2010-05-07 TPD ENVISION - Laserfiche WebLink

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GAGORIK: What I’d like to do today is basically to give you a short overview; and then Kylie and I will both go up to the podium to do a short power point presentation; and then we’ll come back here, and then we’ll able to answer any questions that you have today. So if I may begin, back in 2004 in the basement of Haili Christian Church the Downtown Hilo Improvement Association and the Planning Department invited a whole bunch of people to come and talk story and to look at community visioning. We invited a planner from British Columbia, Cherie Enns, and we did a workshop and allowed people to really start visioning and creating ideas. And we asked three questions. We asked what was great about Downtown Hilo, what is not so great, and what are your dreams? And what we heard that day and what we have heard in the past and today is that Downtown Hilo is a gem, it’s a very special place. You know, there are things that still need to be fixed, it has a lot of old buildings that need to be repaired, but it has heart and soul. You know, it’s a very special place that people want to come to, and to share and talk story, and to shop. Five years ago I came before the Planning Commission with Alice Moon and we asked for your favorable recommendation of the EnVision Downtown Hilo Plan. It passed by Council resolution in November 2005 and now today we are back here before you five years later. So what has happened in the last five years? We had begun to really start the implementation process with the Vision Plan. And to be honest with you implementation is not an easy process. It’s often that process that’s eliminated from most plans, and which is why a lot of plans sit on the shelf. It involves really bringing people together to look at the vision and to look at strategic steps that we all need to take to move forward. So subsequent to the adoption of the plan you’ve seen, you know, four communities come before you with Community Development Plans. All of them have also tried to do the communication visioning process to begin to articulate what the community wants for the future. And that was a really strong step the Planning Department took to really begin this broad-based community planning process. So what I’d like to do now is go to the podium, and we’ll do a brief presentation for you. Okay, if you look at the power point, it’s a little awkward for a lot of you in the audience but at least the Commissioners have the main view. You have before you the EnVision Downtown Hilo 2025 5-Year Action Plan Update. You also have a resolution that is before you asking you for your favorable recommendation and to forward this request to the County Council. So where is Downtown Hilo now? If you look at this map, you’ll see that it’s pretty much a contained area. It’s bound by the Bayfront area, Ponahawai Street, Wailuku River and Kapiolani Street. So it’s a small contained area that’s approximately 124 acres. Okay, a little bit background again. Like I mentioned earlier the Plan was adopted in 2005. It used an inclusive approach to planning, which meant that we did community outreach. We had multiple workshops over that period of a year and a half. There were 571 workshop participants, a lot of community questionnaires and polling, including approximately 725 questionnaires that were actually from inserts in the Hawaii Tribune. It contained a 20-year overarching vision and 2 EXHIBIT A