Kaua‘i County can avoid the planning mistakes of the City and County of Honolulu by adopting smart development strategies, a top Honolulu official told committee members of the Kaua‘i County Council Thursday. Honolulu Planning Director Eric Crispen suggested county officials
Kaua‘i County can avoid the planning mistakes of the City and County of Honolulu by adopting smart development strategies, a top Honolulu official told committee members of the Kaua‘i County Council Thursday.
Honolulu Planning Director Eric Crispen suggested county officials consider allowing mixed commercial and residential uses in neighborhoods and moving away from “single-zoned” subdivisions, which will exacerbate traffic.
Old planning practices will very likely result in more urban sprawl on Kaua‘i and increased traffic problems, Crispen said.
He offered his insight on urban planning to members of the Kaua‘i County Council Planning Committee at the Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall Thursday.
Some committee members and county officials said they liked some of his ideas and said they could be incorporated in county land use plans that are being revised, including one for Lihu‘e, the economic and social hub of the island.
Crispen had been asked to come to Kaua‘i by councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura, who chairs the council’s planning committee.
Among council members, she and councilman Jay Furfaro have led the charge to try to find solutions to the island’s affordable housing problem and nagging traffic congestion.
Yukimura had asked Crispen to appear before her committee to discuss the relationship between land use and traffic congestion. Those were two key topics that were previously discussed by state Department of Transportation officials.
Crispen said he was not laying out any formula for Kaua‘i officials, and just wanted to offer the development experiences on O‘ahu as a guideline to assist with the future development of Kaua‘i.
Crispen said O‘ahu and Kaua‘i are on common ground, even though the affordable housing problem is far more severe on the Garden Island.
One way Kaua‘i County leaders can get a better handle on growth is to avoid the development of large “single-zone” subdivision, Crispen said.
Commonly found on O‘ahu, those types of subdivisions contribute to urban sprawl, he said.
The subdivisions, located miles away from work places and shopping areas, make it mandatory for property owners to get into their cars to get to other destinations on O‘ahu, “and this creates traffic congestion,” Crispen said.
Subdivisions that are built in phases usually means erection of fences between them and the construction of highways around them, he said.
The result doesn’t help families, as it means that parents have to drive their children to the homes of playmates in other phases of the housing development, Crispen said.
“So when you think about it, is isn’t good land planning,” he said.
Another way Kaua‘i County can control urban sprawl and provide housing is to allow mixed and commercial uses in neighborhoods, Crispen said.
The development of apartments or condominiums on top of existing storefronts in commercial areas has merit because “people (who live in the units) can walk to the store, rather than having to drive,” he said.
Such projects would provide some housing and encourage people who live in such structures not to drive, thereby lessening traffic congestion on the island, Crispen said.
The concept is not new for Kaua‘i, as it has been batted around for more than a decade, but has not taken hold because “planning has evolved around the car,” said Kaua‘i County housing specialist Ken Rainforth, who attended the meeting.
County Planing Director Ian Costa said business storefronts with dwellings built above them was a common sight in Kapa‘a town years ago. “It was a 24-hour presence there,” he said. In those cases, the owners of the storefronts lived in the units above their businesses. Councilman Joe Munechika said he grew up in Hanapepe and remembered seeing “mom-and-pop” stores with dwellings built above them, and wondered why one doesn’t see as many today.
“We (county leaders in the past) focused on separating uses (residential and commercial, for example) and built infrastructure around cars,” Costa said.
Getting people to live in such a way will take time, as residents are used to living in single-family homes or apartments that are located away from their work places, Costa said.
“For most Kaua‘i people, it is part of living in a rural community,” Costa said after the meeting.
To revive the use of such structures, the county’s comprehensive zoning ordinance will have to include proper language for them, Costa said. The ordinance has been funded by the council for revision.
“The CZO doesn’t have a mixed used designation, and the closest we have is a neighborhood commercial district,” Costa said.
Costa has successfully pushed for council funding to upgrade development plans for land districts on the island.
He noted those plans “open up the options of mixed use, but that the details (of storefront with dwellings built on top of them) will be worked out in the CZO.”
Councilman James Kunane Tokioka ,a businessman, said concept of building dwelling units on top of existing storefronts has merit and could benefit certain residents and business interests on Kaua‘i.
The concept has been carried out successfully for storefront businesses along the Willamette River in Oregon, “creating a place that is grand for people,” Crispen said.
The area has become a gathering place “to bring people to shop, to talk, to sometimes just hang out,” he said.
Whatever is created, the history and architecture have to be respected in the development of such units, Crispen said.
Crispen said an extension of that concept would be to develop certain streets to include sidewalk cafes and eateries and more space for pedestrian walkways. Such projects have already been carried out successfully in Mainland communities, Crispen said.
Putting ohana units on top of garages is another way to build housing affordably in Hawai‘i, Crispen said.
Crispen also said “smart growth” for any community is “collection of principles” that includes:
- Curbing single-zoning practices;
- Allowing residential and commercial use in one area so that folks can live and work in the same area;
- Creating neighborhoods that benefit people more than motorists, where walking is emphasized;
- Directing development toward existing communities;
- Providing transportation options, including mass transit;
- Getting “stakeholders,” including developers, government officials and community residents, involved in planning communities.
One area where government planners on O‘ahu have done well is to “keep country, country,” meaning not letting development encroach on designated agricultural lands, thereby helping farmers and ranchers. Crispen said.
