STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2498

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2287

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2010

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Transportation, International and Intergovernmental Affairs and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2287 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COUNTY ZONING FOR GROUP LIVING FACILITIES,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to clarify county zoning requirements concerning group living facilities.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting, Aina Haina Community Association and eight individuals.  Comments were submitted by the Hawaii Disability Rights Center.  Written testimony presented to the Committees may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

 

     Your Committees find that counties are not allowed under existing law to prohibit state-licensed group living facilities if these facilities otherwise meet all applicable county requirements, including building code provisions.  However, some group living facilities situated close together have placed unreasonable hardship on residents of neighborhoods, causing concern about traffic safety and congestion, the disruption caused by commercial deliveries, and elevated noise levels.  This measure addresses those concerns by requiring that counties consider the effects on traffic safety and congestion, noise levels, and commercial deliveries in zoning procedures for group living facilities.

 

     Your Committees note that the City and Community of Arvada, a suburb of Denver, Colorado, enacted a regulatory ordinance (section 5.2.17, Group Living Facilities) that provides in pertinent part:  "Effects on Neighborhood.  The proposed Group Living Facility will not have an adverse effect on the residential character and quality of life in the particular neighborhood."  Your Committees believe that this measure is comparable to the City of Arvada ordinance. 

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Transportation, International and Intergovernmental Affairs and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2287 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Transportation, International and Intergovernmental Affairs and Human Services,

 

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair

 

____________________________

J. KALANI ENGLISH, Chair