REPORT TITLE:
Permit Coordination; Waikiki


DESCRIPTION:
Establishes a 5-year permit coordination pilot program for
proposed developments in Waikiki.  Provides for master
applications, joint hearings, and consolidated processing of
permits that must be obtained from state and local agencies
before constructing or operating a project in Waikiki.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           86
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO PERMIT COORDINATION.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The Hawaii Revised Statutes is amended by adding
 
 2 a new chapter to be appropriately designated and to read as
 
 3 follows:
 
 4                             "CHAPTER
 
 5           WAIKIKI PERMIT COORDINATION AND STREAMLINING
 
 6                        PART I.  GENERALLY
 
 7      §   -1  Legislative determination.  The legislature finds
 
 8 that the substantial burdens placed upon persons who are
 
 9 proposing to undertake certain types of projects in Waikiki
 
10 through requirements to obtain numerous permits and related
 
11 documents from various federal, state, and local agencies are
 
12 undesirable and should be alleviated.  The legislature further
 
13 finds that present methods for obtaining public views relating to
 
14 applications to state and local agencies pertaining to these
 
15 projects are cumbersome and place undue hardships on members of
 
16 the public with the result that the public ability to express its
 
17 views is hindered and not facilitated.
 
18      §   -2  Waikiki permit coordination pilot program; purpose.
 
19 The Waikiki permit coordination pilot program is established
 

 
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 1 within the department of business, economic development, and
 
 2 tourism, to:
 
 3      (1)  Establish a simplified procedure to assist those who,
 
 4           to satisfy the requirements of federal, state, and city
 
 5           and county law, must obtain a permit for proposed
 
 6           developments in Waikiki from one or more federal,
 
 7           state, or city and county government agencies by
 
 8           establishing a procedure to coordinate the
 
 9           administrative decision-making process;
 
10      (2)  Provide to the members of the public a better
 
11           opportunity to present their views for proposed
 
12           developments in Waikiki and related environmental
 
13           concerns before federal, state, and city and county
 
14           agencies decide on applications for permits;
 
15      (3)  Provide to applicants for proposed developments in
 
16           Waikiki a greater degree of certainty on permit
 
17           requirements of federal, state, and city and county
 
18           governments;
 
19      (4)  Increase the coordination between federal, state, and
 
20           city and county agencies in their administration of
 
21           programs affecting proposed Waikiki developments; and
 
22      (5)  Establish an opportunity for members of the public to
 
23           obtain information pertaining to requirements of
 

 
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 1           federal, state, and city and county laws which must be
 
 2           satisfied before undertaking proposed Waikiki
 
 3           developments.
 
 4      §   -3  Definitions.  As used in this chapter, unless the
 
 5 context clearly indicates otherwise:
 
 6      "Agency" means a state department, commission, board, or
 
 7 other agency of the State.
 
 8      "City and county" means the city and county of Honolulu.
 
 9      "Department" means the department of business, economic
 
10 development, and tourism.
 
11      "Director" means the director of business, economic
 
12 development, and tourism.
 
13      "Permit" means:
 
14      (1)  With respect to the State, any licenses, permits, or
 
15           authorizations required to be obtained from a state
 
16           agency before constructing or operating a project in
 
17           Waikiki, or any other license, permit, or authorization
 
18           which may be designated by the director, under chapters
 
19           183C, 205, 205A, 340A, 340B, 340E, 340F, 342B, 342C,
 
20           342D, 342E, 342F, 342G, 342H, 342I, 342J, 342L, and
 
21           342P, and any other applicable law; or
 
22      (2)  With respect to the city and county of Honolulu, any
 
23           licenses, permits, or authorizations required to be
 

 
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 1           obtained from a city and county agency before
 
 2           constructing or operating a project in Waikiki, or any
 
 3           other license, permit, or authorization which may be
 
 4           designated by the director, under chapter 46 and any
 
 5           other applicable law.
 
 6      "Processing" or "processing of applications" means the
 
 7 entire process followed in relation to the making of decisions on
 
 8 an application for a permit and its review of it as provided in
 
 9 this chapter.
 
10      "Project" or "development" means any new use or activity or
 
11 expansion of or addition to an existing use or activity in
 
12 Waikiki, fixed in location, for which permits are required before
 
13 construction or operation.
 
14      "Waikiki" means the area of Oahu whose boundaries are
 
15 delineated in the city and county of Honolulu land use ordinance
 
16 establishing the Waikiki Special District.
 
17                PART II.  STATE PERMIT STREAMLINING
 
18      §   -4  Master application.(a)  A person proposing a
 
19 project in Waikiki that requires the issuance of one or more
 
20 permits may submit a master application to the department
 
21 requesting the issuance of all permits and documents necessary
 
22 before the construction and operation of the project.  The master
 
23 application shall be on a form established by the department and
 

 
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 1 contain sufficient information as to the location and the nature
 
 2 of the project, including discharge of wastes and use of or
 
 3 interference with natural resources of the State.
 
 4      (b)  Upon receipt of a properly completed master
 
 5 application, the department shall immediately forward a copy of
 
 6 the application to all heads of executive departments of the
 
 7 State and the mayor of the city and county, together with the
 
 8 date by which the agency shall respond to the master application.
 
 9      (c)  Each agency notified shall respond in writing to the
 
10 department by the specified date, not exceeding fifteen days from
 
11 receipt, as determined by the department, advising:
 
12      (1)  Whether the agency has an interest in the master
 
13           application;
 
14      (2)  If the response to paragraph (1) is affirmative, the
 
15           permit program under the agency's jurisdiction to which
 
16           the project described in the master application is
 
17           pertinent; and
 
18      (3)  Whether, in relation to the master application, a
 
19           public hearing as provided in sections    -6 and    -7
 
20           would be in the public interest.
 
21      (d)  Each notified agency that responds within the specified
 
22 date that it does not have an interest in the master application;
 
23 or does not respond as required within the specified date, may
 

 
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 1 not subsequently require a permit of the applicant for the
 
 2 project described in the master application unless the master
 
 3 application contained false, misleading, or deceptive
 
 4 information, or other information or lack of information that
 
 5 would reasonably lead an agency to misjudge its interest in the
 
 6 master application.
 
 7      (e)  The department shall submit application forms relating
 
 8 to permit programs identified in affirmative responses under
 
 9 subsection (c) to the applicant with a direction to complete and
 
10 return them to the department within a reasonable time as
 
11 specified by the department.
 
12      (f)  When the applications, properly completed, have been
 
13 returned to the department, each of the applications shall be
 
14 transmitted to the appropriate state agency for the performance
 
15 of its responsibilities of decision making in accordance with the
 
16 procedures of this chapter.
 
17      §   -5  Withholding final permit.  When it appears that the
 
18 applicant does not own or control the land or water necessary for
 
19 the siting of the project in the master application, the
 
20 department shall continue the proceedings under this chapter but
 
21 may withhold the final permit until the applicant has obtained
 
22 ownership or control of the land or water necessary for the site
 
23 of the project.  If the applicant has applied for land or water
 

 
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 1 necessary for the siting of the project from the State or the
 
 2 city and county, the state agency or the city and county shall
 
 3 promptly adjudicate the application for the land or water filed
 
 4 by the applicant.
 
 5      §   -6  Notice of proposed project.(a)  The department,
 
 6 within thirty days after transmittal under section    -4(f),
 
 7 shall cause a notice to be published at the applicant's expense
 
 8 once each week for three consecutive weeks in a newspaper of
 
 9 general circulation within the city and county.  The notice shall
 
10 describe the nature of the master application, including, with
 
11 reasonable specificity, the project proposed, its location, the
 
12 various permits or documents applied for, and the state agency
 
13 having jurisdiction over each permit or document.  Except as
 
14 provided in subsection (c), the notice shall also state the time
 
15 and place of the public hearing, which shall be scheduled not
 
16 less than twenty or more than thirty days after the date of last
 
17 publication of the notice.  The notice shall further state that a
 
18 copy of the master application and a copy of all applications for
 
19 the project are available for public inspection in the department
 
20 office in the capital and any other locations the department may
 
21 designate in the notice.
 
22      (b)  If the responses received by the department from state
 
23 agencies under section    -4(f) unanimously state the position
 

 
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 1 that a public hearing concerning a master application is not
 
 2 necessary in the public interest, and the department, after a
 
 3 careful evaluation, taking into consideration all interests
 
 4 involved, including the opportunity for members of the public to
 
 5 present views, agrees, the provisions of subsection (a)
 
 6 pertaining to the time and place of a public hearing need not be
 
 7 included in the notice.  In that case the notice shall state that
 
 8 members of the public may present their views and supporting
 
 9 materials in writing to the department regarding any of the
 
10 permits applied for within thirty days after the last date of
 
11 publication of the notice in a newspaper.
 
12      §   -7 Public hearing.(a)  Except as provided in section
 
13    -6(b), before a final decision is made on a permit application
 
14 relating to a project subject to the procedures of this chapter,
 
15 a public hearing shall be held in Waikiki or at another located
 
16 reasonably convenient to the site of the proposed project.  The
 
17 hearing shall be held in accordance with the notice given under
 
18 section    -6(a).  At the hearing, the applicant may submit any
 
19 relevant information and material in support of the applications,
 
20 and members of the public may present relevant views and
 
21 supporting materials relating to any or all of the applications
 
22 being considered.
 
23      (b)  Each state agency having an application for a permit
 

 
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 1 before it under section    -6(a) shall be represented at the
 
 2 public hearing by its director or a designee of the director.
 
 3 The director of the department, a designee of the director, or a
 
 4 hearing officer appointed by the governor, shall chair the
 
 5 hearing; however, the representative of any state agency other
 
 6 than the department within whose jurisdiction a specific
 
 7 application lies shall conduct the portion of the hearing
 
 8 pertaining to submission of information, views, and supporting
 
 9 materials that concern that application.  The chairperson may
 
10 continue a hearing from time to time and place to place.
 
11      (c)  The hearing shall be conducted for the purpose of
 
12 obtaining information for the assistance of state agencies and
 
13 not as a trial or adversarial proceeding.
 
14      (d)  Federal and city and county government agencies may be
 
15 represented at the hearings, at their option, by their chief
 
16 executive officer or the officer's designee.
 
17      §   -8  Final decision.(a)  Upon completion of the public
 
18 hearing, the chairperson, after consultation with the state
 
19 agency representatives, shall establish the date by which all
 
20 state agencies shall forward their final decisions on
 
21 applications before them to the department.  The date established
 
22 shall be within the following ninety-day period after the public
 
23 hearing.
 

 
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 1      (b)  In a situation where a notice is provided under section
 
 2    -6((b), the department, thirty days after the last notice
 
 3 publication in the newspaper, shall submit a copy of all views
 
 4 and supporting material received by it to each agency as
 
 5 described in the notice as having an application before it.  At
 
 6 the same time, the department shall notify each state agency, in
 
 7 writing, of the date by which final decisions on applications
 
 8 shall be forwarded to the department.  That date shall be no
 
 9 later than ninety days after the date of last publication of the
 
10 notice, but may be extended by the department for reasonable
 
11 cause.
 
12      (c)  Each final decision shall state the basis for the
 
13 conclusion together with a final order denying the application
 
14 for a permit or granting it, subject to a condition of approval
 
15 as the deciding agency may have the power to impose.  An agency
 
16 that denies an application, with its final decision denying the
 
17 application, shall provide a written summary suggesting alternate
 
18 means of completing the project, or, if no alternative is
 
19 feasible, the agency shall provide a written summary of its
 
20 reasons for that conclusion.
 
21      (d)  As soon as all final decisions are received by the
 
22 department under subsections (b) and (c), the department shall
 
23 incorporate them, without modification, into one document and
 

 
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 1 transmit it to the applicant either personally or by registered
 
 2 mail.
 
 3      (e)  Each state agency having jurisdiction to approve or
 
 4 deny an application for a permit shall have the power vested in
 
 5 it by law to make such determinations.  Nothing in this chapter
 
 6 shall be deemed to lessen or reduce these powers, and this
 
 7 chapter modifies only the procedures to be followed in the
 
 8 carrying out of these powers.
 
 9      (f)  A state agency, in the performance of its
 
10 responsibilities of decision making under this chapter, may
 
11 request or receive additional information from an applicant and
 
12 others before or after the public hearing.
 
13      §   -9 Withdrawal of agency from participation.(a)  A
 
14 state agency responding affirmatively under section    -4(c) may
 
15 withdraw from participation in the processing provided in this
 
16 chapter at any time, by written notification to the department,
 
17 it if subsequently appears to the state agency that it has no
 
18 permit programs under this jurisdiction applicable to the
 
19 project.
 
20      (b)  A decision by a state agency to withdraw from the
 
21 proceeding is irreversible, and the state agency may not
 
22 subsequently require a permit of the applicant for the project
 
23 described in the master application unless the master application
 

 
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 1 contained false, misleading, or deceptive information, or other
 
 2 information or lack of information which would reasonably lead an
 
 3 agency to misjudge its interest in the master application.
 
 4      §   -10  Administrative and judicial review.  A person
 
 5 aggrieved by a final decision issued under section    -7(d) shall
 
 6 be entitled to administrative and judicial review in accordance
 
 7 with chapter 91.
 
 8      §   -11  Time; extensions.  It is the sense of the
 
 9 legislature that time is of the essence in the processing of
 
10 applications under this chapter.  Whenever this chapter states a
 
11 time within which an act or a review is to be completed, the
 
12 legislature has determined that the time allotted is adequate for
 
13 a responsive state agency or city and county to complete the act
 
14 or review.  If unusual conditions prevent this from happening, it
 
15 is the sense of the legislature that minimum extensions of the
 
16 period established in this chapter may be granted upon a
 
17 determination that the delay occurred beyond the control oft he
 
18 reviewing agency or city and county.
 
19      §   -12  Application.  Notwithstanding any law to the
 
20 contrary relating to the processing of application for permits,
 
21 the procedures set out in this chapter for proposed projects in
 
22 Waikiki are exclusive for applications filed under section    -4.
 
23 The procedures of this chapter are in lieu of any procedures
 

 
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 1 otherwise provided by law or rule, and are to be followed by a
 
 2 state agency in ruling upon those applications.
 
 3      §   -13  Fee schedules.  Fee schedules previously
 
 4 established or authorized by law for an application for a permit
 
 5 shall continue to apply.  The department shall collect the fees
 
 6 and forward them to the appropriate state agency.
 
 7      §   -14  Permit requirement information centers.(a)  The
 
 8 department shall establish permit requirement information centers
 
 9 at the director's office and in Waikiki to provide information to
 
10 the public, in readily understandable form, regarding the
 
11 requirements of federal, state, and the city and county
 
12 governments for permits which must be acquired before initiating
 
13 projects in Waikiki and to provide assistance in the completion
 
14 of permit applications.
 
15      (b)  The department shall provide a master application to
 
16 any person requesting it.  The department shall provide
 
17 information, forms, instructions, and assistance in the
 
18 completion of a master application under this chapter to a person
 
19 requesting assistance.
 
20      §   -15  Compliance with city and county land use ordinances
 
21 and plans.(a)  A permit for a project filed under section    -4
 
22 may not be issued unless the application has provided a
 
23 certification from the city and county department of planning and
 

 
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 1 permitting that the project is in compliance with the land use
 
 2 ordinances and associated plans administered by the city and
 
 3 county regarding the project.  The city and county may accept
 
 4 applications for certification under this section and shall rule
 
 5 upon them within thirty days.  The city and county may impose
 
 6 stipulations of performance in its approval, but, upon
 
 7 certification, the city an county may not change the land use
 
 8 ordinances as to the proposed project until the procedures of
 
 9 this chapter, including an appeal, are completed.
 
10      (b)  Approval of an application for certification as
 
11 provided in this section does not eliminate any requirements of
 
12 ordinances administered by the city and county.  A ruling by the
 
13 city and county denying an application for certification is not
 
14 appealable under this chapter, except that the denial of an
 
15 application for certification under subsection (a) does not
 
16 preclude the applicant from filing an application under a
 
17 different statute or procedure.
 
18      §   -16  Applicability of other laws.  This chapter does not
 
19 modify in any manner the applicability of a land use law or rule
 
20 or city and county land use ordinances to land of a state agency.
 
21      §   -17  Rules.  The department may adopt rules pursuant to
 
22 chapter 91 as it deems necessary to implement this chapter."
 
23      SECTION 2.  The department of business, economic
 

 
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 1 development, and tourism shall study the effectiveness of the
 
 2 pilot program established by this Act and report its findings and
 
 3 recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the
 
 4 governor and legislature no later than twenty days before the
 
 5 convening of the regular sessions of 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004.
 
 6 The department's final report shall include a recommendation as
 
 7 to whether or not the pilot program should be extended to other
 
 8 areas of the state or to the entire state.
 
 9      SECTION 3.  It is the intent of this Act not to jeopardize
 
10 the receipt of any federal aid nor to impair the obligation of
 
11 the State or any agency thereof to the holders of any bond issued
 
12 by the State or by any such agency, and to the extent, and only
 
13 to the extent, necessary to effectuate this intent, the governor
 
14 may modify the strict provisions of this Act, but shall promptly
 
15 report any such modification with reasons therefor to the
 
16 legislature at its next session thereafter for review by the
 
17 legislature.
 
18      SECTION 4.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
19 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $          , or so
 
20 much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 1999-2000, to
 
21 implement the pilot program established by this Act.  The sum
 
22 appropriated shall be expended by the department of business,
 
23 economic development, and tourism for the purposes of this Act.
 

 
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 1      SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 1999, and
 
 2 shall be repealed on July 1, 2004.
 
 3 
 
 4                              INTRODUCED BY:______________________