HILO, Hawai'i — The Hawai'i County Council yesterday endorsed a temporary freeze on rezonings for all of Kona and South Kohala, sending a message to developers in those high-priced real estate markets that the new council is alarmed at clogged highways and inadequate public facilities.

The two resolutions approved by the council are legally non-binding, but the council's dual 7-1 votes dramatically demonstrated that all rezoning proposals in Kona and South Kohala will face tough scrutiny this year, if they move at all.

The region covered by the resolutions includes the towns of Kailua, Waimea, Waikoloa and Captain Cook. It includes about 1,176 square miles of land, or an area nearly twice the size of O'ahu.

The resolutions give notice that the council plans to delay all rezoning applications in North and South Kona until Sept. 1, and to delay action on all rezoning requests in South Kohala until Jan. 5, 2008.

The delay in both cases is to allow time for the council to receive and approve new community development plans being planned or prepared for both areas.

Major projects pending in North Kona alone include Kona Kai Ola, a proposal to build a new marina, 700 hotel rooms and up to 1,800 timeshare units along with 52 acres of commercial development just outside of Kailua.

'BREATHING SPACE'

The South Kohala resolution was introduced by Council Chairman Pete Hoffmann, who represents the area.

When he submitted the resolution last month, Hoffmann said he was responding to the frustration of residents at "traffic congestion, a lack of affordable housing, the loss of open space and agriculture, and the perception that rapid urbanization will lead to a loss of community, culture and place in their district."

Kona Councilwoman Brenda Ford called the resolutions "the first step in a series of steps I think that we may need to take if we can't get this thing turned around. We need the breathing space."

"Anybody who lives on the west side of the island and has to drive through Kona knows that we have been completely neglected in infrastructure for way more than a decade — for probably two decades — and we are struggling daily with that situation," Ford said.

DEVELOPERS CAN HELP

The lone vote against the resolutions came from Hilo Councilman Donald Ikeda, who questioned whether the "temporary delay" in rezonings might end up being extended indefinitely. The real issue is the millions of dollars needed for new roads, parks and other facilities in both areas, he said.

"Are we going to keep holding back all developments? For how long?" he asked. "After you have your community development plan, if the infrastructure is not put in, are we going to continue holding back development?"

Ikeda argued the majority on the council has the power to stop any rezoning proposal submitted to the county, but said he disagrees with the resolutions because they serve notice that the council won't even consider the developers' proposals.

The resolutions also have been criticized by the Land Use Research Foundation of Hawai'i, which argued in written testimony that the real problem "seems to be the county's ability to implement the vision set forth in both the general plan and the community development plans by funding and developing the necessary infrastructure."

"It is unclear to us at this time how updating the community development plan for South Kohala will address the infrastructure capacity issue unless it is to severely restrict future development in the area based on existing infrastructure," the foundation wrote.

The foundation suggested in written testimony that the county can charge impact fees to developers to pay for the extra cost of providing public services that are needed because of new construction.

The foundation also suggested the county could create improvement districts to tax area landowners for the money needed for new roads or other facilities, or perhaps could raise property taxes to do so.

SPRAWL CONCERNS

But council planning committee chairman Angel Pilago said the resolutions are part of a "paradigm shift."

"It is not the sole responsibility of taxpayers to take care of infrastructure. We all share in it, and those that come in and make changes to our community ... must help us with our needs, and they must help to put in infrastructure first," Pilago said.

"Any developer who comes in must take into account their neighbors and the communities they work with first."

Jacqui Hoover, president of the Hawai'i Leeward Planning Conference, suggested in her written testimony that rezonings often provide a way to upgrade roads and water systems and schools by requiring that developers pay for them. That tool may be lost if the council blocks all rezonings, she wrote.

The conference, an organization that represents major Big Island landowners, also suggested the pause in rezonings might encourage "sprawl" in other parts of the island because developers would seek rezonings outside of Kona and South Kohala instead.