Mayor Mitch Roth on Thursday vetoed Bill 194 presented to him by the Hawaii County Council.
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.”
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.
The bill in part states when a request for initial time extension is received by the director, the directorshall recommend approval or denial and submit a notice to council through themayor. In the case of a recommended approval, the director shall also submit aresolution to council through the mayor for consideration and action.
If the applicant fails to fulfill any conditions of the zone change within the specifiedtime limitations, the director or council may initiate the process for enactment of anordinance reverting the affected property back to its original zoning designation or amore appropriate zoning designation.
On Thursday, Roth vetoed the bill and sent it back to council with concerns.
“The Bill eliminates the Council’s, the Planning Commission’s and the Department’s authority to include as a condition to any change of zone ordinance authorization for the Planning Director to grant an administrative time extension for the performance of the conditions within the ordinance. The Bill requires that any request for such a time extension may only be granted by the Council via resolution. This changes what was formerly a Council-authorized administrative procedure into a political process requiring an additional Council approval,” Roth stated in a letter to council members.
Roth said the change to the prior decades-long procedure not only limits the County’s flexibility to appropriately condition rezoning ordinances, it will also add expense, uncertainty and difficulty to the rezoning process, ensuring we maintain our position as the most regulated County in the nation. This will continue to impede our ability to provide housing and facilities such as hospitals, schools, and job centers to our residents.
“The Bill inappropriately removes the County Planning Department staff, those with the training and expertise to evaluate time extension requests, from the decision-making process and instead inserts the Council, a political body with little to no planning background or expertise,” Roth said. “The Planning Department currently exercises the authority given to it by the Council to grant time extensions where appropriate as an opportunity to conduct a ‘check-in’ with landowners and, based on the Department’s expertise, make appropriate requests of the landowners to make reasonable adjustments to projects. Rezoning ordinances granted following the Bill will undoubtedly include longer time periods to complete the conditions, eliminating the opportunity for a mid-point “check-in” and readjustment.
On the whole, Roth said the Bill will not cause projects to be completed more quickly. Instead, it will likely unfairly punish unsophisticated applicants who do not ask for sufficient time at the outset, it will add uncertainty and unnecessary costs to the development process and, in the end, our community will pay the price.
“My recommendation is that you do not pass Bill 194 in any form and allow the existing process to remain in place. This administration is committed to providing housing for our residents and this Bill impedes our ability to do so,” he concluded.
“I am disappointed in this veto as it further suppresses transparency and accountability in the rezoning extension process; a process which has gone unchecked for over four decades,” said Inaba. “Any and all requests to rezoning ordinances should be decided by the council, the body charged with approving a rezoning in the first place.”
Inaba said he has submitted a letter requesting to reagendize the bill so council can consider overriding the veto at the April 19 meeting in Kona.
Council member Rebecca Villegas was also disappointed in the mayor’s veto.
“It is unfortunate that Mayor Roth decided to veto Bill 194. It is even more unfortunate that the letter explaining his reasoning is grossly misleading and based on inaccurate assumptions,” she said.
Villegas said she would be remiss if she didn’t point out the irony of Roth calling the council a “political body with little or no planning background or expertise”. She called that statement insulting “especially when the current Planning Director has no formal education in planning or otherwise and the council predominantly is made up of college graduates, two of which have PhD’s.
“Our community will pay the price if there aren’t more checks and balances on the Planning Director’s authority as it relates to administrative time extensions,” she said.
