2008-05-08 TPUNAcdp - Laserfiche WebLink

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WHALEN: Thank you, Commissioners. I’m going to be very brief in my comments so it’s just an overview of the contents of the CDP. One of the things the Steering Committee made clear is that it wanted a CDP that was really based on the community input, public participation. So we anchored the actual framework of the CDP to the comments that were made during the small group meetings and the working groups. We compiled all the small group meetings comments and identified some of the top issues. And there are basically three themes in the CPD, Malama Ika Aina, managing growth and transportation. Each of those correspond to the three top clusters of issues identified in the small group meetings. First thing Malama Ika Aina which includes the historic and cultural and scenic resources, native forests and geological features, addresses aquifers, coastal waters and storm water in the shoreline area of Puna. This map summarizes some of the ideas that are in this theme of Malama Ika Aina. Some of the key actions in this section are the recommendations to form special design attractions for the towns, the older towns in Pahoa and Volcano, in particular Keaau; the creation of a bio-sphere reserve buffer zone, which is in the Volcano area, to protect, provide some protection of the native forest in areas where the native forest surrounding that community is relatively intact. There are also proposals for making changes to the grading, the County’s Grading Ordinance, to protect those areas of the native forest outside the biosphere reserve buffer zone, and not only the forest but the archaeological features. It proposes stricter waste water disposal standards, particularly over aquifers and in coastal area, and proposes special controls in the shoreline areas, particular where there is subsidence along the coast. The next theme is Managing Growth. And this addresses the land use pattern, particularly the unique situation, not completely unique because Kau has this also, are these nonconforming subdivisions, the 50,000 lots that were created during a 17-year period, about one quarter of which are presently developed and occupied but certainly hold the potential for a lot, for additional growth. Managing growth also includes policies and actions related to agricultural and economic development. Puna is a major agricultural area and there are policies proposed to increase that potential. It looks at social services and housing for Puna’s population, public safety and sanitation, parks and recreation, and then energy sustainability. This is one of the reasons why this plan is important, because the growth in certain sections of these subdivisions has been phenomenal, particularly in recent years. And this aerial photo of Hawaiian Paradise Park opened a lot of people’s eyes to really what’s happening in this district. This kind of growth presents special challenges, particularly because the infrastructure is substandard and there are no services in many of these subdivisions. So among the key actions proposed in managing growth is development of village centers of varying sizes throughout the Puna district where these services can be provided, so that people don’t have to travel as far to promote agriculture and green jobs in the Puna District, so people might not have to commute as much to Hilo for work and beyond to Kona even; to locate community services and housing in these village centers, a variety of housings that’s not available presently at Puna, particularly senior housing assisted living; and then to 3