HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-12-16.PCDP.Minutes.DRAFTMitchell D. Roth o4'y.: Zendo Kern
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Mayor Director
Lee E. Lord Jeffrey W. Darrow
Managing Director>t OsN►'M Deputy Director
County of Hawaii
PLANNING DEPARTMENT
PUNA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE
Aupuni Center • 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 3 • Hilo, Hawaii 96720
Phone(808)961-8288 • Fa (808)961-8742
1 Wednesday, December 16, 2020
2 DRAFT Meeting Minutes
3 CALL TO ORDER
4 This meeting was attended by members of all Community Development Plan (CDP) Action Committees
5 (AC) in the County of Howai'i. Bethany Morrison, serving as a non-voting Chairperson for the Island -
6 wide Convening of CDP ACs, called the Puna Community Development Plan (PCDP) Action Committee
7 (AC) to order at 4:06 p.m. Due to restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic, this meeting was held
8 via the Zoom interactive video platform.
9 The following persons were present:
10 ROLL CALL
11 Action Committee Members Present: Yumi Kawano and Susan Osborne.
12 Action Committee Members Absent -Excused: Frannie Brewer (Vice Chair), Dan Domizio, Mark
13 Hinshaw, Leila Kealoha, and Brent Norris.
14 Planning Department Staff: April Surprenant (Long Range Division Manager); Planners - Kara Bocher,
15 Eric Cook, Rob Leasure, Keiko Mercado, Bethany Morrison, and Kamuela Plunkett.
16 Hawai'i County Council: Holeka Inaba, Ashley Kierkiewicz, Heather Kimball, Sue Lee Loy, Tim Richards,
17 and Rebecca Villegas.
18 Members of the public: Members of the public observed the meeting via the YouTube livestream. The
19 livestream is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gp N6DOUel.
20 ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA: None.
21 ANNOUNCEMENTS: None.
22 PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS:
23 Long -Range Planning Staff member Rob Leasure read into record the following written testimony,
24 which were submitted in advance of the meeting. The parties who submitted the written testimony
25 were not present.
26 1. Communication 2020-01 from Kupuna for Mo`opuna to convey an urgent call to establish a Hilo
27 Community Development Plan.
28 2. Communication 2020-02 from James Sogi to convey that tourism should not be a top priority and that
29 other local services, agriculture and hi -tech should be promoted for economic development.
30
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31 APPROVAL OF MINUTES: None.
32 BUSINESS:
33 1. Island-wide Community Development Plan Action Committee 2021 Planning Update:
34 a. Status of Action Committee Memberships
35 Long-Range Planning Staff member Keiko Mercado presented the status per CDP AC regarding
36 the number of persons seated or in holdover status, and the number of vacant seats. Currently,
37 North Kohala and Puna do not have sufficient members to meet quorum, and Ka'u is yet to be
38 seated. In addition, Ms. Mercado requested that current AC members provide names of
39 community groups and individuals who are actively working on community initiatives and may
40 be interested in working with or serving on an Action Committee.
41 b. Tentative Meeting and Communication Cadence
42 Long-Range Planning staff member Kamuela Plunkett presented the proposal to hold quarterly
43 meetings per CDP AC, plus two (2) bi-annual Community & County Co-Learning Series meetings
44 (see topic c. below). The quarterly meetings will be tailored to address relevant priorities,
45 including Chair/Vice Chair elections, a one-year roadmap of AC priorities to work on, capacity
46 building, unfinished business, and updates from Long-Range Planning staff on island-wide
47 initiatives.
48 c. High Level Overview of the Framework being developed around a County and Community
49 Learning and Communication Tool
50 Ms. Mercado introduced the Community & County Co-Learning Series (C2CLS) concept, which
51 is a bi-annual forum to include all AC's to share information, collaboratively identify solutions to
52 community issues, and advance island-wide community resilience initiatives
53 After the presentation concluded, Long-Range Planning staff member Bethany Morrison opened
54 the floor to a Question & Answer Session:
55 Status of Action Committee Memberships
56 Q: How are terms affected by the hiatus, during which the ACs did not meet from September
57 2019 to November 2020?
58 A: This is under review with the department and incoming administration
59 Q: Will quarterly AC meetings be scheduled on specific days/specific weeks? When will they begin
60 so that 2021 Chair/Vice Chair elections may be completed to allow them to work on setting
61 agendas?
62 A: Subsequent to this meeting, Long-Range Planning staff will solicit input from AC members for
63 input on day of week & time of day that is best for members and community to meet via on-line
64 platforms. The first quarterly meeting will be planned for late-February/March of 2021.
65 Q: With quarterly AC meetings, will items that require a vote mean that at minimum three
66 meetings over seven months will be needed?
67 A: Yes, for items such as subcommittee reports, but we would explore alternatives within
68 Sunshine Law according to the nature of the item to be voted on.
69 Q: How will quarterly AC meeting and C2CLS agendas be determined?
70 A: For quarterly meetings, in the same fashion as before where AC members propose items, and
71 the Chair/Long-Range Planning staff structure the agenda. For C2CLS, AC members across the
72 island will propose items and the Long-Range Planning staff will aggregate into an agenda and
73 review with AC Chairs
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74 Q: Certain community members applied for the Puna AC in March 2020, but no word has been
75 given. What is the status of filling the vacant seats in Puna? Has the Planning Department
76 understood that there were so many un -filled AC seats?
77 A: Yes, vacant seats have been discussed with the in -coming administration, which vets interested
78 candidates. There are approximately 145 vacant seats for boards and commissions (including ACs)
79 County wide, which highlights the need for intensified recruitment.
80 Q: There is a county mandate for a Sustainability Committee (unsure of the name) and believe
81 that the ACs may be a good place to host subcommittees to explore sustainability priorities. What
82 is the status of this concept?
83 A: This is correct. The need for a Sustainability Committee was identified by the Research &
84 Development Department, but it is not yet staffed. This question will likely be raised with the in -
85 coming administration.
86 Q: Will all AC members have each other's contact information? The CDP website contact lists are
87 inconsistent regarding making email information available.
88 A: Agreed. The Long -Range Planning staff will update on-line contact info and share this
89 information.
90 Tentative Meeting and Communication Cadence
91 Q: Will subcommittee procedures change under the new meeting structure?
92 A: Existing subcommittees will have no change to their procedures to ensure Sunshine Laws are
93 observed.
94 Q: What changes should we expect under this new way of working? Are the ACs and Long -Range
95 Planning staff expected to have different capacities/abilities to support implementation? Will the
96 Planning staff be there to support the ACs?
97 A: Long -Range Planning staff share concerns about capacity to fully support implementation of AC
98 priorities and are hopeful that the new approach to leverage community and county networks will
99 resurrect momentum on CDP implementation.
100 High Level Overview of the Framework being developed around a County and Community
101 Learning and Communication Tool
102 Q: How do we improve the communication within and among the ACs, and between the ACs and
103 the County planning staff?
104 A: The C2CLS approach is intended to reduce the amount of time elapsed between such
105 engagements. It intends to allow topics to be raised and addressed more quickly in venues other
106 than formal AC meetings.
107 Other topics
108 Q: Any thoughts on connecting ACs with budgets to implement CDPs?
109 A: Previous administrations have considered this as part of CIP budgets, but it was never put into
110 place. This will be raised to the new administration to consider providing capacity building
111 opportunities and to organize community groups, but not relative to direct budgets for ACs to
112 administer. Council members could consider other funding vehicles during their budgeting
113 activities.
114 Q: Will there be an opportunity to build a relationship between the General Plan and the CIP
115 budget requests?
116 A: The ACs provide suggestions to the CIP budget. Until the next General Plan is adopted, we
117 continue to propose CIP requests based on the current General Plan.
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118 Q: Are there plans to establish a Hilo CDP?
119 A: This is an on-going budget request but has not yet been funded. The question of funding and
120 staff capacity considerations will be raised to the new administration.
121 Q: Coordination between Planning and other departments regarding CDP priorities has been a
122 challenge. How can this be improved?
123 A: We believe that the C2CLS approach will elevate certain priorities and provide opportunity for
124 improving this coordination.
125 Q: What is the status of the Kona Open Space Network (KOSN)? It is a fundamental component to
126 delivering on the Kona CDP. We need to re-engage the Mayor on moving this forward.
127 A: The KOSN was under development by the Mayor Kim administration. The KOSN requires a
128 consulting contract to fulfil its scope and needs to go out to bid, but the monies remain allocated.
129 Planning staff does not have the capacity to perform the consulting procedure, which will be
130 raised to the new administration to determine if they will resume the lead on this effort.
131 Q: When will we meet the new Planning Director?
132 A: As he is newly appointed, we will work with him to address this forum in our next session.
133 Q: AC focus should be topic based to draw more community member interest to serve and to
134 participate in the process. How can this be done?
135 A: Community energy should be spent wisely, requiring community, Council and County resources
136 to work more aligned in defining these focus topics.
137 Q: Lack of County capacity to support CDP implementation is disappointing. Hope that this forum
138 will help the County leadership recognize and address this deficiency.
139 A: As part of General Plan update, we are attempting to address topics that are of interest to
140 island -wide community and possible sources of funding. Engaging Council members more in CDP
141 implementation is also essential.
142 Q: Community members are concerned by the lack of progress with the CDPs and in the County in
143 general. For instance, the State awarded $1.5 billion to work on wastewater treatment issues but
144 the money has not been requested by the county, thus not disbursed.
145 A: We do not have an answer on this today, but these are the types of issues we encourage AC
146 members to raise so planners can help identify ways to move forward. Councilmember Tim
147 Richards: An RFP on this has been delayed during the COVID-19 impact and this needs to be
148 resurrected.
149 Q: Bill 217 will prohibit foot traffic into Waipi'o, raising an important topic that the AC could
150 address, but not hearing conversation on this in the AC. As the ACs are advisory to the Director
151 and the Planning Dept. has noted that the Director will not comment on this bill to the Council
152 (rendering any advice moot), what then is the role of the AC? Can the AC pass a judgement on the
153 merits of this bill to the Council?
154 A: AC members should provide their comments to the Council, which may be done independently
155 if this topic is not taken up by the AC.
156 Q: Regarding FEMA money in the Puna area, what is the County's role to facilitate bringing
157 together grass-roots groups to discuss ways to use this funding source? Zoom/on-line forums can
158 broaden community engagement —with this approach continue after the pandemic?
159 A: The Network Mapping that we intend to do with the ACs in 2021 intends to identify the groups
160 that should be leveraged and engaged on AC priorities and brought together. We agree that Zoom
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161 is useful and will continue during the first half of 2021 but will need to identify how it will be used
162 once in-person meetings resume.
163 The presentation and public testimony communications may be viewed and downloaded from the
164 following website: http://records.hawaiicounty.gov/Weblink/Browse.aspx?dbid=1.
165 PROPOSED AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: None.
166 ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 6:04 p.m.
167 All Action Committee information can be viewed and downloaded from our website:
168 https://www.hawaiicountvcdp.info/puna-cdp
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