Opinion ID: 2646157
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Contested case hearings, if applicable, and

Text: as required by law, shall be held as provided in chapter 13-1. The aggrieved appellant or person who has demonstrated standing to contest the board action may request a contested case hearing pursuant to chapter 13-1. Finally, with respect to public hearings, HAR § 13-5-40 provides: (a) Public hearings shall be held:
land for commercial purposes, (excluding site plan approvals);
establishment of a new subzone, changes in identified land use, or any amendment to this chapter;
the protective subzone; and
chairperson that the scope of proposed use, or the public interest requires a public hearing on the application. 19  FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST’S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER  Under this rule, the BLNR chairperson determined that, pursuant to HAR § 13-5-40(a)(4), the public interest required a public hearing on UH’s application; this was the public hearing that took place on August 26, 2010 in Pukalani, Maui. While subsection (4), as written, does seem to indicate an amount of discretion on the chairperson’s part, subsection (4) is also no less valid a prerequisite for the holding of a public hearing than any of the other subsections. Accordingly, if the chairperson determines that the scope of the project or the public interest requires a public hearing on the application, then BLNR shall hold a public hearing. Accordingly, based on the foregoing discussion, we conclude that UH’s application necessitated a hearing required by law -- i.e., by the administrative rules governing DLNR and BLNR.5