2019-09-25 Meeting Minutes (EMC)

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• There are emerging issues to address, including climate change, integrated water resource management, food security, place-based economy, healthy communities, renewable energy, and equitable housing. • Planning for sea level rise needs to be happening throughout the planning process, and the updated Plan includes drafts of new policies. • Policy 28 deals planning for sea level rise with shoreline policies. • Policy 66 is about floor elevation requirements for all new construction in vulnerable areas. • Policy 69 deals with how to incorporate the hazard areas into land use planning policies. It defines a “Coastal High Hazard Area” so that people can be informed of additional concerns or requirements. • The sustainability objective is to reduce vulnerability to sea level rise for all vulnerable communities and infrastructure. • Policy 100 implements a minimum sea level rise assumption of 3.2 feet for budgetary, land use, and other decision-making processes. • Policy 101 speaks to the fact that we need to be adaptive to whatever the science and predictions are telling us. • Policy 102 is to support local and regional climate change modeling and monitoring programs. • Policy 103 is to evaluate CIP projects for resiliency, including sea level rise and flood and storm surge. • Policy 104 is to coordinate with agencies to monitor impacts which may be specific to Hawaiʻi County. • Policy 105 is to partner with communities to develop adaption strategies for vulnerable areas. • Action 1.73 in the updated plan is to conduct detailed vulnerability mapping of existing and planned infrastructure. This will allow for prioritizing what to focus on, such as the Hilo breakwater, coastal highways, etc. • Policy 408 looks at the public access program and acknowledges that sea level rise will be taken into account when aligning coastal trails. • The draft was released in August, and large speak-out events were held to engage the public and help them understand, so they can go home and dive deeper into topics they are interested in. Workshops have been held, and they are also going into smaller communities to have conversations with them. Public comments end on October 31, and then final revisions to the draft will begin. The commissioners had many questions for Ms. Morrison and Dr. Romine. 7. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS This was not discussed. 8. ANNOUNCEMENTS No announcement was made.