LIHU’E — The Kaua’i Planning Commission Thursday approved the final version of its rules on obtaining special permits. Many of the ideas incorporated into the rules were garnered from the community over months of public testimony, said Planning Commissioner Chair
LIHU’E — The Kaua’i Planning Commission Thursday approved the final version of
its rules on obtaining special permits.
Many of the ideas incorporated
into the rules were garnered from the community over months of public
testimony, said Planning Commissioner Chair Gary Baldwin. He said the resulting
chapter on special permits could be used as a model for the state.
“Our
county attorneys worked really hard trying to come up with something that was a
compromise that both sides could agree on and so far they haven’t figured out
how to do that in the state,” he said. “That’s pretty impressive.”
For five
months, environmental and business concerns have testified on various rules and
procedures for special permits.
Here are some of the changes that came
about:
* The applicant must notify people in the surrounding area about the
public hearing on the permit 20 days —instead of 12—prior to the date of the
hearing.
* The applicant must submit a statement addressing why other
properties that are properly designated or zoned elsewhere are not suitable for
the project. Before there was no such requirement.
* If the Commission
fails to act on the petition within 210 days, the petition will be approved
automatically after an additional 30 days, during which time protective
restrictions can be imposed.
* If a quorum or a majority vote on a petition
is not obtained by the 210 days, the Commission will have an additional 45 days
to vote on the petition, after which time the petition will be automatically
denied.
The notification time frame change was made due to the testimony of
Hanama’ulu resident Pat Cockett, who wanted to intervene against a Kaua’i
Electric Co. power plant project last summer, but missed the time window
because he was off-island.
Ideally, Cockett says, he would have liked 30
days’ notification, like the Maui Planning Commission requires.
“If you
really want to intervene, you can really do it in 30 days,” he says. “Twelve
days is impossible, 20 days you’ll be moving really fast to do but it might be
possible.”
The short time frame is why, Cockett says, there has not been an
intervention on a Planning Commission permit, but one, in recent memory.
Wilma Holi whose family tends historic salt pans, which she says will be
impacted by the proposed expansion of Burns Field, was recently granted
intervener status.
Last year, Cockett and the environmental group Citizens
for Clean Air said that the Planning Commission had violated its own rules on
special permits when it approved the power plant project in Hanama’ulu.
In
a lawsuit, the group asked for a repeal of the permits but was turned down by
Circuit Judge George Masuoka last week.
Still, Cockett says that his
lawsuit forced the county to come up with rules for special permits.
“If
those rules had been in place back then, it would have made a difference in
what’s happening today. Our lawsuit is the reason they had to do
it.”
Baldwin said that the final version of the rules didn’t receive any
negative testimony, which surprised him.
“I find it — given our normal
style — very strange that we could actually draw up something that nobody
would disagree with.”
He added quickly that doesn’t necessarily mean
everyone likes it.
“What that really means that after five months of
wrangling everybody accepted the compromise and we can start having hearings
again,” he said.
