GPAC Adopts Vision and Goals

The General Plan Advisory Committee continues work on 2030 General Plan recommendations to the Maui County Planning Department

The Maui Weekly
June 12, 2008
by Tom Blackburn-Rodriguez

The General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC) assembled on Thursday, June 5, at the Kaunoa Senior Center in Spreckelsville in a meeting that uncovered signs of growing strain on both planning staff and GPAC's volunteer members. The meeting ended abruptly when Chair Tom Cannon declared the lack of a quorum after seven members left over the course of the meeting, completing only four of the 12 items on the evening's agenda.

GPAC is slated to complete its work by mid-October of this year, although the original completion date was December 2007.

David Michaels, who is guiding the general plan effort for the county's Long Range Planning Division, was visibly tired as he explained at the beginning of the four-hour-and-20-minute meeting that a goal of GPAC should be to come to a timely resolution of their discussions. "We have to get used to saying as a group of people, 'we're close,'" he said.

With 19 of the 25 members initially in attendance, the group adopted a Vision Statement and 11 Core Values to guide their 2030 General Plan recommendations to Jeff Hunt, director of the Maui County Planning Department.

The vision statement is titled "Ua mau Ke ea o Ka 'aina i ka pono," or "The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness"-the Hawai'i State Motto for over 160 years.

Michaels presented the following vision statement for consideration by GPAC: "Maui will be environmentally sustainable with a network of clean, safe and livable communities that will protect and perpetuate an island lifestyle for existing and future generations."

Lucienne deNaie questioned the phrase "island lifestyle."

Stacy Thorlakson asked, "Are we talking about livable for people who are going to live and stay here, or off-island people who don't really live here?"

GPAC Member Susan Moikeha argued for language that encompassed the concept of Maui as an island of small towns and communities that incorporate Hawaiian values and respect for people.

Kehau Filimoeatu told her GPAC colleagues, "Unless we put the Hawaiian in, it won't get in, and that is a way of respecting who we are and where we want to go." She suggested the vision language include "pono lifestyle" and that the state motto be kept as the title.

State Rep. Joe Bertram III of South Maui disagreed with the draft general plan's projected growth for Kihei. "What I see now is that Kihei expands three times and then what does it become? It does not stay a coastal town," he said.

As discussion continued at length, more concerns emerged. DeNaie asked, "Why can't Maui grow as a series of small towns instead of cities?"

Hans Michael, who lives on the Westside, said, "The price of gas and the lack of water means that our planning will be different in the future, because the county is behind in everything."

After several hours of discussion, GPAC voted 17 to 2 to adopt the following vision statement offered by Dick Mayer: "Maui Island is environmentally, economically and culturally sustainable with clean, safe and livable communities and small towns that will protect and perpetuate a pono lifestyle for individuals and families now and in the future."

Following the adoption of the vision statement, the GPAC tackled core values to guide the general plan, adopting a total of 11.

1. Be good stewards of our precious 'aina, kai and wai" by applying sound, natural resource management practices and preserving resources for generations to come.

2. Respect and protect our heritage, traditions and multi-cultural resources.

3. Plan and build communities and small towns that include a diversity of housing for all income levels of Maui residents.

4. Retain and enhance the uniqueness and sense of place of Maui's traditional small towns.

5. Preserve rural and agricultural lands.

6. Secure necessary infrastructure concurrently with future development.

7. Support efforts which contribute to a sustainable and diverse economy for Maui.

8. Create a political process that seeks and responds to citizen input.

9. Ensure Maui's long-term sustainability by: incorporating the values inherent in the ahupua'a system; reducing dependency on non-renewable resources and encouraging the use of alternative energy sources; and reducing reliance on imported products and materials that can be grown or provided locally.

10. Show respect and dignity for every person living on Maui in all decisions about Maui's future (added by GPAC Member Stan Franco).

11. Establish a land transportation system that encourages non-automobile-based modes, including, but not limited to, walking, biking and mass transit (added by GPAC Member Bertram).

GPAC meets again on Thursday, June 19, and Saturday, June 21, at King Kekaulike High School, 121 Kula Highway in Pukalani. Thursday's meeting begins at 5 p.m. Saturday's meeting begins at 10:30 a.m. with a public participation workshop allowing residents to evaluate key issues related to the Maui Island Plan. The GPAC meeting begins at 11:30 a.m., after the workshop ends.