REPORT TITLE:
Kokokahi YWCA; Restoration


DESCRIPTION:
Allows Kokokahi YWCA to proceed with the restoration of the
historic pier fronting their property.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           517
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO THE KOKOKAHI YWCA.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that there is a need to
 
 2 allow for the Kokokahi YWCA to proceed with the planned
 
 3 renovation of the historic pier fronting their property.
 
 4      Kokokahi YWCA has recently begun a $2,100,000 renovation
 
 5 project aimed at providing use of the Kaneohe water front
 
 6 property and keeping it solvent.  The project is to continue over
 
 7 the next two and a half years, and will be financed through
 
 8 grants and property assets sold.
 
 9      However, repairing the pier, which is a public facility and
 
10 provides service to the community, may have to be postponed
 
11 because of uncertainty about the pier's legal standing.  Under
 
12 current state law, pier owners must obtain a conservation
 
13 district use permit, a revocable permit, and a shoreline
 
14 certificate, a process that could take up to one year.  However,
 
15 a pier is considered nonconforming if the abutting land owner can
 
16 prove that it was constructed before October 1, 1964, the
 
17 effective date of the conservation district.
 
18      Kokokahi YWCA has documents dating back to 1928 that grant
 
19 the YWCA rights to the pier, and received letters from the state
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           517
                                                        
                                                        


 1 department of land and natural resources in 1984 indicating that
 
 2 the pier had been "grandfathered" in the rules, and that the YWCA
 
 3 would be waived from needing a conservation district use permit.
 
 4      In the meantime, while the Kokokahi YWCA waits for approval
 
 5 to proceed with its restoration of the pier, approximately
 
 6 $25,000 worth of lumber to restore the pier has been stacked in
 
 7 the open and may have begun deteriorating.  Accordingly, the
 
 8 legislature finds that there is a need to speed up the permitting
 
 9 process to allow the Kokokahi YWCA to proceed with its
 
10 restoration project.  The purpose of this Act is to formally
 
11 grandfather that pier as a nonconforming structure to allow the
 
12 Kokokahi YWCA to continue with its restoration.
 
13      SECTION 2.  The pier fronting the Kokokahi YWCA is deemed to
 
14 be a nonconforming structure in the conservation district.  The
 
15 department of land and natural resources shall grant or waive the
 
16 requirement for any permit that would otherwise be required under
 
17 any state law, rule, or program to enable the Kokokahi YWCA to
 
18 proceed with the restoration of that pier, which is a public
 
19 facility and which provides service to the community, without the
 
20 necessity of providing any further documentation to the
 
21 department of land and natural resources or any other state or
 
22 county agency.
 

 
 
 
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                                     S.B. NO.           517
                                                        
                                                        


 1      SECTION 3.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
 2 
 
 3                              INTRODUCED BY:______________________