The 91直播 County Windward Planning Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to approve a legislation package that would rezone parts of downtown Pahoa.
With six votes in favor and one member absent and excused, the commission opted to forward to the County Council with a favorable recommendation Bills 124, 125 and 126. These bills would change zoning designations for a stretch of mainstreet Pahoa from Village Commercial and Single-Family Residential to a new category — Downtown Pahoa Commercial — and codify standards for the new district’s permitted land uses, building heights and architectural density.
This would allow for a greater scope of commercial activities in the town, including agricultural processing, co-working office spaces and “cultural enterprises.”
The suite of legislation makes up a push to revitalize the town’s long-suffering economy, which was hit hard by the 2018 Kilauea eruption and COVID-19 pandemic, and is still reckoning with the fallout from destructive back-to-back Kona low storms last month.
The bills would also refine the Pahoa Village Design District by clarifying the application and governance of design guidelines meant to preserve the historic character and aesthetic of new and renovated buildings.
Opponents of the measures have expressed concerns about how rezoning would affect property rights and taxes, with some claiming that building owners will be forced into new zoning designations against their will and burdened by the resulting increase in their property tax bills.
Puna Councilwoman Ashley Kierkiewicz and Planning Director Jeff Darrow — who together authored the measures — sat before the commission while its members fielded questions about these issues, prompted by members of the public “writing in their concerns.”
Much of the questioning revolved around the “opt in” nature of the plan, where property owners would only take advantage of the expanded list of land uses if they felt it beneficial to their businesses. Commissioner Thomas Fratinardo said this flexibility in implementation was a good start, but sought clarification on whether there would be a grace period for those who opt in and then get cold feet.
“On the opt in process, when someone … volunteers, they say, ‘I wanna opt in,’ but then they have a change of heart, let’s say 45 days later, would there be like a time period where that person can opt out if they change their mind?” Fratinardo asked. “Planning director says that once it’s done, it’s final. Is final, final, or can they change their mind?”
Darrow fielded the question, saying the Planning Department would work with owners to not make decisions binding until a yet-to-be-determined grace period had elapsed.
“We haven’t really established that,” he said. “The way it is now is there was consideration for an opt in, opt out, but that didn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense that years down the line someone can say I want to opt out, and then we have to reverse the zoning. So, currently, if you opt in — I mean, of course, if it’s a short period of time, we can always be flexible and say, alright then we won’t take action on that request. But if it’s a period of time — a year, two years or something — the zoning should just stay in place.”
Fratinardo characterized the legislation package’s flexibility as taking “baby steps,” where Pahoa business owners see gradual changes that they can choose to take advantage of or not, but still raised concerns about taxes.
“So, baby steps,” he said. “From the baby steps stage, so opt in: How will that affect your tax bill?”
Kierkiewicz tapped county Real Property Tax Administrator Lisa Miura to answer this question.
“There’s no special tax classification for districts,” Miura said. “If (properties are) being used as residential, even though they opt in for this and they’re still going along as residential use, they’ll still be taxed as residential, and you’re not going to see a jump in the taxes unless they do some type of improvement to the property itself … so that’s based on the value, but if they do nothing, and they opt in, then they should not see any changes until they actually change what they’re doing with the property.”
Commissioner JoNelle Fukushima sought clarification from the respondents about how land use intensity will be measured in the new commercial district.
“(Is it) by square footage, is it by occupant load, is it by hours of operation?” Fukushima asked. “I’m asking because, you know, without intensity limits, it’s kind of like a blank check — you can build a sports arena, for example … I’m just asking what does the intensity look like.”
Darrow opted to answer this question, excusing himself for a minute to retrieve his laptop.
“He’s gonna grab his trusty code,” Kierkiewicz said jokingly.
“It’s absolutely a good question,” she said while Darrow was away. “We want to make sure that anything that is built in the town has a sufficient sort of carrying capacity to support whatever that is.”
Upon returning, Darrow clarified that density in commercial zonings is typically governed by square footage of individual family living spaces, which in the proposed district would need to be at least 500 square feet per dwelling.
“It’s not related to like somebody that wants to put in a retail store or supermarket,” Darrow said. “Whatever they can build in that particular area, given the setbacks in the heights — that will be the restraining areas for that particular development.”
Email Stefan Verbano at stefan.verbano@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
