Revised Ordinances of Honolulu

2.    THE VISION FOR KO’OLAU LOA ’ S FUTURE 1 OLE Object Here This chapter presents the vision for Ko’olau Loa’s future, its key elements and the general framework for implementation. Together they provide the foundation for the Sustainable Communities Plan’s more detailed policies, principles and guidelines discussed in Section 3.0 which will direct future land use and development decisions in the Ko’olau Loa region. The vision emerged through community input and participation, as well as planning studies and agency meetings. The vision for Ko’olau Loa extends to the year 2020. Between 1998 and 2020, Ko’olau Loa is projected to experience very little growth. The country will remain country, with managed growth occurring in La’ie and Kahuku. It is projected that Ko’olau Loa’s population will increase from 14,271 in 1995 to approximately 15,093 residents by 2020, an increase of less than one percent per year over a 25-year period. The vision for Ko’olau Loa seeks to preserve the region’s rural character and its natural, cultural and scenic resources. The community envisions a safe and healthy community based on strong family values, where residents have access to quality jobs, affordable housing and ample recreational opportunities within the region. Ko’olau Loa will remain country, characterized by small towns and villages with distinctive identities that exist in harmony with the natural settings, defined by the mountain ridges and scenic open spaces which help give the region its unique form of organization. A fundamental component of this vision is the ahupua’a concept, which is illustrated in Figure 2-1. It is used as the organizing basis for land use planning and natural resource management in Ko’olau Loa. Adapted to reflect the region’s contemporary development patterns, it recognizes traditional ahupua’a divisions between existing communities and helps to enhance the distinctions between the natural and built environment. The materials that follow summarize the elements of this vision which the Sustainable Communities Plan seeks to support. 2.1    ESTABLISH RURAL COMMUNITY, AGRICULTURE AND PRESERVATION BOUNDARIES Three types of boundaries have been established to guide development and preserve open space and agricultural areas. These are the Rural Community Boundary, the Agricultural Boundary, and the Preservation Boundary. It is intended that these boundaries will remain fixed through the 2020 planning horizon. They are intended to help guide future development, redevelopment, and resources management within existing zoning designations or future zoning designations and other standards or guidelines that may be developed in response to the provisions of this plan, other established entitlements, or in accordance with pertinent policy and character described in this plan. 1.0.1 Rural Community Boundary The Rural Community Boundary is established to define, protect, and contain communities in areas that the General Plan designates ”rural” and that exhibit the physical characteristics of rural lifestyles. This boundary is intended to provide adequate lands to accommodate a modest increase in population, to allow development of facilities needed to support these established communities, to protect such communities from the more intense land uses and patterns of development associated with more urbanized areas, and to protect areas outside the boundary for agriculture or other resource or open space values. The Rural Community Boundary may include lands designated ”park,” ”agriculture,” ”preservation,” or areas with development-related hazards such as steep slopes or unstable soils; it is intended these areas will not be developed with uses unsuitable to their designations or in ways that may tend to exacerbate those hazards. Rural communities defined by this boundary consist of smaller, more dispersed, less intensively developed residential communities and towns than those of urban areas. Development character should be generally low-density, low-rise, small scale, and reflective of a ”country” setting. Within residential areas, the landscaping and front yards that provide the foregrounds to the dwellings should be the principal visual elements. In commercial areas, the pedestrian environment and associated amenities should predominate, and storefronts on both sides of the street should be simultaneously perceivable. Buildings should be oriented to encourage interaction between the public and private domains. The main objectives of the Rural Community Boundary are to:     ·     Preserve Agricultural Lands, Significant Open Space, and Natural Resources. The Rural Community Boundary should prevent the encroachment of development onto productive agricultural lands, and protect agricultural lands, significant open space, and natural resources outside the boundary. Figure 2-1 Ahupua’a Concept     ·     Promote an Efficient Development Pattern. The Rural Community Boundary primarily focuses new development to ”infill” sites within the existing communities. A compact form of development concentrated in the existing communities along the coast will result in relatively lower development costs, more efficient utilization of existing urban infrastructure systems, and reduced reliance on the automobile by making transit, walking, and bicycling more feasible and attractive as alternative modes of travel.     ·     Provide Sufficient Capacity for Projected Growth. The community areas within the Rural Community Boundary contain ample capacity to accommodate anticipated residential and commercial development to the year 2020. Due to anticipated long-term job growth and diversified employment opportunities within the Kuilima Resort area and the La’ie community, the Sustainable Communities Plan allows for limited expansion of residential areas in Kahuku and La’ie, in addition to previously designated but undeveloped residential areas within each community.     ·     Protect Natural and Scenic Resources. Significant natural landscape features can be more effectively protected from physical changes by more clearly limiting the potential area for new community development through the Rural Community Boundary. These natural scenic landscape elements include the mountain ridges, valleys, open areas, and coastal resources. The Rural Community Boundary generally circumscribes the built sections of Ka’a’awa, Kahana, Punalu’u, Hau’ula, La’ie and Kahuku. It also includes pockets of agricultural lands and parks, which should be preserved and maintained as such unless otherwise designated, to retain the open space character within the Rural Community Boundary. 2.1.2    Agricultural Boundary The Agricultural Boundary is established to protect important agricultural lands for their economic and open space values, and for their value in helping to give the region its identifiable rural character. Important agricultural lands include lands currently in agricultural use and lands with high value for future agricultural use. They include agriculturally important lands designated ”prime,” ”unique,” or ”other” on the Agricultural Lands of Importance to the State of Hawaii (ALISH) maps. The primary use of all lands within the Agricultural Boundary must be agriculture or directly supportive of the agriculture industry. Exceptions include ”institutional” uses, which must be developed and operated to maintain compatibility with agricultural uses. 2.1.3    Preservation Boundary The Preservation Boundary is established to protect undeveloped lands that are not valued primarily for agriculture but which form an important part of the region’s open space fabric. Such lands include important wildlife habitat, archeological or historic sites, significant landforms or landscapes over which significant views are available, development-related hazard areas. The Preservation Boundary generally circumscribes undeveloped lands that: · Are necessary for protection of watersheds, water resources and water supplies; · Are necessary for the conservation, preservation and enhancement of sites with scenic, historic, archeological or ecological significance; · Are necessary for providing and preserving park lands, wilderness and beach reserves, and for conserving natural ecosystems of endemic plants, fish and wildlife, for forestry, and other activities related to these uses; · Are located at an elevation below the maximum inland line of the zone of wave action, and marine waters, fishponds, and tidepools unless otherwise designated. · Comprise offshore and outlying islands unless otherwise classified. · Are generally characterized by topography, soils, climate or other related environmental factors that may not be normally adaptable or presently needed for urban community, rural community, or agricultural use; · Have general slopes of 20 percent or more which provide for open space amenities and/or scenic values; · Are susceptible to floods and soil erosion, lands undergoing major erosion damage and requiring corrective attention, and lands necessary to the protection of the health, safety and welfare of the public by reason of soil instability or the lands’ susceptibility to landslides and/or inundation by tsunami and flooding; · Are used for state or city parks outside the Rural Community Boundary; or · Are suitable for growing of commercial timber, grazing, hunting, and recreation uses, including facilities accessory to such uses when such facilities are compatible with the natural and physical environment. The Preservation Boundary excludes such features, sites or areas located within the Rural Community or Agricultural Boundaries. 2.2    PRESERVE AND ENHANCE THE NATURAL, RECREATIONAL AND     CULTURAL RESOURCES WHICH CONTRIBUTE TO KO’OLAU LOA ’ S     SENSE OF ” OLD HAWAI’I ” OLE Object Here Kahana Bay Protection of this region’s resources and rural character has island-wide importance because of its unique quality and beauty to both residents and visitors. Natural resources will be conserved through retaining natural drainageways and protecting valuable plant and wildlife habitats. Open space will be preserved in recreation and preservation areas, parks, and agricultural areas. The Sustainable Communities Plan calls for the protection of this region’s many significant scenic mauka and makai views of mountain ridges, valleys, slopes and coastline. Of Ko’olau Loa’s many natural resources, the following wetlands are listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) O’ahu Team as significant (as of September 10, 1998) because of the occurrence and abundance of native waterbirds, including the endangered Hawaiian stilt (ae’o), Hawaiian coot (‘alae ke’oke’o), Hawaiian duck (koloa maoli), Hawaiian moorhen (‘alae ‘ula), and migratory waterfowl and shorebird. The USFWS-listed wetland areas include:         ·    Turtle Bay Golf Course Ponds     ·    Kuilima Mitigation Pond     ·    Kuilima Sewage Treatment Pond     ·    Punaho’olapa Marsh     ·    James Campbell Natural Wildlife Refuge, Ki’i Unit and Punamano Unit 5     ·    Kahuku Aquafarms (former AmOrient)     ·    Airstrips Ponds         ·    Kahuku Prawn Farm     ·    La’ie Aquaculture Farm/Po’ohaili Wetlands     ·    Hau’ula     ·    Punalu’u Prawn Farm     ·    Kahana State Park/Huilua Pond         ·    Ka’a’awa Wetlands Other natural resources include streams and gulches which contain important biological, scenic, cultural and recreational values that should be preserved and protected from development or incompatible activities. Perennial streams and stream corridors are designated as Preservation on the Open Space, Land Use, and Public Facilities Maps in Appendix A. In addition, the following streams and gulches in Ko’olau Loa were identified in the State Commission on Water Resource Management, Hawaii Stream Assessment (December 1990) as having outstanding aquatic resources: · Koloa Gulch · Kaluanui Stream · Punulu’u Stream · Kahana Stream · Ka’a’awa Stream · Makaua Stream It should be noted that the above lists of wetlands and streams are based on available information. Those not listed above are just as worthy of protection as they may contain other resources or may have resources as good as those listed above but were not classified as such because of incomplete or inadequate information. In general, any activities in the vicinity of streams and wetlands need to ensure that their biological, scenic, cultural or recreational values are not impaired. A konohiki approach to management of natural resources should be re-established and maintained in order to properly sustain and protect them. In summary, konohiki practices focused on sustainable usage and systematic management of natural resources, respecting ecosystem relationships and using the ahupua’a as a contextual or management unit. This approach should be used in the management, monitoring, and regulating of uses to avoid resource misuse or mismanagement. The Ko’olau Loa region also contains several different types of historic and cultural resources. For example, the plantation era is an important period that made a substantial contribution to the development of this region. Reminders of that period, such as the Kahuku Sugar Mill, are valuable records of the past. Significant historic features from earlier pre-contact periods or significant vistas associated with cultural features should also be preserved wherever possible. 2.3    PRESERVE AGRICULTURAL LANDS The Sustainable Communities Plan calls for the preservation of agricultural lands and encourages diversification of agricultural-related enterprises in order to maintain the viability of agriculture throughout Ko’olau Loa. Over 25 percent - or more than 9,000 acres - of the Ko’olau Loa region is designated for Agricultural use on the Sustainable Communities Plan. Successful agricultural operations including truck crops, vegetables, taro, and flowers and landscaping plants are currently being pursued on former sugarcane lands and in the mauka valleys throughout the region. In addition, aquaculture uses have been developed in outlying areas near Kahuku and in rural areas and mauka valleys within Malaekahana, Punalu’u and Ka’a’awa. OLE Object Here Punalu’u Agriculture Agricultural lands are protected from development through the establishment of the Rural Community and Agriculture Boundaries. By supporting the active use of these lands for agricultural purposes, the opportunity to retain and protect diversified agriculture and aquaculture activities on small and large farms is enhanced. 2.4    ENHANCE EXISTING RECREATIONAL AREAS AND RESOURCES OLE Object Here Beach Park Picnic Area The Ko’olau Loa Sustainable Communities Plan Area contains significant areas and resources which offer a variety of outdoor recreational opportunities, as well as cultural experiences such as at Kahana Valley. The region contains numerous beach parks along its coastline and State parks such as Kaliuwa’a (Sacred Falls), Malaekahana and Kahana Valley. These resource areas should be recognized as important open space and recreation assets of the Ko’olau Loa region. The existing parks and recreation areas should be maintained and enhanced to utilize the region’s abundance of natural and scenic resources for the enjoyment of residents and visitors. At the same time, the value of these resources should be protected from overuse. Existing beach access should be maintained and new shoreline access properties should be acquired along narrow stretches of ocean-front land as opportunities arise. An open space system of landscaped pathways will link communities together along major roadways, streams, wetlands and other drainageways. 2.5     ESTABLISH RURAL AREA DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS TO     MAINTAIN THE RURAL CHARACTER OF RESIDENTIAL AREAS OLE Object Here Hau’ula ’ s Rural Setting Appropriate rural residential development standards should be established in order to retain the rural character unique to the Ko’olau Loa region. New regulations should be adopted and residential subdivisions should be characterized by larger house lots, ample landscaping, and narrower paved streets without the requirement for sidewalks, curbs and gutters. The need for additional housing related to long-term growth in Ko’olau Loa will be met primarily by the ”infill” development of existing vacant lands within each of the region’s rural communities. In addition, the Sustainable Communities Plan allows for limited expansion of residential areas in Kahuku and La’ie, to accommodate long-term housing needs related to projected employment growth at Kuilima Resort and to an expansion of diversified employment opportunities in La’ie. The physical changes brought about by infill home construction or expansion in existing, built-up neighborhoods will be slower and subtler than the development of moderate-sized vacant parcels. In any case, effective residential lot and subdivision development standards should be adopted to limit building height, lot coverage, paving width of streets, and enhance landscaping in order to reflect the rural character of Ko’olau Loa. 2.6    ENHANCE THE CHARACTER OF THE REGION ’ S COMMERCIAL AREAS     AND RECOGNIZE THE CONTRIBUTION OF COUNTRY STORES TO     KO’OLAU LOA ’ S RURAL FABRIC The character of the region’s commercial areas, as well as its stand-alone ”Country Stores,” should be enhanced through design guidelines that are appropriate to the scale and theme of the region and communities they serve. (See Section 3.6 for a description of types of commercial areas.) Rural architectural style guidelines should be drafted for the Kahuku Sugar Mill, and La’ie and Hau’ula shopping centers, with building and landscape treatment recommendations unique to the character and needs of each of these commercial areas. Design guidelines should also be established to provide information regarding the appropriate rehabilitation or renovation of existing commercial centers and country-store operations. ”Country Store”-type establishments are an important part of Ko’olau Loa’s character and should be allowed to renovate or reconstruct accordingly. These small businesses provide convenient locations for residents to eat out, get groceries or gather to socialize; and for visitors to shop in locally run stores and purchase a variety of handcrafted items. In general, these businesses should be limited to their existing locations and not expanded along Kamehameha Highway in order to maintain the rural character of the region’s ”front door” and avoid the creation of a commercial strip along the coastline.