01-25-2007, 11:10 AM
PUNA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLANLAND USE - GROWTH MANAGEMENT MISSION. In accordance with the Puna Community Development Plan the mission of the Land Use/Growth Management working group is to provide recommendations to Hawaii County regarding land use in order to manage the large projected population growth in Puna in the near future. The broad goals in our recommendations are to retain Puna's rural and agricultural character, preserve and improve the quality of the natural environment and provide high standards of livability and economic opportunity for its residents. DISCUSSION. The working group understands that significant population increase in Puna is nearly inevitable. The purpose of our recommendations is to manage the population increase with respect to where it is located (e.g., density) and how it is supported by infrastructure at the residential level as well as the county infrastructure level. We are preparing for the day when Puna is "filled up." That is, when nearly all land parcels in Puna are occupied under whatever zoning regimes exist between now and then. What will the "look and feel" of Puna be then? Will it be many small house lots with houses less than a hundred feet apart everywhere (the side of a square 15000 square foot house lot is less than 125 feet)? Or will it be a relatively dispersed population with several intensively developed areas? The vision of the Growth Management working group is for the latter outcome which is consistent with most of the "'aina-malama" and other statements received by the county in the recent comment gathering phase of the CDP. In order to establish a basic direction our recommendations are further grounded in the three goals expressed in Hawaii County's 2005 General Plan, section 14.1.2. These goals are next discussed in the context of growth management and specific policies and standards, as described in section 14.1.3,4, are noted in our specific recommendations. HAWAII COUNTY 2005 GENERAL PLAN GOAL #1. Designate and allocate land uses in appropriate proportions and mix and in keeping with the social, cultural and physical environments of the County. Many, many of the specific comments solicited in previous community meetings called for maintenance of a rural and agricultural character in Puna. Very few advocated significantly increased development and those that did emphasized current urban areas for the purpose of more local job and shopping opportunities. Our working group also believes a rural and agricultural character should be maintained in most of Puna. While agriculture will be further discussed, it should be noted here that our concept of "rural" is essentially a low density of residential dwellings or no dwellings at all. Therefore, throughout our recommendations we specify a five-acre minimum parcel in many areas of concern that touch upon population density. But a realistic policy of retaining a primarily agricultural character in Puna requires, in our judgment, a complementary policy of focused intensive development in good contiguity to currently intensively developed locations. Many people prefer the closeness of urban/suburban neighborhoods. Job and business development opportunities grow in a physically close environment. In well planned developments environmentally low impact infrastructures become development requirements. From a rural preservation point of view there are many good reasons to support well focused and well planned intensive development. Also, in accordance with this goal, we provide recommendations for areas such as transportation and industrial land use in the context of growth management. HAWAII COUNTY 2005 GENERAL PLAN GOAL #2. Protect and encourage the intensive and extensive utilization of the County's important agricultural lands. While there are technical descriptions of very "important" agricultural lands, our working group feels that agriculture, including food, nursery, forestry, native woodlands and conservation, is both historically and currently the best and highest use of nearly all of Puna's land area. Even rough and otherwise unpromising land in Puna can produce significant agricultural products or can be conserved as natural areas expressing Hawaii's unique native environment. For the longest range impact and sustainability, and to not put unrealistic expectations on the powers of the County, we emphasize commercial agriculture. As a working definition, commercial agriculture either provides some or all of a household's income or can demonstrate significant agricultural investment that could provide income in the future, such as forestry. There are numerous other non-commercial agricultural activities that the County might support which may be addressed by other CDP groups. However, for the purposes of growth management and land use consistent with the expressed comments of the people, agriculture as a livelihood must be protected and supported. HAWAII COUNTY 2005 GENERAL PLAN GOAL #3. Protect and preserve forest, water, natural and scientific reserves and open areas. Population growth will broadly and potentially negatively impact all the areas specified in this goal. In our working group's recommendations we focus on supporting agriculture and significant building standards, especially affecting water quality in the Puna aquifer. Similarly, maintaining a relatively low population density by sustaining the minimum five acre parcel size for any new subdivision reduces impacts on all these resources.LAND USE - GROWTH MANAGEMENT GOALS & RECOMMENDATIONS GOAL #1: Prevent population sprawl and scattered development OBJECTIVES: ?All intensive development must be physically adjacent to existing intensively developed areas or in a small number of well placed new urban expansion zones such as the Orchidland Drive expansion zone. ?Guide non-intensive growth into existing subdivisions rather than create new subdivisions; support this guidance with funding mechanisms for infrastructure improvements in substandard subdivisions. RECOMMENDATIONS: ?Focus all intensive development in areas that are already intensively developed (i.e., Kea'au, Pahoa, Volcano). In new intensive developments require integrated communities supporting residences, schools, services and recreation either within or adjacent to the new subdivision. ?Create and seed funding mechanisms such as self-sustaining revolving loan funds to encourage upgrading existing large subdivisions to better standards of livability, safety and reduced environmental impact. ?Excluding all current subdivisions and improved properties rezone A-1a zones in Puna to A-5a. ?Increase county staffing to increase code enforcement activity; increase county initiative for prosecution of the most obvious nonconforming uses, particularly along major roadways. DISCUSSION: This is perhaps our most fundamental goal in managing Puna's future population growth. As noted in the working groups' mission, our definition of rural character is a low population density. A definition of population sprawl is intensive residential development not associated with any other intensively developed area. Conjoining intensive development with current urban zones, encouraging growth in existing subdivisions rather than creating new subdivisions and enforcing a five acre minimum in agricultural zones offers the best possibility of retaining a rural and agricultural character in Puna. The 2005 General Plan policy 14.1.3(j) "encourage urban development within existing zoned areas already served by basic infrastructure, or close to such areas, instead of scattered development" directly supports these recommendations. Our working believes that we need to send a clear message to the executive branch that non-conforming land uses, from ad-hoc car lots, junkyards, fast food stands, chicken grills, satellite dishes and the like, need to be prosecuted as a matter of standard county business rather than requiring a formal citizen complaint as the basis of action. We support significant budget increases for county personnel While down-zoning A-1a zones to A-5a may be difficult for the county, allowing continued one-acre dwelling parcels in otherwise low density rural areas results in essentially suburban sprawl and is decidedly inconsistent with maintaining the rural character of Puna. The best example of such inappropriate zoning is the large A-1a area east of Kalapana. Inevitably such areas become only residences and are never developed for agriculture. Therefore maintaining large contiguous areas of undeveloped property in the A-1a category is inconsistent with maintaining the rural and agricultural character of Puna. ________________________ GOAL #2: Maintain subsurface water quality OBJECTIVE: Eliminate residential sources of groundwater pollution RECOMMENDATIONS: ?No cesspools allowed for any new building ?Require septic system or composting toilets for single family residence
?Require aerobic wastewater treatment or composting toilets for new dwellings within 1000' of drilled wells or SMA areas ?Require aerobic wastewater treatment or composting toilets for new intensive (less than 1 acre) development ?Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement to assess wastewater contamination of the Puna aquifer comparing septic systems versus aerobic systems as a function of expected increased population. DISCUSSION: Increasing population has a clear impact on groundwater quality (in areas less blessed with rainfall than Puna, it also has an impact on groundwater availability). We are concerned that Puna's highly draining subsurface structure very quickly moves minimally treated wastewater into our aquifers. With towns and villages typically drilling wells for high volume water usage water quality will decline as population increases. In addition, while better than cesspools, septic systems offer a relatively low level of treatment. Therefore, for areas of intensive development full aerobic wastewater treatment (or composting toilets) should be required. ___________________ GOAL #3:Maintain high residential infrastructure standards for subdivisions and building permits OBJECTIVES: ?No new substandard parcels less than five acres ?Reduce physical, social and environmental impacts of inadequate residential infrastructure RECOMMENDATIONS: ?All new subdivisions and residential building permits for parcels below five acres must meet all county standards for building with no variances for wastewater, drainage, road, water and other requirements ?Begin a non-punitive assessment of non-permitted dwellings for property taxes. ?Increase county staffing to increase code inspection and enforcement activity DISCUSSION: The County should alleviate the impact of speculative and haphazard building by insuring that smaller parcels are up to county infrastructure requirements. Create consistent expectations for developers by consistently enforcing standards. It must be noted that the continued tolerance of large numbers of unpermitted buildings, of whatever quality, creates disrespect for the construction principles underlying the building code and the County itself as the enforcers of the code. Just as some people feel that they are not getting a fair return on their tax dollar, having some citizens escape valuation of their homes entirely seems even less fair. There are any number of reasonably well built unpermitted dwellings that contribute nothing (via property taxes) to support the roads, parks, police and fire, civil defense, etc. that they depend on. Nonetheless, for the purposes of taxation, assessment should be disassociated from punitive actions such as red-tagging a dwelling. __________________________ GOAL #4: Manage highway usage resulting from increased population pressure. OBJECTIVES: ?Increase safety by focusing on improved intersection controls ?Decrease congestion on Hwy 130 by providing alternative routes RECOMMENDATIONS: ?Add safety improvements such as longer merging lanes and stop lights at subdivision intersections to Hwy 130 ?Add alternate types of transportation routes (bicycle, small motor bikes) parallel to existing and new routes ?Alternative access routes between Puna and Hilo are the best long term solution to manage growth. The Transportation Working Group is considering detailed proposals and we will defer to their recommendations as to how alternative routes should be implemented. DISCUSSION: It is doubtful that any highway widening project in any urban area has ever resulted in long term reduction of traffic congestion unless population growth does not occur. Every projection indicates Puna will have significant population increases. Eventually alternatives to simple highway widening must be sought, as Honolulu is demonstrating at this time with its proposed guided rail system. Until significant job and shopping opportunities exist in Puna, automobile commuting to Hilo will be a fact of life. While buses and bicycle transportation may be addressed by other working groups, it is the firm recommendation of this group that removing traffic from Highway 130 to alternate routes mauka and makai provides the best hope of significant congestion alleviation for a longer term than widening. Alternate corridor routes should be selected for optimum access from the larger subdivisions into Hilo but development should be phased to accommodate funding realities and to work with the subdivisions on routing. The initial stages may not involve taking of subdivision property but should emphasize establishing the best routing over the long term to handle the significant increase in traffic that will occur in Puna. _______________________________ GOAL #5: Maintain integrity of zoning as reflected in property taxation and allowed activities. OBJECTIVE: Parcel usage and property taxation should reflect parcel zoning RECOMMENDATIONS: ?Develop standards defining commercial agricultural activity for purpose of assigning property tax rates ?Adjust tax rates to confer advantage on commercial agricultural and conservation land use. Per http://www.hawaiipropertytax.com, current tax rates per $1000: Improved Residential - $8.10; Agricultural - $8.35; Conservation - $8.55; Homeowner - $5.55, mitigate against agricultural and conservation land use. By contrast, residential property is the most expensive type for the county to support, requiring roads and schools for instance. ?Move parcels in agricultural zones that do not demonstrate commercial agricultural activity into a residential property tax bracket. ?Support taxation at (reduced) conservation zoning rates in exchange for owners agreeing to land banking or conservation easements for significant periods of time such as ten years. Include penalties for early withdrawal. No significant alteration of the conserved property would be allowed other than removal of invasive and other non-native plants and planting of native species. DISCUSSION: Our working group found it very surprising that commercial agriculture and conservation property is taxed at higher rates than residential property. The benefits of commercial agriculture in retaining rural character, creating jobs and maintaining continuity with the history and culture of Puna, should be supported by the property tax rates. On the other hand, the pressure of substantial population growth is placing ever larger demands on the county to provide infrastructure and services. Therefore residential land uses must shoulder much more of the costs that they themselves are creating. However, for the purpose of taxation, commercial agriculture must be distinguished from hobby farming (a small number of trees or grazing animals, trivial investments) and backyard gardening by such criteria as a business license in an agricultural business, significant investment in agricultural assets or actual or projected (such as forestry) ability to produce income, thereby demonstrating long term intent.________________________ GOAL #6: Provide for long term future job opportunities and industrial services availability while minimizing impact on rural and agricultural character by industrial zoning a significant amount of appropriately located land within Puna. OBJECTIVES: ?Prevent spot commercial and industrial development to avoid sprawl and inappropriate mixed uses ?Confine larger-scale commercial and industrial development to planned areas often characterized as "parks" (similar to the Shipman Industrial Park) or in conjunction with existing intensive development. ?Insure that a useful amount of industrially zoned land with good proximity to infrastructure and population resources is allocated in several locations in the Puna district. RECOMMENDATIONS: ?Define industrial/commercial zoned areas that are physically associated with current Urban zoning but have minimal impact on residential use. ?Define industrial/commercial zoned areas in larger acreages for development into planned industrial parks. A possible example is the Hawaiian Homelands property behind the proposed Pahoa fire station. The state and county should encourage partnerships with private investment to achieve this goal. ?Disallow any industrial/commercial zoning or special use permit in any location substantially separated from other intensive uses to reduce sprawl unless such properties are part of a large planned development that will itself concentrate industrial/commercial land uses in one location. ?Investigate such locations as the large geothermal power plant leasehold, Pahoa mauka, Hawaiian Homelands and State of Hawai'i properties for possible industrial parks. ?Insure that no strip development occurs along major roads; eliminate any existing illegal commercial development ?Maintain high standards of safe access and green belt setback for all commercial development adjacent to primary highways to minimize traffic safety risks and visual impact. Shipman Park in Kea'au ?Insure meaningful buffer space between industrial development and residential or agricultural areas. DISCUSSION: Today's reality is that Hilo contains a large amount of commercial and industrially zoned land while Puna contains relatively little. A major aspect of managing growth in Puna is to make available significant amounts of land for commercial and industrial development. However this development must be implemented in ways consistent with good land use planning practices and, even more importantly, the maintenance of the essential rural and agricultural character of Puna. The expected result should be increased availability of goods, services, investments and jobs in Puna. ____________________ GOAL #7: Minimize rezoning by restricted application of Special Use Permits OBJECTIVE: ?Avoid rezoning as much as possible consistent with clear public interests ?Utilize Special Use Permits RECOMMENDATIONS: ?No special use permit shall be issued that substantively contravenes the 2005 General Plan, PCDP recommendations or generally accepted planning practices. ?Insure that any special use permits are issued based on broad county interests rather than the interests of the property owner ?All special use permit applicants must demonstrate substantial public need or public interest relating to issues such as safety, public infrastructure or education to justify issuance of a permit for nonconforming uses. ?Insure that substantial and broad community input be part of any Special Use Permit application DISCUSSION: Rezoning should be severely restricted across the board, both as the the PCDP is in development and once it is in place. Instead we favor an increased use of carefully considered Special Use Permits in order to evaluate the benefit to the community for a specific nonconforming use, as opposed to rezoning which will allow current and subsequent owners to do anything whatsoever that falls within the altered zone's conforming uses. In support of the special use process we strongly recommend a extended and geographically increased notification process in order to get as much community input as possible prior to approval or denial of special use permits. Lacking facts well supported in testimony and principle that indicate a clear and overriding public interest, good planning practices and community input should be the major determinants for issuance of the Special Use Permit. __________________ GOAL #8: Increase knowledge of natural dangers in Puna OBJECTIVE: Property purchasers and builders must be informed of the natural dangers inherent in building in Puna RECOMMENDATIONS: ?Require informational form specifying lava, tsunami and subsidence issues of property location as part of land purchase and building permit processes with signed acknowledgment of understanding. ?Indemnify County from any damages resulting from purchasing land or buildings impacted by lava, tsunami or subsidence. DISCUSSION: Our group strongly recommends that without exception all land acquisitions and building permits require a signed statement stating the specific lava and flood zone or any other known dangerous conditions of the property in question, therefore unequivocally indicating knowledge by the owner of any dangers they may face. _________________________ GOAL #9: Reduce or eliminate property speculation ("flipping"
OBJECTIVE: Reduce or eliminate incentives for property speculation and resulting excessive price increases RECOMMENDATIONS: ?Impose significantly higher conveyance fee for short term ownership (we suggest less than a year) unless genuine hardship demonstrated or dwelling meets criteria for affordable housing. ?Require building permit for sale of property that can be reasonably construed as having a dwelling. DISCUSSION: The practice of purchasing, then rapidly turning over a property for profit, leads to distortions in land prices in the direction of unaffordability for most local people. Our state and county policies must support the goal of affordable home ownership for the purpose of residency rather than turning a quick buck. Some, perhaps most, of the growth in Puna will come from locally born children. Maintaining or encouraging a speculative climate through laws and policies regarding land and dwelling sales will only make it more difficult for them to become home owners in the future and impair their ability to remain in Puna. _________________________
?Require aerobic wastewater treatment or composting toilets for new dwellings within 1000' of drilled wells or SMA areas ?Require aerobic wastewater treatment or composting toilets for new intensive (less than 1 acre) development ?Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement to assess wastewater contamination of the Puna aquifer comparing septic systems versus aerobic systems as a function of expected increased population. DISCUSSION: Increasing population has a clear impact on groundwater quality (in areas less blessed with rainfall than Puna, it also has an impact on groundwater availability). We are concerned that Puna's highly draining subsurface structure very quickly moves minimally treated wastewater into our aquifers. With towns and villages typically drilling wells for high volume water usage water quality will decline as population increases. In addition, while better than cesspools, septic systems offer a relatively low level of treatment. Therefore, for areas of intensive development full aerobic wastewater treatment (or composting toilets) should be required. ___________________ GOAL #3:Maintain high residential infrastructure standards for subdivisions and building permits OBJECTIVES: ?No new substandard parcels less than five acres ?Reduce physical, social and environmental impacts of inadequate residential infrastructure RECOMMENDATIONS: ?All new subdivisions and residential building permits for parcels below five acres must meet all county standards for building with no variances for wastewater, drainage, road, water and other requirements ?Begin a non-punitive assessment of non-permitted dwellings for property taxes. ?Increase county staffing to increase code inspection and enforcement activity DISCUSSION: The County should alleviate the impact of speculative and haphazard building by insuring that smaller parcels are up to county infrastructure requirements. Create consistent expectations for developers by consistently enforcing standards. It must be noted that the continued tolerance of large numbers of unpermitted buildings, of whatever quality, creates disrespect for the construction principles underlying the building code and the County itself as the enforcers of the code. Just as some people feel that they are not getting a fair return on their tax dollar, having some citizens escape valuation of their homes entirely seems even less fair. There are any number of reasonably well built unpermitted dwellings that contribute nothing (via property taxes) to support the roads, parks, police and fire, civil defense, etc. that they depend on. Nonetheless, for the purposes of taxation, assessment should be disassociated from punitive actions such as red-tagging a dwelling. __________________________ GOAL #4: Manage highway usage resulting from increased population pressure. OBJECTIVES: ?Increase safety by focusing on improved intersection controls ?Decrease congestion on Hwy 130 by providing alternative routes RECOMMENDATIONS: ?Add safety improvements such as longer merging lanes and stop lights at subdivision intersections to Hwy 130 ?Add alternate types of transportation routes (bicycle, small motor bikes) parallel to existing and new routes ?Alternative access routes between Puna and Hilo are the best long term solution to manage growth. The Transportation Working Group is considering detailed proposals and we will defer to their recommendations as to how alternative routes should be implemented. DISCUSSION: It is doubtful that any highway widening project in any urban area has ever resulted in long term reduction of traffic congestion unless population growth does not occur. Every projection indicates Puna will have significant population increases. Eventually alternatives to simple highway widening must be sought, as Honolulu is demonstrating at this time with its proposed guided rail system. Until significant job and shopping opportunities exist in Puna, automobile commuting to Hilo will be a fact of life. While buses and bicycle transportation may be addressed by other working groups, it is the firm recommendation of this group that removing traffic from Highway 130 to alternate routes mauka and makai provides the best hope of significant congestion alleviation for a longer term than widening. Alternate corridor routes should be selected for optimum access from the larger subdivisions into Hilo but development should be phased to accommodate funding realities and to work with the subdivisions on routing. The initial stages may not involve taking of subdivision property but should emphasize establishing the best routing over the long term to handle the significant increase in traffic that will occur in Puna. _______________________________ GOAL #5: Maintain integrity of zoning as reflected in property taxation and allowed activities. OBJECTIVE: Parcel usage and property taxation should reflect parcel zoning RECOMMENDATIONS: ?Develop standards defining commercial agricultural activity for purpose of assigning property tax rates ?Adjust tax rates to confer advantage on commercial agricultural and conservation land use. Per http://www.hawaiipropertytax.com, current tax rates per $1000: Improved Residential - $8.10; Agricultural - $8.35; Conservation - $8.55; Homeowner - $5.55, mitigate against agricultural and conservation land use. By contrast, residential property is the most expensive type for the county to support, requiring roads and schools for instance. ?Move parcels in agricultural zones that do not demonstrate commercial agricultural activity into a residential property tax bracket. ?Support taxation at (reduced) conservation zoning rates in exchange for owners agreeing to land banking or conservation easements for significant periods of time such as ten years. Include penalties for early withdrawal. No significant alteration of the conserved property would be allowed other than removal of invasive and other non-native plants and planting of native species. DISCUSSION: Our working group found it very surprising that commercial agriculture and conservation property is taxed at higher rates than residential property. The benefits of commercial agriculture in retaining rural character, creating jobs and maintaining continuity with the history and culture of Puna, should be supported by the property tax rates. On the other hand, the pressure of substantial population growth is placing ever larger demands on the county to provide infrastructure and services. Therefore residential land uses must shoulder much more of the costs that they themselves are creating. However, for the purpose of taxation, commercial agriculture must be distinguished from hobby farming (a small number of trees or grazing animals, trivial investments) and backyard gardening by such criteria as a business license in an agricultural business, significant investment in agricultural assets or actual or projected (such as forestry) ability to produce income, thereby demonstrating long term intent.________________________ GOAL #6: Provide for long term future job opportunities and industrial services availability while minimizing impact on rural and agricultural character by industrial zoning a significant amount of appropriately located land within Puna. OBJECTIVES: ?Prevent spot commercial and industrial development to avoid sprawl and inappropriate mixed uses ?Confine larger-scale commercial and industrial development to planned areas often characterized as "parks" (similar to the Shipman Industrial Park) or in conjunction with existing intensive development. ?Insure that a useful amount of industrially zoned land with good proximity to infrastructure and population resources is allocated in several locations in the Puna district. RECOMMENDATIONS: ?Define industrial/commercial zoned areas that are physically associated with current Urban zoning but have minimal impact on residential use. ?Define industrial/commercial zoned areas in larger acreages for development into planned industrial parks. A possible example is the Hawaiian Homelands property behind the proposed Pahoa fire station. The state and county should encourage partnerships with private investment to achieve this goal. ?Disallow any industrial/commercial zoning or special use permit in any location substantially separated from other intensive uses to reduce sprawl unless such properties are part of a large planned development that will itself concentrate industrial/commercial land uses in one location. ?Investigate such locations as the large geothermal power plant leasehold, Pahoa mauka, Hawaiian Homelands and State of Hawai'i properties for possible industrial parks. ?Insure that no strip development occurs along major roads; eliminate any existing illegal commercial development ?Maintain high standards of safe access and green belt setback for all commercial development adjacent to primary highways to minimize traffic safety risks and visual impact. Shipman Park in Kea'au ?Insure meaningful buffer space between industrial development and residential or agricultural areas. DISCUSSION: Today's reality is that Hilo contains a large amount of commercial and industrially zoned land while Puna contains relatively little. A major aspect of managing growth in Puna is to make available significant amounts of land for commercial and industrial development. However this development must be implemented in ways consistent with good land use planning practices and, even more importantly, the maintenance of the essential rural and agricultural character of Puna. The expected result should be increased availability of goods, services, investments and jobs in Puna. ____________________ GOAL #7: Minimize rezoning by restricted application of Special Use Permits OBJECTIVE: ?Avoid rezoning as much as possible consistent with clear public interests ?Utilize Special Use Permits RECOMMENDATIONS: ?No special use permit shall be issued that substantively contravenes the 2005 General Plan, PCDP recommendations or generally accepted planning practices. ?Insure that any special use permits are issued based on broad county interests rather than the interests of the property owner ?All special use permit applicants must demonstrate substantial public need or public interest relating to issues such as safety, public infrastructure or education to justify issuance of a permit for nonconforming uses. ?Insure that substantial and broad community input be part of any Special Use Permit application DISCUSSION: Rezoning should be severely restricted across the board, both as the the PCDP is in development and once it is in place. Instead we favor an increased use of carefully considered Special Use Permits in order to evaluate the benefit to the community for a specific nonconforming use, as opposed to rezoning which will allow current and subsequent owners to do anything whatsoever that falls within the altered zone's conforming uses. In support of the special use process we strongly recommend a extended and geographically increased notification process in order to get as much community input as possible prior to approval or denial of special use permits. Lacking facts well supported in testimony and principle that indicate a clear and overriding public interest, good planning practices and community input should be the major determinants for issuance of the Special Use Permit. __________________ GOAL #8: Increase knowledge of natural dangers in Puna OBJECTIVE: Property purchasers and builders must be informed of the natural dangers inherent in building in Puna RECOMMENDATIONS: ?Require informational form specifying lava, tsunami and subsidence issues of property location as part of land purchase and building permit processes with signed acknowledgment of understanding. ?Indemnify County from any damages resulting from purchasing land or buildings impacted by lava, tsunami or subsidence. DISCUSSION: Our group strongly recommends that without exception all land acquisitions and building permits require a signed statement stating the specific lava and flood zone or any other known dangerous conditions of the property in question, therefore unequivocally indicating knowledge by the owner of any dangers they may face. _________________________ GOAL #9: Reduce or eliminate property speculation ("flipping"
OBJECTIVE: Reduce or eliminate incentives for property speculation and resulting excessive price increases RECOMMENDATIONS: ?Impose significantly higher conveyance fee for short term ownership (we suggest less than a year) unless genuine hardship demonstrated or dwelling meets criteria for affordable housing. ?Require building permit for sale of property that can be reasonably construed as having a dwelling. DISCUSSION: The practice of purchasing, then rapidly turning over a property for profit, leads to distortions in land prices in the direction of unaffordability for most local people. Our state and county policies must support the goal of affordable home ownership for the purpose of residency rather than turning a quick buck. Some, perhaps most, of the growth in Puna will come from locally born children. Maintaining or encouraging a speculative climate through laws and policies regarding land and dwelling sales will only make it more difficult for them to become home owners in the future and impair their ability to remain in Puna. _________________________
Assume the best and ask questions.
Punaweb moderator
Punaweb moderator