STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3078

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 193

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Water and Land, Economic Development, Government Operations and Housing, and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 193, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LAND USE,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to provide a reasonable means by which developers may satisfy any requirements, terms, or conditions imposed by the Land Use Commission as part of the approval of a district boundary amendment.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Planning and Permitting of the City and County of Honolulu, General Contractors Association of Hawaii, The Pacific Resource Partnership, Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii, and Hawaii Masons' Union.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Land Use Commission and numerous individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Office of Planning.

 

     Prior to a hearing on this measure, your Committees posted and made available for public review a proposed S.D. 1, which:

 

     (1)  Requires all state agencies within one-half mile of proposed rail transit stations to enter into a memorandum of understanding with each other and convene working groups together with the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation to address the effects that each rail transit station will have on the surrounding workforce and housing;

 

     (2)  Establishes a Transit-Oriented Development Advisory Committee to make recommendations about sustainable development projects close to transit; and

 

     (3)  Includes an effective date of July 1, 2050.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of the proposed S.D. 1 from the General Contractors Association of Hawaii.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to the proposed S.D. 1 from the Department of Planning and Permitting of the City and County of Honolulu and the League of Women Voters.  Your Committees received comments on the proposed S.D. 1 from the Hawaii Community Development Authority and Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation.

 

     Your Committees find that the State owns significant amounts of land around the proposed rail transit stations in Honolulu.  It is important that these surrounding lands are analyzed for the impact that the transit stations will have on the various communities.  Impacts can be best analyzed by requiring all state agencies within one-half mile of proposed rail transit stations to enter into a memorandum of understanding with each other and convening working groups together with the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation to address the effects that each rail transit station will have on the surrounding workforce and housing.

 

     Your Committees further find that the careful coordination between transit and development is critical in allowing each to optimally enhance the other.  Transit-oriented development presents an opportunity not only for a project at a station, but also for a full-fledged transit-centered community.  A transit corridor that offers an advantageous mix of uses can be used to integrate a number of separate activity nodes, particularly when the various uses are close together, are easily accessible, and support each other.

 

     Your Committees note from the discussions during the hearing that the Department of Planning and Permitting will provide the Committees with a list of items, including plans for each station, projected density goals, and how these plans compliment the projections to fulfill and carryout transit-oriented development.  State agencies have not come forward with requests for funding or other assistance for planned development.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by adopting the proposed S.D. 1 and further amending the measure by:

 

     (1)  Adding a new part I to clarify the purpose of this measure;

 

     (2)  Making the Transit-Oriented Development Advisory Committee subject to the State Ethics Code; and

 

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water and Land, Economic Development, Government Operations and Housing, and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 193, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 193, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committees on Transportation and International Affairs and Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water and Land, Economic Development, Government Operations and Housing, and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

 

____________________________

DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair

 

____________________________

MALAMA SOLOMON, Chair

 

 

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair