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EnviroWatch, Inc. is concerned about the current deteriorated status of the Land Use Permits Division, in the Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP). The DPP has historically been one of the most important City agencies because it processes many types of development permits that have potential negative impacts on our environment and our citizenry.  The Land Use Permits Division of DPP is tasked with the effort of evaluating and mitigating the impacts of development on Oahu.  For example, the Special Management Area Permits address the impacts of a development on our coastal resources and other environmentally sensitive areas.  The Land Use Permits Division (LUPD) also processes all of the zoning variances, shoreline variances, Conditional Use Permits, Existing Use Permits, Cluster Housing Permits, and Special District Permits.  It also responds to citizen inquiries about properties and uses on those properties, and processes Plan Review Use Permits for hospitals and universities.   Actions or inactions by the LUPD impact everything from single family homes to small businesses, to industrial and large resort developments.

With all of these important responsibilities, including processing hundreds of land use permits directly affecting our citizens, we were more than surprised to learn that there is an ongoing staff shortage in the LUPD.  In fact, EnviroWatch, Inc. has learned that of the 20 land use planner and manager positions in this division, 6 of these positions are vacant.  More importantly, the vacancies are not just entry-level positions.  The bulk of the vacancies are top-level positions.  We have learned that in the past, the LUPD usually kept two “senior planners” (Planner Level VI) in each of its three branches, for a total of 6 Planner Level VI positions in the Division.

Currently, four of these Level VI Planner positions are vacant.  To make matters worse, the top management position (Division Chief) has been vacant for about one and a half years.  An “acting” temporary manager is in charge, whose own position in turn is left vacant.

We requested a copy of the DPP organizational chart, but we were directed to a City website that doesn’t show the land use planner positions.  We were able to discern which positions are vacant by using the telephone directory.  We asked Director Henry Eng for confirmation of our findings.  Mr. Eng responded by letter claiming that only three planner VI positions were vacant since March 1, 2007 and that the Division Chief position has been vacant since August 1, 2006.  Mr. Eng’s response differs from the information we have that shows there are currently 4 Planner Level VI vacant, and one of those, Mr. Nelson Armitage left at least eight months ago.  And, we just learned a 5^th Planner will be leaving this week. 

With 4 of the normally 6 Planner Level VI positions vacant, that means 75 percent of the top-level positions in this division remain unfilled.  We understand that these positions have been budgeted and funded, and should be filled.  This begs the question: if these positions have remained vacant for as long as one and a half years, what is happening with the funding?  Has it been diverted?  We further understand that there is a move afoot to hire new planners in the DPP, but they will be assigned to work on Mayor Hannemann’s pet project, development of a transit system.  Yet, they can’t fill already-funded and much-needed planner positions in the LUPD?  Could this be one of the reasons why the public is complaining about the “service” it has been receiving at DPP?  We have seen and read about numerous complaints about Director Henry Eng, Deputy Director David Tanoue, and the DPP in general, relating to public shoreline access, activities and permits in the Special Management Area (involving Kuilima and Ko Olina for example), Major Conditional Use Permits for care homes for recovering drug abusers, and others.  This staff shortage, which we can only describe as critical, hampers the public’s right to due process in obtaining land use permits and resolving other land use issues.  We believe the staff shortage creates an environment where permits are fast-tracked with little scrutiny by the planners who are still left. We believe that this invites situations where the Director and Deputy Director then become directly involved in the processing of permits, as we have recently documented.

We believe that there may be an even more sinister side to this.  We have noticed in a number of instances that Director Eng and Deputy Director Tanoue seem to bypass their own upper-level planners and managers (that are still left), and are assigning more technical and complex cases to the lower-level planners.  Why should we be concerned about this?  The lower level planners lack the experience of the higher-level land use

planners, who are experts on the ordinances, regulations, and land use permits needed by our citizens each day, and who can process these permits more expeditiously, and in conformance with applicable laws.  Could it be that Eng and Tanoue are executing orders coming from the Hannemann Administration on behalf of special interests?  One compliant we have heard is that certain people (such as big developers) seem to get their permits faster and with less trouble than other people.

The staff shortage in the LUPD presents another concern.  The LUPD processes land use permits and shoreline permits, and the majority of these permits have statutory deadlines.  This means that the permits are subject to automatic approval if the agency does not process the permits within the deadlines set by law.  This potentially allows projects which may have negative impacts to be approved without any conditions which would address the impacts of a development on the neighbors and surrounding area.

We see tax increases for City services, yet here is another example where those tax dollars are not being properly used to protect our citizens and environment, or provide the public with the service it expects from it’s government.

We call upon Mayor Hannemann to initiate emergency hires or order Director Henry Eng and the Department of Human Resources to aggressively recruit and fill these badly needed positions in the Land Use Permits Division of DPP.

If you are interested in this matter please feel free to contact Carroll Cox at 808-782-6627.