Permitting Process Receives Cleanup

The Molokai Community Plan, last updated in 2001, is on the move after holding community engagement workshops last October. Up next is for the Molokai Planning Commission is to choose a Plan Advisory Committee.

The Maui County Council will choose nine of the 13 members on the advisory committee, and Mayor Alan Arakawa will choose the other four.

David Yamashita, planning supervisor from the Long Range Division of the county, said that they are a looking at a variety of plans for Molokai, including environmental resources, historic and cultural resources, economic, land use and development, housing and infrastructure.

Changes in Permitting Process
The MoPC has also moved forward in their proposed changes for the Special Area Management (SMA) rules.  Planning Commission Chairman Steve Chaikin said many of the rules in the permitting process required some “housecleaning,” since they have not been updated since 1989.

Currently, residents who do not apply for an SMA permit but move ahead on construction can see upwards of $1,000 per day fines. The commission recommends increasing the fine to $10,000 per day.
Shoreline setback areas were also given cleaner definitions.

 For example, fishponds would be defined as a fixed shoreline, along with its current definition of “natural stabilized geographic features such as cliffs and rock formations.”

The new rules also state that desired construction projects should be 150 feet “from the high wash of the waves,” and applications must be published in newspapers at least once before the commission meeting at which it is presented.

“We’re doing this to get rid of some of the inconsistencies,” Chaikin said.

The Maui County Planning Commission will first take a look at the changes before presented to the Molokai community.

New Faces on Planning Commission

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