The Koolaupoko Sustainable Communities Plan has been prepared in accordance with the Charter-prescribed requirements for development plans and is to be accorded force and effect as such for all Charter- and ordinance-prescribed purposes. It is one of eight community-oriented plans intended to help guide public policy, investment, and decision-making through the 2020 planning horizon. Each of these eight plans addresses one of eight geographic planning regions on Oahu, responding to the specific conditions and community values of each region.

Two of the eight planning regions, Ewa and the Primary Urban Center, are the areas to which major growth in population and economic activity will be directed over the next 20 years and beyond. The plans for these regions continue to be titled "Development Plans," and will serve as the policy guides for the development decisions and actions required to support that growth.

The remaining six planning regions, including Koolaupoko, are envisioned to remain relatively stable. The plans for those regions have been titled "Sustainable Communities Plans" and are focused on serving as policy guides for public actions in support of that goal. The vision statement and supporting provisions of the Koolaupoko Sustainable Communities Plan are oriented toward maintaining and enhancing the region's ability to sustain its unique character and lifestyle.

The City and County of Honolulu guides and directs land use and growth through a three-tier system of objectives, policies, planning principles, guidelines and regulations. The General Plan forms the first tier of this system. First adopted by resolution in 1977, the General Plan is a relatively brief document, providing a broad statement of objectives and policies to guide the City’s future. It has been amended several times, but the basic objectives and policies set forth in the 1977 plan remain intact.

The second tier of the system is formed by the development plans, which are adopted and revised by ordinance and are required to implement objectives and policies set forth in the General Plan. These plans address eight geographic regions of the island: the Primary Urban Center, East Honolulu, Central Oahu, Ewa, Waianae, North Shore, Koolauloa and Koolaupoko. The Koolaupoko Development Plan was first adopted in 1983. The development plans for East Honolulu, Central Oahu, Waianae, North Shore, Koolauloa, and Koolaupoko are now referred to as Sustainable Communities Plans.

The third tier of the system is composed of the implementing ordinances, including the Land Use Ordinance (Honolulu's zoning code) and the City's Capital Improvement Program. Mandated by the City Charter, these ordinances constitute the principle means for implementing the City's plans. These ordinances are required to be consistent with, and carry out the purposes of, the General Plan, the development plans (or Sustainable Communities Plans), and each other.

In addition to these three Charter-mandated tiers, the development plans are supplemented by two planning mechanisms that are not required by the Charter, including the functional planning process and special area planning. Functional planning activities, some of which are mandated by state or federal regulations, provide long-range guidance for the development of public facilities such as the water system, wastewater disposal, and transportation. Special area plans are intended to give specific guidance for neighborhoods, communities or specialized resources.

The authority of the Development Plans and Sustainable Communities Plans is derived from the City Charter, which mandates preparation of a general plan and development plans to guide “the development and improvement of the city.” Together with the General Plan, the development plans provide a policy context for the land use and budgetary actions of the City. This is the authority the originally adopted development plans carried, and it remains unchanged in the Sustainable Communities Plan presented in this document.

The Charter provides that public improvement projects and subdivision and zoning ordinances shall be consistent with and carry out the purposes of the development plan for that area. Although the Development Plans or Sustainable Communities Plans are not themselves regulatory, they “regulate the regulators.” They are policy tools and are to be used, in conjunction with the programs and budgets of the City, to accomplish the objectives of the City and as guides for the decisions made in the private sector.

P.3    Executive Summary of the
Koolaupoko Sustainable Communities Plan

This plan, which is incorporated into Ordinance 00-47 by reference, is organized in five chapters and an appendix, as follows:

· Chapter 1: Koolaupoko's Role in Oahu's Development Pattern defines the region's role and identity within the overall framework of islandwide planning and land use management.

· Chapter 2: The Vision for Koolaupoko's Future describes the vision for the future of the region and lists important elements of that vision.

· Chapter 3: Land Use Policies, Principles, and Guidelines presents the Plan's policies, and provides policy guidance for the region's various land use elements.

· Chapter 4: Public Facilities and Infrastructure Policies and Principles presents policies, principles and actions needed to support the land use policies of Chapter 3.

· Chapter 5: Implementation addresses needs for carrying out provisions outlined by the Plan.

The contents of each chapter is summarized below:

In carrying out the purposes of the General Plan, Koolaupoko is expected to experience essentially no growth over the 20-year projection horizon of this plan. Policies in support of this goal limit the potential for expansion of the region's housing stock, commercial centers and economic activity, and are focussed on maintaining the patterns of development characteristics of its urban fringe and rural areas.

This vision is shaped around two principal concepts. The first of these calls for protection of the communities' natural, scenic, cultural, historic and agricultural resources. The second principal concept addresses the need to improve and replace, as necessary, the region's aging infrastructure systems. Ten key elements of the vision are identified, including:

§ Adapt the concept of “ahupua‘a” as a basis for land use and natural resources management.

§ Preserve and promote open space throughout the region.

§ Preserve and promote agricultural uses.

§ Preserve and enhance scenic, recreational and cultural features that define Koolaupoko's sense of place.

§ Emphasize alternatives to the private passenger vehicle as modes for travel.

§ Adapt housing and public works standards to community character and changing needs.

§ Protect residential neighborhoods.

§ Define and enhance existing commercial and civic districts.

§ Establish Urban Community, Rural Community, Agriculture and Preservation boundaries.

§ Maintain the predominantly low-rise, low-density, single-family character of the urban fringe and rural communities identified in Figure 1-1.

This chapter presents general policies, planning principles and guidelines for the major concerns related to land use in Koolaupoko. General policies related to each land use type are summarized below:

§ Protect scenic views, provide recreation and promote access to shoreline and mountain areas.
§ Define the boundaries of communities and provide buffers between agricultural uses, residential neighborhoods and other uses.
§ Create a system of linear greenways along roadways and drainage ways.
§ Prevent development in areas susceptible to landslides and similar hazards.

§ Employ appropriate screening and siting.
§ Ensure environmental compatibility in the design and construction of park facilities.
§ Integrate recreational opportunities with the characteristics of the surrounding community.
§ Establish the Kaneohe area as the top priority for creating new shoreline access and/or beach parks in Koolaupoko.
§ Take steps to make future beach accretion public land in perpetuity.

§ Increase the inventory of community-based parks to provide appropriately located sports and recreation facilities.
§ Provide for more intensive use of some existing facilities serving areas in which expansion of site area is constrained.
§ Require developers of new residential projects to provide land for open space and recreation purposes, rather than paying the park dedication fee.
§ Pursue installation of greenways along streams and drainage channels.

§ Emphasize physical references to Koolaupoko's history and cultural roots.
§ Protect existing visual landmarks and support creation of new, culturally appropriate landmarks.
§ Preserve significant historic features.
§ Retain significant vistas associated with archaeological features.

§ Encourage small-lot agricultural uses and prevent conversion of agricultural lands to nonagricultural uses.
§ Adopt development and public works standards that are appropriate and cost-effective for rural, agricultural areas.
§ Provide supporting infrastructure, services and facilities to foster and sustain agricultural operations.
§ Implement policies and incentives to promote active, long-term agricultural uses.

§ Modify residential street design to provide emphasis on safe, accessible, convenient and comfortable pedestrian routes, bus stops and bike routes.
§ Maintain the predominantly low-rise, low-density, single-family character of the region.
§ Protect the integrity of existing residential neighborhoods.
§ Reduce average density guidelines to 2-8 units per acre in urban fringe areas and 0.2 – 4 units per acre in rural areas.

§ Identify and define commercial and industrial uses in various categories appropriate to the character and needs of Koolaupoko's communities, including: rural commercial centers; neighborhood commercial centers; community commercial centers; town centers; and areas supporting light and extractive industries.
§ Limit the area devoted to commercial and industrial centers to current sites.
§ Expand the use of mixed-use commercial-residential designations, and apply mixed-use industrial-commercial designations to existing industrial sites in Kailua and Kaneohe.
§ Rezone the frontage of Hekili Street in Kailua to commercial to avoid its future use as industrial.

§ Retain the open space character of existing institutional campuses.
§ Site and design campus facilities to respect the scenic context and adjacent residential areas.

§ Assume MCBH and Bellows AFS will remain under military control.
§ Encourage the State to continue to pursue the release of unused military lands for civilian uses, with special attention to securing permanent civilian use of all Bellows shorefront areas and provision of greater civilian shoreline access at MCBH.

    Infrastructure Policies and Principles
This chapter presents general policies and planning principles for the major concerns related to public facilities and infrastructure in Koolaupoko. General policies related to each facility type are summarized below:

§ Reduce reliance on the private passenger vehicle by promoting transportation system management and travel demand management measures for both commuting and local trips.
§ Provide adequate and improved mobility between communities, shopping, and recreation centers, especially by enhancing pedestrian, bicycle and transit modes of travel.
§ Maintain adequate person-carrying capacity for peak-period commuting to and from work in the Primary Urban Center.
§ Recommend no new highway widenings or interchange construction except widening to accommodate bikeways.

§ Integrate management of all potable and nonpotable water sources, including groundwater, stream water, storm water, and effluent, following State and City legislative mandates.
§ Adopt and implement water conservation practices in the design of new developments and the modification of existing uses, including landscaped areas and as a major element in integrated water resource planning.

§ Connect all wastewater produced within the Urban Community and Rural Community boundary areas to municipal or military sewer service systems.
§ Where feasible, use water recycling as a water conservation measure.
§ Mitigate visual, noise, and odor impacts associated with wastewater collection and treatment systems, especially when they are located adjacent to residential designated areas.

§ Design system elements and incrementally replace facilities such as substations, transmission lines and towers to avoid or mitigate any potential adverse impacts on scenic and natural resource values and residential neighborhoods and to enhance system reliability.
§ Place new utility lines underground.
§ Coordinate improvements with other infrastructure improvement efforts such as roadway widening.
§ Establish a long-range program for systematically relocating existing lines underground.

§ Continue efforts to establish more efficient waste reduction, diversion and collection systems without adverse impact on residents.
§ Further encourage green waste recycling.

§ Promote drainage system design, which emphasizes control and minimization of polluted runoff and the retention of storm water on-site and in wetlands.
§ View storm water as a potential source of water for recharge of the aquifer that should be retained for absorption rather than quickly moved to coastal waters.
§ Select natural and man-made vegetated drainageways and retention basins as the preferred solution to drainage problems wherever they can promote water recharge, help control nonpoint source pollution, and provide passive recreation benefits.
§ Keep drainageways clear of debris to avoid flooding problems.

§ Approve new residential developments only after the State Department of Education certifies that adequate school facilities will be available when the development is completed.
§ Support State efforts to require that developers pay their fair share of costs needed to ensure provision of adequate school facilities.

§ Provide adequate staffing and facilities to ensure effective and efficient delivery of basic governmental services and protection of public safety.
§ Locate civic facilities in areas suitable for the volume of users.

§ Other major public, quasi-public or private facilities or utilities which provide essential community services but which have a major adverse impact on surrounding land uses should be considered through a City review process, such as the Plan Review Use process, which provides public notification, review by appropriate agencies, opportunities for public comment, and approval by the City Council.

§ Adopt policies and principles to enhance the natural environment and preserve the aesthetic character of the community.

P.3.5    Chapter 5: Implementation

This chapter discusses the various measures that will be necessary to ensure timely implementation of the plan, including those measures that will minimize disruption during the transition into the plan. Among the measures addressed by this chapter, changes to the zoning maps and the Land Use Ordinance will be necessary to achieve required conformance with the Sustainable Communities Plan, as will various other regulatory codes and standards. This chapter also addresses monitoring of plan implementation and provides for comprehensive review of the plan at five-year intervals. It also:

· Establishes development priorities in conformance with the plan.

· Sets priorities for public facility improvements.

· Substitutes conditional zoning for Development Agreements.

The appendix provides three color maps that delineate many of the plan's textual provisions. The maps are intended to complement the text. Both the text and the maps are to be considered in interpreting the plan.

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Revised Ordinances