Help map future of Hawaii Island
The recent Kona presentation of the final 2045 General Plan draft was, at first blush, hopeful. My optimistic heart cried “Nirvana” seeing the shiny photos and hearing the inspirational words.
But to anyone who’s lived in Kona for more than a minute, the next thought was, “No way this is going to happen.”
The current planning director’s prior job was helping clients skirt short-term rental laws while his department consistently supports projects that ignore the Kona Community Development Plan’s bedrock requirement that infrastructure be planned and under construction before any new development is approved or built.
So, without mechanisms to force implementation of the General Plan, what’s to prevent any administration from dragging its feet?
The General Plan covers soup (land use) to nuts (climate mitigation).
More questions include: Will changing open lands to “recreation” allow for more commercialism in protected, natural spaces?
What economic impacts will splitting ag designation to productive ag lands, extensive ag, and rural have?
Will rural designations make way for more unhosted STVRs, since state rules disallow them on ag lands?
How can landfill lifespans be determined when recycling is barely practiced and the population is exploding?
Why was this General Plan draft released as “final” without promised mapped “white areas”?
A good General Plan outcome demands huge public participation. Despite best efforts, the 2045 process has felt top-down and inaccessible.
Saying a meeting is a “workshop” when participants were locked into their seats added frustration, and not answering more than a smattering of the public’s written questions — despite the presentation finishing 30 minutes early — caused further alienation.
If you’d like to affect the island’s grand map and vision of the future, contact planning@hawaiicounty.gov to get on the email list immediately.
To see the final draft, go to https://tinyurl.com/4ndyja34. It’s a complicated document. Ask planners for help.
Janice Palma-Glennie
Kailua-Kona
‘Outstanding’ police response in Puna
On the morning of Aug. 13, I received a call from a family friend who was on the mainland, but has a home in Hawaiian Beaches, that she had seen a robber breaking into her home and stealing many of her belongings.
She has a camera in her house that she could monitor when away.
She asked me if I could drive by her house, across from the Hawaiian Beaches Park, and check it out. She said she called the Pahoa police.
I live a few streets away. I immediately drove over there. The outer gate was locked. I did not have a key. I yelled into the house.
Within 10 minutes, the Pahoa police arrived in full force. I motioned to them that this was the home that they had been called to check.
Four police vehicles arrived shortly, and they scaled the fence and approached the house. The robbers had fled after breaking a window and a rear door. The officers continued to patrol the area for quite some time. The robbers had fled, but her camera photographed the intruder.
I want to express our gratitude for our Pahoa police officers and their professionalism. They were outstanding in every way.
Thank you, Pahoa police.
Richard Gorman
Pahoa