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Honolulu Overview
Honolulu, HI Code of Ordinances
THE REVISED ORDINANCES OF HONOLULU
TITLE I: ADMINISTRATION
CHAPTER 1: GENERAL PROVISIONS
CHAPTER 2: THE MAYOR AND EXECUTIVE AGENCIES - ADDITIONAL POWERS, DUTIES, AND FUNCTIONS
CHAPTER 3: ADDITIONAL BOARDS, COMMISSIONS, AND COMMITTEES
CHAPTER 4: ADDITIONAL POWERS AND DUTIES OF COUNCIL AND LEGISLATIVE AGENCIES
CHAPTER 5: SALARIES, EMPLOYMENT, AND BONDING REQUIREMENTS OF ELECTED OFFICIALS AND NON-CIVIL-SERVICE OFFICERS
TITLE II: TAXATION AND FINANCES
CHAPTER 6: FUNDS, FEES, AND LOAN PROGRAMS
CHAPTER 7: RESERVED
CHAPTER 8: REAL PROPERTY TAX
CHAPTER 8A: TAXATION OF TRANSIENT ACCOMMODATIONS
TITLE III: MISCELLANEOUS REGULATIONS
CHAPTER 9: BOTANICAL GARDENS
CHAPTER 10: PUBLIC PARKS AND RECREATION FACILITIES
CHAPTER 11: CHILD CARE
CHAPTER 12: ANIMALS AND FOWLS
CHAPTER 13: STREETS, SIDEWALKS, MALLS, AND OTHER PUBLIC PLACES
CHAPTER 14: PUBLIC WORKS INFRASTRUCTURE
TITLE IV: TRAFFIC AND VEHICLES
CHAPTER 15: TRAFFIC AND VEHICLES
CHAPTER 15A: REGULATIONS OF VEHICLES
CHAPTER 15B: PUBLIC TRANSIT
TITLE V: BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION CODES
CHAPTER 16: BUILDING CODE
CHAPTER 16A: HOUSING CODE
CHAPTER 16B: BUILDING ENERGY CONSERVATION CODE
CHAPTER 16C: BUILDING MANAGEMENT
CHAPTER 17: ELECTRICAL CODE
CHAPTER 18: FEES AND PERMITS FOR BUILDING, ELECTRICAL, PLUMBING, AND SIDEWALK CODES
CHAPTER 18A: GRADING, SOIL EROSION, AND SEDIMENT CONTROL
CHAPTER 19: PLUMBING CODE
CHAPTER 20: FIRE CODE OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU
TITLE VI: LAND USE
CHAPTER 21: LAND USE ORDINANCE
CHAPTER 21A: FLOOD HAZARD AREAS
CHAPTER 22: SUBDIVISION OF LAND
CHAPTER 23: STATE LAND USE CLASSIFICATION
CHAPTER 24: DEVELOPMENT PLANS
CHAPTER 25: SPECIAL MANAGEMENT AREAS
CHAPTER 26: SHORELINE SETBACKS
CHAPTER 27: COMMUNITY FACILITIES DISTRICTS
CHAPTER 28: SPECIAL IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS
CHAPTER 29: AFFORDABLE HOUSING REQUIREMENTS
CHAPTER 30: WATER MANAGEMENT
CHAPTER 31: COMMUNITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 32: AFFORDABLE RENTAL HOUSING
CHAPTER 33: DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENTS
CHAPTER 33A: IMPACT FEES FOR TRAFFIC AND ROADWAY IMPROVEMENTS IN EWA
TITLE VII: BUSINESS
CHAPTER 34: REGULATION OF BUSINESSES
CHAPTER 35: INCENTIVES FOR BUSINESS TO CREATE NEW JOBS
CHAPTER 36: COMMON CARRIERS
TITLE VIII: PROPERTY
CHAPTER 37: REAL PROPERTY TRANSACTIONS INVOLVING THE CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU
CHAPTER 38: LEASE AND RENTAL OF CITY REAL PROPERTY, INCLUDING FEES
CHAPTER 39: MAXIMUM ANNUAL RENEGOTIATED LEASE RENT
CHAPTER 40: OFFENSES RELATING TO PROPERTY
TITLE IX: PUBLIC HEALTH, SAFETY, AND SANITATION
CHAPTER 41: PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY
CHAPTER 42: COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF REFUSE
CHAPTER 43: SEWERS, DRAINAGE, AND CESSPOOLS
PARALLEL REFERENCES
TABLES
§ 16A-10.5 Enforcement—Penalty.
(a)   Notice of violation. Whenever any person violates this code, the building official shall serve a notice of violation upon the responsible person or persons. The notice of violation must require that the responsible person or persons bring the property, building, or structure or any noncompliant portion of the same into compliance with the requirements of this code. Notices of violation must be served upon responsible persons either personally or by certified mail. However, if the whereabouts of such persons is unknown and the same cannot be ascertained by the building official in the exercise of reasonable diligence and the building official provides an affidavit to that effect, then a notice of violation may be issued by publishing the same in accordance with HRS § 1-28.5, or if that provision no longer applies, by publication once each week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the city.
Notices of violation must include at least the following information:
(1)   Date of the notice;
(2)   The name and address of the person noticed and the location of the violation;
(3)   The section number of the ordinance, code, or rule that has been violated;
(4)   The nature of the violation or a description of the same; and
(5)   The deadline for compliance with the notice.
(b)    Criminal prosecution.
(1)   General. Any person violating this code shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and each such person is guilty of a separate offense for each and every day or portion thereof during which such violation is committed, continued, or permitted, and upon conviction of any such violation such person shall be punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000, or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
(2)   Any officer or inspector designated by the building official, who has been deputized by the chief of police as a special officer for the purpose of enforcing the building, plumbing, electrical, or housing code (hereinafter referred to as “authorized personnel”), may arrest without warrant alleged violators by issuing a summons or citation in accordance with the procedure specified in this section. Nothing in this section shall be construed as barring such authorized personnel from initiating prosecution by warrant or such other judicial process as is permitted by statute or rule of court.
(3)   Any authorized personnel designated by the building official, upon making an arrest for a violation of the building, plumbing, electrical, or housing code, may take the name and address of the alleged violator and shall issue to the violator in writing a summons or citation hereinafter described, notifying the violator to answer the complaint to be entered against the violator at a place and at a time provided in the summons or citation.
(4)   Where the circumstances do not mandate the physical arrest of violators of the building, plumbing, electrical, or housing code, authorized personnel shall use a form of summons or citation to cite such violators. The administrative judge of the district court shall adopt or prescribe the form and content of the summons or citation. The summons or citation must be printed on a form commensurate with the form of other summonses or citations used in modern methods of arrest, so designed to include all necessary information to make the same valid under the laws and regulations of the State and the city.
(5)   In every case when a citation is issued, the original of the same must be given to the violator; provided that the administrative judge of the district court may prescribe that the violator be given a carbon copy of the citation and provide for the disposition of the original and any other copies.
(6)   Every citation must be consecutively numbered and each carbon copy must bear the number of its respective original.
(c)   Administrative enforcement. In lieu of or in addition to enforcement pursuant to subsection (b), if the building official determines that any person is not complying with a notice of violation, the building official may have the responsible person or persons served with a notice of order.
(1)   Contents of order.
(A)   The order may require the responsible person or persons to do any or all of the following:
(i)   Correct the violation within the time specified in the order;
(ii)   Pay a civil fine not to exceed $1,000 in the manner, at the place, and before the date specified in the order; or
(iii)   Pay a civil fine not to exceed $1,000 per day for each day in which the violation persists, in the manner and at the time and place specified in the order.
(B)   The order must advise the responsible person or persons that the fines, if unpaid within the prescribed time period, can be added to specified fees, taxes, or charges collected by the city, and can be recorded as an administrative lien on all real property owned by the responsible person or persons.
(C)   The order must advise the responsible person or persons that the order becomes final 30 calendar days after the date of its delivery. The order must also advise that the building official’s action may be appealed to the building board of appeals.
(2)   Service of notices of order. A notice of order issued pursuant to this section must be served upon the responsible person or persons either personally or by certified mail. However, if the whereabouts of one or more responsible persons is unknown and the same cannot be ascertained by the building official in the exercise of reasonable diligence, and the building official provides an affidavit to that effect, a notice of order may be served by publishing the same in accordance with HRS § 1-28.5, or if that provision no longer applies, by publication once each week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the city. A copy of the notice of order must also be posted in a conspicuous place on the property affected by the complaint or order and may be recorded in the State bureau of conveyances or the land court. If so recorded, a notice of order shall have the same force and effect as other lis pendens or other legal notices provided by law.
(3)   Effect of order; right to appeal. The order issued by the building official under this section becomes final 30 calendar days after the date of the delivery of the order. The responsible person or persons may appeal the order to the building board of appeals as provided by the building code. The appeal must be received in writing on or before the date the order becomes final. However, an appeal to the building board of appeals does not stay any provision of the order.
(4)   Addition of unpaid civil fines to fees or charges collected by the city; administrative liens.
(A)   When civil fines imposed pursuant to this subsection remain unpaid after all rights to administrative appeal or judicial review have been exhausted, and the fines either:
(i)   Exceed $150,000; or
(ii)   Have been outstanding for more than five years;
the building official shall, pursuant to Chapter 6, Article 1, and rules adopted by the building official, add the civil fines to the fees and charges specified in paragraph (B), and record the unpaid civil fines as a lien in favor of the city on all real property owned by the responsible person or persons.
(B)   The building official shall, at a minimum, add the civil fines to the following fees and charges collected by the city, if applicable to the responsible person or persons:
(i)   All fees collected by the department of planning and permitting, unless the fees are for permits, applications, or approvals for work necessary to correct the violation that is the subject of the notice of order;
(ii)   Motor vehicle registration fee and vehicle weight tax;
(iii)   Motor vehicle transfer of ownership fee;
(iv)   Driver's license renewal fee;
(v)   Business license renewal fee;
(vi)   Liquor license and renewal fees;
(vii)   Refuse collection fee; and
(viii)   Refuse disposal fee.
(d)   Judicial enforcement.
(1)   Injunctive relief. The corporation counsel is authorized to bring an action to enjoin any public nuisance, as defined by this code, at the request of the building official. An injunction sought by the corporation counsel may request any appropriate relief, including but not limited to an order requiring a responsible person to remove, demolish, destroy, or otherwise abate a public nuisance or city authorization to enter private property and seize, remove, demolish, destroy, or otherwise abate a public nuisance.
(2)   The corporation counsel may seek an injunction from a court under subdivision (1) if it appears that:
(A)   The public nuisance complained of was cited by the building official pursuant to a notice of violation and notice of order and remains unabated after all rights to appeal the notice of order have been exhausted or expired; or
(B)   A building, use of real property, or conditions on real property governed by this code present an unreasonable risk of harm to the public health, safety, or welfare, and the public interests favor the removal of such unsafe or unsanitary condition over the property owner’s interest in maintaining the current use or condition of the property.
(3)   Where the city enters private property to abate a public nuisance, all costs of correction, including legal costs and attorney's fees, may be reduced to a judgment or recorded as a lien against the property on which such abatement occurs. A lien recorded against the property that is registered in the bureau of conveyances or land court is enforceable in the same manner as any mortgage or other lien on real property. The interest secured by the city lien is senior to any lien recorded or registered after the city lien is recorded and subordinate to any lien recorded before the city lien.
(4)   The corporation counsel may seek enforcement of a lien under subsection (c)(4) and subdivision (3) in the circuit court of the first circuit, and the proceedings before the circuit court shall be conducted in the same manner and form as ordinary foreclosure proceedings as provided for in HRS Chapter 667. If the owners or claimants of the property against which a lien is sought to be foreclosed, are at the time out of the city or cannot be served within the city, or if the owners are unknown, and the fact shall be made to appear by affidavit to the satisfaction of the court, and it shall in like manner appear prima facie that a cause of action exists against such owners or claimants or against the property described in the complaint, or that such owners or claimants are necessary or proper parties to the action, the corporation counsel may request the court to permit service to be made in the manner provided by HRS §§ 634-23 through 634-29.
(5)   Any person aggrieved by a private nuisance may bring a civil action for damages, for injunctive relief to enjoin such private nuisance, or for both damages and injunctive relief.
(6)   Nothing in this section shall preclude the corporation counsel from seeking any other remedy or enforcement action available by law.
(Sec. 25-11.5, R.O. 1978 (1983 Ed.)) (1990 Code, Ch. 27, Art. 10, § 27-10.5) (Am. Ords. 97-50, 14-36, 21-29)