HomeMy WebLinkAboutCDP Purpose and ScopeSUMMARY
This appendix includes excerpts from the County Charter, the General Plan, the Hawai'i County Code,
and a memo from the Planning Director that speak to the purpose and scope of Community
Development Plans. This section summarizes the more detailed information in the remainder of the
appendix.
Purpose
The General Plan shall set forth the County Council's policy for long-range comprehensive physical
development of the County.
The purpose of CDPs is to implement the broad goals within the General Plan on a regional basis and
translate the broad General Plan statements to specific actions. CDPs are the forum for community
input into coordinating the delivery of government services to the community.
Scope
The General Plan shall contain a statement of development objectives, standards and principles with
respect to
• The most desirable use of land
• Conservation of natural resources
• Preservation of our natural beauty and historical sites
• The most desirable density of population
• Thoroughfares, highways, and streets
• Public access to the shorelines
• Open spaces
• Public buildings, public utilities, and terminals for water, sewers, light, power, transit, and other purposes
• Public housing
• Drainage facilities and control
• Air pollution
Community Development Plans:
• Direct Land Use, Zoning, Growth, Development, and Design. For example, CDPs detail land use
policies, direct physical development, are the forum for community input into managing growth,
designate and coordinate detailed development patterns, may contain detailed land use and zoning
guide maps, and may contain... architectural design guidelines.
• May contain planning for watersheds and other natural features
• Direct public improvements: For example, CDPs designate and coordinate infrastructure needs,
detail infrastructure priorities, and may contain plans for infrastructure and public facilities.
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• Detail transportation policies and may contain plans for roadways.
• May contain plans for drainage
• Detail recreation policies and may contain plans for parks.
• May contain plans for any other matters relating to the Planning Area.
Actions
Community Development Plans shall identify appropriate governmental actions that include:
• Regulatory actions: The Community Development Plans shall recommend amendments as
appropriate to the codes, maps, or administration and enforcement.
• Incentive measures
• Acquisition actions: The Community Development Plans shall identify acquisition priorities, as
appropriate, and seek means to leverage financing by working creatively with the landowner, other
levels of government, land trusts, and/or nonprofit groups.
• Capital budgeting actions: The Community Development Plans shall identify and prioritize public
facility projects important to the community. The capital improvements program shall take into
consideration the recommendations in the Community Development Plans.
• Programs: Community Development Plans shall identify desired programs and the community's role
in planning and implementing the programs.
• Development/Redevelopment: Community Development Plans shall identify desired projects for
public development or redevelopment.
COUNTY CHARTER
Section 3-15 General Plan
The county council shall adopt by ordinance a general plan which shall set forth the council's policy for
long-range comprehensive physical development of the county. It shall contain a statement of
development objectives, standards and principles with respect to:
• the most desirable use of land within the county for residential, recreational, agricultural,
commercial, industrial and other purposes which shall be consistent with proper conservation of
natural resources and the preservation of our natural beauty and historical sites;
• the most desirable density of population in the several parts of the county;
• a system of principal thoroughfares, highways, streets, public access to the shorelines, and other
open spaces;
• the general locations, relocations and improvement of public buildings, the general location and
extent of public utilities and terminals, whether publicly or privately owned, for water, sewers,
light, power, transit, and other purposes;
• the extent and location of public housing projects;
• adequate drainage facilities and control;
• air pollution; and
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• such other matter as may, in the council's judgment, be beneficial to the social, economic, and
governmental conditions and trends and shall be designed to assure the coordinated development
of the county and to promote the general welfare and prosperity of its people.
a) The council shall enact zoning, subdivision, and such other ordinances which shall contain the
necessary provisions to carry out the purpose of the general plan.
b) No public improvement or project, or subdivision or zoning ordinance, shall be initiated or
adopted unless the same conforms to and implements the general plan.
Section 6-7.2 Planning Director
b) The director shall be the chief planning officer of the county and the administrative head of the
department and shall: 2) Prepare a general plan, implementation plans and any amendments thereto in
Accordance with Section 3-15.
GENERALPLAN
lection 14.1.1: Land Use: Overview: Introduction and Analysis
The land use element sets forth goals, policies, and standards to guide the location and density, and
building intensities of land uses in particular areas. Regional and/or Community Development Plans are
intended to implement the broad goals within the General Plan on a regional basis. They serve to
designate and coordinate detailed development patterns and infrastructure needs throughout the
County. The Plans detail land use policies and infrastructure priorities, transportation, recreation and
other major land use policies within each area, and must be developed with participation by the
affected communities and adopted by ordinance by the County Council.
Section 15.1: Plan Implementation: Community Development Plans
The Community Development Plans are intended to be the forum for community input into managing
growth and coordinating the delivery of government services to the community. The Community
Development Plans will translate the broad General Plan statements to specific actions as they apply to
specific geographical areas.
A Community Development Plan should direct physical development and public improvements within a
specific area. The Community development Plan may contain detailed land use and zoning guide
maps, plans for roadways, drainage, parks, and other infrastructure and public facilities, architectural
design guidelines, planning for watersheds and other natural features, and any other matters relating
to the Planning Area ...
The Community Development Plans shall focus on action. The courses of action specified in each
element of the General Plan need greater detail and need to be coordinated by district. The Community
Development Plans shall identify appropriate governmental actions that include:
Appendix Vi: Purpose and Scope: Hamakua CDP March 2o18
• Regulatory actions. Regulations rely on government's police power to control what people can and
cannot do in the interest of the public's health, safety, or welfare. The County administers and
enforces various regulations to control land use. These regulations include the zoning code,
subdivision code, flood control code, grading code, sign code, and building code. The County also
administers requirements imposed by the Federal and State governments, such as the Coastal Zone
Management Act and the State Land Use Law. The Community Development Plans shall
recommend amendments as appropriate to the codes, maps, or administration and enforcement.
• Incentive measures. Where regulatory controls are the government's "sticks", incentives are the
"carrots" to encourage certain actions. Too often, regulation is the solution. Regulation can be
restrictive, reactive, and divisive. Incentive measures, on the other hand, can invite creative "win-
win" solutions. Examples of incentive measures include property tax exemptions such as for
agricultural or native forest dedications, expedited permit processing, density bonuses, and
discounted facility fees. Community Development Plans shall consider appropriate incentive
measures to achieve various objectives, as applicable.
• Acquisition actions. Where significant resources are located on private property, it may be more
appropriate for government to purchase the development rights or fee simple title rather than to
severely regulate the owner's use of the property. Obviously, purchasing in reaction to development
proposals is expensive. The Community Development Plans shall identify acquisition priorities, as
appropriate, and seek means to leverage financing by working creatively with the landowner,
other levels of government, land trusts, and/or nonprofit groups.
• Capital budgeting actions. The County annually prepares a capital improvements budget where
public facility projects (new construction or major repairs) are identified. The budget is accompanied
by a six-year capital improvements program (CIP). The CIP process is explained in more detail below.
The Community Development Plans shall identify and prioritize public facility projects important
to the community. The CIP shall take into consideration the recommendations in the Community
Development Plans, recognizing that the CIP must reconcile competing interests for a limited
amount of funds.
• Programs. Certain community needs do not necessarily require land or a new facility, but rather a
focused commitment of time and money towards achieving specific objectives. These operational
projects are referred to as programs. Examples include an after-school youth program,
neighborhood watch program, or mediation training program. Too often, resources are diverted to
studies that could be more effectively used for pilot programs that actually try to achieve results and
provide lessons through action. Community Development Plans shall identify desired programs
and the community's role in planning and implementing the programs.
• Development/Redevelopment. In very special situations, it may be appropriate for government to
take the lead and act as developer either singly or as a public/private partnership. These situations
arise when the private market fails to address certain needs, such as very low income housing, or
when the situation is quite large-scale, complex, and especially requires government's power of
eminent domain to assemble land for redevelopment. Community Development Plans shall identify
desired projects for public development or redevelopment, and shall coordinate input from
appropriate agencies such as the Office of Housing and Community Development or the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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Planning Director's Memo Dated May 1, 2008 to the CDP Steering Committees
Regarding the CDP Legal Effect: Excerpts
"A plan, like a CDP, is a guide to future actions. A plan exists to create a long-range framework and
direction for specific decisions. It is not self -implementing, and it is not the action itself. A CDP, for
example, may direct that rezoning in the CDP area follow certain criteria, but it does not in itself rezone
land...
"The CDPs and the General Plan are not directly regulatory in this sense: you will not be able to cite a
member of the general public for violating some provision of CDP. Their regulatory effect is that they
guide, and in some cases mandate, how other regulatory programs are handled.
"In this letter, whenever it says that a provision in the CDP is "legally binding", or "mandatory", it means
that a court could enforce the CDP to overturn a decision that had been made by the county council,
planning commission, or other county decision-making body, based on language in the CDP. Or, that
because of language in the CDP, a court could order the county to take certain actions. In practical
terms, this is the real meaning of the CDP being legally binding or mandatory. As discussed below,
because the CDP is enacted as a law of the county, the county council, mayor, and other county
officials like the department heads are supposed to implement the CDP in good faith, but in many
instances, reasonable people may differ on how to implement the CDP in a particular situation, and a
court's role in overturning decisions made by the legislative and executive branches of government,
within their spheres of authority, is limited...
"Thus, any rezoning ordinance must be consistent with the General Plan .... The General Plan will
sometimes prohibit certain zoning in an area, but it will rarely if ever mandate it because zoning also
depends upon site-specific issues, like flooding, infrastructure, traffic, and historic sites, that are not fully
analyzed at the General Plan LUPAG map level, and it is also subject to the timing of development: an
area may be designated urban on the General Plan but it may be that it shouldn't be developed until
infrastructure has been improved, or other areas are developed first.
"A land use plan like the General Plan or CDP typically functions as a guide to other land use decisions,
such as rezoning, although not always with mandatory language. So a CDP can have a policy that is
worded in a way that is clearly mandatory and limits the range of decisions that can be made in the
future...
In contrast to such policies that are worded in a binding manner, and are relatively specific, the draft
CDPs have a great number of policies and goals that are not legally binding: they do not mandate or
prohibit certain decisions. These are what the GATRI court called "hortatory": they are general
statements about goals and policies, but are broad and open to interpretation...
"Typically, the planning department will make a recommendation on any zoning or other land use
request that goes to the council or planning commission, and try to analyze it against the goals and
policies of the General Plan. The planning department should try to do the same using the CDPs once
they are enacted.
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"Another type of policy that is not legally binding is one that calls for further follow-up action...
"None of the policies, goals, or courses of action in the CDPs that require future funding can legally
mandate that the council appropriate those funds."
i CDP March 2018