HAR §15-217-52. Applicability

This subchapter applies to all permit applications and use classifications, except where a section provides otherwise. [Eff 11/11/11] (Auth: HRS §§206E-4, 206E­ 5, 206E-7) (Imp: HRS §§206E-4, 206E-5, 206E-7) §15-217-53 Building placement. (a) Facades shall be built parallel to a build to line with a minimum frontage occupancy as per table subsection (c) of Figures NZ.l to NZ.7 (building placement), dated January 2024, made a part of this chapter, and attached at the end of this chapter. (b) Wherever a build to line is greater than fifteen feet, a terrace front frontage type (see Figure FT.8 (terrace front), dated January 2024, made a part of this chapter, and attached at the end of this chapter) shall be used. (c) For frontage occupancy calculations, single buildings that form a courtyard of fifteen feet in width or less by recessing a portion of the building from the build to line shall be measured as the full width of the building parallel to the build to line. [Eff 11/11/11; am and comp J4; 1 2025 ] (Auth: HRS §§206E-4, 206E-5, 206E-7) (Imp: HRS §§206E-4, 206E-5, 206E-7) §15-217-54 Building form. (a) The height of any building or structure or portion thereof shall be measured from ground elevation to the top of the roof. (b) Height limits for attics or raised basements, masts, belfries, clock towers, chimney flues, elevator bulkheads, church spires, cupolas, domes, ventilators, skylights, parapet walls, cornices, solar energy systems, railings, or necessary mechanical appurtenances on the roof level shall be limited to the height necessary for their proper functioning. Attics shall not exceed fourteen feet in height. (c) Any part of a building which is taller than sixty-five feet and fronting a view corridor street 15-217-48 3571 §15-217-55 (see Figure 5 (view corridors), dated January 2024, made a part of this chapter, and attached at the end of this chapter) shall be set back from the lot line abutting the view corridor by fifty feet. (d) Except in the Sheridan neighborhood zone, all ground floors shall be at least twelve feet tall along all thoroughfares. (e) All new principal buildings shall be designed with a street front element conforming to the frontage type set forth in Figures NZ.l to NZ.7, dated January 2024, made a part of this chapter, and attached at the end of this chapter. See Figure 11 (illustrative building form diagram), dated January 2024, made a part of this chapter, and attached at the end of this chapter, for an illustrative example of a street front element. [Eff 11/11/11; am and comp .., ~ 2025 ] (Auth: HRS §§206E-4, 206E-5, 206E-7) (Imp: HRS §§206E-4, 206E-5, 206E-7) §15-217-55 Architectural design. (a) Awnings, trellises and canopies: (1) The use of vinyl or plastic awnings, trellises and canopies is prohibited along promenade streets and view corridor streets; (2) Awnings, trellises, and canopies shall comply with Figure 12 (building placement and encroachments), dated January 2024, made a part of this chapter, and attached at the end of this chapter; (3) Awnings, trellises, and canopies shall not obstruct views of pedestrian-oriented signage (e.g., blade sign) for shops and businesses; and (4) The location of awnings on a facade shall be of a consistent height. Similarly, the location of awnings on a facade shall generally align with those on adjacent buildings, to the extent practicable. (b) Balconies: (1) Balconies shall be accessible from inside the building; (2) Balconies shall not be completely enclosed; 15-217-49 §15-217-55 (3) Balconies shall comply with Figure 12 (building placement and encroachments), dated January 2024, made a part of this chapter, and attached at the end of this chapter; and (4) For floors one through five, balconies adjoining dwellings within multi-family buildings shall have a minimum depth of at least five feet. (c) Buildings with auto rental or sales uses: (1) Applicability. This subsection shall apply to all existing and new principal buildings used or intended to accommodate auto rental or sales or auto repair land use classifications; (2) Showrooms shall be located at the frontage line and include a minimum fenestration value of seventy-five per cent at the first floor of the facade; (3) Vehicle repairs shall occur within a separate building located behind the principal building or portion of a principal building located behind the showroom; provided, however, that vehicle repairs may be located within floor area at a frontage line abutting a primary parking street; (4) Service bays shall not be visible from an abutting alternative parking access street or promenade street; (5) Pedestrian pathways shall lead pedestrians from the public sidewalk and customer parking areas to the vehicle showroom and service areas; (6) Service bays, vehicle displays, or storage areas shall be screened from view from abutting thoroughfares through building placement, landscaping, fencing, or decorative walls; and (7) Water efficient landscaping and low accent walls between two to three feet in height shall be installed along all outdoor displays and parking lot perimeters. (d) Storm water drainage. Rainwater shall be diverted away from sidewalks through downspouts 15-217-50 §15-217-55 visible on the rear building elevation, internal drain pipes, or through awnings or canopies. (e) Fences, walls, and hedges: (1) Fences, walls, and hedges may be constructed or installed to a height of six feet in any side yard or rear yard and to a height of four feet in any portion of a front yard or a side yard that faces a thoroughfare, except where the rear yard or side yard abuts a parking lot or industrial use; a maximum six-foot tall fence, hedge or wall is permitted; (2) Retaining walls shall be constructed out of masonry or stone or another equally durable material; (3) Fences shall be constructed out of ornamental iron, steel, wood pickets, or a synthetic wood product (such as wood-filled recycled plastic lumber) and may have stucco or masonry piers; (4) Chain link, barbed wire, vinyl, plastic, or exposed cinder block walls are prohibited within front yards; (5) Fences in front yards or side yards facing a thoroughfare shall be painted or constructed out of a decorative material compatible with the materials of the principal building; and (6) Walls and fences for public utilities may be constructed up to eight feet in height and topped with security wire to a height of ten feet. (f) Lighting: (1) Entrances, arcades, and passageways shall be illuminated; (2) Courtyards, passageways, roof gardens, corner plazas, and other landscaped areas shall provide pedestrian-scaled, tamper­ proof lights; (3) Lighting sources shall be constructed or installed so that light is aimed downwards and does not spill over to abutting properties; (4) Lighting that is visible from adjacent properties or thoroughfares shall be 15-217-51 §15-217-55 indirect or incorporate full shield cut­ offs; (5) Incandescent exterior lights and high­ pressure sodium lights are prohibited; and (6) Architectural details may be accented through lighting. (g) Roofs: (1) Roofs may be accessible and used as roof decks, gardens, balconies, or terraces; (2) Roofs shall be finished with light colors for reflectivity or incorporate landscaping; and (3) Roof top mechanical equipment shall be clustered away from the edge of the building and either painted to match the roof top or located behind a parapet wall or in a roof top mechanical equipment enclosure so that it is not visible from a thoroughfare, historic or public buildings. (h) Service functions: (1) Utilities, service elements, recycling and trash elements shall be located off alleys (where present), or in structured parking garages where they exist. Alternatively, they may be located at least ten feet behind the facade of a principal building or screened from view from a thoroughfare other than an alley or service street, with a hedge, landscaping, low wall, or fence; (2) Prohibited materials for constructing recycling or trash enclosures include: chain link, fencing with slats, mesh screen, cinderblocks, or unpainted wood; (3) Utilities and service elements that are visible from thoroughfares other than alleys shall be incorporated in the building structure in a manner accessible to the trash collection service provider and should use the following strategies to avoid being visually intrusive: (A) Burying underground or screening (utility wires, meters, and transformers); 15-217-52 7 7 §15-217-55 (B) Incorporation into the building or parking garage as a utility room (meters and transformers); (C) Screening behind building (meters and terminal boxes); and (D) Clustering on roof within a mechanical enclosure, such as a heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system, and (4) Recycling or trash enclosures shall be of a similar material and color with the principal building. (i) Signage. (a) Except as otherwise provided, signs shall conform to the current "B-2 Community Business District" sign regulations of the city and county of Honolulu land use ordinance, as it may be amended from time to time. The city and county of Honolulu shall be responsible for processing of sign permits, enforcement of the land use ordinance provisions, and administering appeals and variances relating to signs. (b) Where possible, exterior signage should be in the two official languages of Hawai'i, 'Olelo Hawai'i, and English. (j) Windows: (1) Highly-reflective and mirrored glazing are prohibited; (2) Window glazing shall be transparent with clear or limited ultraviolet tint, to provide views out of and into the building. (A) Windows shall have the highest reasonably possible visual light transmission level, while still complying with the state energy code or other government requirements, including those for solar heat gain coefficients; and (B) Applicants shall submit, for the executive director's review and acceptance, all window specifications for buildings that propose reducing the window visual light transmission level below seventy per cent at ground level and fifty per cent for all other floors. 15-217-53 §15-217-55 (3) For floors one through ten, all principal windows in a residential building shall be operable; (4) Vinyl window frames are prohibited, except for Figures BT.1 to BT.3, dated January 2024, made a part of this chapter, and attached at the end of this chapter; (5) Pop-in muntins are prohibited below the third floor; and (6) Window grilles are prohibited except at window openings to podium parking or on building elevations facing alleys or service streets. (k) View preservation: (1) Mauka and makai views to the mountains and the waterfront shall be preserved through orientation of towers with the long side of the tower parallel to the mauka-makai axis (see definition in section 15-217-8); (2) The orientation of the tower may deviate from its designated mauka-makai axis by a maximum of twenty degrees. The authority may consider, pursuant to section 15-217-82 of these rules, a deviation of the tower orientation of more than twenty degrees from the designated mauka-makai axis, provided that the applicant demonstrates to the satisfaction of the authority that, based on building massing, tower floor plate size, tower configuration, tower orientation, energy efficiencies, and other pertinent factors, that the proposed tower orientation will not have a greater impact on mauka­ makai view than would result from a twenty degree mauka-makai orientation; (3) The maximum dimension between the two farthest points on a tower floor plate shall not exceed two hundred and ten feet in length; and (4) No tower shall be located less than eighty feet from another tower. (1) Storefronts and windows for retail: (1) Applicability. This subsection applies to existing or newly proposed principal 15-217-54 ' I r-:I r°' i l §15-217-56 buildings used or intended to accommodate the retail land use classification; (2) Stores that occupy greater than sixty feet of frontage shall incorporate multiple entrances along the street; (3) Street front elements shall have active usable commercial, retail, or public use space; (4) At least sixty per cent of a retail thoroughfare front element shall be transparent glazing, to allow views into the store; (5) All principal entrances shall be located along the thoroughfare or a thoroughfare­ facing courtyard, rather than from a parking area, alley, or another point within the interior of a block; (6) Display windows shall be used on the ground floor and on upper floors of retail space; and (7) Building facades and side elevations shall accommodate signage for ground floor retail tenants. (m) Frontage along elevated rail transit guideway. Proposed development along the planned rail transit guideway should be coordinated with the Honolulu authority for rapid transportation and the city and county of Honolulu department of transportation services, as appropriate, to address potential issues that might affect the design and operation of the fixed guideway system. [Eff 11/11/11; am and comp JA~' 2025 ] (Auth: HRS §§206E-4, 206E-5, 206E-7) (Imp: HRS §§206E-4, 206E-5, 206E-7) §15-217-56 Landscape and recreation space. (a) All yards shall be landscaped with native or adapted plant species or hardscaped with permeable material, except that front yards should be at least fifty per cent landscaped. (b) Historic landscapes and exceptional trees, as designated by the city and county of Honolulu, shall be protected and preserved. In the case where historic landscapes and exceptional trees conflict 15-217-55 §15-217-56 with prescribed standards in the rules, the historic landscape or exceptional tree takes precedence. (c) Landscaping shall have an automatic irrigation system with a rain or moisture sensor. (d) Residential projects requiring a development permit shall provide fifty-five square feet of recreation space per dwelling unit. (e) Landscaping should promote traditional cultural and gathering practices wherever possible. [Eff 11/11/11; am and comp JAM 1., 2025 ] (Auth: HRS §§206£-4, 206E-5, 206E-7) (Imp: HRS §§206E-4, 206E-5, 206E-7) §15-217-57 Adequate infrastructure. (a) This section intends to limit development within portions of the mauka area with known infrastructure deficiencies until such time as the availability of infrastructure is sufficient to accommodate the maximum level of development provided for by the mauka area rules. (b) This section shall be applicable to the central Kaka'ako neighborhood zone only. (c) A maximum floor area ratio of 3.5, including off-street parking, shall apply until the executive director determines the infrastructure within the central Kaka'ako neighborhood zone has been sufficiently upgraded, pursuant to an improvement district or other public facilities project. After sufficient infrastructure improvements are made, the floor area ratio shall be increased to the maximum allowable, consistent with the mauka area rules. (d) Where the executive director finds that the public infrastructure is adequate to support a project within the central Kaka'ako neighborhood zone, or where a project would construct improvements to said infrastructure sufficient to accommodate the subject project and future developments, the authority may elect to waive the floor area ratio limitations of this section. [Eff 11/11/11; am and comp JA~i 1 ~ 2025 ] (Auth: HRS §§206E-4, 206£-5, 206E-7) (Imp: HRS §§206E-4, 206E-5, 206E-7) 15-217-56 3 5 7 7 §15-217-58 §15-21 7-58 Large lots. (a) Purpose. This section establishes the standards for developing large lots, dividing them into smaller pedestrian-oriented blocks, and achieving an interconnected block network with walkable block lengths. The standards for large lot projects ensure that these projects promote walkability, pedestrian-orientation, and sustainability of urban and built form. Buildings should include massing and articulation that reflect a human scale, rather than large, monolithic, and repetitive building fabric. (b) Applicability. Each building within a large lot project shall comply with the applicable requirements in the development standards, by zone, and all other relevant standards in the rules. The following standards shall apply to large lot projects (i.e., larger than 140,000 square feet). (c) Thoroughfare network: (1) Large lots shall be divided to create pedestrian-oriented blocks; (2) New thoroughfares shall connect with existing thoroughfares; (3) New passageways that are introduced shall be a minimum of fifteen feet wide between building elevations; (4) New passageways that are introduced shall be un-gated and shall be publicly-accessible; (5) Architectural encroachments into passageways are allowed two feet from the building face, subject to Figure 12 (building placement and encroachments), dated January 2024, made a part of this chapter, and attached at the end of this chapter; (6) Each new block shall have an alley for service and parking access; and (7) Cul-de-sacs and dead-end streets are not permitted, unless they allow for future connections. (d) New buildings: (1) New buildings are permitted as indicated by the building types allocated to each zone; (2) New buildings shall have their principal entrance off of a new or existing thoroughfare or passageway; 15-217-57 S 7 7 -=­ §15-217-58 (3) New buildings with civic or institutional uses shall be located in central locations, and be recognizable and accessible to the public; (4) Buildings that occupy a large lot shall incorporate mid-block pedestrian passageways and courtyards at least every three hundred feet. Where passageways are utilized, they shall connect through the block, across existing alleys if necessary, to other passageways, or to mid-block crossings or other thoroughfares for greater street grid connectivity; (5) When a building includes a courtyard, the courtyard shall have a minimum dimension of forty feet deep and thirty-five feet wide along the street side; (6) The required mid-block pedestrian passageway or courtyard shall not abut an alley; and (7) For large lots that abut other parcels not subject to a permit application, an alley of at least twenty-six feet in width must be provided at the edge of the lot that is adjacent to the other parcels, to ensure access by vehicles and access to light and air of the other parcels. An alternative proposal may be considered, as long as it meets the intent of providing light, room, and air to neighboring parcels. [Eff 11/11/11; am and comp JAtl 1 •• 2025 1 (Auth: HRS §§206E-4, 206E-5, 206E-7) (Imp: HRS §§206E-4, 206E-5, 206E-7)