Proposed amendment to
General Plan falls short
Hawaii County spent 11 years and more than 7,000 public comments building General Plan 2045.
Both the Windward and Leeward Planning Commissions reviewed it for months and voted to recommend adoption. They proposed 49 amendments. Every recommendation strengthens the plan. None removes a measurable target.
On April 8, the County Council Policy Committee on Planning, Land Use and Economic Development met to consider Bill 66 and a proposed amendment. The chamber and online room were packed. Dozens testified.
The committee voted unanimously to postpone its decision to May 4. The fight continues.
The proposed amendment would replace the 310-page plan with a 72-page document that eliminates all quantitative targets: net-zero emissions by 2045, a 100% clean county fleet by 2035, a 50% increase in transit ridership, zero waste by 2045, and parks within a 10-minute walk.
The planning director called it a “complete rewrite.” Former Planning Director Chris Yuen testified that it discards years of community effort and strips the maps of their binding authority on zoning decisions.
We spend roughly $1 billion annually on energy imports and pay the price in supply disruptions and oil price swings. GP 2045 sets the county’s direction on cutting that dependence.
The proposed amendment removes every clean energy target. State law calls for “the reduction and ultimate elimination” of imported fuel dependence. The Legislature used the word “elimination.” A county plan without energy targets makes the requirement impossible to meet.
The proposed amendment includes useful additions: direction for Green Fee revenue and a homelessness section. Those can be added to GP 2045. The eliminated targets, chapters and accountability structures cannot.
Our County Council should adopt General Plan 2045, built by our community over a decade and endorsed by our planning commissions.
Add what’s missing. Don’t gut what’s there.
Noel Morin
Hilo
HB 1616 is a ‘step in
the right direction’
It is refreshing to hear good news on the local front, and this is big news (“Pahoa Agricultural Park eyed for piggeries,” Tribune-Herald, April 6). Hopefully, it is the start of a long-term and growing trend.
Hawaii faces a looming food crisis on the horizon. Without the U.S. mainland, we would be a starving Third World country. We do not grow nearly enough food to feed the population that lives here.
Even with the U.S. mainland sending food barges to the islands daily, the huge distance and cost of fuel is making imported food dramatically more costly than on the mainland. Sticker-shock in local grocery stores upon arrival is real. People are literally getting “starved out of Hawaii” by local food expense.
House Bill 1616 is a step in the right direction. The state will not only get out of the way and stop prosecuting people who grow food without jumping through bureaucratic hoops, it is actually going to do something positive.
Actively facilitating the harvest, inspection and distribution of wild hog meat is a big issue in Puna. The persons responsible for this foresight are to be commended.
Turning wild-ranging hogs from pests into a resource is huge step in the right direction. Live-traps and pickup to slaughter and processing is the way to go.
I also suggest a central dump for county road scrapings. Topsoil is in short supply in Puna, and wherever such road scraping become accessible, people quickly descend upon them. I have seen people loading dirt into pickup trucks with buckets and their bare hands. A central location near Pahoa where this is facilitated would be ideal. A little real soil and fertilizer with cinder goes a long way.
Anyway, I’m hoping for more good news on the sustainable Hawaii local food front.
John Powers
Pahoa
