fHOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.R. NO.

263

TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

 

REQUESTING THAT THE oahu metropolitan planning organization and the city and county of honolulu department of planning and permitting DEVELOP A PLANNING TEMPLATE FOR ENSURING SUFFICIENT REGIONAL HIGHWAY AND ROADWAY DEVELOPMENT TO MEET THE NEEDS OF EMERGING RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITIES IN THE EWA DEVELOPMENT PLAN and the waianae sustainable communities plan.

 

 

 


     WHEREAS, there has been more than sufficient publicity describing the morass of traffic congestion in leeward Oahu and the daily plight of leeward Oahu commuters; and

 

     WHEREAS, the unchallenged cause of much of this congestion is the unbridled growth in the Ewa Beach and Kapolei areas, despite the City and County of Honolulu's Ewa Development Plan, as amended; and

 

     WHEREAS, this growth in Ewa Beach and Kapolei has a direct impact upon the residents of the Waianae coast, from Nanakuli to Makaha, who have to commute through these areas to get to schools and jobs in Honolulu; and

 

     WHEREAS, there have been many calls for regional highway improvements intended to serve new residential developments to have been completed prior to, or concurrent with, the completion of the new residential development; and

 

     WHEREAS, many private developers decry what they refer to as the "fallacy" of concurrency legislation, pointing to what the private developers claim is a failure of the State and the counties in not fulfilling their responsibilities to plan and provide funding for necessary capital infrastructure improvements in a timely manner; and

 

     WHEREAS, while service to new residential developments must be addressed to ensure adequate infrastructure for these new developments, equally important is the impact these new developments and the need for more infrastructure will have on existing adjoining communities and regions; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2009, that the Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization and the City and County of Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting are requested to develop a planning template for ensuring sufficient regional highway, both state and county, improvements to serve emerging residential communities in the Ewa Development Plan area and the existing and new residential communities in the Waianae Sustainable Communities Plan area; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this body requests that the template include but not be limited to:

 

     (1)  Road construction policies that ensure that regional highway, both state and county, improvements are planned and constructed in time to serve planned residential developments in the Ewa Development Plan area and Waianae Sustainable Communities Plan and the contemplated impact that these new developments will have on the residents of the Waianae coast, from Nanakuli to Makaha, all in accordance with approved transportation plans and transportation improvement programs and approved state transportation improvement priorities;

 

     (2)  Policies that set forth in sufficient detail the relative responsibilities and requirements of the private sector and the public sector in providing their fair share of all required highway improvements serving the Ewa Development Plan area and the Waianae Sustainable Communities Plan area; and

 

     (3)  Estimates of annual public capital improvement costs to ensure that these improvements will be completed prior to or concurrently with the completion of residential developments in the areas; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization and the City and County of Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting are requested to submit a report on its Ewa Development Plan and Waianae Sustainable Communities Plan template, along with any recommended legislation to the Legislature not later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2010; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Mayor, Chairperson of the Council, and Director of the Department of Planning and Permitting of the City and County of Honolulu and Chairperson of the Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Ewa Development Plan; Waianae Sustainable Communities Plan; Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization