(a) Annual amendment review. Amendments to these common provisions and each development plan shall be considered by the council as part of the annual amendment review procedure established by the planning and permitting department, unless they satisfy the requirements for independent consideration.
(b) Independent consideration.
The following types of amendments may be considered independent of the annual amendment review:
(1) Land use amendments that only involve the redesignation of lands to preservation;
(2) Land use map amendments within the Primary Urban Center, Ewa, or Central Oahu DP areas, which involve an expansion of not more than 20 acres to agricultural use, park/golf course or residential use; or 10 acres to apartment, commercial, industrial, residential emphasis mixed, commercial emphasis mixed, or commercial-industrial emphasis mixed use.
Amendments involving potential cumulative impacts resulting from separate applications in the same area shall be processed in the annual amendment review.
Land use map amendments must have the required utilities and support services which are:
(A) Currently available and adequate to serve the proposed use;
(B) Designated on the public facilities map; or
(C) Otherwise committed to be built; and are not needed to service uses already designated on the land use map.
(3) An amendment to the public facilities map when authorized by the city council by resolution or initiated by the director of planning and permitting;
(4) Amendments which correct mistakes or miscalculations not involving basic methodology in the development plans;
(5) All text amendments, provided that any such amendments do not change the nature or extent of planned land uses to a greater degree than permitted in subsection (b); and
(6) Any amendment which proposes the development of an affordable residential housing project or a planned community, or both, with an affordable housing component as a principal use in which at least 60 percent of the units are affordable to families at or below 120 percent of median income and supported by the department of community services.
(c) Procedure.
(1) Amendments may be submitted for consideration by an interested party through the filing of a completed amendment application with the planning and permitting department. The director of planning and permitting and city council may similarly initiate for consideration amendments they wish to have studied.
(2) Any revision or amendment proposed by the city council shall be referred to the director of planning and permitting and the planning commission by resolution, which resolution shall be accompanied by supporting documentation sufficient to satisfy the director’s usual requirements for the commencement of processing.
The director of planning and permitting shall assist the council in proposing revisions or amendments as permitted by § 2-24.3, by gathering and preparing the necessary supporting documentation sufficient to satisfy the usual requirements to commence processing such an amendment.
(3) If the planning commission recommends disapproval of the city council’s proposed revision or amendment or recommends a modification thereof, not accepted by the city council, or fails to make its report within a period of either 30 days after the close of its public hearing or 90 days after its receipt by the commission, whichever occurs first, the council may nevertheless adopt such revision or amendment, but only by the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of its entire membership.
(4) A proposal which does not have the support of either the director of planning and permitting or city council shall be processed as an “unendorsed proposal.”
Any revision of or amendment to any existing development plan which has been processed as an “unendorsed proposal” shall, in the absence of an affirmative recommendation from the planning commission, require for its adoption the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the entire membership of the city council.
(5) Any amendment which does not satisfy the criteria of subsection (b) shall be included in the annual amendment review and shall be processed in accordance with the following procedures:
(A) Completed amendment applications for the annual review filed with the department of planning and permitting no later than January 15 of each year by private applicants or no later than January 22 of each year by all public agencies, including the city administration and the city council, shall be processed in the annual amendment review for that year. Applications filed thereafter shall be processed in the next year’s annual amendment review.
(i) Applications may be withdrawn from annual amendment review processing subject to the approval of the director of planning and permitting. Applicants shall submit a written request stating the reasons for withdrawal to the planning and permitting department no later than five working days before July 1.
(ii) Thereafter, applicants seeking to have their applications withdrawn from further annual amendment review consideration shall submit a written request stating the reasons for withdrawal to the city council, with copies to the planning commission and the planning and permitting department.
(B) Annually, not later than February 15, the director of planning and permitting shall submit a request in writing to pertinent agencies and neighborhood boards for their comments and recommendations on all amendments initiated for consideration in the annual amendment review. The agencies and boards shall, within 60 days of receipt of the request, submit their comments and recommendations in writing to the director of planning and permitting.
(C) Annually, not later than July 1, the director of planning and permitting shall submit reports to the city council on the following:
(i) A report on all proposed amendments to the development plans with the director of planning and permitting’s recommendations; and
(ii) A report on all amendments in which the director of planning and permitting has received a request for withdrawal from an applicant and where the director of planning and permitting approves that request.
(D) Action by planning commission. The planning commission, upon receipt of a report from the director of planning and permitting or the council for an amendment or amendments to a development plan, shall hold a public hearing on the proposed amendments, and shall transmit its findings and recommendations thereon, through the mayor, to the council for its consideration and action. Such findings and recommendations on an annual amendment review shall be transmitted in time to be received by the city council by October 1 of the year covered by that annual amendment review.
(E) City council action. All proposed amendments to the development plans received by the city council from the planning commission by October 1 of each year shall be considered as part of the annual amendment review for the improvement and development of the city for that year. Amendments received after that date may be held on file and considered in the annual amendment review for the following year, unless they meet the requirements for independent consideration. Amendments received after that date may also be considered as part of the annual amendment review for this year pursuant to subsection (c)(3).
(6) For proposed amendments which meet the requirements for independent consideration specified in subsection (b):
(A) The director of planning and permitting, within 90 days, which may be extended with applicant’s consent, of the date of filing of a completed application, shall submit a report with the director of planning and permitting’s recommendation to the planning commission for its consideration and action. The 90-day period does not include any environmental assessment as may be required under HRS Chapter 343.
(B) The planning commission, upon receipt of a proposal for an amendment or amendments to a development plan, shall, within 45 days, hold a public hearing on the proposed amendments. The planning commission shall, within 30 days after the close of the public hearing, transmit to the city council the director of planning and permitting’s report and proposed ordinance with the planning commission’s recommendations.
(7) Authority. Nothing in this section shall be construed as an abridgement or delegation of the responsibility of the director of planning and permitting, or of the inherent legislative power of the city council, to propose amendments of the development plans to the planning commission, pursuant to the Charter and the above procedures, independent of any amendment application.
(8) No application for development plan land use map amendment shall be accepted for processing unless the applicant notifies, by mail, all owners, lessees, sublessees, and residents of the affected property and of each abutting parcel.
(Sec. 32-1.13, R.O. 1978 (1987 Supp. to 1983 Ed.)) (1990 Code, Ch. 24, Art. 1, § 24-1.13) (Am. Ords. 90-5, 91-77, 91-78, 93-07, 93-14, 94-26)