Hundreds testify for and against Bill 66 as Hawaii County council begins deliberation on General Plan 2045

Dozens of residents and community leaders provided testimony Aug. 20 before the Hawaii County Council Policy Committee on Planning, Land Use and Economic Development as the committee opened deliberations on Bill 66 (Draft 2), the proposed General Plan 2045. The hearing, held at the West Hawaii Civic Center with simultaneous video in Hilo and Kona, drew sustained public comment on Chapter 3 (climate change) and on proposed land‑use designations such as changing agricultural lands to “natural.”

The topic matters because the county’s general plan guides long‑range land use, infrastructure priorities and policy direction for future county decisions. Supporters told the committee the draft integrates climate mitigation and adaptation and protects public health; opponents urged additional public outreach, questioned scientific foundations of the chapter on climate, and raised concerns about process and potential effects on farmers and private property rights.

Shelly Ogata, a public health professional, urged the committee to back Bill 66 and the chapter on climate, saying the plan “proposes reasonable land use regulations designed to protect life sustaining resources and consider the compounding effects of social and ecological determinants of…