The state’s chief housing officer is scheduled to host a public virtual question-and-answer session today on Gov. Josh Green’s recent emergency proclamation for housing.
Nani Medeiros plans to respond to the top questions from the public about the emergency order that Green issued July 17 as a way to reduce the cost and time for residential development through an alternate set of environmental, historic preservation, land-use and other regulations without causing significant negative impacts.
The event is slated to run from 2:30 to 3 p.m. on the governor’s GovJoshGreen Facebook page and @govhawaii Instagram feed, respectively, at facebook.com/GovJoshGreen and instagram.com/govhawaii.
Medeiros is expected to answer pertinent questions on the subject already received by Green’s office through various channels, as well as some questions submitted during the planned event.
Under Green’s order, a 23-member panel dominated by officials in the governor’s administration will receive project applications and determine by simple majority vote whether a project can use one or more alternate approval procedures.
One alternate procedure would allow a county council to change agricultural and rural state land-use designations to permit urban development on parcels between 15 acres and 100 acres instead of the state Land Use Commission. Another change would allow a county planning director instead of county councils to approve county zoning exemptions for projects qualified under state law as affordable housing.
The panel also would be in charge of determining whether a proposed project has to comply with existing environmental and historic preservation regulations or relaxed alternate provisions depending on whether a majority of panel members believes a project would likely have significant negative impacts.
For projects initiated by the state or counties, Medeiros can allow such projects to use the alternate regulations instead of the panel and make some but not all approval decisions.
Under the order, a project allowed to use alternate regulatory procedures would be required to make at least one public presentation.
The first meeting of the panel, dubbed the Build Beyond Barriers Working Group, is scheduled for 9:30 to 11 a.m. Friday. The meeting is expected to be more of an orientation meeting, as no project applications will be considered.
The public can view this initial meeting virtually on the governor’s Facebook page. The panel’s meetings, under the emergency order, do not have to comply with public-notice requirements, but the meeting is open to public viewing in the interest of transparency.
Some critics of the emergency rules contend that things including the environment and ancient Hawaiian burials are having important protections weakened. The order also has been criticized as not being an emergency given that Hawaii has long had a shortage of affordable housing and an imbalance in supply and demand that drives up the price of homes.
Facebook user William Pitts asked in a post Tuesday, “My question is how does the government derive ‘emergency powers’ all the time?”
