Report Title:

Conservation District Use Applications; Criteria

 

Description:

Requires the BLNR to utilize specific criteria for rendering a decision on a completed application for a permit to use public coastal lands in the conservation district.

 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

743

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to conservation district.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the natural beauty of the State is important to the quality of life of residents and to the State's visitor industry. The legislature further finds that the preservation of natural scenic resources and open spaces is a significant state goal. The purpose of this Act is to protect the natural scenic resources and open space character of public coastal lands in the conservation district by establishing guidelines for the board of land and natural resources to use in considering conservation district use permit applications.

SECTION 2. Section 183C-6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§183C-6 Permits and site plan approvals. (a) The department shall regulate land use in the conservation district by the issuance of permits.

(b) The department shall render a decision on a completed application for a permit within one-hundred-eighty days of its acceptance by the department. If within one-hundred-eighty days after acceptance of a completed application for a permit, the department shall fail to give notice, hold a hearing, and render a decision, the owner may automatically put the owner's land to the use or uses requested in the owner's application. When an environmental impact statement is required pursuant to chapter 343, or when a contested case hearing is requested pursuant to chapter 91, the one-hundred-eighty days may be extended an additional ninety days at the request of the applicant. Any request for additional extensions shall be subject to the approval of the board.

(c) The department shall hold a public hearing in every case involving the proposed use of land for commercial purposes, at which hearing interested persons shall be afforded a reasonable opportunity to be heard. Public notice of the time and place of the hearing shall be given at least once statewide and in the county in which the property is located. The notice shall be given not less than twenty days prior to the date set for the hearing. The hearing shall be held in the county in which the land is located and may be delegated to an agent or representative of the board as may otherwise be provided by law and in accordance with rules adopted by the board. For the purposes of its public hearing or hearings, the department shall have the power to summon witnesses, administer oaths, and require the giving of testimony. As used in this subsection, the term "commercial purposes" shall not include the use of land for utility purposes.

(d) The department shall regulate the construction, reconstruction, demolition, or alteration of any structure, building, or facility by the issuance of site plan approvals.

(e) Any permit for the reconstruction, restoration, repair, or use of any Hawaiian fishpond exempted from the requirements of chapter 343 under section 183B-2 shall provide for compliance with the conditions of section 183B-2.

(f) In addition to any other criteria that may be established by law or rule, the board shall utilize the following criteria for rendering a decision on a completed application for a permit to use public coastal lands:

(1) Construction shall not obstruct public views of the shoreline;

(2) Construction shall not significantly impair the open space character of public coastal lands; and

(3) Building materials shall blend in with the natural environment.

In the event of a conflict between this subsection and any other law, this subsection shall control."

SECTION 3. This Act shall apply to all pending conservation district use permit applications on which final action has not yet occurred.

SECTION 4. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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