THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	172
TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2012
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

requesting the OFFICE OF PLANNING to hire consultants to review all state and county land use practices AND DEVELOP RECOMMENDATIONS TO REDUCE URBAN SPRAWL AND PROPERLY DEVELOP URBAN CORES.

     WHEREAS, in the last twenty years the State has developed nearly 3,300 acres of prime farmland, increasing the price of remaining land and creating financial hardships for farmers; and

     WHEREAS, article XI, section 3, of the Hawaii State Constitution requires the State to conserve and protect agricultural lands and increase self-sufficiency and directs the Legislature to provide standards and criteria to meet these requirements; and

     WHEREAS, there is widespread support for the idea that the State should become less reliant on cars and more reliant on locally grown food and energy; and

     WHEREAS, Hawaii residents have voted to build a mass transit system to take cars off the road and focus growth around transit centers; and

     WHEREAS, on the island of Oahu, up to 4,000 new households are created each year which requires the building of 100,000 new homes over the next twenty-five years; and

     WHEREAS, to prevent urban sprawl from destroying our agricultural lands, a viable option would be to focus growth along the transit corridors; and

     WHEREAS, changes in state and county land use practices need to be implemented to plan for the proper population growth; otherwise, new housing supply will decrease and island-wide prices will increase; and

     WHEREAS, it costs approximately $300,000 to subsidize one affordable rental unit, which, multiplied  by the state shortage of 10,000 units, requires $3,000,000,000 of taxpayer subsidy and provides no solution to the affordable housing shortage or expansion of urban sprawl; and

     WHEREAS, the Office of Planning gathers, analyzes, and provides information to the Governor to assist in the overall analysis and formulation of state policies and strategies to address current or emerging issues; and

     WHEREAS, the Office of Planning engages in land use planning by representing the State before the Land Use Commission, assisting state agencies on land use district boundary amendments, and reviewing the classification and districting of all state lands; and

     WHEREAS, consultants with expertise on state and county land use issues are needed to review all existing land use practices, including statutes, ordinances, permitting, development application processes, and environmental infrastructure, to effectively provide the necessary information and recommendations required to plan for the reduction of urban sprawl and proper development and redevelopment to accommodate population growth; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-sixth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2012, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Office of Planning is requested to use funds in its existing budget to hire consultants to review all state and county land use practices and develop recommendations to reduce urban sprawl and properly develop urban cores; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Office of Planning is requested to submit a report of the findings and recommendations of the consultants, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2013; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Director of the Office of Planning, and Chairperson of the Land Use Commission.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Land Use Task Force; Consultants; Urban Sprawl