Section 15-217-61 - Flood zone(a) Purpose. These standards provide building and urban design strategies that supplement the regulations presented in article 9 of the city and county of Honolulu land use ordinance, which do and shall apply in the mauka area. These standards help assure that flood measures implemented are seamless with existing fabric in terms of scale, frontage, and fenestration. The standards help ensure that measures implemented do not impede pedestrian access from abutting thoroughfares.(b) Applicability. The following standards apply to all new buildings within an identified Honolulu or FEMA flood zone that are required by code to have raised ground floors. (1) Design and location standards for ADA compliant wheelchair access ramps within flood zones: (A) A wheelchair ramp may only occupy up to fifteen per cent of building face;(B) Wheelchair ramps and ramp handrails on all ramps greater than twenty feet in length must be placed behind street walls or landscaping features such as hedges;(C) Except for those used for residential purposes, all buildings occupying less than one hundred twenty feet of frontage, shall use internal wheelchair ramps (see Figure 1.16-A (flood zone design, internal wheelchair ramp), dated September 2011, made a part of this chapter, and attached at the end of this chapter);(D) Except for those used for residential purposes, all buildings occupying more than or equal to one hundred twenty feet of frontage may use external wheelchair ramps (see Figures 1.16-B and 1.16-C {flood zone design), dated September 2011, made a part of this chapter, and attached at the end of this chapter); and(E) For all buildings, except for those used for residential use, no wheelchair ramps are allowed in the public right-of-way or front setback, except in the following circumstances: (i) When the ramp fronts the side of a building near a corner;(ii) When the ramp is shielded from the thoroughfare or covered under an element such as an arcade (see Figure 1.16-D, dated September 2011, made a part of this chapter, and attached at the end of this chapter); or(iii) If the length of the ramp within the public right-of-way or front setback is less than or equal to twenty-five per cent of the width of the sidewalk. In this case, handrails are not permitted in the public right-of-way or front setback; and(F) For residential buildings, wheelchair ramps may not be located in the public right-of-way or in the front setback; and(2) Other design standards for flood zones: (A) Measures undertaken to avoid floods shall not result in large blank walls along the building face. At least seventy-five per cent of a building's frontage shall be activated with steps, landscaping, or street furniture; and(B) There shall be breaks in any flood control intervention such as raised sidewalks every thirty feet, stairways, entrances, and planting features. [Eff NOV 11 2011 ] (Auth: HRS §§ 206E-4, 206E-5, 206E-7) (Imp: HRS §§ 206E-4, 206E-5, 206E-7)