HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0345.001 2022-2024 GDEAC,
SIERRA CLUB
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NAWAI`I ISLAND CROUP
July 24, 2023
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Committee on Government Operations and External Affairs
Hawai'i Countv Council .,
25 Aupuni St.
Hilo HI 96720 k
Re: Communication 345,Dona CDP AC nominee Nancy Pisicchio
Aloha Madam Chair and Committee members.
The Sierra Club of Hawai'i.Hawai'i Island Group ("HIG") gives its strongest support and
recommendation for the confirmation of Kona Community Development Plan Action Committee
nominee Nancy Pisicchio.
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For decades, Ms. Pisicchio has been one of. if not the strongest advocates for community
development plans (CDPs)in the County of Hawaii. Her historic efforts are one of the primary
reasons we have CDPs today. Quite simply, she has no peer in this regard.
Our county is fortunate to have Ms. Pisicchio offering again to be engage as a leader with the
Kona Community Development Plan (Kona CDP), the first CDP. She led a truly massive
-community effort that resulted in hundreds of community meetings involving thousands of
community members with thousands of comments and interactions with a broad swath of
knowledge and experience shared by all.
Ms. Pisicchio was an innovator during the Kona CDP process, advocating for and obtaining
additional funding to create "working groups"based upon the format of the 2005 General Plan,
such as Housing, Cultural Resources,Energy, Land Use, etc.. This allowed community
volunteers, many of them experts in these respective areas, to gather into their appropriate groups
to facilitate the categorization of thousands of comments and then develop"themes"which the
Kona CDP Steering Committee subsequently used as a basis for the goals, objectives, and
actions subsequently drafted and approved after many dozens of public hearings.
If ever there has been a qualified nominee for a position on a county board, commission,
committee, or group, Ms. Pisicchio is surely that person. Please vote `ac".
Malialo
Chuck Flahert8. clttii-
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