24ns_pre.00a - Revised Ordinances of Honolulu

PREFACE

The North Shore 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 decisionmaking through the 2020 planning horizon. Each of these plans addresses one of eight geographic planning regions on Oahu, as shown in Exhibit P.1, responding to 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 will continue to be titled "Development Plans, " and will serve as the policy guides for development decisions and actions needed to support that growth.

The remaining six planning regions, including North Shore, are envisioned to remain relatively stable. The plans for these regions have been titled "Sustainable Community Plans" and are focused on serving as policy guidelines in support of that goal. Its vision statement and supporting provisions are oriented toward maintaining and enhancing the region's ability to sustain its rural character and lifestyle.

P.1 THE SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES PLAN PROCESS

This document is the culmination of a planning effort led by the City and County of Honolulu's Planning Department and its successor agency, the Department of Planning and Permitting. This effort comprised a process that encouraged and enabled significant involvement from the region's neighborhood boards, community associations, groups of business leaders, religious and cultural organizations, private landowners, institutions and numerous individuals. In its final form, the plan will have incorporated input received from eight Community Advisory Committee meetings, three community-wide meetings, and many meetings with community leaders and representatives of government agencies.

P.2 HONOLULU LAND USE PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

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, consisting primarily of one-sentence statements of objectives and policies. 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. These plans address eight geographic regions of the island, including the Primary Urban Center, East Honolulu, Central Oahu, Ewa, Waianae, North Shore, Koolauloa and Koolaupoko. Under the current revision program, the Primary Urban Center and Ewa retain the title "Development Plan." The other regions are now referred to as "Sustainable Community Plans" to reflect their policy intent.

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 principal means for implementing the City's plans. These ordinances are required to be consistent with the General Plan, the Development Plans, and each other.

In addition to these three Charter-mandated tiers, the Development Plans and Sustainable Communities 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.

P.3 AUTHORITY OF THE DEVELOPMENT PLANS AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES PLANS

The authority of the Development Plans and Sustainable Community 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 revised Plan presented in this document.

The Charter provides that "public improvement projects and subdivision and zoning ordinances shall be consistent with the development plan for that area." Although the Development Plans and 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.4 WHY THE DEVELOPMENT PLANS HAVE BEEN REVISED

In 1992 the City Charter Commission recommended, and the voters of Honolulu adopted, amendments to the City Charter. Chief among its findings, the Charter Commission concluded that the Development Plans were overly detailed and had created processes that duplicated the zoning process. To eliminate this unnecessary duplication, the 1992 Charter amendments changed the definition of Development Plans from "relatively detailed plans" to "conceptual schemes."

The 1992 Charter amendments established that the purpose of the Development Plan is to provide:

. “priorities ... (for the) coordination of major development activities"; and

. sufficient description of the “desired urban character and the significant natural, scenic and cultural resources ... to serve as a policy guide for more detailed zoning maps and regulations and public and private sector investment decisions.”

In response to the 1992 Charter amendments, the Planning Department launched a thorough review of the Development Plans. The goal of that review was the revision of all eight of the Development Plans to bring them into conformance with the Charter-mandated conceptual orientation. The revised plan presented in this document conforms to that mandate.

Exhibit P.1
Development Plan and Sustainable Communities Plan Areas for Oahu

Rough Equation

Figure