How neighbors and the public are told about a variance request

(a) Notice to Owners of Property Interests. Upon receipt and acceptance of a properly filed and completed application, the department shall fix a date for the director’s consideration of the application. Within three working days after receiving notice of such date, the applicant shall serve notice of the application on owners of interests in properties within three hundred feet of the perimeter boundary of the applicant’s property and to owners of interests in other properties which the director may find to be directly affected by the variance sought. Such notice shall state: (1) The name of the applicant; (2) The precise location of the property involved; (3) The nature of the use sought and the proposed accompanying structures, if any; (4) The date on which the director will consider the application; and (5) That such date is the deadline for the director’s actual receipt of written comments on the application. Prior to the deadline for written comment, the applicant shall submit to the director proof of service or of good faith efforts to serve notice of the application on the designated property owners. Such proof may consist of certified mail, receipts, affidavits, or the like. (b) Notice by Publication. At least ten calendar days prior to the date of the director’s consideration of the application, the director shall publish, in a newspaper of general circulation, notice of the application and the date by which written comments must be in the actual receipt of the director. (c) Notice by Posting of Signs. Within ten days of filing the application for a variance, the applicant shall post a sign on the subject property notifying the public of the nature of the variance, the proposed number of lots, the size of the property, the tax map key or keys of the property and that they may contact the planning department for additional information. The sign shall give the address and telephone number of the planning department. (1) The sign shall remain posted until final approval, or until the application has been rejected or withdrawn. The applicant shall remove the sign promptly after such action. (2) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, the sign shall be not less than nine square feet and not more than twelve square feet in area, with letters not less than one inch high. No pictures, drawings, or promotional materials shall be permitted on the sign. The sign shall be posted at or near the property boundary adjacent to a public road bordering the property and shall be readable from said public road. If more than one public road borders the property the applicant shall post the sign to be visible from the more heavily traveled public road. The sign shall, in all other respects, be in compliance with chapter 3, Hawai`i County Code 1983 (2005 edition). (3) The applicant shall file an affidavit with the planning department not more than five days after posting the sign stating that a sign has been posted in compliance with this section, and that the applicant and its agents will not remove the sign until the application has been approved, rejected or withdrawn. The affidavit shall be accompanied by a photograph of the sign in place.