More Delays for Community Plan Update

After more than three years in process, the Molokai Community Plan update will be further delayed, according to County Council staff. The Maui County Council had until the end of this month to adopt an updated version of the 2001 Molokai Community Plan but the draft still hasn’t been discussed by the whole council. A lack of quorum by members of the council’s Planning Committee has caused recent meetings to be cancelled, said Susan Foley, executive assistant to Planning Committee Chair Kelly King.

Now, the Council has extend the finalization deadline to September, said Molokai Councilmember Stacy Helm Crivello.

“The Planning Committee is currently in deliberations of the Plan and upon completion of committee acceptance, the intent is to come before the Molokai community and hopefully to present the Plan to the full Council for passage,” said Crivello, via email.

A recent letter from Planning Director William Spence has caused concern from both Molokai residents and councilmembers. The letter outlined three major concerns with the latest May 1 draft of the Community Plan. In the letter, Spence recommends replacing one of the Plan’s appendixes pertaining to zoning with an appendix from the Lanai Community Plan. It also recommends removing the East and West End Policy Statements, which represent collective descriptions and regional visions from area residents, which many community members were adamant about including. Spence called them redundant with other sections of the plan and “too detailed and inappropriate” to be included in a community plan. The letter also expressed concern about the Planning Committee’s reprioritization of action items that were previously approved by the Molokai Community Plan Advisory Committee and the Molokai Planning Commission.

Those two groups had been working on updating the Molokai Community Plan since 2015.  Community Plan Advisory Committee, a 13 member committee of Molokai residents, provided its recommended revisions during many hours of public meetings and workshops held from March through October 2015. The draft plan was then passed on to the Molokai Planning Commission, whose members added additional revisions and heard public testimony, wrapping up in March 2016. The Maui County Council then had until the end of this June to adopt a revised plan.

King and Crivello have held community meetings to gather additional input.

It’s still unclear what impact Spence’s letter could have on the final plan.