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Home My WebLink AboutREP PC 002 01/04/2005 2004-2006 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON PLANNING Dn'FE: January 4, 2005 Re: Communication No. 493Bi11 No. lfi3 PI.nCF.: Councilroom hIMF.: 2:00 p.m. Chair and Members Hawaii County Council hilo.llawai'i 96720 Your Committee on Planning, to which was referred Bill No. 163 and Communication No. 493, reports as lollows: Bill No. 163, transmitted by Mayor Harry Kim on .lanuary 16, 2002 via Communication No. 493. repeals Ordinance No. 89-142 (1989 General Plan) and replaces it in its entirety. As required by the f lawai'i County Charter, the County Council in 1971, adopted by ordinance a General Plan which set forth the Council's policy for long range comprehensive physical development for the County. The General Plan adopted in 1989, required a comprehensive review of itself commence in 1999. Based on extensive community input, Bill No. 163 proposes numerous amendments to the General Plan as part of this current comprehensive review. Bill No. 163 proposes numerous amendments to the General Plan including revisions to the following elements and components: Economic, Energy. Environmental Quality, Flooding and Other Natural hazards, Historic Sites. Natural Beauty, Natural Resources and Shoreline, Housing, Public Facilities, Public Utilities, Recreation. 17ansportation. Land Use. Land Use Pattern Allocation Guide Maps, Facilities Maps, the Plan's Introduction, Plan Implementation and Amendment Procedures. In addition to Bill No. 163, Communication No. 493 also transmitted: 1) A ramseyered draft to identity the latest version of the Planning Director's proposed changes from the 1989 General Plan; 2) A list of proposed Land Use Pattern Allocation Guide (LUPAG) Map changes proposed by the Planning Director; 3) 'I~hc Planning Commission's letter ofOctober 19.2001, requesting that the Planning Director consider certain moditications to his proposed amendments; and 4) The Planning Director's letter of November 30, 2001. in response to the Planning Commission and explaining action on items requested by the Commission. Your Committee, then chaired by Councilmember Bobby Jean I,eithead-Todd, first considered Communication No. 493 and Bill No. 163 on February 20. 2002. During this meeting, Planning Director Chris Yuen prop°idcd members with inldrmation about the background and origins of the proposed legislation. Your Committee delcircd Bill No. 163 pending a series of public hearings. Between June 2002 and October 2002_ your Committee held public hearings in seven separate council districts. Your Committee also considered Bill No. 163 in October and November of 2002 and conducted workshops on the matter in February and April of 2003. At these meetings and hearings, the public testified on the plan's features and submitted Communication Nos. 493 through 493.142 and Communication Nos. 45 through 45.29. In December ?003, Your Committee, then chaired by Counci]member Leningrad Elarionoft: held a workshop on Bill No. 163. At this workshop, Planning Director Chris Yuen briefed both new and returning Councilmembers about Bill No. 163 and the General Plan Comprehensive Review process. On June 4, 2004, Committee Chair Leningrad Iaarionoff transmitted Bill No. 163, Draftt 2, via Communication No. 4530, for your Committees consideration. Bill No. 163, Draft 2, proposed numerous changes to Draft 1, including the addition of district vision statements and revisions to plan elements, components. amendment procedures and maps. Communication No. 4530 also transmitted: 1. Report on /he Harrai'i County General Plan. 73111 No. 163. Dr•uf/ 2, from the Oftice of the Legislative Auditor; 2. A chart entitled Praposed General Plan Revis&~nc--Drq/i l to DruJi 3--Proposed Modificedion.v & htilialions (Additions); and 3. Lis? of~L(iPAU and Fucrlilies iLlaps Revisions Modificalion,c cYz ]nilialion.e (Addi/ions). Your Committee held two workshops about the formation of Bill No. 163, Draft 2 in .tune of 2004. Circulated at these workshops was Communication No. 4533, a letter trom Planning Director Chris Yucn, which requested that major policies and district courses of actions be put back into Bill No. 163, Draft 2. On November 10, 2004. Committee Chair Leningrad F.larionoff transmitted Bill No. 163, Draft 3, via Communication No. 45.49, for Your Committee's consideration. On November 23. ?004, Your Committee considered Bill No. 163 Drafts 1. 2 and 3. At this meeting, Uu Committee deferred action on this matter pending the convening of the new Council in December 2004. During meetings and hearings held between June and November of 2004, the public testified on the General plan drafts and submitted Communication Nos. 45.30 through 45.51. On December 20, ?004, Your Committee, now chaired by two co-chairs, Pete Hoffmann and K. Angel Pilago, again considered Bill No. 163 and related drafts. Upon the vote of three members, Your Committee held another public hearing on all drafts of Bill No. 163 on January 3, 2005. On .lanuary 4, ?005, Your Committee rejected Drafts 2 and 3. Your Committee then amended Draft 1 by retaining the )bllowing portions of the 1989 General Plan: I. 'fhe LUPAG map designations for Kohanaiki (deleting the proposed changes at G9 and G10 in Draft 1); 2. The LUPAG map designation for Keopuka and a small portion of Onouli (deleting the proposed change at Hl in Draft 1); 3. The LUPAG map designation for the Shipman properties in Kea'au (deleting the proposed change at A4 in Draft 1 4. 'fhe I.UPAG map designation in Honomu (deleting the proposed change at B4); 5. 'fhe LUPnG map designation for the properties in South Kona owned by nckcrman, Bcll and Paris (deleting the idcntitication of these lands as important agricultural land): 6. The LUPnG map designation for Hokulia (deleting the identification of these lands as important agricultural land); and 7. The definition of orchards. Your Committee wishes to emphasize that a comprehensive revision to the General Plan is long overdue. Your Committee wishes to avoid the prospect of sending this bill back to the Planning Commission, leading to ilvther delay of this plan. Once adopted, the County can move forward with the creation and implementation or conununity development plans. These plans should facilitate orderly resolution of infrastructure shortfalls, as well as ensure better stewardship of the island's natural and cultural resources. Your Committee recognizes that there may be ambiguity in the interpretation of the process by which this General Plan is amended in the future. Rather than amend the bill and further delay its adoption, Your Committee recommends that Bill No. 163 should not limit the ability of the County Council in the tuture to propose interim amendments to the General Plan over the objections of the Planning Director. Furthermore. Your Committee wishes to clarify that these revisions to the General Plan do not prevent the Council from amending the Planning Director's comprehensive review a decade from now. Your Committee finds that the public has been extensively involved in the drafting of the revised General Plan before the Planning Department the Planning Commission and this Committee. Information about the drafts has been widely circulated by local newspapers, the web, and by the Council. The time for action is now. Your Committee w fishes to highlight what it views as the more important principles in this revision of the General Plan: 1. Future development must be consistent with both the text and the maps of the plan. 2. Lands identified as agricultural are to be protected from development, and important agricultural lands are identified. 3. 'I7aditional and cultural practices of native Hawaiians are to he protected. 4. A number of scenic coastal areas are provided additional protection on the maps. Community development plans are to be adopted by ordinance and implemented. Your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of Bill No. 163, as amended to Draft d, and recommends it pass first reading. dkf AYES NOES A&E EX C EON PLA 1N ' ARAKAKI X HIGA X HOFPMANN X ~ 'C^ ng I it HOI,SCIIUI ( X IKEDA X ISB}?I,1. X Co-Chair eter HofG a .IACOBSON X PII,AGO X PC REPORT NO. 2 snr~RlK x ~noP rED: JAN 2 1 7005