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County of Hawaiʻi General Plan Comprehensive Review: Base Scenario Technical Report 1
PROJECT DOCUMENT
County of Hawaiʻi General Plan Comprehensive Review
Base Scenario Technical Report
Date: November 2, 2015 Lead Author: Ian Varley
Introduction
In a CommunityViz scenario planning analysis, the base scenario “sets the stage” and becomes the
scenario against which all future scenarios will be measured. In everyday terms, a scenario is both a
map and a set of tabular data. Technically, it is a CommunityViz Scenario 360 analysis containing an
analysis geodatabase and additional reference data in the form of tables and spatial datasets.
The purpose of the base scenario is to characterize the current conditions in the County of Hawaiʻi
(CoH). It draws on the best available information to represent key attributes such as population,
dwelling units, land use, and the locations of nonresidential activity. It typically does not represent one
specific moment in time but rather it is a reflection of the present day using data published in the recent
past. An effort was made to obtain the most recent data possible; most are less than five years old.
Below is a short list of primary data sources and their publication dates. See the final section of this
report for a complete list of data used in the analysis:
• Hawaiʻi Real Property Tax Office (RPT), June, 2015
• US Census American Community Survey (ACS), 2013
• CoH Transportation Road Centerlines, April 2011
• CoH Parcels, April 2014
In this task, the necessary data was gathered, reviewed, pre-processed, and then loaded and further
processed to create a Scenario 360 analysis containing the single base scenario.
Residential Dwelling Units and Non-Residential Square Footage
Two of the most important questions that the base scenario attempts to answer are: Where are people
living (dwelling units)? and Where are businesses located (non-residential square feet)? To answer
these questions, we are relying primarily on RPT data. Received from the RPT Office in June, 2015, this
dataset is one of the most up-to-date data sources available. While the RPT database represents a
reliable and recent source of information at a very fine scale, these data are primarily collected for
purposes of taxation and therefore are not a comprehensive census of dwelling units or non-residential
space. As noted in this project’s Capacity Technical Report, the RPT data do not address illegal
dwelling units, group quarter populations, informal businesses such as home offices, farm stands or
certain agricultural businesses. The RPT data join to the parcel data via the tax map key (TMK) system
of unique identifying numbers. Because the RPT data sometimes have multiple records per parcel (e.g.
condominiums) these data had to be summarized by parcel TMK number before being joined to the
parcel data. This process ensured that each parcel has the correct number of dwelling units and
nonresidential square feet.
County of Hawaiʻi General Plan Comprehensive Review: Base Scenario Technical Report 2
To create future scenarios, we will rely on forecast data provided in the Trends and Forecast Analysis
developed by SMS Hawaiʻi. Much of the trends and forecast analysis draws not from the RPT data but
rather from different data sources, including the US Census American Community Survey (ACS).
Because of these differing data sources, differences will likely arise between the base scenario and the
SMS 2015 forecasts. For example, the number of dwelling units in the base scenario may differ from
the number of dwelling units reported in the SMS 2015 forecast.
In the table below the number of dwelling units and non-residential square footage are reported by
Forecast Analysis Zone (FAZ).
Name Dwelling Units Non-residential Space
Hilo 15,851 12,949,274
Honokaʻa- Paʻauilo 2,413 475,779
HPP-Orchidland 6,654 120,247
Kaʻū 3,473 303,389
Kawaihae-Puakō-Waikoloa-Resorts 6,000 5,469,716
Keaʻau-Kurtistown 1,650 1,662,139
Lower Puna 4,835 412,579
North Hilo-Hāmākua Coast 2,834 376,681
North Kohala 2,516 544,897
North Kona 17,170 11,647,546
South Kona Villages 3,510 884,231
Upper Puna 4,884 203,331
Waimea 3,310 1,378,579
Total 75,100 36,428,388
Land Use
Current land use was identified using RPT data, primarily using the RPT “Land Class” classification
system and residential and non-residential structures. As an RPT product, the land use is by-parcel and
does not address land use at a finer scale. This land use classification does not include space dedicated
to roads and other rights-of-way that are generally not included in the CoH parcel maps. This explains
the discrepancy of 18,864 acres in total land area (the current size of the island is approximately
2,577,920 acres). RPT’s Land Class uses nine classes, and to create the base scenario three classes were
added to create a more comprehensive land use palette.
County of Hawaiʻi General Plan Comprehensive Review: Base Scenario Technical Report 3
Land Use Acreage
Conservation 65,654
Rural 860,144
Agriculture 46,995
Rural Residential 12,736
Residential 27,504
Residential Multifamily 3,066
Commercial 1,641
Hotel Resort 645
Industrial 906
Government 1,492,582
Vacant 46,606
Unknown 577
Total 2,559,056
The land use categories are defined as the following:
• Agriculture. These are parcels with >50% active agriculture regardless of RPT use class. This
uses the University of Hawaiʻi 2012 CropLayer map which represents a broad variety of
agricultural uses (e.g., orchards) but does not include pasturelands. May contain residential
and/or non-residential uses.
• Commercial. This class comes from the RPT land class field of the same name. Commercial use
may be loosely defined here and include diverse uses such as offices, retail, food services,
churches and private educational facilities among many other uses.
• Conservation. This class comes from the RPT land class field of the same name. May be owned
by the government, but in these cases their land class attributions were maintained.
• Government. The government class was created by querying owner names for federal, state or
county owners where the RPT land class was either commercial, industrial or residential with
the exception of parcels owned by the Department of Hawaiʻi Home Lands and Hawaiʻi Housing
Authority where their RPT land class value was retained.
• Residential. This class is the merger of the RPT classes Homeowner, Affordable Rental and
Residential. This class primarily reflects single family houses although many community and
non-profit uses may be present in this category (e.g., hospitals, churches, etc.). Where
applicable, some properties in these categories were alternately classified as Residential
Multifamily.
• Residential Multifamily. The Apartment RPT land class field was renamed Residential
Multifamily. Some Residential properties were also reclassified as Residential Multifamily
where the number of units made this apparent.
• Rural. These are parcels larger than three acres without residential or non-residential buildings
and that lack active agriculture (according to the UH crops layer). May contain structures that
were included in the RPT data.
• Rural residential. Parcels less than three acres with one or more structure that are zoned for
agriculture by the State or County but lack active agriculture (according to the UH crops layer).
County of Hawaiʻi General Plan Comprehensive Review: Base Scenario Technical Report 4
• Vacant. The RPT did not appear to maintain a vacant land use. Vacant in this sense is defined
as any property smaller than 3 acres without any existing dwelling units or non-residential
square footage.
• Unknown. Some properties did not have a land class designation. Where possible these
properties were assigned to other land uses when the owner name, location and context made
the land use apparent. Many but not all of these unclassified parcels were public roads and are
discussed below. Properties where the land use remained unclear retained the land use
designation of Unknown.
Roads & Parcels
The CoH parcel data included roads as parcel features in the dataset. While managing roads and other
right of ways as parcels is useful for ownership and taxation purposes, in terms of spatial planning these
features are better represented by a dedicated line feature set (i.e., a roads layer) that has been
mapped and attributed for this purpose. In addition it is very uncommon that public roads convert into
new land uses, being a remarkably persistent use on the landscape. In light of this, 1,277 road features
were removed from the base scenario parcel dataset where this usage was clear. There are many cases,
however, of road parcels being classified as residential or agricultural uses and in these cases they are
difficult to systematically remove from the analysis. There was an effort to remove many of these
features using spatial statistics—the peculiar geometry of roads makes them possible to identify using
area and perimeter ratios. While these efforts succeeded in removing an additional 287 roads from the
analysis, some may remain. While these remainders may not be a problem in the base scenario, they
could cause issues later in the process by becoming areas where new residential or nonresidential uses
occur in future scenarios.
List of data used in the Base Scenario analysis
Data Name CommunityViz Analysis Name Source
Date Source
Agriculture crops CropLayer_2012 2012 University of Hawaiʻi
Agricultural lands of
importance AgLandofImportance 1977 CoH
Major airports in CoH Airports Unknown CoH
Recent building permits
(2012-2015) BuildingPermits_2012_2015_v2 2015
CoH, Department of Public
Works
Public bus routes BusRoutes Unknown CoH
2010 Census block groups CensusBlockGroup2010 2010 US Census
2010 Census blocks CensusBlocks2010 2010 US Census
Census designated Places CensusDesignatedPlaces 2013 US Census
2010 Census tracts CensusTracts2010 2010 CoH
CoH coastline Coastline Unknown CoH
Community development
plan boundaries CommunityDevelopmentPlans Unknown CoH
USFWS critical habitat
boundaries CriticalHabitat Unknown USFWS
District boundaries DevelopmentPlanDistricts Unknown CoH
County of Hawaiʻi General Plan Comprehensive Review: Base Scenario Technical Report 5
HELCO electric utility
poles ElectricUtilityPoles 2015 HELCO
CoH emergency shelters EmergencyShelters Unknown CoH
Business enterprise zones EnterpriseZone CoH
Fire stations FireStations Unknown CoH
Forecast analysis zone,
from 2010 census tracts ForecastAnalysisZone 2015 SMS
Hospitals Hospitals Unknown CoH
Land cover map of CoH,
with emphasis on
vegetation communities
LandCoverGAPHawaii
2003
USGS
Land Use Pattern
Allocation Guide (LUPAG) LUPAG 2012 CoH
Parcel boundaries Parcels 2014 CoH
Parcels with full RPT
attribute dataset attached Parcels_RPT 2014-15 CoH
Police stations PoliceStations Unknown CoH
Public park areas PublicParks Unknown CoH
Planned unit
developments PUD 2014 CoH
Road centerlines Roads 2011 CoH
Private Schools SchoolsPrivate 2011
Hawaiʻi Association of
Independent Schools
Public Schools SchoolsPublic 2012
State Department of
Education
Special Management Area StateCoastalZoneManagement 2013 CoH
State land use
conservation subzones StateLandUseConservationSubZones 2015
Department of Land and
Natural Resources
State land use districts StateLandUseDistricts 2014 State Land Use Commission
Major subdivisions SubdivisionsFinal Unknown CoH
Major towns as points Towns Unknown CoH
Volcano hazard zones VolcanoHazardZones 1991 USGS
Waste water sanitary
sewer pipeline WastewaterServicePipeline 2015 CoH
Potable water pipeline WaterServicePipeline 2015 CoH
Zoning Zoning 2015 CoH