STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2313

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3202

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 3202 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO URBAN DEVELOPMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Allow for the development of a minimum of four homes per lot in the state urban land use district;

(2) Allow for approval for subdivisions of parcels with a minimum lot size of one thousand two hundred square feet in the state urban land use district; and

(3) Amend the calculation of impact fees for certain developments.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation, Land Use Commission, County of Hawaiʻi Planning Department, Housing Hawaiʻi's Future, Holomua Collaborative, Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, Naiop Hawaii, Hawaiʻi Gas, Church of the Crossroads, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, AIO, Build Better Live Better, Title Guaranty Hawaii, Tori Richard, AARP Hawaiʻi, Hawaiʻi Zoning Atlas, Hawaiʻi YIMBY, Hawaiʻi Housing Affordability Coalition, Affordable Housing Connections LLC, Mana Up, and eight individuals.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from Hawaii's Thousand Friends.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General and Hawaiʻi Association of REALTORS.

Your Committee finds that Hawaii is currently undergoing a housing crisis. One considerable factor for the high costs of housing in the State is the requirement that each single-family home shall have at least five thousand square feet of land. This significantly increases the cost of building a home and incentivizes the creation of much larger homes, many of which only wealthy families can afford. This measure promotes higher density, compact development, and the efficient use of the State's limited lands that are suitable for residential development to help the State address its housing shortfall and reduce the pressure to convert agricultural and conservation lands to urban uses. This measure will further bring Hawaii into conformity with zoning and planning principles of other jurisdictions throughout the country that have successfully built workforce housing.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Specifying that the new section in chapter 46, Hawaii Revised Statutes, be added to Part I of the chapter;

(2) Specifying that the new section in chapter 205, Hawaii Revised Statutes, be added to Part 1 of the chapter;

(3) Clarifying that, notwithstanding any other law, county ordinance, or rule to the contrary, the director of the county agency responsible for land use shall give final approval for any application for subdivision, consolidation, or resubdivision of parcels within the state urban land use district, subject to certain conditions; and

(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3202, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3202, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Housing,

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STANLEY CHANG, Chair