April 1983 Home   Newsletters

May 1983

June-July 1983

Public Forums on Resource Recovery Program
President's Message (Arlene Woo)
Legislative Wrap-Up
Craig Whitesell Joins Honolulu Board
State Convention
Calendar
Fun Prelude to Convention
Membership Update
Development Plans Adopted ... Finally (Astrid Monson)
Annual Meeting
Panel Expresses Concern over Health and ... Toxic Substances
National Security Committee Report (Dottie Gullicksen)
Join Our Action! (Marion Saunders)
News Bits

Development Plans Adopted ... Finally

Members of League's Planning and Zoning Committee let out their collective breath on April 27 when, after many years of controversy, the remaining six Development Plans (covering all the island except the previously adopted DP's for Urban Center and Ewa) were adopted by the City Council.

Their history includes Mayor Anderson's veto when about seventy last-minute changes were made to the DP's by the previous City Council in November, 1981, and a series of stormy public hearings in 1982 and 1983 bringing forth well over a thousand pieces of testimony pro and con.

It was the "wholesale changes" the Council made in 1981 which, according to a Honolulu Advertiser story on April 21, "drew public fury that helped oust three councilmen in last fall's elections."

At the final public hearing on April 18 on the City Council's current "draft 2" of the DP's, 117 persons registered to testify. On April 20, the Council's Planning and Zoning Committee voted 8 to 1 (Rudy Pacarro dissenting) to adopt Marilyn Bornhorst's motion, seconded by George Akahane, to approve the draft with no substantive changes.

Draft 2 was actually more restrictive and effective in implementing the General Plan than Draft 1, submitted by the Department of General Planning and the City Planning Commission to the previous Council in 1982 but not passed because of then pending General Plan revisions. Draft 2 was given broad community support but contained specific provisions objected to by certain development interests.

LEAGUE TESTIFIES

League testified at the April 18 hearing (and made two of three evening TV news broad-casts!) in support of adoption of draft 2 without further delay.

"We urge," said our testimony in part, "that the current DP drafts, forged with so much difficulty and after so many years of thought and discussion, be adopted without further changes.

Neither the community nor, we think, the Council wants a repetition of the kinds of last-minute spot changes which destroyed the 1980 DP drafts and held up the entire planning process until now.

Because the League is interested in both open government and in effective planning, we appreciate the way this Council has approached final action on the long-delayed DP's. Though everyone has been given a chance---sometimes several chances---to be heard, the current draft seems for the most part to be an accept-able compromise embodying sound planning principles.

But once again tonight, the objections made at previous hearings are being repeated. It is unrealistic to hope that everyone will be happy with every aspect of every one of the Plans. No matter how many changes are made, there will still be those who want more changes or who, indeed, would prefer no land use controls at all "

COUNCIL ADOPTS DEVELOPMENT PLANS

At the April 20th Council Planning and Zoning Committee meeting, Chairman Leigh-Wai Doo called for adoption of draft 2 with no changes other than to correct what Welcome Fawcett characterized as "egregious errors." He proposed postponing review of all substantive changes proposed by various Council members subsequent to draft 2 until the first regular annual review of the DP's as mandated by the City Charter. Former Council Chairman, Rudy Pacarro, demurred vigorously, calling for an item-by-item review of a long list of changes but did not prevail.

Mayor Anderson expressed her gratification at the Council's action and is expected to sign the DP's into law shortly.

THE NEXT STEP is enactment by the Council of Interim Development Controls to pre-vent construction not in accordance with the Plans until rezoning to implement them can be adopted. A public hearing on the IDC ordinances will be held by the Council's P&Z committee on May 9, followed by a special committee meeting on May 10, and action by the full Council on May 11. LEAGUE WILL BE THERE!!

LEAGUE ACTION CONTINUES

League's P&Z Committee does not expect to be able to take a vacation. Next comes the rezoning ordinances; then the first annual mandatory reviews of the PUC and Ewa DP's passed last year. By then, it will be time for the first annual reviews of the DPs just adopted, all complete with public hearings before both the City Planning Commission and the City Council.

Help, anyone?

Astrid Monson

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