Hawaii Administrative Rules › Title 15 - DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND TOURISM › Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism › Chapter 150 - RULES GOVERNING SPECIAL MANAGEMENT AREAS AND SHORELINE AREAS WITHIN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DISTRICTS AND PRACTICE AND PROCEDURES BEFORE THE OFFICE OF PLANNING AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT › Subchapter 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS › Section 15-150-2 - Definitions

Current through June, 2024
As used in this chapter, unless a different meaning clearly
					 appears from the context:
"Agency" means any agency, board, commission, department,
					 or officer of a county government or the state government, including the
					 authority as defined in part I of chapter
					 205A, Hawaii Revised Statutes
					 (HRS).
"Applicant" means any individual, organization,
					 partnership, or corporation, including any utility, and any agency of
					 government.
"Beach" means a coastal landform primarily composed of sand
					 from eroded rock, coral, or shell material, or any combination thereof, that is
					 established and shaped by wave action and tidal processes. "Beach" includes
					 sand deposits in nearshore submerged areas, or sand dunes or upland beach
					 deposits landward of the shoreline, that provide benefits for public use and
					 recreation, for coastal ecosystems, and as a natural buffer against coastal
					 hazards.
"Coastal hazards" means any tsunami, hurricane, wind, wave,
					 storm surges, high tide, flooding, erosion, sea level rise, subsidence, or
					 point and nonpoint source pollution.
"Coastal zone management area" means all lands of the State
					 and the area extending seaward from the shoreline to the limit of the State's
					 police power and management authority, including the United States territorial
					 sea,
"Coastal zone management program" means the comprehensive
					 statement in words, maps, or other permanent media of communication, prepared,
					 approved for submission, and amended by the State and approved by the United
					 States government pursuant to Public Law No. 92-583, as amended, and the
					 federal regulations adopted pursuant thereto, which describes objectives,
					 policies, laws, standards, and procedures to guide and regulate public and
					 private uses in the coastal zone management area.
"Community development district" means an area designated
					 by statute as authorized by chapter
					 206E, HRS.
"County" means the county of Hawaii, the city and county of
					 Honolulu, the county of Kauai, or the county of Maui,
"Crops" mean agricultural produce or parts of plants or
					 trees cultivated for commercial or personal use, Including but not limited to
					 livestock.
"Development" means any of the uses, activities, or
					 operations on land; in or under water, within the special management area that
					 are included below, but not those uses, activities, or operations excluded in
					 paragraph (2),
(1) "Development" includes but is not limited to the
					 following:
(A) The placement or erection of any solid material or any
					 gaseous, liquid, solid, or thermal waste;
(B) Grading, removing, dredging, mining, or extracting of
					 any materials;
(C) Change in the density or intensity of use of land,
					 including but not limited to the division or subdivision of land;
(D) Change in the density or intensity of use of water,
					 ecology related thereto, or of access thereto; and
(E) Construction, reconstruction, or alteration of the size
					 of any structure.
(2) "Development" does not include the following:
(A) Construction or reconstruction of a single-family
					 residence that is less than seven thousand five hundred square feet of floor
					 area, is not situated on a shoreline parcel or a parcel that is impacted by
					 waves, storm surges, high tide, or shoreline erosion, and is not part of a
					 larger development;
(B) Repair or maintenance of roads and highways within
					 existing rights-of-way;
(C) Routine maintenance dredging of existing streams,
					 channels, and drainage ways
(D) The repair and maintenance of underground utility
					 lines, including but not limited to water, sewer, power, and telephone and
					 minor appurtenant structures such as pad mounted transformers and sewer pump
					 stations;
(E) Zoning variances, except for height, density, parking,
					 and shoreline setback;
(F) Repair, maintenance, or interior alterations to
					 existing structures;
(G) Demolition or removal of structures, except those
					 structures located on any historic site as designated in national or state
					 registers;
(H) The use of any land for the purpose of cultivating,
					 planting, growing, and harvesting of plants, crops, trees, and other
					 agricultural, horticultural, or forestry products or animal husbandry, or
					 aquaculture or mariculture of plants or animals, or other agricultural purposes
					 subject to review by the lead agency in accordance with paragraph (3);
(I) The transfer of title to land;
(J) The creation or termination of easements, covenants, or
					 other rights in structures or land;
(K) The subdivision of land into lots greater than twenty
					 acres in size;
(L) The subdivision of a parcel of land into four or fewer
					 parcels when no associated construction activities are proposed, provided that
					 the land which is subdivided shall not thereafter qualify for this exception
					 with respect to any subsequent subdivision of any of the resulting
					 parcels;
(M) Installation of underground utility lines and
					 appurtenant aboveground fixtures less than four feet in height along existing
					 corridors;
(N) Structural and nonstructural improvements to existing
					 single-family residences, where otherwise permissible;
(O) Nonstructural improvements to existing commercial or
					 noncommercial structures; and
(P) Construction., installation, maintenance, repair, and
					 replacement of civil defense warning or signal devices and sirens.
(3) Whenever the lead agency finds that any use, activity,
					 or operation excluded in paragraph (2) may have a cumulative impact, or a
					 significant environmental or ecological effect on the special management area,
					 that use, activity, or operation shall be defined as "development" for the
					 purpose of this chapter.
"Director" means the director of the office of planning and
					 sustainable development, or authorized subordinate or designee.
"Environmental Impact Statement" or "EIS" means an
					 informational document prepared in compliance with the environmental quality
					 commission's rules implementing chapter
					 343, HRS.
"Floor area" is defined as in the ordinances of the county
					 where the development is proposed.
"Hardship" means that the applicant must show that:
(1) The land in question cannot yield a reasonable return
					 if used only for the purpose allowed by section
					 15-150-26;
(2) The request of the applicant is due to unique
					 circumstances and not to general conditions in the area so that the
					 reasonableness of section
					 15-150-26 is
					 not drawn into question; and
(3) The use to be authorized by the variance will not
					 change the essential character of the area or be contrary to the intent or
					 purpose of this chapter.
"Hearing officer" means a person or persons designated and
					 authorized by the lead agency to conduct an agency hearing for the purpose of
					 taking testimony, to report and submit the findings and recommendations to the
					 lead agency on matters within the jurisdiction of the lead agency pursuant to
					 this chapter.
"Land" means the earth, water, and air above, below, or on
					 the surface.
"Lead agency" means the office of planning and sustainable
					 development.
"Revetment" means a facing of stone, concrete, blocks, or
					 similar material built to protect a scarp, embankment, or shore structure
					 against erosion by wave action or currents.
"Shoreline" means the upper reaches of the wash of the
					 waves, other than storm and seismic waves, at high tide during the season of
					 the year in which the highest wash of the waves occurs, usually evidenced by
					 the edge of vegetation growth, or the upper limit of debris left by the wash of
					 the waves.
"Shoreline area" means all of the land area between the
					 shoreline setback line and mean sea level.
"Shoreline certification" means a signed statement by the
					 chairperson of the board of land and natural resources that the shoreline is as
					 located and shown on a map as of a certain date in accordance with section
					 205A-42,
					 HRS, and chapter
					 13-222, for shoreline
					 certifications.
"Shoreline setback line" means that line established in
					 section
					 15-150-20.
"Shoreline survey" means a survey map showing the shoreline
					 as determined by the board of land and natural resources in accordance with
					 section
					 205A-42,
					 HRS, and chapter
					 13-222, for shoreline
					 certifications.
"Special management area" means the land extending inland
					 from the shoreline as delineated on maps filed with the county.
"Special management area minor approval" means an action by
					 the lead agency authorizing development, the valuation of which is not in
					 excess of $500,000 and which has no substantial adverse environmental or
					 ecological effect, taking into account potential cumulative effects.
"Special management area use approval" means an action by
					 the lead agency authorizing development, the valuation of which exceeds
					 $500,000 or which may have a substantial adverse or ecological effect, taking
					 into account potential cumulative effects.
"Structure" includes, but is not limited to, any portion of
					 any building, pavement, road, pipe, flume, utility line, fence, groin, wall, or
					 revetment.
"Valuation" shall be determined by the lead agency and
					 means the estimated cost to replace the structure in kind, based on current
					 replacement costs, or in the cases of other development, as defined in this
					 section, the fair market value of the development.
"Vegetation growth" means any plant, tree, shrub, grass, or
					 groups, clusters, or paths of the same naturally rooted and
					 growing.