Honu'apo Park Resource Management Plan

3.4 Special Management Area
Related Laws and Regulations
• HRS Chapters 205A-21 to 205A-33 and 343
• Hawaiÿi County Planning Commission Rule 9
Honuÿapo Park Final Resources Management Plan
The entire area of Honuÿapo Park is within the Special Management Area (SMA)
boundaries, which extend up to Hawaiÿi Belt Road along this stretch of coastline.
SMAs are those “land[s] extending inland from the coastal lines” that are placed
under special development control to “avoid permanent losses of valuable
resources and the foreclosure of management options, and to ensure that adequate
public access…. to public owned or used beaches, recreation areas, and natural
reserves is provided.”
Planning Commission Rule 9 requires that any uses and activities classified as
“development” within the SMA have either an SMA minor permit or an SMA Use
Permit (SMP). An SMA Minor Permit is applicable to proposed developments with
total costs of less than $125,000 and with no significant environmental impacts.
For a proposed development with a total value exceeding $125,000, or one that
may result in significant environmental impacts including potential cumulative
impacts, an SMP is required.
3.5 Hawaiÿi County Floodplain Management
Related Laws and Regulations
• HCC Chapter 27
The Hawaiÿi County Floodplain Management Code (HCC Chapter 27) specifies
restrictions on construction and grading as well as prohibited uses within flood
hazard areas of the County of Hawaiÿi. Flood hazard areas are identified by the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the Flood Insurance Rate Maps
(FIRMs), which specify the type of flooding hazard and base flood elevation,
defined as the water surface elevation of a flood having a one percent chance of
being equaled or exceeded in any given year (also called “one-hundred-year
flood”).
Areas of Honuÿapo Park closest to the coast are classified as Zone VE, which
denotes areas affected by coastal flooding and subject to high velocity wave action
from storms and seismic sources (tsunami). Inland of Zone VE, significant portions
of Honuÿapo Park, including all of Whittington Beach Park, are classified as Zone
AE, which indicates a 100-year floodplain where base flood elevations have been
determined. Base flood elevations within Honuÿapo Park range from 22 feet closest
to the shore to 14 feet in more inland locations. A portion of the official FIRM map
for the area surrounding Honuÿapo was extracted using F-MIT On-line and is
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