HCR198

WHEREAS, there is an increasing trend for families to live in common interest developments of which there are many types, including detached house estates, townhouse complexes, and high rise apartments; and

WHEREAS, the collective characteristic of common interest developments is that the owners of individual units in a common interest development share ownership and use of common elements, which may include properties such as recreational facilities, roadways, parking areas, gardens, and fences; and

WHEREAS, this common ownership is the basis for many of the advantages of a common interest development, allowing owners to enjoy recreational facilities that may have otherwise been unaffordable and landscaped gardens and open spaces without having to personally maintain those spaces and maximizing their property values by standardizing the design of units within the common interest development; and

WHEREAS, the community association, an association composed of all common interest development unit owners, governs the common interest development, manages its common elements, and represents the common interests of the owners; and

WHEREAS, the key to a unit owner's full enjoyment of the common interest development property is accordingly tied to the owner's ability to participate in the governance of the common interest development; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii's condominium law helps owners of units in certain high-rise and townhouse developments to participate in the governance of their common interest development by establishing, among other things, a condominium dispute resolution process that gives owners an alternative to costly and time consuming arbitration or litigation procedures; and

WHEREAS, the condominium law does not encompass planned community associations, a type of common interest development that features free-standing homes and common areas within a single development, that is governed by Chapter 421J, Hawaii Revised Statutes; and

WHEREAS, the planned community association law contains less protections for unit owners than the condominium law, and while providing for mediation, most notably lacks the administrative dispute resolution procedure that gives owners an alternative to costly and time consuming arbitration or litigation; and

WHEREAS, the protections afforded unit owners in a common interest developments should not vary merely because the units in common interest developments take different physical forms; and

WHEREAS, the number of planned community associations and planned community association unit owners in Hawaii who might benefit from laws enhancing unit owner participation in planned community association governance is unknown, because unlike the condominium law, the planned community association law contains no method to register planned community associations; and

WHEREAS, the Community Associations Institute, a non-profit membership organization receives a portion of its funding from the real estate branch of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, has compiled a considerable database of information on member planned community associations in Hawaii; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2007, the Senate concurring, that the Legislative Reference Bureau, with the assistance of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs is requested to prepare and submit to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the 2009 Regular Session, a report on planned community associations governed by Chapter 421J, Hawaii Revised Statutes; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Reference Bureau, in conducting this study is requested to:

(1) Identify all planned community associations within the State by name and location;

(2) Describe each planned community association's size in terms of owners and units; and

(3) Identify the laws under which planned community associations are currently regulated; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, and the Chairperson of the Real Estate Commission, who in turn is requested to transmit copies to the Executive Director of the Hawaii chapter of the Community Associations Institute.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Report Identifying Planned Community Associations

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	198
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII