After hearing from the public, including some division heads with the Department of Planning and Permitting, the commission committed at its May 8 meeting to ensuring that whatever guidance it gives the city is feasible.<\/p>\n
DPP permits division chief Katia Balassiano testified that the city had neither the staff nor the funds to implement the recommendations, which she seemed to support in concept.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s more, she said, \u201cWe\u2019re being pulled in different directions. Lots of priorities, lots of competing interests. [It\u2019s] a balancing act.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you have recommendations for language that doesn\u2019t put you in a corner?\u201d Fletcher asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt certainly does put us in a corner. Thank you for acknowledging that. \u2026 These issues have been brought to our attention on numerous occasions. We\u2019re looking for assistance [and] may be able to address these issues sooner rather than later,\u201d she replied, adding that she would try to come up with alternative language.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t want to be diluting the good work you\u2019ve done, but I’m a little cautions about making promises or raising expectations [and] getting into legal liability that may result from this particular language,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Fletcher stressed that the commission did not want to create an unfunded mandate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a revolutionary and inconvenient set of regulations,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Given that climate change effects are occurring and will continue, Balassiano suggested that government agencies \u201cdon’t really have a choice\u201d but to deal with them.<\/p>\n
The Sierra Club, Hawai`i Chapter\u2019s Dave Raney said he thought the draft guidance document Fletcher and Coffman presented was excellent. \u201cIt takes you from the vague thing of, \u2018We should be considering sea level rise\u2019 \u2026 down to the TMK [tax map key]\u201d level, he said.<\/p>\n
Tetra Tech\u2019s Kitty Courtney, who was instrumental in the creation of the SLR report, also supported the kinds of recommendations that had been drafted. Given the huge amount of work and resources involved in implementing them, she said, \u201cThere might be a way to think about phasing, beginning with the next sustainable communities plan update.\u201d As reported in last month\u2019s issue of Environment Hawai`i<\/i>, Tetra Tech is working with Sea Grant on preparing a white paper for the DPP on how to address sea level rise in its upcoming update of the Primary Urban Center Community Development Plan, which covers the island\u2019s urban core.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t just do this all everywhere, all at once. \u2026 [Tackling the plans] one by one. I think that would be helpful,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
So it may be awhile before the plans for the entire island are updated to address sea level rise effects. The DPP\u2019s transit-oriented development division, which focuses on urbanization around the Honolulu rail project, would also have some major catching up to do if Fletcher\u2019s and Coffman\u2019s recommendations were adopted unamended.<\/p>\n
Like Balassiano, division administrator Harrison Rue seemed open to the kinds of things they had proposed. \u201dIt\u2019s what we asked you for. Thank you,\u201d he said, before admitting that seeing the recommendation to incorporate flexibility in developments so that they can adapt to a 6-ft. rise in sea level by the second half of the century \u201cwas a jaw-dropping moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he was going to put the recommendations on his sub-cabinet\u2019s next agenda.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have started using the 3.2 figure in thinking of infrastructure, as well as specific project planning,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u2018Locked in\u2019<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
When it comes to the city\u2019s impending multi-billion-dollar rail system, which will connect Kapolei to Waikiki, representatives from the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transit (HART) acknowledged that portions of the line fall within the exposure areas identified in the SLR report.<\/p>\n
But, basically, it\u2019s too late to reroute anything, said Ryan Tam, HART\u2019s assistant deputy director of planning. In December 2006, the city council picked its preferred alternative and in February 2007, it selected the route for the first 20 miles and completed an environmental impact statement in June 2010, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn December 2012, it signed a contract with the federal transit administration and got $1.55 billion. It locked us into what we\u2019re doing now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
For those parts of the system that might be vulnerable to the effects of sea level rise, HART\u2019s strategy is to have \u201cpublic-private partners and design builders identify options for what potential solutions are, potentially raising station entrances, stairs and ramps. Currently, those features are not in the design,\u201d he said. He added that those decisions will need to be made by the community when the time comes. \u201cIs our community going to retreat or are we going to raise the roadways?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
He noted that HART has made an effort to keep stations, such as the one slated for Ala Moana, out of the flood zone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean by flood zone?\u201d Fletcher asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cFlood zones as, I think, currently defined\u201d by regulations, Tam replied.<\/p>\n
To this, Fletcher pointed out that Congress has stood in the way of updating flood insurance maps so that they reflect anticipated effects of sea level rise.<\/p>\n
Tam replied, \u201cWe are an agency of the city. We are bound by the regulations of the city. As this evolves, we\u2019ll have to take appropriate measures at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Fletcher asked Tam whether HART even had the ability to take into account sea level rise or any other kind of constantly evolving information, Tam replied that his agency\u2019s approach has been to focus on existing regulations and requirements. That said, Tam added that his agency gives its contractors \u201cwhatever best information we have now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fletcher noted that HART had considered a rise in sea level of only 2.33 ft. in planning for the system. Given Tam\u2019s statement that the rail would have a lifespan of 50-100 years, Fletcher asked him whether he was interested in looking at sea level rise information for the 50- to 100-year time frame.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t make any commitments \u2026 \u201c Tam replied.<\/p>\n He seemed to acknowledge, however, that whatever restrictions HART must operate under, there will need to be a comprehensive strategy to deal with what\u2019s likely going to happen to low-lying, coastal, urban areas such as Kaka`ako.<\/p>\n \u201cIf streets in Kaka`ako have to be raised, we have to think about clearance between the top of the roadway and the bottom of the [rail] guideway. \u2026 It\u2019s not just rail. It\u2019s the whole community. What\u2019s the strategy?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n Fletcher added, \u201cIf they fall into the sea level rise exposure area, it\u2019s not just the [rail] stations, it\u2019s access to the stations. \u2026 What good is raising an elevator or escalator if you can\u2019t drive to the station?\u201d<\/p>\n TOD division administrator Rue interjected that some of those questions would be better directed to his agency. \u201cTheir job is the rail. Our job is the improvements around the stations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m sort of wondering what will trigger the direct addressing of sea level rise. \u2026 At what point will you guys actually embrace this issue?\u201d Fletcher asked.<\/p>\n Rue said his division has started addressing the issue \u201cat least the day after I arrived four years ago. I asked HART, \u2018What are you doing about the stations?\u2019 We decided to focus on a few key projects in the Iwilei-Kapalama area, one of the areas partially inundated under your [sea level rise] viewer, as well as Pearlridge. We\u2019re looking at riverine flooding in Waipahu and Kapalama. We don\u2019t have the solutions now. Should we elevate, should we walk away?\u201d<\/p>\n Discussion of the draft recommendations continued at a subsequent meeting later in the month, but no decisions have yet been made on them.<\/p>\n \u2014 Teresa Dawson<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" State legislators haven’t been alone in their efforts to codify recommendations from the December 2017 Sea Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Report (SLR report) prepared for the Hawaiʻi Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission in accordance with Acts 83 and … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[3],"class_list":["post-10394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-june-2018","tag-teresa-dawson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screenshot-2018-05-24-20.16.51.png\")
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