STAND. COM. REP. NO. 271

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1556

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Water, Land, and Housing and Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1556 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO RAIL TRANSIT STATION DEVELOPMENT,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to exempt qualified residential and commercial developers if they engage in a development that is within a one-half-mile radius from a rail train station.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Transportation Services, City and County of Honolulu; Department of Planning and Permitting, City and County of Honolulu; The Outdoor Circle; the Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter; and Daisy Murai.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Transportation and the Hawaii Community Development Authority.

 

     Your Committees find that transit-related development is a major solution to the serious and growing problems related to imported oil and global warming by creating dense, walkable communities connected to a train line that greatly reduces the need for driving and the burning of fossil fuels.  Transit-oriented developments ideally include retail, office, open space, and community uses, and provide residents with a sense of place.  Your Committees believe that the expedited permitting and planning processes provided for in this measure would stimulate efforts to increase density within the urban core, while promoting the growth of mixed use neighborhoods around planned rail transit stations. 

 

     Your Committees encourage your Committee on Ways and Means to determine whether qualified developers should apply directly to the mayor or mayor's designee for each county, prior to presentation of the application to the county council.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to allow for further discussion.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water, Land, and Housing and Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1556, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1556, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water, Land, and Housing and Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs,

 

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair

 

____________________________

DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair