RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, a private landowner intends to develop a nine-lot subdivision on approximately fifty acres 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 one thousand 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 and County of Honolulu 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 of the projects; 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