(BIVN) – The Hawaiʻi County Council voted to adopt a new general plan during its meeting in Hilo on Wednesday, despite vocal opposition from the public.
The council voted 5 to 3 in favor of Bill 66 on final reading, which establishes the Hawaiʻi County General Plan 2045, a document that guides future land use on Hawaiʻi island.
The council heard hours of public testimony prior to the vote, most of it in opposition to the bill.
“I’m in opposition of the general plan, Bill 66, and it’s because of I don’t want to change the ag to natural,” testified former County Councilmember Emily Naeole in opposition.
“This area is being re-zoned for natural use, which means where I live, I will not be able to live,” testified Seraph D’Alerta, pointing to a zone map via Zoom. “This means everything I have ever worked for to have a place to live for my family, to have a place to live for me to grow food, I will not be able to do that here anymore if this plan is selected. So I strongly oppose.”
“Here’s a little timeline of the general plan,” testified Sara Steiner, holding a poster of the planning timeline. “Somehow this general plan review process started in 2015, but that was with General Plan 2040. Somehow that plan went through all these, you know, hundreds of meetings and all this stuff, but yet it dies in COVID, and all of a sudden now we’re renewed and we have this new General Plan that nobody commented on. All the comments kind of moved up from the comments before. I just think that this was not done properly.”
“It has to be continued to be mentioned that it’s unforgivable in my opinion and I think in process that Hilo has no community development plan since 1976,” said Kevin Hill, speaking via Zoom.
“The opposition is based on fundamental misunderstanding of what a general plan is and what a general plan does,” said former planning director Chris Yuen. “This general plan will not change what anybody can do on their property now. It will not change what anybody can do on their property in the future. Unless you’re the one – maybe, part of the 1% of property owners who will seek a re-zoning sometime, or who may seek a special permit or some other kind of land use permit that requires you to come before the county council or the planning commissions. It won’t change. It won’t make you drive a certain type of car. It won’t make you live in a certain type of community if you don’t want to live there.”
“I do not believe that this plan will hurt any of you in the ways that you anticipate,” commented Hawaiʻi County Councilmember Heather Kimball, addressing the public concerns with the plan.
When it came down to the vote, Councilmembers Holeka Inaba, Dennis Onishi, and Ashley Kierkiewicz voted against adopting Bill 66.
“I do not want to settle for a document with acknowledged mapping errors and admissions that portions of our plan were drafted by artificial intelligence. ‘It’s not perfect, but it’s good enough’ is a standard that I personally cannot accept as someone that was born and raised here.” said Hawaiʻi County Councilmember Ashley Kierkiewicz.
The bill now goes to Hawaiʻi County Mayor Kimo Alameda for his signature.
