PART II. CONSERVATION DISTRICTS

 

§190D-11  Conservation district useapplication.  (a)  Any person desiring to lease state marine waters shallsubmit to the board an application for specific activities in any specific areaor areas.  Applications made pursuant to this chapter shall contain:

(1)  An environmental assessment or, if required, anenvironmental impact statement which shall be prepared and accepted incompliance with the rules adopted under chapter 343;

(2)  A description of the location and boundaries ofthe state marine waters to be used and a description of the nature of the usedesired;

(3)  A statement of the reasons for selecting theproposed location;

(4)  A description of the activities to be conducted,including a specification as to whether such activities are commercial ornoncommercial, a timetable for construction, deployment, and operation offacilities, and planned levels of production;

(5)  Where the application is for mariculture, adescription of the species to be cultivated and produced;

(6)  A statement on the extent to which the proposedactivities will interfere with the use of the state marine waters for thepurposes of navigation, fishing, and public recreation;

(7)  A description of any enclosure, fences, stakes,buoys, or monuments proposed to mark off the desired area;

(8)  An initial description of current users(military, governmental, commercial, recreational, and cultural) and their usesof the state marine waters requested for lease, including any practitioners oftraditional and customary Hawaiian rights; and

(9)  Other information which the board determines tobe necessary or appropriate, including financial and technical information.

(b)  The department shall process theapplication pursuant to chapter 183C.  Within sixty days after the submissionof a completed application with a request for a lease for marine activities instate marine waters and the receipt of the related environmental assessment orenvironmental impact statement, the department shall issue a public notice thatthe application has been received.  The public notice shall describe:

(1)  The state marine waters for which application hasbeen made;

(2)  The nature of the exclusive use sought; and

(3)  The purpose for which the application has been made.

The notice shall be given on three separate daysstatewide and in the county nearest the state marine waters for whichapplication has been made.  The public notice shall invite public comment.

(c)  Notice of hearings shall be provided andhearings shall be conducted in accordance with department rules regardingapplications.  If the area described in the application adjoins any privateproperty or adjoins or overlaps, above or below, any leased state marinewaters, or if the proposed activity will affect the property or property rightsof private property owners or lessees of state marine waters, the departmentalso shall notify the owners or lessees of the adjoining, overlapping, oraffected property.  Notice shall be given in writing, by personal service or byregistered or certified mail, and shall describe:

(1)  The state marine waters for which application hasbeen made;

(2)  The nature of the exclusive use sought; and

(3)  The purpose for which the application has beenmade.

(d)  The board shall consider in its evaluationof each application:

(1)  The extent to which the proposed activity mayhave a significant adverse effect upon any existing private industry or publicactivity, including the use of state marine waters for the purposes of navigation,fishing, and public recreation;

(2)  Whether the proposed activity may have an adverseor permanent effect upon the wildlife, aquatic life, or environment of thesurrounding area; and

(3)  Other potential uses of the area, includingcompeting uses, which may be in the public interest.

(e)  The board shall not approve an applicationunless it finds that:

(1)  The applicant has the capacity to carry out theentire project; and

(2)  The proposed project is clearly in the publicinterest upon consideration of the overall economic, social, and environmentalimpacts.

(f)  The board may impose conditions so thatthe proposed use or extent of the area in which the proposed activity may takeplace is no greater than is required to conduct the approved activity properly.[L 1986, c 91, pt of §1; am L 1995, c 11, §8 and c 69, §6; am L 1998, c 2, §51;am L 1999, c 176, §§4, 11; am L 2002, c 203, §1]