2018-04-12 Hearing Transcript - Hamakua CDP

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Before we set out, a CDP process and timeline was established. This was to ensure that there were clear roles to make the best use of everyone's time and energy to be sure that the Steering Committee was keyed in to specific decisions that they needed to make along the way. And, so the first part of this was really to start off to identify the Hamakua community vision and values. Based on an unprecedented and record setting community input—notice that there was at least 15 percent of the population participating and providing input on the initial phase of this. There were six key issues and priorities identified by the community: the local economy, recreation, education, health care, `Hina, and public services. Built on those six themes, the community vision and values was created by the Steering Committee, and the vision statement, "What is good for the land is good for the people - `O ka mea kupono `Hina ka mea kupono kanaka." Now, that's easier to see it that way. The next up in the process was really to learn about Hamakua through various channels of communication with the stakeholders. There was some workshops that were set out, and folks could participate and provide input about what Hamakua really is to them. And, from this, community objectives were developed that were based on those values and vision that had previously been identified. These community objectives, there were 13 in all, and they served as the foundation for the community development plan. All of the strategies were designed to implement one or more of those objectives. The third step in the process was then to really start to draft the community development plan. In order to do that, we first took the values and vision, which led to the community objectives, and continued to build on those to refine strategies that would implement those community objectives. We maintained objectivity in that we kept that was our North Star of those community objectives. So, anytime a strategy was considered, it was always tied back to does this implement the community objectives? There are four types of policies and strategies that you'll find in the draft community development plan. Two of those are County policies and actions and then a third one is kokua actions which are really those State and Federal agencies that also have a role to play in implementation, and also community actions which are community -led initiatives. When the CDP becomes adopted and implemented, it will become a County document, a County policy document. It will guide Federal and State agencies, and it will guide community action. There are four sections in the CDP that I want to introduce to you folks so that you understand how they're working together. First, in the top corner at number four is about protecting our natural resources, and that was the foundation that was laid out by the community as well as being an important place to start, understanding what lands needed to be protected and preserved and what were important to our community. Second then, to provide, this would be number five, to provide the facilities and services needed for our residents and businesses. Working on those two, you end up with the sixth one which is economy, and those are working together to grow our economy. And, finally, that third one, land use, is really about understanding and implementing all those through a land use policy that we can achieve together. EXHIBIT A 4