Hawaii HRS Chapter 205 — State Land Use Districts (LUC Classification) (HI)

Tracked preemption from the Hawaii overlay bundle.

Overview

Effective
1961-07-11
Sunset
Authority
state
Scope
state:HI

Trigger predicate

When this evaluates true for a parcel, the law's preempted fields take precedence over base zoning.

always true

Preempted fields

3 fields on the base district schema are rewritten when the trigger fires.

FieldOpValueNote
state_land_use_district_requiredoverrideTrueEvery parcel must carry one of four LUC classifications: urban / rural / agricultural / conservation. Required primary field; county zoning is subordinate.
base_districts[*].allowed_usesconstrain_to_state_district_envelopeCounty zoning may only authorize uses permitted within the state-assigned LUC district envelope
luc_boundary_amendment_requiredoverrideTrueReclassification of parcels >=15 acres requires LUC petition (HRS Ch. 205); <15 acres delegated to county planning commission per HRS §205-3.1

Citation

Authority source
Act 187, Session Laws of Hawaii 1961; HRS Chapter 205
§ HRS Ch. 205 — State Land Use Law (nation's first statewide zoning law)
https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol04_Ch0201-0257/HRS0205/

Research notes

The marquee preemption. State Land Use Commission (LUC), a 9-member quasi-judicial body under DBEDT, classifies every acre of Hawaii into Urban (~5%) / Rural (<1%) / Agricultural (~47%) / Conservation (~47%). Reclassification process typically 18-36 months and $100K-$1M+ in legal/consultant fees; supermajority (6 of 9) required for Ag-to-Urban. Conditions of grant run with the land and are enforced by LUC via show-cause / reversion. capitol.hawaii.gov intermittently 502s; Justia mirror at law.justia.com/codes/hawaii/title-13/chapter-205/ is reliable fallback.