April 2, 2018
Representative Sam Kong Prompts the Department of Planning and Permitting to Examine New Protocol for "Monster Homes"
Due to inquiries from State Representative Sam Kong’s office staff and the overwhelming complaints received by the Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP) regarding problems with large residential structures or "high occupancy residential dwellings," a new protocol to the Inspection Process is being considered by DPP to address the recent growth of large residential structures, according to DPP Building Inspector (Waipahu Area) Mr. Steve Wescott.
Inquiries from Honolulu residents, whose neighborhoods are being impacted with these large structures, range from but are not limited to, concerns regarding Land Use Ordinance (LUO) compliance of required setbacks, driveway construction, and off-street parking requirements.
Consequently, there has been serious consideration by DPP in the recent weeks to adopt a new inspection protocol for the issuance of Certificates of Completion and Certificates of Occupancy for high occupancy residential dwellings.
Routinely, a Certificates of Completion and a Certificate of Occupancy are concurrently issued by Inspectors upon inspection and completion of construction.
However, with the new protocol, a high occupancy residential dwelling unit will be issued a "Certificate of Completion" upon construction completion, and a temporary "Certificate of Occupancy" will be issued with a one-year temporary status.
The temporary "Certificate of Occupancy" will have a continuing inspection period of one year and will be assigned to a special DPP inspector. Currently, Mr. Edmond Castro is the only Special Inspector assigned to follow this specific issue. Mr. Castro is responsible for confirming LUO compliance, finding potential violations, and any other concerns related to high occupancy dwelling units.
According to Mr. Wescott, this new proposed protocol is currently being evaluated by DPP's Senior Building Inspector, Lynn Asaoka and will soon be in draft form for implementation.
Representative Sam Kong and his staff will diligently monitor the status of the proposed new protocol regarding these high occupancy dwellings, and will obtain a written copy of such as soon as they are made available by DPP.
December 28, 2017
Sam discusses solutions to homelessness on Thinktech Hawaii's Navigating the Journey series