Oahu voters in Tuesday’s general election approved three amendments to Honolulu’s City Charter — changing the makeup of the Planning Commission, bolstering the Clean Water and Natural Lands Fund, and incorporating the Office of Council Services.
A fourth measure, addressing affordable housing, appeared headed for defeated after the second printout of election results late last night.
PASSED: Planning Commission
The move to diversify the nine-member Planning Commission’s makeup arose as the panel skewed over the years toward those with real estate and development interests.
The amendment requires that four of the members each bring a different skill set to bear: one with experience in Native Hawaiian customary and traditional practices, Native Hawaiian law or traditional Hawaiian land use; one with expertise in land-use planning, principles and policies; one skilled in land development and construction; and the other with knowledge of climate change and sea-level rise causes, effects and solutions, or environmental preservation and protection.
Since the Planning Commission has no shortage of members experienced in land-use planning, construction and development, the amendment will likely bring aboard new voices in slots designated for climate change and Native Hawaiian culture, law and land use as early as 2023 or as late as 2025.
PASSED: Water, lands fund
Providing operating dollars for the city’s Clean Water and Natural Lands Fund, which receives a 0.5% allocation from real property tax revenue, would amount to about $7.5 million in the current fiscal year.
The fund allows the city to purchase real estate and easements for conservation, outdoor recreation and other purposes but doesn’t provide money to spruce up the properties for public uses such as parking lots and restrooms or landscaping and environmental remediation.
The Clean Water and Natural Lands Fund would be allowed to spend 5% of its budget — $376,212 this year — on maintenance, operations and management of the lands it acquires for the city.
Without it, “we’d end up in a situation where the lands or the waters couldn’t be used,” said William Reese Liggett, a member of the Clean Water and Natural Lands Advisory Commission, which selects properties for purchase.
The fund has been used to acquire the Maunawila Heiau property in Hauula and its conservation easement, the Ka Iwi Coast mauka lands, and the conservation easement for Kanewai Spring, according to the fund website.
PASSED: Council services
The Office of Council Services, which would be written into the charter, researches and drafts legislation for the Honolulu City Council and is the only legislative agency not formally established in the City Charter. While the charter recognizes the city clerk’s and city auditor’s offices, it grants only the Council the authority to establish an Office of Council Services.
“The main thrust,” said OCS Director James Williston, is “to put us on the same plane as the other legislative branch agencies of the city.”
The amendment would also explicitly grant OCS the authority to provide the City Council with legal advice.
TRAILING: Affordable housing
The fate of the question before voters on doubling the amount of money directed to the Affordable Housing Fund from real property tax revenues appeared on track to fail after the second round of election results. The fund would receive 1% of that revenue, or about $16 million. That’s a bump up from 0.5%, or about $8 million, as it stands.
The Affordable Housing Fund provides rentals for people making 60% or less of the median household income in Honolulu, but expanding its coffers would enable development of more housing projects, according to a Council resolution that proposed the amendment.
Recently, the city steered about $30 million from the fund toward constructing nearly 1,000 units across six affordable-housing projects.
