2019-09-25 Meeting Minutes (EMC)

Home

• A lot of work is occurring among agencies because of the sea level rise, but it is not at the community level yet. • There are many issues to be looked at and many hazards that can occur. It is hoped ordinances can be crafted before disaster events happen so that policies are already in place. • The General Plan does not just sit on a shelf, but is an important guide. • The Environmental Management Commission is important, because politicians can lack the courage to do the right thing since they are always in election mode, being swayed by what their constituents want. The county needs commissioners who are not politically driven, who will emphasize that the right thing should be done, and who will bring their voices to the County Council. • What is best for the island is what needs to be done. • Everything takes money, and he is very concerned that the younger generation will have to pay for the mistakes of the older generation. • They can at least try to slow the mistakes down, although they can’t “turn them off.” • Honolulu now has a sustainability office (the Office of Climate Change, Sustainability, and Resiliency) with staff paid to focus on sea level rise, but Hawaiʻi County employees are having to work on it as a piece of their job. • If the problem is going to be called an emergency and be taken seriously, then it needs to be backed up with money. There is a resolution that will be coming before the Council to consider this, and he urged the commissioners to not allow a “fluffy” resolution to be passed, as it won’t do anything. Bethany Morrison introduced herself as a long-range planner with the Planning Department and gave some background on how the General Plan came about. A few of the highlights of her slide presentation: • The General Plan is mandated by the state and also by the County Charter, and is an “umbrella document” that guides the county’s infrastructure, improvements, and land use decisions. • Anything the county does needs to be guided by the General Plan. • The update to the Plan began in 2015, and started with research and analysis, GIS work, and understanding all the data available about the island. Many studies were reviewed. The draft is now available to the public to review and comment on. Refinements will be done based on the input received, and the adoption of the Plan should occur in late summer 2020. • Different scenarios were run about land use development, growth, hazards, and ag lands to understand the trade-offs about decisions in those areas. Work was also done with Community Development Plans, which focus on community level priorities and information. • Sustainability is a big focus of the Plan—how the county can be more self- sufficient and rely less on others, and have social and economic mobility and community and social well-being.