A bill that would require County Council authorization of time extensions to zoning ordinances was temporarily set aside Tuesday after an amendment to the measure.
Bill 194, introduced last summer by North Kona Councilman Holeka Inaba, would replace the current practice of administrative time extensions approved by the Planning Department, and require the council in a public forum to make that decision.
Inaba has said he sponsored the bill to address a common complaint among West Hawaii residents that developers’ rezoning applications, once approved, get numerous time extensions without regard to how conditions and infrastructure may have changed in the intervening years.
The bill — as introduced — sought to change the zoning ordinance to include specific language prohibiting administrative extensions: “Unless specifically authorized by the council, extensions of time to satisfy conditions may not be allowed by the director.”
However, an amendment was brought forth following a Jan. 5 committee meeting in Hilo after Hamakua Councilwoman Heather Kimball and others raised concern over the wording of the bill and the potential the measure, as it was written would overall ban time extensions.
“I heard loud and clearly the concern of not being able to grant any time extensions where other conditions might be altered by anther council down the road. So what has been proposed in this amendment is the ability for an applicant to come and get a time extension, that time extension, however, is granted by the council via resolution,” Inaba explained. “This helps to preserve the integrity and original intent of the original rezoning ordinance.”
The amendment, heard Tuesday by the Policy Committee on Planning, Land Use and Development, still allows for time extensions, however, if approved by the planning director, the council would be the entity to grant an extension via a resolution rather than having that decision be made by the planning director outside the public purview, according to Inaba.
The amendment also increases the application fee for an extension from $250 to $500, and requires the request be submitted prior to the expiration of the original ordinance.
“This makes it very clear and it brings the authority of granting time extensions to the council who is the body in charge of the original granting of a change of zone,” said Inaba.
After voting to amend the bill with the changes, the Policy Committee on Planning, Land Use and Development moved to postpone a vote on sending the bill to the full council. The bill will be taken up during the committee’s next meeting slated Feb. 7.
“I think we understand what the intent of this amendment is, so, perhaps where the pukas are, is that we want further clarification as to how a future council would evaluate to grant the extension via resolution and to be clear as to the process once the planning department receives a letter requesting a time extension,” said Inaba.