Requests for zoning changes on the Big Island could become more complicated under a proposed Hawaii County bill, warned the county’s top planning official.
Bill 134 would require that every time a property owner seeks a change of zoning district, the Planning Department would have to compile a report of all buildings that are legally permitted to be built on surrounding properties within a quarter-mile radius.
Kona Council member Holeka Inaba, a co-introducer of the bill, said at a July 1 Windward Planning Commission meeting that the purpose of the bill is to give the County Council and Planning Department “the most comprehensive information possible when we’re looking at change of zone ordinances.”
“I think right now the issue is that we don’t have a comprehensive inventory of all the change of zone ordinances that have ever been approved on this island,” Inaba said. “We have overburdened infrastructure across the island … we’re seeing bottlenecks in traffic, and just some overall decisions that have been made in the past that have resulted in problems we’re facing today.”
But Planning Director Zendo Kern said at a Thursday meeting of the Leeward Planning Commission the bill would represent a substantially increased workload for an already overstretched Planning Department and could slow down the permitting process.
“Every application that comes into this division has a time clock on it, and we have to get it to the Planning Commission within … 90 days or 120 days, depending, and that poses challenges,” Kern said.
A presentation by the Planning Department recommended the measure not be passed, noting that the reporting required by the bill might be tenable for properties in agricultural land but would be unreasonable in commercial or industrial districts.
In those more urban districts, the presentation stated, properties are not only more densely packed, but also have many more permitted uses — nearly 50 — that the Planning Department would be required to report.
Inaba said during the meeting Thursday that certain aspects of the proposal are placeholders — “a lot of thought has not gone into (the quarter-mile radius),” he said — but Kern said he is still not sure what potential changes could be made to the bill that would lead to him supporting it.
“If (the radius is) 1,000 feet, I’d still be less inclined to support it,” Kern said. “If it were brought down to … 300 or 500 feet, that at least starts linking up with other elements (of the County Code).”
Kern also seemed reluctant to propose alternatives: “I feel like I’m being forced to come up with something when our recommendation holds,” he told the commission.
Kohala Council member Cindy Evans, the bill’s other co-introducer, said she doesn’t believe the bill would significantly increase the strain on the Planning Department because, she said, there aren’t that many change of zone applications submitted.
Following the discussion, the Leeward Planning Commission voted unanimously Thursday to forward the measure to the full County Council. The Windward commission, meanwhile, voted earlier this month against recommending the bill to the council.
