Written comments due Monday, October 24
Planning Commission and County Council hearings to follow
Tell the County:
Plan for growth with a safe way out.
The County is proposing changes to the new Hawaiʻi County General Plan, and a few of them quietly weaken wildfire and evacuation protections for Waikōloa Village. It takes about five minutes, and we've drafted it with you.
The General Plan is the County's rulebook for growth. It guides where new homes and businesses go, which roads get built, and how the County prepares for disasters. When a developer asks for a rezoning, or the County decides what to fund, this is the document everyone points to. General Plan 2045 took effect in June 2026.
On September 4, the Planning Director proposed 140 amendments to it. Most are small wording fixes. A handful change how the Plan treats roads, emergency shelters and hazard areas, and those matter for the Waikōloa Village community. The public and County Council may provide comments on the proposed amendments during a 45-day comment period ending October 24, 2026. After the comment period closes, the amendments go to the Planning Commission and then to the County Council.
The Plan's own wildfire map rates Waikōloa Village High Risk. At the same time, the amendments would name Waikōloa one of the island's main places for new growth. But the Plan never says what should happen when both are true.
Issue Overview:
The General Plan never says which one wins when both apply to the same community.
Power lines along the mauka fuel break of Waikōloa Village. Credit: Hawaii Public Radio
Talking Points
Pick two or three and put them in your own words
Waikōloa Village has one dedicated road in and out for nearly 7,000 residents, and the General Plan's own wildfire map rates it High risk.
Item 87 removes "arterial" from the County's road policy and redefines capacity as "person-carrying capacity" by transit, walking and biking. The County's stated reason is that the policy's intent "is not to add vehicle lanes." A community with one way out needs road capacity.
Dozens of amendments soften "shall" to "should." Five of them cover emergency shelters, emergency facilities, fire mitigation and the County's basic road-planning standard. Those should stay firm commitments.
Item 39 names Waikoloa a primary growth area. The same paragraph says areas with high hazard exposure are restricted growth areas. Waikōloa Village is both, and the Plan doesn't say which rule wins.
Nothing in the General Plan measures how long it would take to evacuate a community during a fire.
Some amendments help. Items 53, 94, 129, 130, 133, 137 and 139 tie growth to infrastructure and hazards. Tell the County to keep them.
Item 135 lets the Planning Director or County Council start a Community Development Plan, and Item 136 says these plans "shall be prioritized, adequately resourced." South Kohala's 2008 plan named a second access road a very high priority. An update is how that priority carries forward.
We support housing, including affordable housing. We are asking the County to plan growth and a safe way out together.
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Policy 19.2 currently tells the County to increase "arterial capacity." Item 87 removes the word "arterial" and refocuses the policy on transit, walking, biking and ridesharing, and the County says it is clarifying "that the intent of policy is not to add vehicle lanes." Those are good things for the island, and they won't get a neighborhood out ahead of a wind-driven fire. We're asking the County not to adopt Item 87 as written, or at a minimum to add language that it does not limit evacuation routes or secondary access roads under Policies 32.20 and 32.21.
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These five amendments change "shall" to "should" for considering climate adaptation in fire mitigation decisions, the County's basic standard for planning roads and bridges, locating hardened shelters near population centers, designing new emergency facilities, and assessing parks as emergency shelters. "Shall" is a commitment. "Should" can be set aside when the budget gets tight. We're asking the County to keep "shall" in all five.
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Item 39 makes the Land Use chapter binding and says the County "shall direct the majority of future residential, commercial, and employment growth" to places including Waikoloa. The same paragraph says "Restricted growth areas will be those areas with high hazard exposure." Waikōloa Village is both. We're asking for a clear rule: in communities mapped High wildfire risk that depend on a single primary access road, new growth must be matched by evacuation capacity, including secondary access.
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The traffic standard used in development review measures ordinary rush-hour congestion. Nothing in the Plan asks how long it would take to evacuate a community during a fire, and none of the 140 amendments adds it. We're asking the County to model evacuation times for high wildfire-risk communities with limited access, and to use the results in development review and road-funding decisions.
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The Plan writes "Waikoloa" in its growth tables without saying whether it means the Village or the Beach Resort, which are miles apart. We're asking the County to write "Waikōloa Village" or "Waikōloa Beach Resort" everywhere the Plan means one or the other.
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The South Kohala Community Development Plan, adopted in 2008, named a second access road for Waikōloa Village a very high priority. Item 135 lets the Planning Director or the County Council start a Community Development Plan, and Item 136 says these plans "shall be prioritized, adequately resourced." Both make it easier to update South Kohala's plan and carry the second road forward. We're asking the County to adopt both and make the South Kohala update an early priority.
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Item 53 adds hazard exposure and infrastructure capacity to how the Land Use Map is interpreted. Item 94 adds a new policy that development intensity should not exceed available infrastructure capacity unless that capacity is fully funded and programmed in the Capital Improvements Program, and we're asking the County to make it "shall." Item 129 requires a fiscal impact analysis for major projects and development approvals. Item 130 creates a countywide build-out and infrastructure-capacity analysis tied to the capital budget. Item 133 says the County shall integrate hazard mitigation into all implementation decisions. Item 137 adds hazard resilience requirements to infrastructure plans. Item 139 requires a General Plan progress report to the County Council. We're asking the County to adopt all seven.
Comment Builder - Ready to Use
Use our easy comment builder to quickly send your thoughts to the Planning Department. Check the points you want to make, add your name and a sentence or two in your own words, then open it in your email or copy it. That's it.
1. Add your name
2. Pick the points you want to make
3. Add a sentence or two in your own words (optional, and it helps a lot)
This is your comment, sent in your name. Change or delete anything that doesn't match your own views before you send it. If the email button doesn't open anything, tap Copy comment and paste it into a new email to generalplan@hawaiicounty.gov.
4 Ways to Take Part
1. Email (fastest! Takes 3 minutes)
Send your comment to generalplan@hawaiicounty.gov by Saturday, October 24. Use the comment builder above or write your own, and make it yours: edit anything that doesn't match your own views.
2. Mail
Hawaiʻi County Planning Department, 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 3, Hilo, HI 96720. Mail it early so it arrives by Friday, October 23, the last business day before the deadline.
3. Read the full package
The County has posted all 140 proposed changes. Read the full amendments package here. Printed copies are available at the Planning Department offices in Hilo and Kona.
4. Come to the hearings
After the comment period closes, the amendments go to the Planning Commission and then to the County Council, and each holds a public hearing. Join our email list below and we'll share the dates as soon as they're set.
Ready to send your comment?
Email it by Saturday, October 24.