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<br /> The process for the enactment of a Community Development Plan is that the draft Plan is
<br /> prepared - and there is a lot of public interaction and the interaction with the Steering Committee
<br /> all along with that - and then it goes to the Steering Committee for their recommendation; and if
<br /> it's recommended for approval by the Steering Committee, then it comes through the Planning
<br /> Commission for a Planning Commission recommendation, much like a General Plan amendment
<br /> or a rezoning, but then finally it goes up to the County Council to be enacted by ordinance. If the
<br /> County Council makes changes, substantive changes, the Steering Committee is supposed to be
<br /> able to have given a chance to comment on it again. But the County Council, of course, has a
<br /> final say as a legislative body of the County whether to enact it or not and what to put in it.
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<br /> So we noted that the Planning Commission didn't have a timeframe for dealing with this. All
<br /> other matters where the Planning Commission has issues of recommendation have a timeframe;
<br /> and typically it is 60 days from the time when the Planning Commission gets it. So just to avoid
<br /> any confusion about what should happen, if we, if the Planning Commission, say, has a 4-4 vote
<br /> and cannot render a 5-vote recommendation up or down, we thought it would be a good idea to
<br /> act ahead and to put a timeftame in for the Planning Commission's action and to specify what
<br /> happens if the Planning Commission doesn't take action within that timeframe. So what you
<br /> have here is an amendment to the County Code, which would set that at 60 days, which is
<br /> consistent typically with the timeftame for the Planning Commission to make a recommendation
<br /> on something, and the statement that if the Planning Commission doesn't take official action
<br /> within that time, and that would be by five votes one way or the other, then it goes up to the
<br /> County Council with an unfavorable recommendation from the Planning Commission.
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<br /> So, and just to, just one more thing about that. We would bring the Community Development
<br /> Plans to your East and West Hawaii agendas, even though, you know, say, we have a North and
<br /> South Kona Community Development Plan, they do have island-wide implications; people live
<br /> on one side of the island, work on the other side of the island, go to beaches on the other side of
<br /> the island, use County facilities on one or the other side of the island. So we are all on one
<br /> island. And so we would, just as we bring General Plan amendments to both of your meetings,
<br /> even an interim amendment that directly affected only one side of the island, we would bring
<br /> these to both meetings. So you would have, 60 days gives you a number of meetings that you
<br /> could be looking at the Plan and spending some time with it.
<br /> WATANABE: Thank you. Do we have any questions of the Director? Yes,
<br /> Ms. Siracusa?
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<br /> SIRACUSA: Well, first of all, I would like to thank you, Chris, for being proactive and
<br /> jumping the gun and looking at getting this down, so that we have a process and a timeline
<br /> before we actually have the Community Development Plans and then have to start figuring out
<br /> after the fact practically.
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<br /> However, l disagree with some of your points that you would like to put into this, and I'd like to
<br /> discuss them. For one thing, the 60 days, when we think that our communities have been
<br /> working for more than a year on these Plans, and a lot of desperate people, you know, they try to
<br /> bring in all the stakeholders that they could finagle into it, and lots and lots of meetings, lots of
<br /> public outreach, lots of emails back and forth, you know, in between meetings, and this is so
<br /> important to the communities. And we know how very often we won't have, you know, a
<br /> quorum or we'll do 4-4 or want some more information. And I really feel that to show due
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