Q3 2024 Architecture Outlook feat. G70
G70 supports landowners and agencies across the State with planning, design and permitting for affordable housing. G70 will continue to assist vulnerable coastal resorts, communities and infrastructure in Hawai‘i to strategically plan and transform our shoreline assets as we adapt to rising sea levels.
Q&A with: Jeffrey Overton,
AICP, LEED AP Planning Principal,
G7O
Many of your customers and clients are facing huge challenges this year. What are those challenges and how can you help them?
Hawai‘i continues to struggle to house its people. We are not unlike many US communities that have failed to keep up with housing demand. Our high development costs and lengthy permitting timelines continue to hamper the addition of new housing. However, this trend may be changing.
G70 supports landowners and agencies across the State with planning, design and permitting for affordable housing. Large landowners on Maui are responding to the urgent need to house those displaced by the Lahaina wildfire. New communities on Hawaiian Home Lands are coming to life on Moloka‘i and Kaua‘i. Across O‘ahu, including downtown Honolulu, housing projects are moving ahead. Despite some opposition, our community is accepting well-planned infill housing projects.
G70 is working with agencies and developers to gain approval under the 201H Affordable Housing exemption process. Section 201H-38, HRS provides a process where an affordable housing project may be granted exemptions from statutes, ordinances and rules relating to planning, zoning and construction standards that do not negatively affect health and safety.
Our firm helps these projects complete their environmental review, community outreach and address infrastructure needs. The 201H pathway shaves years off the approval process and provides design flexibility and exemptions, yielding cost efficiencies and lower housing costs.
What is the most important change or trend impacting your industry in 2024?
Sea level rise in Hawai‘i represents a serious threat to infrastructure, economic centers and residential communities. Major public infrastructure and private investments along our shoreline are contemplating expensive defensive actions, reprogramming spaces or retreat options. G70 is helping oceanfront resorts and shoreline communities develop scientifically informed resilient planning strategies to adapt to rising sea level.
Flexible adaptation pathways include: (1) initial protective actions, (2) midterm adaptation strategies and (3) long-term transformative solutions. These adaptation pathways are triggered over time based on empirical sea level trend, balancing immediate needs and long-term future sustainability. In critical areas such as Waikiki, this proactive adaptation strategy will help to sustain our tourism industry.
G70 will continue to assist vulnerable coastal resorts, communities and infrastructure in Hawai‘i to strategically plan and transform our shoreline assets as we adapt to rising sea levels.
111 S. King Street, Suite 170
Honolulu, Hawai’i 96813
(808) 523-5866 | https://g70.design
