Hawaii County committee reviews climate chapter of 2045 general plan; postpones final action

Planning staff presented the draft climate-change chapter of the Hawaii County 2045 General Plan and fielded extensive questions about implementation, funding and measurement before the Policy Committee voted to postpone further consideration to Sept. 17.

The presentation was given by Bethany Morrison, long-range planning program manager in the county Planning Department, who said the new chapter “has one goal, to ensure a just transition to a climate resilient island by addressing the causes and impacts of climate change through incorporating equitable climate mitigation and adaptation priorities into policies, programs, infrastructure, and decision making.” The chapter pairs climate mitigation (reducing greenhouse-gas emissions) with adaptation (reducing vulnerability to sea-level rise, drought and other impacts) and ties those priorities to transportation, energy, water, waste and land-use sections of the plan.

Committee members and staff repeatedly pressed for details about how the chapter would be implemented. Councilmember Kirkowitz and others asked who would maintain the monitoring dashboard and how often progress reports would be produced; Morrison said the plan calls for progress via the mayor’s annual report and a five-year implementation status report, and that the planning director will provide that status report. Director Jeff Darrow said…