THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
3300 |
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating to COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
The
legislature further finds that the Hawaii climate change mitigation and
adaptation commission (commission), created by Act 32, Session Laws of Hawaii 2017
(Act 32), stated in its 2022 report to the legislature that Hawaii is projected
to likely experience between 3.9 and 5.9 feet of sea level rise by the year
2100.
As
reflected in Act 32, the legislature recognizes that not only is climate change
real, but it is also the overriding challenge of the twenty-first century and
one of the priority issues of the legislature. Climate change poses immediate and long-term
threats to the State's economy, sustainability, security, and its residents'
way of life. Act 32 also directed the
commission to, as a first step, focus on and develop sea level rise
vulnerability and adaptation reports.
The
legislature also finds that the sea level rise vulnerability and adaptation
report approved by the commission identifies areas that are susceptible to sea
level rise impacts based on a 3.2-foot increase in sea level projected to occur
by mid-century or earlier. These areas
are designated as the sea level rise exposure area projection, which the
commission recommends be adopted as a sea level rise exposure area overlay to
guide state and county adaptation strategies and standards for development.
The
legislature finds that the methodology of sea level rise modeling used for the
sea level rise exposure area and the Hawaii Sea Level Rise Viewer, which have
gone through the peer review and publication in the Nature Portfolio's
Scientific Reports, are sufficiently validated to be appropriately used in land
management decisions as the best available information.
The
legislature further finds that sea level rise poses a serious and imminent
threat to Hawaii's coastal communities and residents and to the State's natural
resources, primarily beaches, and coastal ecosystems. The legislature further recognizes that the State
has an affirmative duty to preserve coastal resources, including beaches, as a
public trust resource for the people of Hawaii, and that healthy coastal
ecosystems and beaches are both culturally important and provide natural
resilience to sea level rise and associated coastal flooding.
The
legislature also finds that, in 2023, the city and county of Honolulu addressed
the increasing threat of sea level rise and its impact on development by
amending its special management area ordinance to limit coastal development in
the sea level rise exposure area.
Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to increase the resilience of Hawaii's coastal communities to sea level rise by minimizing, where reasonable, risk to development from sea level rise and other coastal hazards.
SECTION 2. Section 205A-26, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"§205A-26 Special management area guidelines. In implementing this part, the authority shall adopt the following guidelines for the review of developments proposed in the special management area:
(1) All development in the special management area shall be subject to reasonable terms and conditions set by the authority in order to ensure:
(A) Adequate access, by dedication or other means, to publicly owned or used beaches, recreation areas, and natural reserves is provided to the extent consistent with sound conservation principles;
(B) Adequate and properly located public recreation areas and wildlife preserves are reserved;
(C) Provisions are made for solid and liquid waste treatment, disposition, and management that will minimize adverse effects upon special management area resources; and
(D) Alterations to existing land forms and vegetation, except crops, and construction of structures shall cause minimum adverse effect to water resources, beaches, coastal dunes, and scenic and recreational amenities and minimize impacts from floods, wind damage, storm surge, landslides, erosion, sea level rise, siltation, or failure in the event of earthquake.
(2) No development shall be approved unless the authority has first found:
(A) That the development will not have any significant adverse environmental or ecological effect, except as any adverse effect is minimized to the extent practicable and clearly outweighed by public health, safety, or compelling public interests. Those adverse effects shall include but not be limited to the potential cumulative impact of individual developments, each of which taken by itself might not have a significant adverse effect, and the elimination of planning options;
(B) That the development is consistent with the objectives, policies, and special management area guidelines of this chapter and any guidelines enacted by the legislature; and
(C) That the development is consistent with the county general plan, community plan, and zoning; provided that a finding of consistency shall not preclude concurrent processing where a general plan, community plan, or zoning amendment may also be required.
(3) The authority shall seek to minimize, where reasonable:
(A) Dredging, filling or otherwise altering any bay, estuary, salt marsh, river mouth, slough or lagoon;
(B) Any development that would reduce the size of any beach or other area usable for public recreation;
(C) Any development that would reduce or impose restrictions upon public access to tidal and submerged lands, beaches, portions of rivers and streams within the special management areas and the mean high tide line where there is no beach;
(D) Any development that would substantially
interfere with or detract from the line of sight toward the sea from the state
highway nearest the coast; [and]
(E) Any development that would adversely
affect water quality, existing areas of open water free of visible structures,
existing and potential fisheries and fishing grounds, wildlife habitats, or
potential or existing agricultural uses of land[.]; and
(F) Any risk to development from sea level rise and other coastal hazards, which may be accomplished by siting habitable structures outside of the sea level rise exposure area or adapting habitable structures within the sea level rise exposure area to accommodate sea level rise; provided that the sea level rise exposure area shall be designated by the Hawaii climate change mitigation and adaptation commission or its successor."
SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
INTRODUCED BY: |
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Report Title:
Coastal Zone Management; Special Management Areas; Sea Level Rise Exposure Areas; Development Guidelines
Description:
Requires
county planning commissions, county councils, and designated authorities on
coastal zone management to seek to minimize, where reasonable, any risk to
development from sea level rise and other coastal hazards.
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.