Haw. Code R. § 15-150-2
As used in this chapter, unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context:
"Agency" means any agency, board, commission, department, or officer of a county government or the state government, including the authority as defined in part I of chapter 205A, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS).
"Applicant" means any individual, organization, partnership, or corporation, including any utility, and any agency of government.
"Beach" means a coastal landform primarily composed of sand from eroded rock, coral, or shell material, or any combination thereof, that is established and shaped by wave action and tidal processes. "Beach" includes sand deposits in nearshore submerged areas, or sand dunes or upland beach deposits landward of the shoreline, that provide benefits for public use and recreation, for coastal ecosystems, and as a natural buffer against coastal hazards.
"Coastal hazards" means any tsunami, hurricane, wind, wave, storm surges, high tide, flooding, erosion, sea level rise, subsidence, or point and nonpoint source pollution.
"Coastal zone management area" means all lands of the State and the area extending seaward from the shoreline to the limit of the State's police power and management authority, including the United States territorial sea,
"Coastal zone management program" means the comprehensive statement in words, maps, or other permanent media of communication, prepared, approved for submission, and amended by the State and approved by the United States government pursuant to Public Law No. 92-583, as amended, and the federal regulations adopted pursuant thereto, which describes objectives, policies, laws, standards, and procedures to guide and regulate public and private uses in the coastal zone management area.
"Community development district" means an area designated by statute as authorized by chapter 206E, HRS.
"County" means the county of Hawaii, the city and county of Honolulu, the county of Kauai, or the county of Maui,
"Crops" mean agricultural produce or parts of plants or trees cultivated for commercial or personal use, Including but not limited to livestock.
"Development" means any of the uses, activities, or operations on land; in or under water, within the special management area that are included below, but not those uses, activities, or operations excluded in paragraph (2),
(1) "Development" includes but is not limited to the following:
(A) The placement or erection of any solid material or any gaseous, liquid, solid, or thermal waste;
(B) Grading, removing, dredging, mining, or extracting of any materials;
(C) Change in the density or intensity of use of land, including but not limited to the division or subdivision of land;
(D) Change in the density or intensity of use of water, ecology related thereto, or of access thereto; and
(E) Construction, reconstruction, or alteration of the size of any structure.
(2) "Development" does not include the following:
(A) Construction or reconstruction of a single-family residence that is less than seven thousand five hundred square feet of floor area, is not situated on a shoreline parcel or a parcel that is impacted by waves, storm surges, high tide, or shoreline erosion, and is not part of a larger development;
(B) Repair or maintenance of roads and highways within existing rights-of-way;
(C) Routine maintenance dredging of existing streams, channels, and drainage ways
(D) The repair and maintenance of underground utility lines, including but not limited to water, sewer, power, and telephone and minor appurtenant structures such as pad mounted transformers and sewer pump stations;
(E) Zoning variances, except for height, density, parking, and shoreline setback;
(F) Repair, maintenance, or interior alterations to existing structures;
(G) Demolition or removal of structures, except those structures located on any historic site as designated in national or state registers;
(H) The use of any land for the purpose of cultivating, planting, growing, and harvesting of plants, crops, trees, and other agricultural, horticultural, or forestry products or animal husbandry, or aquaculture or mariculture of plants or animals, or other agricultural purposes subject to review by the lead agency in accordance with paragraph (3);
(I) The transfer of title to land;
(J) The creation or termination of easements, covenants, or other rights in structures or land;
(K) The subdivision of land into lots greater than twenty acres in size;
(L) The subdivision of a parcel of land into four or fewer parcels when no associated construction activities are proposed, provided that the land which is subdivided shall not thereafter qualify for this exception with respect to any subsequent subdivision of any of the resulting parcels;
(M) Installation of underground utility lines and appurtenant aboveground fixtures less than four feet in height along existing corridors;
(N) Structural and nonstructural improvements to existing single-family residences, where otherwise permissible;
(O) Nonstructural improvements to existing commercial or noncommercial structures; and
(P) Construction., installation, maintenance, repair, and replacement of civil defense warning or signal devices and sirens.
(3) Whenever the lead agency finds that any use, activity, or operation excluded in paragraph (2) may have a cumulative impact, or a significant environmental or ecological effect on the special management area, that use, activity, or operation shall be defined as "development" for the purpose of this chapter.
"Director" means the director of the office of planning and sustainable development, or authorized subordinate or designee.
"Environmental Impact Statement" or "EIS" means an informational document prepared in compliance with the environmental quality commission's rules implementing chapter 343, HRS.
"Floor area" is defined as in the ordinances of the county where the development is proposed.
"Hardship" means that the applicant must show that:
(1) The land in question cannot yield a reasonable return if used only for the purpose allowed by section 15-150-26;
(2) The request of the applicant is due to unique circumstances and not to general conditions in the area so that the reasonableness of section 15-150-26 is not drawn into question; and
(3) The use to be authorized by the variance will not change the essential character of the area or be contrary to the intent or purpose of this chapter.
"Hearing officer" means a person or persons designated and authorized by the lead agency to conduct an agency hearing for the purpose of taking testimony, to report and submit the findings and recommendations to the lead agency on matters within the jurisdiction of the lead agency pursuant to this chapter.
"Land" means the earth, water, and air above, below, or on the surface.
"Lead agency" means the office of planning and sustainable development.
"Revetment" means a facing of stone, concrete, blocks, or similar material built to protect a scarp, embankment, or shore structure against erosion by wave action or currents.
"Shoreline" means the upper reaches of the wash of the waves, other than storm and seismic waves, at high tide during the season of the year in which the highest wash of the waves occurs, usually evidenced by the edge of vegetation growth, or the upper limit of debris left by the wash of the waves.
"Shoreline area" means all of the land area between the shoreline setback line and mean sea level.
"Shoreline certification" means a signed statement by the chairperson of the board of land and natural resources that the shoreline is as located and shown on a map as of a certain date in accordance with section 205A-42, HRS, and chapter 13-222, for shoreline certifications.
"Shoreline setback line" means that line established in section 15-150-20.
"Shoreline survey" means a survey map showing the shoreline as determined by the board of land and natural resources in accordance with section 205A-42, HRS, and chapter 13-222, for shoreline certifications.
"Special management area" means the land extending inland from the shoreline as delineated on maps filed with the county.
"Special management area minor approval" means an action by the lead agency authorizing development, the valuation of which is not in excess of $500,000 and which has no substantial adverse environmental or ecological effect, taking into account potential cumulative effects.
"Special management area use approval" means an action by the lead agency authorizing development, the valuation of which exceeds $500,000 or which may have a substantial adverse or ecological effect, taking into account potential cumulative effects.
"Structure" includes, but is not limited to, any portion of any building, pavement, road, pipe, flume, utility line, fence, groin, wall, or revetment.
"Valuation" shall be determined by the lead agency and means the estimated cost to replace the structure in kind, based on current replacement costs, or in the cases of other development, as defined in this section, the fair market value of the development.
"Vegetation growth" means any plant, tree, shrub, grass, or groups, clusters, or paths of the same naturally rooted and growing.
Haw. Code R. § 15-150-2