How a scenic corridor gets started and approved

(a) The director or council by resolution must initiate the establishment of a scenic corridor. The resolution must demonstrate that the proposed scenic corridor meets the requirements of 25-6-61. The resolution must include: (1) A description and general location of the proposed corridor. (2) The length of the section of road to be included in the scenic corridor. (3) A description of the corridor’s intrinsic quality or qualities. (4) A list of names, addresses and tax map key numbers for those property owners and lessees of record of lots within three hundred feet of the public road being proposed to be designated as a scenic corridor. (5) Any other plans or information required by rules adopted by the director in accordance with chapter 91 of the Hawai‘i Revised Statutes. (b) Within thirty days of the adoption by the council of the resolution, the director shall serve notice of the proposed scenic corridor upon all owners and lessees of lots, and utility companies with easements and/or other property rights, whose properties are either (1) within the proposed scenic corridor, or (2) within three hundred feet of the boundaries of the proposed scenic corridor. The notice shall give a general description of the scenic corridor and describe the opportunity for public comment. (c) Corridor management plan. Within twenty-four months after the adoption of the resolution, the director shall complete a corridor management plan and enabling ordinance, which will be forwarded to the commission for its recommendation to the Hawai‘i County council. A scenic corridor management plan is a written document that assesses the intrinsic qualities of the corridor and specifies actions, procedures, controls, and administrative as well as community strategies that will be pursued to maintain those qualities. Special conditions and standards developed for an individual scenic corridor shall be included as part of the enabling ordinance. Elements of the corridor management plan will include: (1) Vision and goals statement. (2) A map identifying scenic corridor boundaries and the location of intrinsic qualities and different land uses within the scenic corridor. (3) An assessment of such intrinsic qualities and their context. (4) An assessment of needs and expectations. (5) An assessment of anticipated transportation, economic, environmental, and social impacts. (6) Strategies for economic development and marketing of the scenic corridor. (7) Strategies for maintaining and enhancing the corridor’s intrinsic qualities. (8) Strategies for community participation. (9) Identification of organizations, agencies and individuals to be consulted in the planning process. (10) Identification of regulatory and non-regulatory tools recommended that could aid in the implementation of the scenic corridor management plan. The evaluation and selection of tools needed to protect and/or enhance the corridor should be based on the following criteria: (A) The ability to insure that new development is consistent with the conditions and standards established for the scenic corridor, while maintaining the property owner’s rights to reasonable use of the property; (B) The ability to provide the appropriate degree of development and aesthetic control needed to preserve and enhance quality of the corridor; and (C) The ability to provide flexible, diverse, and suitable regulatory and non- regulatory tools and techniques to a variety of circumstances. (11) Specific time schedules for plan implementation. (12) Standards for building design, signage, and roadway elements. In the case where the transportation corridor has not been built, the corridor management plan may include special design standards for the corridor development. (13) Methods for interpreting and protecting significant resources. (14) Identification of potential funding sources. (15) Provisions for termination of the corridor management plan if it is not implemented. (d) The director shall forward the corridor management plan and a proposed scenic corridor enabling ordinance to the commission together with the director’s recommendation on the proposed scenic corridor. The purpose of the scenic corridor enabling ordinance is to establish the scenic corridor as well as any conditions and/or standards recommended by the corridor management plan that may differ from those within the underlying zoning. Any conditions and/or standards that differ from the underlying zoning must be defined through the use of a table that illustrates how standards and/or conditions in the enabling ordinance differ from those within the underlying zoning. (e) The commission shall review the scenic corridor enabling ordinance and the corridor management plan and forward its recommendation to the council through the mayor for the council’s consideration and action. (1) In reviewing the corridor management plan, the commission shall hold at least one public hearing in the council district in which the proposed scenic corridor is located. ZONING § 25-6-63 (2) Within ten days after receiving notice of the date of the public hearing, the director shall serve notice of the public hearing on owners, and lessees of record, and utility companies with easements or other property interests, whose properties are within the proposed scenic corridor, or within three hundred feet of the boundaries of the proposed scenic corridor. The notice shall otherwise conform to section 25-2-4(c) and (d). (3) Within one hundred twenty days after receipt of the corridor management plan from the director, the commission shall transmit the proposed scenic corridor ordinance and corridor management plan together with its recommendation thereon through the mayor to the council. If no recommendation is made within one hundred twenty days, the scenic corridor management plan and enabling ordinance shall be forwarded to the council with no recommendation. (2007, ord 07-36, sec 1; am 2009, ord 09-118, secs 18 and 19.)25-6-63