2007-05-14 Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission Minutes

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Ms. Self stated that Chapter 15 says that you may make amendments to the general plan. Ms. Piccichio responded that you can't actually contradict the general plan. Ms. Self stated that if they needed to, they could go in and try to get amendments to the general plan. Ms. Piccichio stated only in this case where there is something stated as policy within the general plan that the CDP will directly be in conflict with. Ms. Piccichio stated she hoped to avoid a situation where they were going in to amend the general plan and at this point she doesn't see that rising to the surface. Ms. Piccichio stated it's an exciting process to provide the community the opportunity to look at the tools and detail. People are starving to see something that is going to be realized and the commitment that is involved. It's a difficult process because it's unprecedented but it's also an exciting opportunity for the islands. Mr. Flores asked if there was a timeline for the plans. Ms. Piccichio stated they have not determined that for the Puna plan and the Kona plan. The Planning Director gave an 18 month window for completion, which didn't turn out to be realistic because it took them eight months to get through the community input process. Once they sorted through, analyzed and worked on trying to draft implementation from approximately 3,500 comments from the public, they had passed the halfway mark. Ms. Piccichio stated they need to get this done as quickly as possible. Ms. Piccichio stated she was glad that the Planning Director put a shorter timeframe versus a longer timeframe because these issues are critical. It's in the best interest of the community to have something in put into place quickly. Ms. Piccichio stated they had a Green Infrastructure Consultant that helped with the Kona Plan. A Green Infrastructure Plan for the Kona district was recommended. Instead of looking at trails, parks, shoreline access, or watershed areas separately, they should start looking at how they all combine together. Ms. Piccichio stated a basic fundamental premises for all of the decisions that are made in Kona regarding urban, Green Infrastructure, watershed, coastline, or more environmental issues, should be viewed as a whole and not as a spot here and there. Ms. Piccichio stated it was easier to say that I have this property and I am going to put a subdivision on it and not take a look at the land around it; it's the same thing with the Green Infrastructure plan. We can say that we want to put a park here but it's much better overall for the community, and even the environment, to try to get an interconnected view of all properties. Ms. Piccichio stated they also wanted to look at all the trails that are known as historic trails and do a very in depth inventory; you'd think that all these inventories have been done but they haven't. With Na Ala Hele, they have developers coming through and make decisions of whether trails fragments should be protected for the state trail program or whether they could be bulldozed. But, even Na Ala Hele doesn't do comprehensive