SB 1263

State Land Use Enacted Legislation

Bill #	State	Year	Party	Topic
SB 1263	HI	2025	D	Deadlines, Environmental review, Lands near transit, Streamline application, Written findings, burden and standard of proof

Provided by Furman

Summary

Streamlines the historic preservation review process for transit-oriented development (TOD) (including residential development) by changing the procedures for historic preservation review of proposed state projects, privately owned historic property, and other proposed projects that require entitlement for use:
- Establishes a 90-day limit for the Department of Land and Natural Resources to concur with project effect determinations, which is further reduced to a 30-day period if no historic properties are affected.
- Authorizes lead agencies, including county governments, the Hawaii Community Development Authority, and the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation, to make their own determinations regarding the potential effects of a project.
- Projects that receive written concurrence are exempt from further historic review and may proceed unless there is a significant change in the project’s physical scope or the discovery of aviation artifacts, burial sites, or additional historic properties.
- Requires communities to identify specific parcels and rights-of-way near mass transit stations by January 1, 2026, where TOD or supporting infrastructure can be substantially constructed by June 2036.
- Requires counties to conduct archaeological field surveys, excavations, or onsite monitoring to address potential risks to historically significant resources.
- Owners or state agencies must notify the State within 48 hours if additional historic properties are discovered or if the project’s physical scope of work changes following the initial review.

Provided by lawmakers