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+--- Thread: Bill 123 (/showthread.php?tid=23445)
Bill 123 - Patricia - 10-10-2024
What Bill 123 is not "advertising" and what it does not address:
Bill 123 has stricken the use of the word Ohana and has replaced it with ADU (accessory dwelling unit)
Bill 123 allows for ADU to be built just about anywhere EXCEPT "Plantation Community Subdivisions" (luxury developments)
Bill 123 "ensures compliance with infrastructure and safety needs" (WHAT infrastructure? WHAT safety needs? More septic systems? More wells? More mailboxes? More road use and congestion?)
Bill 123 is "essential in addressing our housing shortage, but it's also about preserving our commumities." (???? HOW? How are we going to preserve our communities, keep up with infrastructure and safety, when we are already so far behind? And WHO is going to be building all of these ADU? Locals?)
I am all for addressing the housing shortage and helping families stay together. But there are A LOT of unanswered questions here- environmental/infrastructure/economic (as in more JOBS)
Is this just another putting the horse before the cart plan? Is this another election (sexy project) stunt? Is this, those who already have the means, just being able to get more? HOW is this bill, realistically, going to help struggling families on Hawaii Island?
Please see the following and check out the attached.
Aloha
Please remember, Kindness is Key. ??
Patricia
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KPUA
October 9, 2024
Mayor Roth Signs Bill 123 to Expand Local Housing Opportunities
Yesterday, Mayor Mitch Roth signed County Council Bill 123, a piece of legislation aimed at increasing housing inventory across Hawai‘i County.
The bill, co-drafted by Council Chair Heather Kimball, Councilwoman Ashley Kierkiewicz, Planning Director Zendo Kern, and Deputy Director Jeff Darrow, allows homeowners to build up to three accessory dwelling units (ADUs) with a size limit of 1,250sf on their properties, helping address the county’s housing shortage and enabling local families to stay in Hawai‘i.
The bill introduces new provisions that replace previous restrictions on “ʻohana dwelling units,” providing more flexibility for homeowners to add ADUs.
Key amendments include:
Allowing ADUs, whether detached or attached, to be built alongside single-family homes in Residential (RS), Duplex (RD), Residential-Agricultural District (RA), Agricultural (A), and Family Agricultural (FA) districts.
Limiting each property to a maximum of three ADUs.
Ensuring compliance with infrastructure and safety standards, including requirements for sewage disposal and water supply.
Restricting the use of ADUs for transient accommodations, with limited exceptions.
In a press release Mayor Roth said, “The ability to build additional dwellings on existing properties is essential in addressing our housing shortage, but it’s also about preserving our communities and ensuring that future generations—our keiki—can continue to live and thrive here in Hawai‘i. This bill expands our housing inventory in a way that is both sustainable and community-centered.”
BIL 123 Draft 05 2022-2024 - Laserfiche 5th
https://records.hawaiicounty.gov/weblink/DocView.aspx?dbid=0&id=1084351&page=1&cr=1
RE: Bill 123 - leilanidude - 10-10-2024
Restricting the use of ADUs for transient accommodations, with limited exceptions.
“The ability to build additional dwellings on existing properties is essential in addressing our housing shortage, but it’s also about preserving our communities and ensuring that future generations—our keiki—can continue to live and thrive here in Hawai‘i.
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I would counter that restricting ADU's for transient accommodations hurts the ability of a family from being able to keep that single family home for generations.
Allow ADU's for transient accommodations if the main residence stays single family and lived in by the owner.
RE: Bill 123 - jffields1969 - 10-10-2024
I don't believe ADUs should be added to areas that don't already have the necessary infrastructure to support them. Both hard infrastructure such as roads, water, sewer and soft infrastructure such as police and other services. The focus should be mostly will infilling existing urban areas.
Enforcement of ADUs and making sure they don't get all turned into transient accommodations is going to be challenging especially in rural and agricultural areas.
RE: Bill 123 - punikahakaiferret - 10-10-2024
I would rather see 2-3+ ADU-sized dwellings being allowed on suitably-sized lots, without the requirement of an existing (presumably large) primary dwelling. IMO this would go much farther in helping people afford places to live.
Maybe even have several lots, side by side, with multiple small dwellings on them, little micro-enclaves, maybe even with some common areas.
Is this just crazy talk? Wanting numerous tiny(ish) home communities, like are springing up on the mainland in areas where housing is outrageously overpriced? Search online for places like Durango, CO that has numerous such communities.
Along with this would be the lifting of the flat-out stupid regulation against allowing a single tiny house (on wheels or not) to be on a property as the primary dwelling.
This is a dream/concept I would love to see explored here, specifically in Puna, but the rest of the state could surely benefit from it as well.
Just my (ferret) head talking...
RE: Bill 123 - HereOnThePrimalEdge - 10-10-2024
to be built on a single lot, as long as that lot is within a zoning district that permits ohana units.
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2024/09/25/hawaii-news/hawaii-county-council-oks-bill-to-ease-way-for-ohana-housing/
RE: Bill 123 - punikahakaiferret - 10-10-2024
Aha! Thank you HOTPE for that highlighting of that cogent point. I think I couldn't see that tree for the forest...guess if this concept doesn't get over-regulated into non-feasability it could, by jove, actually really work?
Hope springs eternal...
RE: Bill 123 - Patricia - 10-10-2024
(10-10-2024, 09:49 PM)HereOnThePrimalEdge Wrote: to be built on a single lot, as long as that lot is within a zoning district that permits ohana units.
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2024/09/25/hawaii-news/hawaii-county-council-oks-bill-to-ease-way-for-ohana-housing/
What lots/zoning areas do not permit ohana units? Can a variance be requested? There are lots in HPP (and other Puna subdivisions) that already have multiple units.
RE: Bill 123 - Moderator 2 - 10-10-2024
There are lots in HPP (and other Puna subdivisions) that already have multiple units.
Yes. But are they legal? I know of several properties in HPP with two houses, but in each case the second unit started out as a detached permitted garage.
RE: Bill 123 - Patricia - 10-10-2024
Yes. Some of those units are legal.
Also, what about variances? Owners can request a variance. And I have seen docs where the County has granted them.
My concern is the bill is vague and leaves too much up for interpretation without specifically addressing the problems it says it is trying to alleviate:
How is this bill going to alleviate homelessness?
How is this bill going to protect or even help with our already overburdened infrastructure?
How will this bill alleviate the high costs of living here? (More jobs? How? Where?)
How is this bill going to protect communities?
RE: Bill 123 - Punatang - 10-11-2024
Right now, and for a limited time remaining (to hear some agents tell it), it is legal to build two, quite large houses on a lot in HPP. One may drive down the dead end of 19th Ave., Hilo of Kaloli, and witness, on the Mauka side, one lot with two very large, new, quite legal, two-story homes. Don't tell anyone, but they are ideally designed to divide into two units each. Shhhhh. There are several identical arrangements here and there in the park.
There are also a number of two dwellings on one TMK arrangements in Hawaiian Beaches/Shores/Parks/Shores Rec Estates as well. Many of those are quite legal, permitted, and taxed.
Houses in Puna with ohanas do seem to be uncommon. In fact, it seems to be about the inverse of Maui, where, in the working-class areas, the house without at least one extra "unit" wedged in there is as rare as an albino monk seal. Creative folks manage to cobble together 3 or 4 units on 6,500-10,000 SF lots in Kihei. Lots of rule-bending going on there. Parking is at a premium on those lots and the adjoining streets. There are not many open, sunny spots to grow food. That's for sure. People need places to live, though.