2017-05-10 Hearing Transcript - Kau CDP

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Windward Planning Commission shall transmit the draft community development plan, or any amendment, with its recommendation through the Mayor to the County Council. Likewise, pursuant to Section 15.1 of the General Plan, the County Council may modify or amend the community development plan before enacting it by ordinance, but it shall give the Steering Committee and the Windward Planning Commission an opportunity to review and comment upon substantive amendments or modifications before the final adoption of the plan. The purpose of this meeting and public hearing is to afford all interested persons a reasonable opportunity to comment on the Ka`u CDP and for the Commission to review the CDP and consider its recommendation to the County Council. So, first, we're ready to present. Ron, are you? Ron Whitmore for the Planning Commission will do his presentation. WHITMORE: Thank you, Chairman Henkel, and thank you members of the Planning Commission for making the trip out to Ka`u this evening to hear from the people of Ka`u and their perspectives on this community development plan. Thank you, Director Yee and County Planning staff for arranging the meeting and staffing it, and having me as guest. I'm actually no longer with the Planning Department. I'm Deputy Director of the Department of Research and Development, but because I was Project Manager for the Ka`u Community Development Plan, it seemed fitting for me to see this through the adoption process. So, I'm here because I'm familiar with the plan and can probably answer questions about it fairly well. I want to also thank members of the Steering Committee who are here. This—to make sure we're covered with Sunshine Law, tonight's meeting is agendized also as a Steering Committee meeting so that we can have the Steering Committee members here and who are free then to talk and share their perspectives. With us here tonight are John Cross, Loren Heck, Michelle Galimba, and Ron Ebert. Thank you very much for coming out. They aren't part of the presentation tonight, but they're free to provide testimony is my understanding and also to respond to any questions Commissioners may have for them. Okay, I also wanted to thank all the members of the community who are out here tonight to share their perspectives, hear the Commissioners' comments. It's part of what's made this planning process so successful is the active involvement of community members and the Steering Committee's efforts at listening very carefully what people have to say, working it into the plan to produce a plan that is the best representation of how to achieve the community's goals that we could come up with. Oh, also with us here tonight is Council Member Maile Davis [sic]. Thank you for coming out. Appreciate that. It's nice that she's here because the next stop for the plan after the Planning Commission is the County Council. So, what I'm going to do tonight is first provide a little context to make sure we're on the same page in terms of where, what community development plans are all about, where they come from. Then, I'm going give you a bit of an overview of the plan, speak to next steps to some EXHIBIT A 2