The Maui News

A public hearing on a bill to adopt the revised Molokai Island Community Plan will be held at 5 p.m. Friday at the Kaunakakai Elementary School Cafeteria.

The bill would repeal the old community plan, which was last updated in 2001, and replace it with the updated version, which has been undergoing review since 2014.

Copies of the bill are available for review during regular business hours at the Office of the County Clerk on the seventh floor of the county building at 200 S. High St. in Wailuku, as well as at the Molokai Council District Office at 100 Ainoa St. in Kaunakakai.

Residents also can view the bill and updated plan online at mauicounty.gov/MolokaiCommunityPlan.

Community plans serve as a blueprint for future use and protection of resources, economic development, housing, public facilities, infrastructure and other elements of each community. Maui County has nine community plans that are supposed to be updated every 10 years, though most are behind schedule.

The Lanai Community Plan update, which started before the Molokai plan, began in 2010 and finished in July 2016. Maui County is working to update the West Maui Community Plan.

The Molokai Community Plan has been undergoing a lengthy review process that began in November 2014 and has required multiple deadline extensions.

The 13-member Molokai Community Plan Advisory Committee, which had six months to review the plan, spent March 2015 to October 2015 holding meetings and gathering input. The plan then moved on to the Molokai Planning Commission, which also had six months and concluded its review in March 2016. In May 2016, the plan was sent to the Maui County Council, which had a year to review it but postponed the deadline twice.

The plan’s major themes call for maintaining Molokai’s rural character and traditional Hawaiian farming and subsistence living while addressing climate-change concerns. The plan includes policy statements for the east and west ends of the island and changing the document’s name to “Molokai Island Community Plan.”

During Friday’s hearing, each testifier will be allowed to speak for up to three minutes. If allowed, testifiers may have one minute to conclude their testimony. Those wanting to submit written testimony should email county.clerk@ mauicounty.us or fax it to (808) 270-7171 at least 24 hours prior to the hearing for the testimony to be distributed before the hearing. If residents submit written testimony at the hearing, they should bring 15 copies.

Residents who plan to attend the hearing and have disabilities requiring special assistance may call the County Clerk’s Office at 270-7748.