Agricultural landowners could encounter less red tape when trying to make small improvements to their properties, under a County Council proposal.
At Wednesday’s Planning, Land Use and Development Committee meeting, Puna Councilwoman Ashley Kierkiewicz introduced Bill 212, which would exempt greenhouses and other small structures from requiring building permits on agricultural lots.
Currently, permits are not required for “detached one-story accessory structures” used as tool sheds, storage sheds, gazebos, playhouses, animal sheds and the like on residential-zoned land, as long as the structure’s total floor area doesn’t exceed 200 square feet.
Bill 212 would extend that exemption to ag land and expand it, with no permits required for accessory structures up to 1,000 square feet of floor area.
Kierkiewicz told the committee that the bill, among other things, corrects an oversight caused by the current building code. She said a constituent attempted to build a greenhouse on his property without realizing he needed a building permit to do so.
“These structures, greenhouses in particular, are very critical to our food sustainability, and they’re subject to a very bureaucratic building permit process,” Kierkiewicz said. “We are here to encourage people to be more food-resilient.”
Kierkiewicz said greenhouses were previously granted a longstanding permit exemption that was inadvertently removed during a prior update to the building code, and that her bill is merely restoring that policy.
At the same time, the bill also greatly increases the scope of repairs allowed on a property without requiring a permit. Currently, any repair work to a structure that exceeds $7,500 in cost over a 12-month period requires a building permit. Bill 212 would change that limit to $25,000.
“This change recognizes the increasing costs of materials and labor and allows for essential maintenance efforts to occur again without triggering a cumbersome permit process,” Kierkiewicz said.
Public Works Director Steve Pause agreed that “it is very difficult to get anything done” under the $7,500 threshold and said the bill would be a boon for the Planning Department simply by virtue of removing a large number of maintenance project building permit applications from its workload.
Pause also reassured community members that accessory structures cannot be used as residences, so people will not be able to use the bill as a loophole to create cheap housing units.
Some rural property owners testified in favor of the proposal. Amedeo Markoff, president of Mainstreet Pahoa, said the 2018 Kilauea eruption destroyed a lot of Puna’s agricultural land, exacerbating the need for easier greenhouse construction.
“We lost our soil,” Markoff said. “I don’t know if you’ve driven down there lately, but it’s mostly lava now. So, if you want to stimulate agriculture in lower Puna, you need greenhouse farming.”
The committee voted unanimously to forward the bill to the full council with a favorable recommendation.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.