Over-development

Kauai General Plan Strengthened by Kauai Voters

kauaibrad — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 19:28:24 -0800

Kauai General Plan Strengthened by Kauai Voters

The CRG group did a great job with this. See attached comment below for a complete list of participants in this campaign. Politicians at all levels should take note, these people and their larger group of thousands of friends are capable of anything they set their minds to. Carl gives a good interview below:

http://kauaiworld.com/articles/2008/11/12/news/kauai_news/doc491a7bef711...
"General Plan gets teeth"
By Nathan Eagle - The Garden Island - November 12, 2008

"Speaking loud and clear with their ballots, Kaua‘i voters last week told county government that they want the General Plan to be more than a guiding document collecting dust on shelves.

By a nearly two-to-one margin, voters said “Yes” to a County Charter amendment that will limit the development of hotels, timeshares and vacation rentals to a prescribed growth rate.

As newly elected officials prepare to implement the law, expected to go into effect Dec. 4, questions continue to arise over the “devil in the details.” While the intent of responsible growth remains clear, concerns have been voiced publicly and privately over legal and logistical aspects.

“A lot of people are tired of irresponsible government,” said Carl Imparato, one of some 100 residents who worked to put the amendment on the ballot through a citizens’ petition and then campaigned behind it. “They want the plan to be more than a vision; they want it to be a reality.”

Brief Review of Kauai Election Results

kauaibrad — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:48:51 -0800

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Sentiment for transparent, open County Council meetings got the highest vote total of any item or local candidate on the Kauai ballot, even though that was actually a misleading item on the ballot.

The directly, citizen-created Charter Amendment to Implement the General Plan out-polled all of the County Council candidates; further, in a contrary twist, the way that it was presented in full-text on the ballot seemed to work to its advantage. Nevertheless, Kauai voters did vote all the way down the ballot, as all of the amendments elicited more voting than almost all of the local candidates, including 3 of the 6 amendments out-polled even Bernard Carvalho. It helped that the County Clerk sent out the mailer on the Charter Amendments a week before the election to all registered voters.

Noticeable among the County Council candidates is that Ron Kouchi was the only incumbent who was narrowly ousted. Also, Derek Kawakami and Dickie Chang were expected to do well based on campaign funding and name recognition. The surprise was that Lani Kawahara somehow jumped up from the odd person out in the Primary to 5th place and even higher than that when only Absentee and ballot-by-mail was reported, where her margin was created. The most facinating campaign of all of these was Lani's and how she may have made such a huge jump from the Primary to the General Election. A good guess is that it involved targetted support from Senator Hooser and possibly direct mail.

It’s Time to Implement Kaua‘i’s General Plan

kauaibrad — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 02:20:20 -0700

http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2008/10/30/opinion/kauai/doc490958711...

"It’s time to implement Kaua‘i’s General Plan"
By David Dinner October 30, 2008

"Eight years ago, after two years of effort, dozens of meetings and extensive public input, the County Council adopted the Kaua’i General Plan. The General Plan provides a 20-year vision for Kaua‘i. It is intended to serve as a roadmap for future development on Kaua‘i and as a guide for county government’s actions, including the issuance of development permits. It balances Kaua‘i’s need for jobs and economic development with protection of Kaua‘i’s environment, cultures and quality of life.

The County Charter requires the council to periodically adopt and update the General Plan, but it does not require that the council make sure that the General Plan’s vision becomes reality. Now, the lack of that formal requirement would not be a problem if the County Planning Commission — the body that grants development permits — used the General Plan to guide its decision-making.

Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case. Under the high growth scenario of the General Plan, a need was projected for 2,500 additional tourist accommodation units (hotels, timeshares, resort condominiums and the like) over the 20 year period 2000-2020. That’s 1,000 additional units over eight years. But over the past eight years, the Planning Commission has allowed the construction of more than 4,000 new tourist accommodations.

Resort Permits Reauthorized

kauaibrad — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:36:24 -0700

http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2008/10/29/news/kauai_news/doc4908114...

"Resort permits reauthorized"
By Michael Levine - The Garden Island October 29, 2008

"The county Planning Commission yesterday voted in support of court-mandated amendments to the permits for a pair of planned Waipouli resorts, in the process reauthorizing the projects despite opposition from concerned community members and even some commissioners.

A September ruling by 5th Circuit Judge Kathleen Watanabe struck down three conditions that she deemed had been unconstitutionally imposed by county officials last year on the 20-acre Coconut Beach Resort and 12-acre Coconut Plantation Village.

Those conditions, among 19 that were tacked onto the projects’ applications, essentially required the developers to contribute millions of dollars toward infrastructure improvements such as upgrades to roads and water treatment facilities.

Letters from both Wailua-Kapa‘a Neighborhood Association Board Chair Rayne Regush and the Sierra Club Kaua‘i Group Executive Committee member Judy Dalton argue that even with the amended conditions, the scope of the projects should trigger environmental assessments.

Vote YES on the Charter Amendment to Implement the Kaua’i General Plan

kauaibrad — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:29:56 -0700

"Protect Kaua’i’s environment, jobs, economy, and future."

Vote YES on the Charter Amendment to Implement the Kaua’i
General Plan (the last Charter Amendment on the ballot).

Eight years ago, the Kaua’i County Council adopted the Kaua’i General Plan, a roadmap for future development on Kaua’i. But County government has completely ignored the Plan: over the past 8 years, the Planning Commission has approved tourist units (such as hotels, resort condominiums and timeshare units) at a pace 4-to-6 times the growth rates envisioned in the General Plan.

Ignoring the General Plan is creating enormous impacts on Kaua’i: loss of open space along our shorelines; overloaded infrastructure; traffic and highway congestion; overcrowding at parks and beaches; unsustainable demands for groundwater, wastewater treatment, landfills, energy resources and emergency services; and the loss of Kauai’s character, pace and quality of life.

Compared to steady, well-paced growth, overly-rapid growth hurts the economy. The local construction industry is harmed because much of the new construction is done by workers who are brought in during the building boom; but after the boom busts, there are few jobs left for local workers. Overly-rapid growth also means that Kaua’i needs to import many new service industry workers to meet the demand (increasing the shortage of affordable housing); but overbuilding ultimately leads to low hotel occupancy rates, so during periods of economic stress, tourist industry workers see reduced work hours, pay cuts and job losses.

Suggesting ‘retreat’ for beach conservation

andrea — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:49:45 -0700

Suggesting ‘retreat’ for beach conservation
http://kauaiworld.com/articles/2008/10/24/news/kauai_news/doc490183211aa...

By Michael Levine - The Garden Island
Published: Friday, October 24, 2008 12:12 AM HST
With rising and warming seas accelerating natural erosion of Hawai‘i’s many beaches and placing coastal infrastructure at risk, experts representing the University of Hawai‘i and the state government said yesterday that improved resource management was needed to maintain the lifeblood of the islands’ already-struggling tourism industry.

In the last of five presentations that comprised an afternoon seminar at the Kaua‘i War Memorial Convention Hall, Samuel Lemmo of the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands said the long-term mitigation options basically came down to fight or flight.

Examples of resisting the forces of nature include proposals to truck “millions of cubic yards” of sand to Ha‘ena, a plan that Lemmo categorized as impractical and unlikely, and the use of revetments to protect near-ocean infrastructure, such as Kaumuali‘i Highway in Kekaha.

The alternative, simply, is retreat.

“Just get away from the beach. ... Just pick up and leave,” Lemmo said by way of advice. “At the end of the day, that’s what needs to happen to protect these areas.”

Earlier, a quartet of University of Hawai‘i coastal geologists explained the factors that are setting up what Lemmo described as a “paradigm shift” on the thinking pertaining to erosion.

General Plan Charter amendment strengthens

kauaibrad — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:42:14 -0700

http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2008/10/21/opinion/letters_to_the_edi...
"Charter amendment strengthens checks and balances"

"The author of the Oct. 17, letter “On charter amendment wording” misunderstands the last of the proposed Kauai Charter amendments, the one that is related to implementation of the General Plan.

Contrary to the author’s conclusion, that charter amendment would not give “complete and absolute power” to the County Council in granting transient accommodation permits. Exactly the opposite is true.

Today, county government can grant permits for hotels, timeshares and other transient accommodations with complete disregard for the negative impacts on our island and its residents. And, in fact, over the past eight years, the Planning Commission has done exactly that, allowing the construction of more than four times as many new tourist units as was envisioned in the high growth scenario of the county’s General Plan.

Vote ‘Yes’ on General Plan Charter Amendment

kauaibrad — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 01:13:36 -0700

http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2008/10/19/opinion/letters_to_the_edi...

"Vote ‘yes’ on General Plan"
October 19, 2008

Please vote “Yes” on the big one to keep Kaua‘i the Garden Island.

Way down in the lower right corner of the ballot, right at the end, is where you must vote “Yes” for our beaches, “Yes” for our ‘aina, and “Yes” for a county government that follows the General Plan. The county made the only citizen-initiated amendment long and confusing to make it harder to pass.

It has been years since we insisted that our government behave. The last citizen initiated amendment to the Charter passed by more than 60 percent. It takes a lot to get people mad enough to collect 3,000 petition signatures.

Now we can vote for a better Kaua‘i. I didn’t collect signatures, but I will vote “Yes” on the big one. You should too. Or move to Waikiki or Miami or Maui or anyplace where foreign investors have “developed” what was beautiful. Keep Kaua‘i the Garden Island. Please urge everyone to vote “Yes” on the big one.

Steve Perry, Lihu‘e

Kauai Ballot Charter Amendments Reviewed

kauaibrad — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:44:32 -0700

http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2008/10/18/opinion/kauai/doc48f9a3e8e...

"Voting on measures needs close attention"
By Walter Lewis October 18, 2008

Six proposals to amend the Kauai County Charter will be on the ballot at the General Election to be held on Nov. 4.

Three of the measures being presented are proposed by the Charter Commission, two of the measures are proposed by the County Council and one measure is proposed through a citizens petition. It is the first time there have been proposals from all three potential sources.

Open letter by Kanaka Maoli Scholars Against Desecration

andrea — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:24:27 -0700

September 12, 2008

Open letter by Kanaka Maoli Scholars Against Desecration

As Kanaka Maoli professors and scholars we write to publicly condemn the
state-sponsored desecration of a Native Hawaiian burial site at Wainiha,
Kaua`i resulting from the construction of a new home at Naue Point by
California businessman Joseph Brescia. For years Brescia has been trying
to build a home on top of our ancestral graves despite a litany of
environmental, legal and community challenges to his construction. In
2007 Brescia unearthed and then covered over the bones of our ancestors
when he began clearing the area. The illegal and immoral disturbance and
desecration of our ancestors’ remains must stop now.

The Hawai`i revised statute 711-1107 on Desecration specifically states
that no one may commit the offense of desecrating "a place of worship or
burial," and the statute defines "desecrate" as "defacing, damaging,
polluting, or otherwise physically mistreating in a way that the defendant
knows will outrage the sensibilities of persons likely to observe or
discover the defendant's action." In complete contradiction to their own
law, the State Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Land
and Natural Resources approved a "burial treatment plan" for Brescia that
undermines both the very concept of historic preservation and the reason
for the founding of the Hawai`i Burials Council: to protect burials, not
"treat" them. This "burial treatment plan" enabled Brescia
to secure
permits to build as long as the graves remain "in place," which in this