STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1263

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.C.R. No. 195

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Education and Water and Land, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 195 entitled:

 

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, STATE PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL COMMISSION, AND HAWAII PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS NETWORK TO DEVELOP A PLAN TO COMMISSION A NEW STUDY SUGGESTING UPDATES TO THE SCHOOL IMPACT FEE FORMULA AND DIFFERENTIATING THE LAND REQUIREMENT FOR GREENFIELD AND BROWNFIELD DEVELOPMENT,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Department of Education, State Public Charter School Commission, and Hawaii Public Charter Schools Network to:

 

     (1)  Develop a plan to commission a new study for the purposes of suggesting updates to the school impact fee formula and differentiating land requirements for greenfield and brownfield development; and

 

     (2)  Establish criteria for identifying appropriate locations for vertical school development.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education, State Public Charter School Commission, and Hawaii Public Charter Schools Network.

 

     Your Committees find that traditional school development on large parcels of land is no longer feasible in Honolulu's urban core.  Redevelopment of current facilities and new approaches that design schools vertically, similar to other urban architecture, is necessary to meet the needs of a growing urban population.  For these purposes, criteria must be developed for vertical school development and school impact fees must be evaluated and differentiated based upon the characteristics of the area developed.

 

     Your Committees note that the term "greyfield development" may also be used to refer to redevelopment of underutilized urban real estate.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Replacing references to "brownfield development" with "redevelopment of urban areas";

 

     (2)  Amending its title in accordance with its amended purpose; and

 

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Water and Land that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 195, as amended herein, and recommend that it be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 195, S.D. 1.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Education and Water and Land,

 

________________________________

LAURA H. THIELEN, Chair

 

________________________________

MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair