsible for taxation, budgetary and planning measures to
mitigate the various impacts and consequences of such non-zoned uses in rural areas,
such as police and fire services and widened or improved rural azterials, while the
planning commission is not accountable to the citizenry for its decisions in any electoral,
budgetary or administrative way; and
WHEREAS, the scope of authority granted the planning commissions of the
several counties may have been appropriate in a previous era of scazcely populated rural
areas within which a wide variety of small scale uses could reasonably be accommodated
under administrative procedures, but is no longer appropriate in modern times, where
rural infrastructural systems aze routinely operating at or beyond design capacity due to
population growth around and between rural centers, and complex design, construction
and funding measures must be coordinated by the county and state with private
permittees; and
WHEREAS, the council of the county of Hawaii recognizes the value of the
"special permit" provisions allowed by Chapter 205-6 for unique, small-scale rural uses
in situations where urban zoning designations could be inappropriate, overly broad and
unnecessary to achieve the desired result; and
WHEREAS, the council of the county of Hawaii desires to integrate policy-level
"special permit" decisions with its policy decisions for the health, safety and welfare of
its citizens yet allow minor, administrative -level decisions to continue to be made by the
planning commission; and
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAII that it
requests the Legislature of the state of Hawaii to amend Chapter 205-6, H.R.S. to
eliminate the autonomy of the appointed planning commissions and instead provide that
the councils of the several counties may, by ordinance, establish procedures for the
permitting of "unusual and reasonable" uses in rural and agricultural districts which
procedures may include the delegation of some or all of the permitting responsibilities to
their planning commissions; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this resolution be sent to the
Honorable Norntan Mizuguchi, President of the Senate, the Honorable Joseph M. Souki,
Speaker of the House, the Honorable Governor Benjamin Cayetano, and the Honorable
Mayor Stephen K. Yamashiro.
Dated at Hilo, Hawaii this 21st day of February , 1996.
INTRODUCED BY:
COUNCILMEMBER, COUNTY OF HAWA
COU
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I hereby certify that the fo
vote indicated to the right
the County of Hawaii on
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COUNTY CLERK CHAIRMAN & PRESIDING OFFICER
Reference C-930
RESOLUTION NO. '`"~ "'~ (DRAFT 2 )