2018-04-12 Hearing Transcript - Hamakua CDP

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Once the draft was developed, the Steering Committee had an important decision to make about how this was going to be rolled out to the public and what type of engagement they wanted to see happen. One way was that copies were made available in print copy or else digital copy to the community members that they could review on their own and provide written feedback through on-line or by email facts or regular mail. Another way was speak -outs were designed through three different communities, and these speak -outs were held in sort of a workshop forum where folks could come in and learn specifically what the strategies did and how they interacted with one another, and they could provide important feedback at those forums as well. And, following those speak -outs, there were four focused discussion meetings held throughout the planning area. They focused on coastal issues, agriculture, Waipi`o specifically, and also making strong towns. And, so these focused discussions were really about getting into the meat of the CDP and understanding what it provided in those four distinct topic areas. And, finally all of that feedback was provided to the Steering Committee in a summary by topic area of what was, what was gathered through that process. The Steering Committee then was able to understand some revisions that might need to be made based on that community input and come up with their recommendation. During that time, the Steering Committee was very clear about what their role was, and really, they wanted to understand what the community input was and so there was some facilitated discussions so that they could dialogue about the community input and understand what their options were for revisions that they might want to recommend to the CDP. And, if necessary, they could also reach out to specific stakeholders and partners to understand further maybe what that community input was. And, finally, of course, the Steering Committee's role was to provide for outcomes in affirmation of the revisions so they would all be in agreement in what needed to be revised and recommendations for a preferred community development plan, which they put forth December 19, 2016. The next step in the planning process then was for the agency review to occur and the Planning Director's recommendation. In March of 2017, the Planning Director initiated an agency review by sending it out to many different County, State, Federal, and even some private organizations requesting that they provide feedback. That feedback came in many different forms. There was some non -substantive feedback where there was some typos or maybe some language tweaks that needed to be made. Some of that feedback was based on lack of understanding of really what the community development plan could do, and so some agencies provided input that really wasn't appropriate at the community development plan level. And, then there were some substantive comments in support for policies in differences of interpretation and even some new policies suggestions to meet the community objectives. EXHIBIT A 5