The Molokai Community Plan

Aha Kiole o Molokai News Release

The Maui County Planning Department started the review process for The Molokai Community Plan, which included many meetings of different groups and covered all aspects of Molokai. At first, the Molokai community was not participating, so the Aha Kiole got involved and held five meetings in each of the five Moku to let people know what was going on, how important the Molokai Community Plan was and ask people what they wanted to put into the plan.

Last week, the plan came before the Molokai Planning Commission for the final of many Commission meetings. The Aha Kiole o Molokai, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, UH Law School and many in the Molokai community joined forces to make sure the mana`o of our community was pa`a in the plan.

It was a small kine historical day, as the Molokai Planning Commissioners voted to support much of the community’s mana`o, including; the East End Policy Statement, the Maunaloa West End Policy Statement, The Mana`e GIS Mapping Project and The Traditional and Customary Practice Report for Mana`e Molokai. All of this was placed into the community plan over the objections of the Maui County Corporation Council and the Maui County Planning Director and his staff.

The final step will be in front of the Maui County Council, here the final additions and deletions will be made to the plan. Our council woman Stacy Crivello will be a key player, as there will be many who will want to change our plan as has happened in the past, including large land owners, Corporation Council, Planning Department, the Mayor and others.

The Aha Kiole o Molokai would like to congratulate the Molokai communities, and especially Mana`e and Kaluako`i for all of their hard work in this planning process. We now have a community plan that represents the mana of Molokai and a clear vision for our future based on the lessons of our kupuna.