Affordable housing paperwork before project approval

(a) As a condition of and prior to final approval of any permit or approval for a project that contains ten or more for-sale dwelling units or lots, including without limitation subdivision applications, cluster housing permits, planned development housing permits, or building permits, the permit applicants shall execute an affordable housing agreement acceptable to the director and execute and record a declaration of restrictive covenants that encumbers the project site and any off-site zoning lot that is used to satisfy the affordable housing requirement imposed in connection with the principal project and that describes the affordable housing requirements acceptable to the director, including without limitation, the enforcement of such requirements. If the permit applicants are not the fee owners of the project site and any applicable off-site zoning lot used to satisfy the affordable housing requirement, the affordable housing agreement and the declaration of restrictive covenants must also be executed by all of the fee owners of those parcels. The director may defer the requirement to record the declaration of restrictive covenants until a time not later than issuance of the first building permit for a dwelling unit or as otherwise acceptable to the director. The form and content of the declaration will be subject to the director’s approval and the city must be a party. The declaration must be recorded in the bureau of conveyances (regular system) or the office of the assistant registrar of the land court of the State of Hawaii, or both, as appropriate. The term of the declaration of restrictive covenants must be for the period of affordability and shall run with the land and bind and give notice to all subsequent grantees, assignees, mortgagees, lienors, and any other person who claims an interest in the project site or any zoning lot on which the affordable housing requirement is being satisfied. (b) On an annual basis, the declarant shall submit a written status report to the director documenting the declarant’s compliance with the affordable housing requirement of this article. The status report must be submitted to the director by December 31 of each year until such time as the term of the declaration of restrictive covenants expires.