RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, a private landowner intends to develop a nine-lot subdivision on approximately 50 acres of land in Dowsett Highlands, Nuuanu, Oahu, on the property identified by tax map key numbers 2-2-47:3 and 5; and

WHEREAS, this property is located above existing homes between Ragsdale Place and Kamuela Place and has a steep terrain; and

WHEREAS, the City and County of Honolulu (City) approved residential zoning of this property decades ago and is currently processing a subdivision application by the landowner; and

WHEREAS, homeowners below the property are opposed to the subdivision, believing it will create rockfall, landslide, and flooding hazards, and have collected more than 1,000 signatures on a petition; and

WHEREAS, there have been rockfalls that have occurred in Nuuanu valley, including a boulder which killed 26-year-old Dara Onishi in 2002; and

WHEREAS, other rockfalls have occurred around the island of Oahu damaging property and risking people's health and safety; and

WHEREAS, the land located uphill of the proposed Nuuanu subdivision is owned by the Department of Land and Natural Resources; and

WHEREAS, developments that are approved and constructed adjacent to pristine, undeveloped state mountainous lands may expose the State to liability should rockfalls occur from its lands; and

WHEREAS, the City, as the approving entity of developments, must strive to protect landowners below, above, and adjacent to the potential rockfall and landslide hazards; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, the House of Representatives concurring, that the City is urged to proceed with caution in reviewing any developments proposed to be built on steep terrain and to require all necessary engineering and geotechnical studies to ascertain and ensure public health and safety; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Reference Bureau is requested to contact the National Conference of State Legislatures and other states and county jurisdictions for statutes, ordinances, and rules relating to permitting development in areas subject to rockslides, and report back to the Legislature no later than 15 days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2007; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu and the Chair of the City Council.

Report Title:

Potential Rockfall Hazards; City and County of Honolulu