COM 0372.196 2024-2026 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Hawai'i County Council April 6, 2026 Page 2 Communication 372.194 states that this policy direction reflected in the Draft General Plan 2026 draws heavily on the decade -long community engagement process that informed the Draft General Plan 2045. This reliance on the inputfrom the proposed Draft General Plan 2045 does not substitute the requirements to provide opportunities for input from the general public and state and county agencies on this newly proposed Draft General Plan 2026. The comments previously received were specific to the Draft General Plan 2045 and the public and government agencies were reviewing this particular draft and. not the Draft General Plan 2026. There is tremendous documentation of the efforts and outreach that has been done by planning staff and consultants, including but not limited to 125 public meetings, which included 67 CDP Action Committee meetings. There were also 37 public agency meetings, 37 landowner meetings, and 26 County Council updates. The Planning Department has received over 8,600 public comments on the Draft General Plan 2045. Planning Department staff also met with each Council Member to provide an opportunity for suggestions on the Draft General Plan 2045 for their specific districts. We received excellent comments. We did not receive any indication that this plan should be vacated or replaced. My main concern moving forward with this newly proposed Draft General Plan 2026 is that we are not allowing the general public and government agencies the opportunity to provide input on this new draft. I have read both the Draft General Plan 2045 and Draft General Plan 2026 from cover to cover. I offer the following advice to the County Council regarding decision options on this matter: Option No. 1. Do not approve the proposed Draft General Plan 2026 that was recently submitted and continue to make amendments to the proposed Draft General Plan 2045. These amendments will be voted on and if they are substantial, they should be forwarded to the Planning Director. The Planning Director will provide recommendations on the amendments to the Planning Commissions that will in turn provide recommendations back to the County Council. Option No. 2. Approve the Draft General Plan 2026. This will completely replace the Draft General Plan 2045, including all of the General Plan Land Use and Policy maps located at the back of the plan and any additional information that is not included in the Draft General Plan 2026. If you choose this option, I recommend the following steps be considered. a. Do not forward this draft to the Planning Director and the Planning Commissions until all additional information is added to the plan, including any definitions, additional objectives, policies, standards, and land use and policy maps, etc. so that there is a complete document for review.