2017-03-15 KCDP Minutes Draft - Laserfiche WebLink

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3. Presentation by and discussion with Planning Director Michael Yee regarding CDP implementation. The presentation may address some or all of the following topics: implementation methods, strategies, issues and priorities, relationship to the ning Department. Mr. Yee explained his professional background, starting with a university degree in \[urban\] planning, and his work to date primarily being in the fields of affordable housing, community development and revitalization, historic preservation and related cultural issues. He noted having . He expressed several early impressions gained in his first few months as Director: He has spent a lot of time visiting all the CDP Action Committees; ing Nancy Pissichio to help in realigning CDPs with General Plan (GP) implementation; and stated he currently concurs with former Director Kanuha position with regard to CDPs being advisory documents \[regardless of CDP text declarations otherwise\]. He noted the GP is scheduled for being formally updated next year, and the CDPs are scheduled to all begin an updating process sometime after that. He said he may be later proposing that the CDP updates be deferred for a while longer, until a better, standardized fit of CDPs with the GP can be first designed by the Planning Department. He noted that every AC is different, and that some Committees are more robust in their CDP-oriented undertakings than others; but in all cases, he wants the ACs to focus on what the CDPs call out as priorities, and it is his intent to work with the ACs and staff that are not identified in their respective CDPs as priorities, and felt that such was not productive; he made it clear that he was not referring to the Kona AC as to those concerns. As to the County Capital Improvement Program (CIP), Mr. Yee said that he intends to exercise his responsibility under the Charter to recommend CIP priorities for the various CDPs as one of his major areas of focus during his tenure. He noted that this may not have been as high a priority for prior Planning Directors as it will be for him. Member Payne expressed concern and frustration that the package of recommendations presented by the Kona AC seem to have not been applied by the Administration, and hopes that this can be improved. Mr. Yee re-affirmed his intent to push community preferences forward as a top priority during his tenure. Regarding cultural and historical preservation, Mr. Yee said we collectively have to be thinking of what kinds of change are necessary, and how He believes that planning for change and growth necessary for working families that have been here for generations and will be here for generations more; and to do that, we must put more focus on cultural and historic preservation; that we have to be constantly talking about those things, and by doing so, we will have a better guide to what we should be doing on the island and for whom we king positive change or improvements). He said he will be constantly looking for solutions to accomplish that and to change the way things are. Mr. Yee added that he wants to create a cultural-historic preservation team within the Planning Dept., and to create an agreement with State DLNR (SHPD) to take some of the workload off their department so that we can expedite some projects. He said that although his staff has asserted that additional resources are needed to take on such additional workload, his position is that we have to find a way to Page 5 of 9