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The Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP) and the Building Industry Association (BIA) will hold a series of seminars September 29, 30 and October 1 to improve the quality of permit applications. The goal of this program is to reduce the delays in reviewing and approving permits for construction and development projects.

The classes are being offered as an educational opportunity for planning and design professionals, as well as the public, to learn more about the City’s planning and permitting process.  In a joint effort to streamline and speed up the issuing of permits, the DPP and BIA are collaborating to ensure applications and construction drawings are as accurate and complete as possible to maximize the efficiency of the review process. 

The course topics include:

Introduction to the building permit process and back permitting

Residential and commercial building plans

Introduction to building inspections and the role of the building inspector

Building in a flood hazard area

Subdivision applications

Navigating the DPP’s online services

Building Code updates

The classes will be led by the DPP staff and will be held at the Building Industry Association-Hawaii Construction Training Center at 94-487 Akoki St. in Waipahu.  The cost per class is $25 for BIA members and $35 for non-members.

Funding will revitalize communities by cleaning up and redeveloping contaminated sites

HONOLULU - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that the City and County of Honolulu will be one of 171 communities nationwide receiving brownfields funding to clean and redevelop contaminated properties, boost local economies and leverage jobs while protecting public health and the environment.

The FY14 Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup (ARC) grants will give communities and businesses a chance to return economic stability to under-served and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods through the assessment and clean-up of abandoned industrial and commercial properties, places where environmental cleanups and new jobs are most needed.

“Brownfields funding allows communities to innovate new ways to retrofit formerly polluted, unused sites for sustainable new uses,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “The City and County of Honolulu will not only protect the environment and public health with the funding, but foster new job growth opportunities for its local communities.”

The City and County of Honolulu will be using its $400,000 brownfield hazardous substances and petroleum grant funds to conduct up to 12 Phase I and up to 10 Phase II environmental site assessments in support of the city’s Rail Transit project. Grant funds also will be used to develop an inventory and prioritize brownfield sites, and conduct community outreach and cleanup planning activities along the city’s rail transit oriented development zones.

A Phase I assessment determines the likelihood that some form of environmental contamination is present which includes a complete and thorough investigation on the history of a particular site. A Phase II assessment is a more comprehensive investigation that may include the collection of soil or groundwater samples to determine contamination conditions at the site.

A total of approximately $23.5 million is going to communities that have been impacted by plant closures. Other selected recipients include tribes and communities in 44 states across the country; and at least 50 of the grants are going to U.S. Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Department of Transportation, and U.S. EPA grant recipient communities.

Since the inception of the EPA’s Brownfields program in 1995, cumulative brownfield program investments have leveraged more than $21 billion from a variety of public and private sources for cleanup and redevelopment activities. This equates to an average of $17.79 leveraged per EPA brownfield dollar expended. These investments have resulted in approximately 93,000 jobs nationwide. These projects demonstrate the positive impact a small investment of federal brownfields funding can have on community revitalization through leveraging jobs, producing clean energy, and providing recreation opportunities for surrounding neighborhoods. EPA’s Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields sites.

More information on brownfields grants by state: http://cfpub.epa.gov/bf_factsheets/

More information on EPA’s brownfields:

Program http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/

Success Stories http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/success/index.htm