If Bones Could Nest\u2026 <\/b>Environmental assessments are often written with less care and attention than environmental impact statements.\u00a0 The August 8 Environmental Notice<\/i> includes a couple of EAs that provide ample evidence.<\/p>\n
Consider the draft EA prepared for an after-the-fact permit for a seawall fronting two lots in the Mokuleia area. In discussing possible impediments to the permit, the DEA states: \u201cAccording to the [Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands] this area is sensitive to the iwi kupuna. However without positive signs of nesting no action has been required to this point.\u201d Iwi kupuna are, of course, the bones of Hawaiians, who before European contact, were often buried in coastal sands.<\/p>\n
The document is rife with similar howlers, of both content and style. Take this, for example: \u201cRemoval of the alterations to the existing wall is also not a viable option. The simple fact of the matter is that this issue is in fact an issue and the wall\u2019s poor construction has proven itself time and time again to be insufficient in the defense of the property against the ocean tides and swells.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018My Beautiful House\u2019<\/b>:<\/b> Another EA \u2013 this one a final EA \u2013 for coastal property on O`ahu shows the drawbacks of the landowner preparing his own document. Charles Tsu Yew Wong, owner of property along Lilipina Drive in Kaneohe, is seeking permits for a five bedroom, eight-and-a-half bath house with two three-car garages, a seawall extension, and other improvements. According to Wong, the city had erroneously issued him a permit for the house and now he must seek after-the-fact approvals.<\/p>\n
Wong\u2019s DEA runs to 438 pages and includes such extraneous information as notices of violation, building permits, architectural drawings, and window schedules. Multiple photos are also included, although it is not always clear what they are intended to illustrate.<\/p>\n
Wong appends to his DEA comments from various agencies and, notably, neighbors. In one case, a neighbor noted that at one point, the house plan shows a floor area of 10,818 square feet, but plans for the building permit show an area of 8,917 square feet. In reply, Wong dismisses this as \u201cnot relevant.\u201d \u201cFor purposes of the EA, the proposed new dwelling are [sic] conceptual, not actual.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ko`olaupoko Hawaiian Civic Club, in its comments, urged the Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting to refuse to issue any permit for Wong\u2019s house. \u201c[T]his property owner has violated building regulations for a number of years and caused runoff into Kaneohe Bay,\u201d it noted. Wong\u2019s reply: \u201cI am sorry to hear that you do not like my beautiful house.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year, the DPP staff urged Wong to seek professional help. \u201c[W]e highly recommend you seek a professional planning or environmental agent to complete the documents necessary for the DEA,\u201d it told Wong in March 2017.<\/p>\n
Wong said he was unable to do so, but he was able to \u201cretain the services of a professional planner, off the record.\u201d Fair to say no professional would want to be on the record in association with the hot mess of this EA.<\/p>\n
Correction:<\/b> In our August article, \u201cTenant Property Tax Bills Go Unpaid,\u201d we erroneously stated that Kampachi Farms, LLC owned \u201cthe giant off-shore cages where kampachi is raised to market size.\u201d According to Kampachi Worldwide Holdings, LP co-founder Neil Sims, Kampachi Farms no longer operates the fish farm, having transferred ownership of the lease and permits for it to another company in 2009.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If Bones Could Nest… Environmental assessments are often written with less care and attention than environmental impact statements. The August 8 Environmental Notice includes a couple of EAs that provide ample evidence. Consider the draft EA prepared for an after-the-fact … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-september-2018"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10594","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=10594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}