Overhauling and updating the city’s more than 30-year-old land use ordinance — a guiding planning document used for orderly development on Oahu — has begun.
The changes made to the ordinance come under the 2022 city measure Bill 10 — meant to replace, revise and update older and possibly outdated regulations found in the city’s LUO, a document first introduced in the mid-1980s. If approved by a full City Council vote, Bill 10’s amendments to the LUO could affect such things as agricultural tourism, wind farms, affordable housing and the use of industrial lands and commercial spaces on the island.
To that end, the Council’s Committee on Planning and the Economy voted unanimously March 2 to recommend to the Council several land use amendments related to industrial uses.
At that meeting, Dawn Takeuchi Apuna, director of the city Department of Planning and Permitting, told the panel that Oahu’s industrial zone area makes up 2% of the overall land use zones here. “So it’s a very important area that we need to preserve and make sure that those uses are intended for industrial use,” she said. “But we are supportive of the proposed amendments.”
Among changes proposed, the panel amended the use and operations of helistops — marked and established landing zones for flying rotorcraft, where no maintenance occurs — on city and county properties. The changes would restrict operations at helistops, the size of aircraft to land or take off at those locations, and ban all use of unmanned drones at the sites. The changes, however, allow exceptions for rescue and emergency response operations.
There were other proposed LUO amendments that day, changing ordinance language regulating composting, livestock and veterinary services, child day care, cemeteries and teacher and workforce housing, among others.
A few members of the public also spoke at the hearing.
They included members of the hotel, health care and food service workers union — Unite Here Local 5 — who cautioned the city on how hotels are currently permitted and developed on Oahu.
“We believe the hotel developments anywhere should be a subject for City Council approval and subject to public input and serious considerations of that public input,” said Jill Tokusato of Local 5. She added that “major or minor conditional use permits” do not require Council approval. “Current law allows some small degree of public input for minor and major permit applications, but the laws need more robust powers for the city to respond to public concerns and also require the developers to respond.”
Ivan Ho, a research analyst for Local 5, told the panel his labor union had worked on this issue with past City Councils.
“We believe the public needs more than just a voice on these types of developments; we need actual discretionary approval powers over how these buildings impact our island community,” Ho said. “So we just urge City Council to consider the question of whether or not the public, through their elected Council members, should have influence on what our island’s going to look like in the years to come.”
In response, Council Vice Chair Esther Kia‘aina, who chairs the planning and economy committee, thanked both speakers for their testimony. She then asked them to return to a future LUO meeting that would directly address commercial zoning, which includes hotels.
The committee’s actions were the first of many hearings over land use. Other hearings are expected to amend the LUO’s regulation of commercial, public, civic and institutional uses. Remaining uses will be considered at subsequent hearings, including residential, agricultural and miscellaneous uses.
According to the city, the Council approved funding in 2018 for DPP to initiate these land use updates. Since then DPP has gathered input from over 100 people and professional land use planning organizations to determine how to proceed with an overall update to the aging LUO document, the city says.
After the meeting, Kia‘aina told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser via email that the Council is still reviewing recommendations proposed by the DPP, various Council members and community stakeholders “to observe the potential impacts to all districts, including residential, business, agricultural and resort.”
In terms of Bill 10’s amendments to the LUO related to tourism and business development in places like Waikiki, Kia‘aina said that “holistically, these should not substantively impact business development or tourism in Waikiki.”
“With that in mind, there is still the potential for further discussion and amendments, and ultimately we’ll have to see where the discussion takes us in the context of the Waikiki Special District,” she said. “I cannot emphasize enough how important community input is, and I look forward to hearing from the Waikiki and tourism communities to see what, if any, additional changes should be made.”
As far as community reaction to LUO changes, Kia‘aina said there has been a “wide range of reactions from stakeholders.”
“As you know, (Bill 10) encompasses amendments to the LUO that include expansive use types, use categories and land use, and will determine in what zoning districts these land uses will be allowed and in what circumstances,” she added. “With that being said, some of the strongest supporters of Bill 10 are affordable housing advocates, who believe that the bill may allow for more residential infill within the urban core.”
She added that “significant discussions” surrounding agricultural uses also have occurred.
“So I anticipate robust and in-depth discussions on those uses,” Kia‘aina said. “As we continue to work on this important measure, I look forward to all stakeholders submitting testimony and sharing their mana‘o. This is an exceptionally complex issue, and I look forward to hearing from the community to ensure that we address the needs of our local residents.”
For more information about future hearings, visit honolulu.gov.
