Hawaii County Council committee forwards Bill 29 to council after amendment allowing survey exception

Bill 29, which would change how Hawaii County establishes zoning and special zoning districts, was forwarded to the full council with a favorable recommendation after a committee vote and a friendly amendment on Wednesday.

The Planning Committee vote follows public testimony opposing the bill and a presentation from the Planning Department explaining the measure’s intent and the proposed amendment.

The bill would amend chapter 25, article 3, section 25-3-3 of the Hawaii County Code to clarify methods for describing zoning district boundaries. Planning Director Jeff Darrow told the committee the bill aims to ease obstacles to creating special districts in older downtowns — such as Pahoa Village — by allowing alternatives to costly meets-and-bounds surveys, including references to landmarks, roads or TMKs and the use of GIS shapefiles. Darrow also offered a friendly amendment that would add a requirement that meets-and-bounds descriptions and maps be prepared by a licensed surveyor, but would explicitly permit the Planning Director to use other means of description for special districts when deemed appropriate.

"I have been working with the Puna community, following the 2018 eruption to find ways to revitalize the Downtown Pahoa area," said Councilmember Kirkowitz, the bill’s introducer, arguing the change would provide parity with older special districts such as Downtown Hilo and Kailua Village, which were created using landmarks rather than meets-and-bounds.

One member of the public, Sarah Steiner, testified in opposition to Bill 29. Steiner, who identified herself as a Kuna resident since 1985, said the county’s 2045 General Plan lava-overlay maps were the wrong scale and warned that the plan could remove agricultural land and limit landowners’ uses. "If you enact the 2045 general plan, who's gonna be responsible for the legal, the engineering, and the surveying of all the ag land you plan to take out of ag?" Steiner asked, adding that the plan’s map disclaimer notes the product is for planning purposes only and is not a substitute for an on-the-ground survey.

Councilmember Kirkowitz moved to forward Bill 29 to the council with a favorable recommendation and to amend the bill with the language transmitted in communication 142.3 (the planning director’s suggested language). The motion to amend was seconded by Councilmember Kimball and carried. The subsequent motion to forward the amended bill also carried.

The committee recorded six votes in favor and three absences; the clerk reported Councilmembers Inaba, Connie Lee Kleinfelder and Galemba as absent. The committee did not record individual roll-call votes by name in the transcript for the ayes and did not indicate any nays or abstentions.

The amendment retained a role for meets-and-bounds surveys when needed but gives the Planning Director explicit authority to use other descriptive methods for establishing special zoning districts when appropriate. Planning staff told the committee this change is intended to reduce cost and time barriers to creating special districts that may include dozens or hundreds of parcels while preserving the ability to require precise surveys where future parcel-level actions require them.

The committee closed the item and adjourned at about 2:20 p.m. The bill will now proceed to a full council hearing where final action and any additional amendments would occur.