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CHRISTOPHER J. YUEN HILO LAGOON CENTRE,SUITE 108 101 AUPUNI STREET HILO,HAWAII 96720 ATTORNEY AT LAW TEL.(808)935-4429 December 14, 1989 Hawaii County Charter Commission 101 Aupuni Street Hilo Lagoon Centre, Suite 235 Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Re: Charter §3-16, County General Plan • Dear Charter Commission Members: I was asked to rewrite the second sentence in §3-16, "General Plan, " beginning with, "It shall contain . . . " to include the concepts of air and water pollution and environmental quality, but without otherwise altering the sense and meaning of the section. As members of the Commission noted, the sentence begins to fall apart at the clauses which begin with " . . . the most desirable density of population . . . " and ending with "air pollution. " The question is what phrase modifies these clauses. Is the General Plan supposed to " . . . contain a statement of . . . the most desirable density of population, . . . , " etc. , or is it supposed to " . . . contain a statement of development objectives, standards and principles with respect to . . . the most desirable density of population . . . , " etc.? Or do these clauses stand by themselves? There is some difference in these readings. If, for example, the General Plan must contain " . . . a statement of . . . the general location and extent of public utilities and terminals . . . , " I would expect to see the actual locations described (at least generally) in the General Plan. However, if the General Plan is to contain " . . . a statement of development objectives, standards and principles with respect to . . . the general location of public utilities and terminals, " I would expect to see a description of the criteria for deciding where to locate public utilities, as well as a description of their locations. (In practice, both the 1971 General Plan and the recently enacted General Plan describe where the utilities are and give standards for locating them. ) I believe the better reading of this section is that "a statement of development objectives, standards and principles with respect to . . . " is intended to modify each of the clauses which follow, for two reasons. First, "a statement of development objectives, standards and principles with respect to air pollution" makes much more sense than "a statement of . . . EXHIBIT B 756 (3 pages)