First GPU draft released

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.