LIHU‘E — The county Planning Commission was unable to take any action on a controversial proposed draft bill relating to shoreline setback regulations due to a lack of commissioners and the failure to make a quorum on Tuesday. With three
LIHU‘E — The county Planning Commission was unable to take any action on a controversial proposed draft bill relating to shoreline setback regulations due to a lack of commissioners and the failure to make a quorum on Tuesday.
With three commissioners — Hartwell Blake, Kurt Akamine and Camilla Matsumoto — unavailable for the morning session, the commission was forced to defer both an executive session pertaining to the evaluation of Planning Director Ian Costa and action on the shoreline setback bill.
The commissioners in attendance — Chair Jimmy Nishida, Caven Raco, Herman Texiera and newcomer Jan Kimura — were not sufficient to move forward with a decision.
Before voting on the measure at its next meeting, the commission will likely consider a letter from Isaac Moriwake of EarthJustice asking the commission to reject the bill and hear testimony from Caren Diamond, a North Shore resident and community activist, James O’Connell, Coastal Processes and Hazards Specialist for the University of Hawai‘i’s Sea Grant Program, and community leader JoAnn Yukimura, who all arrived shortly after the minutes-long meeting finished.
