COM 0234.000 2010-2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

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BACKGROUND The Puna Community Development Plan (PCDP) was adopted by ordinance on September 10, 2008 and amended by Ordinance 10 -104 on November 4, 2010. The PCDP is intended to serve as an extension of the County of Hawai`i General Plan by articulating district sensitive specific growth management strategies and the delivery of government services through a broad -based community input process. According to Chapter 16 -4 of the Hawai`i County Code (HCC) each community development plan shall have an Action Committee (AC), which is advisory to the Planning Director, to serve as a proactive, community -based steward of the plan's implementation and update. Although the initial Action Committee for the Puna CDP was not appointed and confirmed until fourteen months after the plan became effective in September 2008, progress has been gaining momentum since its first meeting on November 20, 2009. Just as the AC was beginning to focus on identifying processes by which it could meet its goals and responsibilities Bill 194, which was eventually adopted as Ordinance 10 -104 in October 2010, was introduced to the County Council proposing a number of substantive amendments to the PCDP. The introduction of these amendments to the PCDP required review and comment by the AC within a limited time frame before the Planning Director could forward to the Windward Planning Condition with her recommendations. The amendment review process by the AC included a public input effort that required a two - session special public meeting in addition to three regularly scheduled public meetings between February 18 and April 15, 2010. The AC recommendations to the Planning Director included not only comments and recommendations on the amendments proposed in Bill 194, but also recommended a number of additional amendments resulting from community input, six of which the Planning Director agreed to initiate after the County Council had taken final action on Bill 194. At the time of this report three amendments have received a favorable recommendation from the Hawai`i County Windward Planning Commission and have been forwarded to the Hawai`i County Council for consideration. Those amendments call for: 1. Mass Transit Hele -On bus service to Hilo and Keahole airports; 2. Changes to the location of a proposed scenic turnout and restroom facility in Lower Puna; and 3. The deletion of certain site specific language for proposed Community Parks in the Hawaiian Acres Subdivision. PUNA CDP ACTION COMMITTEE Despite the severe budget cuts impacting the level of government support available for CDP Action Committee activities, the need to find effective strategies to move forward within the constraints of the Sunshine Law, the numerous challenges faced attempting to generate and sustain an effective and broad -based level of community participation in developing strategies for implementation activities, and the varying individual and group uncertainties and expectations regarding the roles and responsibilities of the AC, progress has been made in establishing an ongoing process for meaningful community - government collaboration in the implementation and updating of the Puna CDP that will hopefully serve this and future Action Committees well. To that end, the AC has: 1