LIHU’E – Deleted, at least for now, from the county’s General Plan Update is a
proposal to redesignate Robinson family property in Wainiha from conservation
to urban.
County planners don’t feel urban development is appropriate in
rural Wainiha, said Keith Nitta, long-range planner for the county Planning
Department.
Included, over the objections of the Kilauea Neighborhood
Association, however, is a General Plan land-use designation that could
eventually allow developer Jim O’Connor to build a housing development north of
Kilauea Town.
County planners do feel O’Connor’s Kilauea North proposal —
with land for a park, agricultural development, and single- and multi-family
residential growth for a total of 402 total units on 204 acres — is
appropriate growth, Nitta said.
But at this point, nothing’s set in
concrete. These recommendations—and many others—that appear in the
just-relased draft of the General Plan Update are open to discussion. The
discussion draft is the first of several versions that will be printed prior to
final adoption.
Both Nitta and Planning Director Dee Crowell stressed the
point that the nearly 200-page document, which includes land-use maps, is the
first of several versions.
After the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC),
which has been working on the update, reviews and comments on the Discussion
Draft, five community meetings will be held to allow further input from the
public. A CAC meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 11, at 4 p.m. in the
Lihu’e Civic Center meeting room.
Written comments may also be submitted
until Monday, Feb. 7, to the Planning Department, 4444 Rice St., Suite 473,
Lihu’e, HI 96766, or e-mailed to cokplan@aloha.net).
Both the county
Planning Commission and the County Council will hold public hearings on the
plan before it is made law.
The Council has the power to make changes
before the final plan is drafted and signed in ordinance form.
Mayor
Maryanne Kusaka’s signature will finally turn the General Plan into law, if
she’s happy with the final product. She also has the prerogative to veto the
ordinance if she so desires.
Since only 154 copies of the Discussion Draft
were printed, the Planning Department is asking for the public’s patience,
Nitta said.
The discussion draft, in its entirety, is expected to be
available by Tuesday on The Garden Island Web site, www.kauaiworld.com; at
public libraries and the county Planning Department office in the Lihu’e Civic
Center. It can also be accessed at Business Support Services (822-5504) in
Kapa’a for seven cents a page of text (191 pages) and $1.99 per color map (12
maps).
Copies of the executive summary, highlighting key points and changes
and possibly including the new land-use maps, will available Tuesday from CAC
members and at the Planning Department office.
Poster-sized maps will be on
display in the Planning Department lobby.
The planning district workshops
are not official public hearings, but will instead be primarily focused on
discussion, providing information, answering questions, and receiving specific
suggestions about the plan.
Each meeting is from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Following is a schedule of planning district workshops on the Kaua’i GP
Discussion Draft:
*Tuesday, Jan. 18: Koloa Neighborhood Center for the
Po’ipu-Koloa-Kalaheo planning district.
* Wednesday, Jan. 19: Ele’ele
Elementary School cafeteria, for the Westside planning district.
*Thursday, Jan. 20: Kaua’i War Memorial Convention Hall for the Lihu’e planning
district.
*Monday, Jan. 24: Kapa’a Elementary School new cafeteria, for
the Kapa’a-Wailua planning district.
*Tuesday, Jan. 25: Hanalei Elementary
School cafeteria, for the North Shore planning district.
