2024-11-17 Elizabeth Dunn - Laserfiche WebLink

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Questions to the Leeward Planning Commission November 21, 2024 Aloha Leeward Planning Commission: I know how hard it is to revise a General Plan and work through the many public meetings, and assemble the hundreds, if not thousands, of comments submitted by the public. It's not an easy task. Your staff has done a terrific job, and prepared a document that will be the vision document for development for the next two decades. My comments below, and what I submitted in greater detail two months ago are meant to enhance the document. In that spirit, I submit my concerns below. I read the comments on the draft General Plan (GP) and found the comment below on process quite interesting. I'd appreciate having Staff elaborate on the answer provided. I find it difficult to believe that the County Council is not able to make substantive changes to the draft GP prior to adoption. If that's the case, I'd suggest that as part of the public hearing process, the Winward and Leeward Planning Commissions assemble the comments of concern that are heard repeatedly, and transmit these to the Council as a separate document as part of the discussion of the draft GP process. I have never heard of a process where the County Council does not have the authority to revise the draft GP at the Council level. Perhaps the Council directs certain sections to be revised, and these sections are brought back through the Planning Commission process. The balance of the draft GP is put on hold until the language that needs to be revised is by the public through the publicly noticed Planning Commission review process and incorporated into the draft GP . Please clarify the issue raised by the H5m5kua CDP Action Committee, question on Page 95 about Process Q: Will the County Council and Planning Commissions be allowed to make amendments to the plan? A: Chapter 16.1 of the 2005 General Plan outlines the process for the comprehensive review of the general plan. The Planning Commissions will review the plan and make recommendations related to amendments. The County Council ultimately adopts the general plan, but there have been recent questions discussed at Council as to their ability to make substantive changes prior to adoption. The general plan is intended to be a living document that can be amended. By way of example, the 2005 General Plan was amended in 2006 and 2007 to address and amend some elements that were not addressed when adopted in 2005. This process referred to as interim amendments is outlined in Chapter 16.2 of the 2005 General Plan. I provided significant comments, and will not go through them here. However, there are a few concepts I would like Staff to discuss to make the issue clearer. 1. Integrated Resource Plans: Cross-island transmission lines? Is this discussed elsewhere in the draft GP? This is a huge issue, even if the Planning Department, and the County of Hawai'i can only give guidance to HELCO or the state Public Utility Commission on this issue. These transmission lines are an eyesore, there's been a huge body of information