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January 1995 | February 1995 |
 President's Message: Leage Anticipates a Busy 1995 (Suzanne Meisenzahl)Recommendations for State Convention AgendaMayor Outlines Ambitious Plan for HonoluluNew Directions for 1995Physical and Sexual Violence Bill to Be Revised (Pamela Ferguson-Brey)Congratulations, Pamela!Planning and Zoning Committee Has Busy Month (Astrid Monson)State Data Book Wins Again (Astrid Monson)City Finances Discussion Slated (Jean Aoki)Rights Petition CirculatedInformation Exchange Conference Planned (Marion Saunders)Letters to the Editor - LWV Action Praised (Faye Kennedy)Letters to the Editor - Mahalo for LWV Kokua (Martha Ross)Volunteers NeededMembership |
Planning and Zoning Committee Has Busy MonthDuring the past months the Planning and Zoning committee has been working on four major items; two of them, the Waikiki Gateway Site, and the Lihi Lani proposed development at Pupukea, were outlined in the December Voter. The other two are: 1994 Annual Development Plan Review Though the amended charter no longer calls for project-by-project amendments to the development plans (DP), a number, mostly rejected in previous years, are still before the Council. On Nov. 2,1994, Arlene Ellis testified in some detail on six bills. On five of them we agreed with Robin Foster, at that time the city's Chief Planning Officer (CPO), that the projects should not be approved. Since then Foster has resigned and has been replaced by Cheryl Soon, formerly employed by a subcontractor to the Oahu Transit Group, which won the contract to build the rail guideway (which was not built when the City Council refused to approve the excise tax increase that would have funded it.) Our reasons for recommending rejection included: that enough land had already been DP-approved to accommodate more than the expected growth to the year 2010 but was still vacant (see accompanying State Data Book article); that action should in any case be delayed until the planning department had completed the charter-mandated comprehensive revision of the D Ps for central Oahu and Ewa in March, 1995; that the commercial land/ or industrial developments proposed were inappropriately located or not needed at this time. The proposals were referred back to committee but were not on its Nov. 15 agenda. Royal Kunia Expansion On November 16 your P&Z chair testified before the Planning Commission against granting a re-zoning application for further expansion of the Royal Kunia development in Central Oahu. We had agreed with the Chief Planning Officer in both 1993 and 1994 that the DP application for this project should be rejected, and we thought it had been. Unexpectedly, a public hearing was called for its rezoning, which technically cannot happen until after the DP change is approved. We were informed that the current Council, with two temporary members, had indeed approved the 1993 bill on Sept. 21, 1994, though to our knowledge no public notice had been given of this impending action. It went to Mayor Harris on Oct. 4, 1994, was returned unsigned, and thus became law Oct. 15, 1994. Strangely, the identical 1994 bill was on the Council agenda for first reading on Oct. 12, 1994 but was later withdrawn from the 1994 Annual DP review. At the zoning hearing Nov. 16,1994, we traced the history of the DP action and testified, in part:
Astrid Monson |
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