What kind of community do you want to be living in when 2048 begins? What hopes do you have for the future of your family, your friends, your Kaua‘i? Does 2048 sound like the way-too-distant future? That’s how long it’s
What kind of community do you want to be living in when 2048 begins?
What hopes do you have for the future of your family, your friends, your Kaua‘i?
Does 2048 sound like the way-too-distant future?
That’s how long it’s been since the most recent Lihu‘e District Development Plan was ratified, more than 35 years.
Back in 1977, the population of Kaua‘i was less than 38,000 people, while today it’s about 68,000.
The Lihu‘e Shopping Center — now the civic center — and Rice Shopping Center were the regional “malls” of their time.
Sugarcane dominated the landscape and the national average for a gallon of gasoline was $.59, or $2.23 adjusted for inflation — a different world.
What about 2026? Is 13 years still too far away?
That’s how long it’s been since we passed the 1999 calendar year and found out that Y2K was not going to demolish electronic life as we know it (or knew it then, since Facebook was still four years away, the Kindle e-book reader, seven).
Lihu‘e Plantation hadn’t harvested its last fields of cane, though the end was in sight.
Gas was $1.51 (or $2 converted to today’s equivalent value), 58,500 people called Kaua‘i home, and the lengthy community process of the Kaua‘i General Plan was completed.
The Lihu‘e Business Association has long advocated for an update of the Lihu‘e district development plan.
At long last, the county has budgeted for and begun the update process and a south shore plan too.
Hawai‘i Revised Statutes defines the Lihu‘e District as stretching “from and including Kipu to the northerly bank of the north fork and the main Wailua river.”
It states that these boundaries shall be used “for election, taxation, education, city, county, and all other purposes.”
Those boundaries encompass a huge area: Hawai‘i’s only navigable river for boats larger than kayaks; cultural and historic sites of highest importance; the island’s major port, airport, county seat, and institution of higher education; and the largest retail concentration and medical facilities, for starters.
Our Kaua‘i is grappling with many different issues than the participants of the 1977 Lihu‘e plan addressed.
Today, discussions are ongoing about self sufficiency, sustainability and healthy, “walkable-livable communities” for ourselves and our keiki.
Those weren’t part of the past plan, though certainly traffic issues were common then and community vitality remains a central theme now.
No one, however, would now present urban renewal in quite the same way or describe the Kress Street enterprises as “marginal businesses,” as they did in the earlier plan.
We can be confident that the planning department and its consultants have the expertise to create a document that can competently guide our community into the future.
Our collective public voice can elevate its wisdom.
I hope when the time comes, you’ll participate in the open process.
• Pat Griffin is president of the Lihu‘e Business Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to thoughtful planning for a prosperous Kaua‘i future.
