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The 2026 Plan refocuses on what the General Plan is designed to do: establish the policy <br />framework that guides land use decisions, shapes development patterns, directs infrastructure <br />investment, and stewards natural and cultural resources. <br />The 2026 Plan's Relationship to the 2045 Draft <br />On April 7, 2025, the 2045 General Plan Draft was transmitted to the Council via <br />Communication No. 372. The Council is now exercising its Charter authority to review and <br />refine the final product before adoption. At this point, the 2026 Plan should be referred to the <br />Windward and Leeward Planning Commissions for their independent review and comment. <br />The 2026 Plan maintains the core intent of the 2045 Draft — to guide growth, protect resources, <br />strengthen communities, and improve coordination across County government. Where necessary <br />provisions have been clarified, consolidated, or removed when they go beyond County authority. <br />The 2026 Plan is grounded in the same record that informed the 2045 Draft: a decade of <br />community engagement, Planning Commission deliberations, public testimony, and ongoing <br />updates from the Planning Department. Planning Commission review provides a public forum to <br />evaluate the 2026 Plan against that record and return recommendations to the Council before <br />final action. <br />The Role of the General Plan <br />The 2045 Draft blends policy direction with program design, implementation schedules, and <br />operational detail. The 2026 Plan separates those functions, restoring the General Plan to its <br />intended role as the County's long-range policy framework while directing programs and <br />projects to the instruments designed to carry them out. <br />2045 Draft <br />2026 Plan <br />Mixes policy and operational programs <br />Focuses on the policy framework <br />Includes programmatic initiatives <br />Removes operational programs <br />Contains project -level actions <br />Defers projects to CIP and work programs <br />Attempts to direct social and economic <br />programs <br />Guides land use conditions for those <br />outcomes <br />14 land use designations and parcel -level <br />mapping <br />Four broad categories with subcategories <br />Standalone Climate Change element with <br />unenforceable targets <br />Climate is embedded in elements within the <br />County authority <br />