{"id":11248,"date":"2019-05-01T01:26:55","date_gmt":"2019-05-01T01:26:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/?p=11248"},"modified":"2020-01-06T22:06:33","modified_gmt":"2020-01-06T22:06:33","slug":"county-planners-embrace-exposure-area-but-face-resistance-technical-obstacles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/?p=11248","title":{"rendered":"County Planners Embrace Exposure Area, But Face Resistance, Technical Obstacles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
For the second legislative session since the state unveiled its Sea Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Report, bills based on the report\u2019s recommendations largely failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among those were bills that would have forced sellers of real property to disclose whether their lands lie within the 3.2-ft. sea level rise exposure area (SLR-XA) identified in the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At last month\u2019s meeting of the state Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission, Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands administrator Sam Lemmo said he was disappointed those measures, as well as ones aimed at incorporating sea level rise concerns into the Coastal Zone Management Act, died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Getting the disclosure legislation passed was one of the commission\u2019s top five priorities identified last year. But as Kaua\u2018i planning director Ka\u2018aina Hull revealed at the commission meeting, the SLR-XA may not yet be ready to be used as a tool to impose regulations on individual landowners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The SLR-XA maps, which depict vulnerable areas under various levels of sea rise, are both in the report and available for finer scale, interactive viewing on the Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System (PacIOOS) website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While drafting an incentive package to encourage more affordable housing in the form of small-scale Additional Rental Units (ARUs), Hull said one County Council member proposed removing ARUs from areas vulnerable to sea level rise effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s where we got into problems,\u201d Hull said. He showed the commission a map of Kapa\u2018a town with the 3.2-foot sea level rise exposure area shaded in dark blue: A narrow strip hugged the coast, then sprawled inward, forming a jagged-edged blob surrounded by long, thin branches and errant patches.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSea level rise exposure area for Kapaa, Kauai. Credit: PacIOOS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the lines we\u2019ve got, so \u2026 How would you actually tell a property owner, \u2018You can have an ARU here, but not here?\u201d he asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAside from it being all over the place, the mapping is not a high-resolution mapping. \u2026 The surveyors were telling us, \u2018Do you want us to draw it pixelated?\u2019\u201d he continued. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
With hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of development at stake, the exposure area line wasn\u2019t smooth enough and the proposal was halted, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite its drawbacks, Hull said the exposure area was useful in guiding policy. For example, the population on Kaua\u2018i is growing, albeit slowly, and the county general plan recommends accommodating that growth in developed areas rather than allowing urban sprawl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The problem is that some town cores are situated in coastal areas, Hull said. \u201cIs that an appropriate policy to have? Should we be sending all of our infill development into the [exposure] area?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Kekaha and Waimea on the island\u2019s west coast, the exposure area overlaps 20 percent of the town core, he said. The county is updating the area\u2019s community plan, which is expected to also include zoning regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hull said public opinion against more development in the exposure area for those towns was overwhelming. And based on that, the plan may target areas mauka of the exposure area for intensive development, and possibly down-zone lands makai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to figure out the best area to limit or prohibit [development] in the sea level rise exposure areas,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that there was a lot of state land nearby that could be transferred to the county and be used to facilitate a managed retreat from the shoreline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because the county\u2019s shoreline setback ordinance prohibits hardening, landowners have an incentive to move, he suggested, noting that he\u2019s already seen one structure fall because the owner could not build a seawall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rather than threatening condemnation, Hull said the county can tell landowners, \u201cWe can exchange this land for our land. By the way your structure is going to be in the ocean in a few years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While retreat is one option, Hull suggested leaving at least Kekaha alone is also being considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cKekaha town is in the wetland. There are pumps right now pumping water out of Kekaha,\u201d he said. But there is also a seawall along the highway fronting the town, \u201cprotecting the asset,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIs this an area you\u2019re going to preserve in place because infrastructure is already there?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hull said his office was still having \u201cdeeply heated and contentious debate\u201d about the plan, but assured the commission that a draft would be released on July 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWith fireworks,\u201d Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation coordinator Anu Hittle quipped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
University of Hawai\u2018i professor Chip Fletcher, a vice-chair of the Honolulu climate commission, later advised Hull to consider adaptive design in areas mauka of the exposure area, since \u201csea level rise is not going to stop at 3.2 feet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat is going to be monumentally one of the most important aspects of how we design our towns,\u201d Hull replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Setback Pushback<\/h4>\n\n\n\nKahana, Maui. Credit: University of Hawaii<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Speaking of fireworks, Maui landowners are lighting up the county Planning Department for trying to incorporate the SLR-XA into to shoreline setback regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe asked Kaua\u2018i County what they\u2019re doing. They said, \u2018Well, we\u2019re waiting to see what you\u2019re doing,\u2019\u201d Jeffrey Dack, the department\u2019s senior planner, told the commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So late last year, Maui went first. And it did not stop at setback rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The proposed rules would amend two of the three options landowners have to establish setbacks. They could locate them at least 40 feet inland of erosion hazard lines in the PacIOOS sea level rise viewer, or at least 200 feet from the shoreline as mapped by the department if there is no erosion hazard line. The option of establishing setbacks so they constitute 25 percent of lot depth for irregularly shaped properties, extending up to 150 feet inland, was left unchanged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other proposed amendments to the shoreline and Special Management Area (SMA) rules would require permit applicants to include the 3.2-foot SLR-XA and the red erosion hazard line from the PacIOOS viewer into their development site plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Dack\u2019s presentation to the commission, the amendments would also require landowners to agree to forgo shoreline hardening for construction that requires a setback variance, repairs to structures within the setback that cost more than half of replacement costs, and repairs to damage caused by waves, among other things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Landowners are brimming with questions, Dack reported:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What will happen to existing structures that may now be partially or entirely in the setback area? How many properties would become unbuildable if hazard lines were adopted? Will repairing seawalls be contrary to managed retreat?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some also believe the rules, if adopted, would constitute a land taking, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat just gives you a flavor of what\u2019s hitting us,\u201d he said, adding that his agency is preparing \u201creasonable responses to all of those.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Next Steps<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
To resolve the kinds of problems Hull raised, Lemmo suggested that his agency, which spearheaded the effort to develop the sea level rise report, could prepare an addendum that would explain how the report should be used. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs Ka\u2018aina mentioned, it\u2019s not clear,\u201d he said. \u201cAre we going to do remodeling? Are we going to smooth lines? Are we going to write guidance \u2026 for people who want to apply it a little more seriously?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lemmo and Hittle proposed convening a team of experts \u2014 from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, UH, the state Department of Transportation, the Honolulu Board of Water Supply, and elsewhere \u2014 to develop that guidance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commissioner Bruce Anderson, who also heads the state Department of Health, said he hoped some guidance would be developed for counties as to how the SLR-XA should be considered when approving wastewater systems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHonestly, we\u2019re not doing it right now, not looking at septic systems, and leach fields,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lemmo acknowledged that agencies and entities throughout the state are already working on various aspects of climate change adaptation and mitigation. Coastal Zone Management program manager Justine Nihipali noted that the University of Hawai\u2018i Sea Grant program is developing guidance on how to apply the SLR-XA to community resiliency planning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lemmo said he envisions a more centralized body, located in one place, \u201cwhere we can grow a small unit that can basically serve as a resource for doing climate adaptation work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nihipali said that the state Office of Planning already has a framework that brings together officials from various government agencies, mainly planning departments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCurrently what\u2019s limited is funding. \u2026 We got folks at the table that participate through this process already,\u201d she said, adding that she had reservations about \u201ccreating something brand new.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To this, Hittle replied, \u201cI don’t think we\u2019re creating anything brand new. We\u2019re just continuing the work. We don\u2019t have funding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Screenshot-2019-04-26-16.25.20.png\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/img8714_7380l-1024x768.jpg\")