Report Title:

Land Use; Rural District; One-time Reclassification

Description:

Authorizes each county to establish an advisory group to assist the county planning department to identify land use policies and development standards and to identify lands suitable for reclassification into the rural district. Requires office of planning to assist counties in coordinating meetings and provide technical assistance.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1368

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2005

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to land use.

 

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

SECTION 1. Many parts of the state are characterized by rural settlements that straddle state highways. These rural settlements offer a glimpse of what small rural communities looked like prior to the advent of modern subdivisions and what might be promoted and enhanced as existing rural settlements are rehabilitated or new communities developed.

Historically rural settlements in our State were somewhat self-contained and did not function merely as a suburb of a major urban center. Commerce and community business was conducted within the town at a personal level and everyone knew their neighbor and community. The efficiency of this pattern of community development was such that a trip to the city was a special occasion instead of a daily commute.

The legislature finds that to promote and protect the rural lifestyle that characterized early statehood, to take advantage of technology that allows for commerce and business to be conducted from a distance and to guard against the advent of urban sprawl and a dependence on the automobile, the viability of rural communities and the state land use rural district needs to be enhanced.

The legislature further finds that rural land use and development cannot be managed with the same set of tools used for urban areas if rural communities, character, and rural economies are to be maintained.

The purpose of this Act is to establish a process to better define the rural district and take steps to create a viable rural district. The legislature finds that the state land use district boundary review is an appropriate vehicle for such an undertaking. Thus, this Act initiates and funds a boundary review that will focus on rural lands and make recommendations for policy changes and district boundary amendments necessary to enable broader use of the rural district for agricultural as well as non-agricultural purposes.

SECTION 2. (a) The office of planning shall collaborate with the county planning departments to conduct a boundary review pursuant to section 205-18, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to develop policy and boundary amendment recommendations that would expand and enhance the utility of the rural district. The boundary review process shall include but not be limited to:

(1) The development of recommendations for more effective state and county rural land use policies and development standards;

(2) The mapping of lands to be recommended for boundary amendments for reclassification to the rural district; and

(3) The conduct of a one-time, streamlined set of proceedings for the proposed boundary amendments for the rural district.

(b) The counties shall convene an advisory group for consultation on the redefinition of the rural district and appropriate rural standards for the boundary review. The advisory group may include but not be limited to representatives of county, state, and federal agencies, landowners, farmers and farm organizations, the business community, environmental organizations, native Hawaiian organizations, planning organizations, and community groups.

(c) The county planning departments shall develop a work plan that provides for:

(1) The examination of existing state and county rural land use policies and development standards, and best practices used in other locales;

(2) The development of common rural land use principles to guide state and county rural land use policies, including the concepts of rural service centers and rural service areas;

(3) The development of recommendations for improvements to existing state and county rural land use policies and standards that would provide flexibility for establishing rural non-agricultural uses and would utilize innovative rural land management tools;

(4) The compilation of spatial data and mapping using geographic information systems of lands in each county that are suitable for reclassification to the rural district; and

(5) The preparation of an application and supporting reports and materials for submittal of a proposed rural district boundary amendment to the land use commission.

The office shall be responsible for the procurement of consultant services as may be needed by the office and each county planning department for the boundary review. The office shall assist each county planning department and its advisory group in coordinating working meetings and public informational meetings for their respective counties.

(d) Each county planning department shall develop an inclusive process for public involvement in the boundary review, to include a series of public meetings throughout the policy study and mapping phases of the boundary review.

(e) The purpose of the mapping process is to create a more viable rural district, primarily in those areas where rural communities already exist and agricultural lands have already been subdivided and developed as low-density residential communities or put to non-agricultural use. Each county shall develop criteria for the mapping of lands to be recommended for reclassification to the rural district; provided that priority shall be placed on the reclassification of those lands that are already subdivided and developed for non-agricultural uses. The mapping of lands to be recommended for reclassification shall be based on the long-range land use patterns contained in each county's adopted general plan, and community or development plan. The county planning departments shall identify those areas that have the attributes and land use and resource characteristics that make them suitable for the new rural district. The counties shall consult with stakeholders, including property owners, community organizations, and county and state agencies in the mapping process.

A county may request funds via a mutually agreeable work plan to offset the cost borne by the county in preparing draft and final maps and spatial data files, or the county may request the office to produce maps and spatial data files on its behalf.

SECTION 3. The office of planning in collaboration with the county planning departments shall submit proposed legislation to redefine the rural district to the legislature twenty days before the convening of the regular session of 2006.

SECTION 4. (a) As part of an one-time, streamlined process for the reclassification of lands to the rural land use district, each county with the assistance of the office of planning shall submit recommendations for new rural district boundaries to the land use commission, in the form of a report for each county, that includes maps displaying proposed new rural district boundaries as recommended by each county planning department. The report shall document the criteria used and the rationale for the proposed district boundaries, the process used in developing proposed district boundaries, the stakeholders involved in the process, and the comments and concerns raised during the process.

(b) The district boundary amendments proposed under this section shall be exempt from the provisions of sections 6E-8 and 6E-42, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

(c) Upon the receipt of the counties recommendation from each county for new rural district boundaries, the commission shall hold at least one public hearing in accordance with chapter 92 in each county prior to the final adoption by the commission of the new rural district boundaries for that county. Notice of the time and place of the hearing shall be published at least once in a newspaper in the county where the lands sought to be redistricted are situated, as well as once in a newspaper of general circulation in the State at least thirty days in advance of the meeting. Notice of the hearing shall be mailed to persons or organizations who have made a timely written request for advance notice of boundary amendment proceedings. The notice shall indicate the time and place that the report and maps showing the proposed district boundaries within the county may be inspected prior to the meeting. Any person wishing to file written comments and recommendations on the proposed boundary amendments with the commission shall file the materials within fifteen days of the hearing. Any person may submit testimony in person or in writing at the public hearing.

(d) Within ninety days of the date of acceptance of the filing of a county report and recommendations, the commission shall act on the proposed boundary amendments and shall approve or disapprove the proposed district boundaries in whole or in part. The district boundaries for each all county shall be adopted in final form on or before June 30, 2007. The new district boundaries shall be approved by two-thirds of the membership to which the land use commission is entitled.

(e) The commission shall specifically consider the following in its decision making:

(1) The extent to which the proposed reclassification conforms to county general plan and community or development plan;

(2) The extent to which the proposed reclassification results in a rural land use and settlement pattern that:

(A) Promotes and protects existing rural settlements, character, and heritage;

(B) Provides for compact, mixed-use rural service centers or villages;

(C) Avoids costly extension of city-like infrastructure and services;

(D) Accommodates rural, non-farm development in a land-efficient manner; and

(E) Protects and promotes good agricultural land and agricultural use in the state land use agricultural district.

(3) The impact of the proposed reclassification on state funds and resources and the provision of public infrastructure and services to affected areas; and

(4) The potential impact of the proposed reclassification on significant conservation, historic, archaeological, or cultural resources.

(f) At the time the land use commission adopts the new district boundaries, the commission shall adopt a report or findings to include:

(1) Comments received in the public meeting process;

(2) The basis for approving or disapproving the boundary amendments;

(3) Concerns or issues related to the new boundaries; and

(4) Any information that may be required to identify the general boundaries of the new rural district.

(g) Any change in the district designation of lands pursuant to this section shall not invalidate the county zoning of affected parcels. The existing county codes and rules applicable to affected parcels shall remain in effect until such time as the underlying zoning for a parcel is amended by the county or property owner, or the county amends its codes.

(h) A change in land use district classification of a parcel or parcels resulting from a land use commission decision pursuant to this section may be appealed to the circuit court of the circuit where the land in question is found, pursuant to section 91-14, Hawaii Revised Statutes. The district boundaries and classification of parcels not subject to an appeal shall remain in full force and effect.

(i) No individual requests for reclassification shall be permitted under this Act. District boundary amendment requests that are not part of the proposed boundary amendments of these proceedings shall be subject to sections 205-3.1 and 205-4, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

(j) The land use commission shall have the sole authority to interpret the district boundaries adopted under this Act.

(k) Any state or county approval of projects involving a permit, license, certificate, land use change, subdivision, or other entitlement for use, on lands that are reclassified by the commission pursuant to this section, shall be subject to sections 6E-8 and 6E-42, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

(l) For any proposed project involving lands reclassified by the commission pursuant to this section, the applicable state or county agency or officer shall advise the department of land and natural resources of any application involving a permit, license, certificate, land use change, subdivision, or other entitlement for use of such lands that may affect threatened or endangered species and their associated ecosystems. The agency or officer shall allow the department of land and natural resources an opportunity for review and comment on the effect of the proposed project on threatened or endangered species and their associated ecosystems prior to any approval.

SECTION 5. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $        , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2005-2006, for securing necessary technical assistance and spatial data required for mapping pursuant to section 2 of this Act and for the purpose of conducting the boundary review.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the office of planning for the disbursement of funds to each county upon mutual agreement on a joint work plan.

SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect upon its approval; provided that section 5 shall take effect on July 1, 2005.

INTRODUCED BY:

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