Honolulu city planning officials yesterday announced they have brushed aside the long, community-based, participatory planning process for the Koolauloa Sustainable Communities Plan and made an administrative decision to incorporate a large “Envision Laie” development pushed by the develepment arm of the Mormon Church.

The city move followed after it allowed the planning process to go into limbo, failing to convene the community-based plan advisory committee, but entered into a secret planning process directly with Mormon representatives.

The city said it couldn’t support meetings of the official planning committee during this period because its consultant budget had already been spent.

In January 2009, Punaluu resident and community leader, Creighton Mattoon, complained:

The five-year review is now five years behind schedule. We are reviewing the 1999 Sustainable Communities Plan and we have not had a meeting of the full membership of the PAC for eight months.

Now we learn that city officials, while letting the official planning process languish, held a series of secret, private meetings with Mormon officials to negotiate the inclusion of their proposed project in the new plan.

According to the Star-Advertiser:

(Choon) James and other members of the area’s Planning Advisory Committee attended a meeting with Tanoue on Wednesday in which he said the proposal was moving forward after he had met with representatives from BYUH and Hawaii Reserves.

“I was quite taken back by how upfront he was in telling us that he had been meeting many, many hours and many days with Hawaii Reserves and the BYU-Hawaii campus outside of the PAC committee meetings,” James said. “That’s the role of the PAC. Why be so devious to meet outside the PAC committee? It subverts the public process.”

And according to a comment left on this site yesterday:

Tanouye also disclosed he had met ‘many many hours’ and ‘many days’ with Hawaii Reserves and the campus i.e. BYU-Hawaii o-u-t-s-i-d-e of the PAC Committee. This committee has not met for the past year. Tanouye also reported he met with two mayors – Hannemann and Caldwell and staff.

Now it appears to be a ‘rush’ to get this tied up before the new sheriff arrives. Whatever happens to the Sunshine law? It sounds more like a rush for campaign pay-back than anything else.

See also:

Controversy over Thursday’s meeting on the Koolauloa Sustainable Communities Plan
January 28th, 2009 ·

Complaint challenges neighborhood board vote in favor of 1,200 home Laie development
October 20th, 2009