• Let’s fix the General Plan for Kauai’s future Let’s fix the General Plan for Kauai’s future Please testify Wednesday (tomorrow, Oct. 4), 8:30 a.m., at the County Council public hearing for the General Plan Update draft at the Kauai War
• Let’s fix the General Plan for Kauai’s future
Let’s fix the General Plan for Kauai’s future
Please testify Wednesday (tomorrow, Oct. 4), 8:30 a.m., at the County Council public hearing for the General Plan Update draft at the Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall, Lihue.
We are in a critical phase of a lengthy process which will determine the future of Kauai for the next 20 years. I don’t believe that most residents want more traffic and unleashed population and tourism growth. But that is happening now and will continue if we don’t speak up. Here are a list of topics relevant to the General Plan Update with my comments. Find at least one or two related ones that you can speak about, remembering that oral testimony is limited to three minutes.
• Land use: Subdivisions, resorts, agriculture. No up-zoning to build subdivisions on agricultural land.
• Watershed: Ensure preservation of nature/water in upper, middle, coastal and shoreline Kauai.
• Housing: Hokua Place in Kapaa, if built, would have 30 percent affordable and 550 high-priced homes for Mainlanders and, potentially, will bring Kapaa traffic to a standstill on the Eastside. Instead, we need 100 percent affordable homes in subdivisions for locals in non-congested areas.
• Infrastructure: How about a moratorium on any subdivisions until a study is done to see if the island has reached capacity re: roads, sewage, landfill and water.
• Economy: Too much is invested in tourism, need for more small, non-GMO farms and agricultural housing for workers. A disaster could halt tourism for months as did Hurricane Iniki.
• Human resources: More support for the Hawaiian culture, people and charter schools.
• Sustainability: Ensure that the island is food (almost 90 percent imported now) and water secure.
• Climate change: Planning for more intense storms and flooding that are occurring now. More building means more destruction in a high hurricane area; here, as is in Puerto Rico.
• Growth management: Not addressed in this plan. We need to put the brakes on development, not only restrict building, but to save our sanity and for the keiki, who will be hurt the most. Other communities have done it successfully. Let’s learn from their sustainability models.
• Shared spaces: Expand and maintain our parks, trails, beaches, etc.
• Natural environment: Kauai’s most precious resource must be protected from development, drought, degradation and misuse. Once it’s gone, the island will lose its soul.
• Land transportation: Expand the bike (multi-use) path to Lihue, more accessible buses, limit and tax rental cars (43 percent increase in direct flights to Kauai in 2018 means intense traffic terror).
The General Plan Update Draft is incomplete, full of vague, feel-good goals, without a compass or implementation plans to specify where we’re going and how to get there. We, community members, are being asked to shape the future of Kauai. Please email and inform friends through social media about this important meeting Wednesday. Best to show up and testify, but if you can’t, email: counciltestimony@kauai.gov.
Cherish Kauai by having your voice heard Oct. 4.
Gabriela Taylor, Kapaa
