Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s decision to focus on climate change and his newly minted O‘ahu Resiliency Strategy during his seventh State of the City address Thursday night won favorable remarks from some key individuals — but also some skepticism.

Marti Townsend, Sierra Club of Hawai‘i director, called the policy statement “a very ambitious step in the right direction” as Honolulu attempts to tackle the issues of climate change, sustainability and other 21st-century survival issues.

“We know that Mayor Caldwell’s made addressing the climate crisis a priority, and this document reflects a significant effort toward that,” Townsend said. “They did a lot of community engagement, which I think is a key to any good plan.”

The 160-page strategy document, released publicly Thursday to coincide with his speech, is designed to be a road map for how the city, other government entities, the private sector and the public will cope with sea-level rise and other pressing priorities, Caldwell said. The plan offers 44 wide-ranging actions that address not just the impacts of climate change, but the housing affordability issue, which poses challenges for a good portion of Oahu residents.

Townsend said several proposed actions brought forth by the Sierra Club made it into the final draft. Among them were policy changes to deal with shoreline protection and managed retreat, disaster planning and the planting of more trees.

Townsend said she likes the broad approach taken by the plan. “It’s really an attempt at a holistic approach toward addressing climate change, and I think that’s really what we need,” she said. “This is not just a bill or even a suite of bills; this is an entire policy mindset that they’re now advancing, and they should be given credit for that. We’re impressed.”

City Council Chairman Ikaika Anderson said several of the key initiatives Caldwell raised in both his address and the strategy document are already being contemplated by the Council. While the mayor said he will introduce a bill establishing a “vacancy fee” on residential landlords with properties left unoccupied for long periods of time, Anderson said he proposed legislation last year to create a separate tax classification for vacant residential properties.

“Considering the ongoing housing crisis and the challenges new projects often face, I believe encouraging turnover of vacant residential properties — to help add stock to the housing market — is something we need to start discussing at a policy level,” he said.

Council Planning Chairman Ron Menor said he’s open to considering the vacancy fee and other ideas aimed at increasing Oahu’s severely lacking housing inventory. “However, I can anticipate pushback from property owners who may feel this legislation would result in an infringement of their rights to utilize their properties as they see fit,” he said.

Not everyone was happy with Caldwell’s address. Councilwoman Kymberly Pine said the speech “did not address the serious issues surrounding the costs and operations of the rail transit project, nor did he offer reassurances that he is working to restore the public trust amid the ongoing U.S. Department of Justice and Inspector General investigations looking into allegations of public corruption” at the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation.

Pine also criticized Caldwell for failing to give proper credit to the Council for its role in enacting bills affecting policy on affordable housing, environmental protection and resiliency.

Catherine Graham, a member of the nonprofit Faith Action for Community Equity, raised some skepticism about how the resiliency strategy addresses affordable housing.

Most residential properties that sit vacant are investment properties such as the luxury condominiums in the Kakaako and Ala Moana neighborhoods, she said. “Their rents would be astronomical, so most local folks would not be able to live there,” Graham said.

She cautioned against plans to further speed up the permitting process, which so far has resulted in the proliferation of “monster” houses, Graham said. “For every step forward, we are taking several steps back.”

During his roughly 28-minute address at the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Ho‘okupu Center, Caldwell spoke of the need to address Earth’s “climate crisis,” what he described as “the most important issue for our future.”

While traditionally given early in the year, Caldwell said he chose to make his annual address Thursday because Saturday, June 1, is the first day of hurricane season. “We’re seeing storm events that are stronger, larger, faster and more frequent,” he said, alluding to scientific studies associating the increased frequency of hurricanes with climate change.

He then launched into some of the key proposals in the resiliency strategy.

As Caldwell spoke, a group of about 40 people opposed to a contentious improvement project at Waimanalo Bay Beach Park (also known as Sherwoods) stood along the sea wall about 25 yards behind him holding signs asking the project be halted. The signs were easily visible to both the live and television audiences.

Despite growing opposition, Caldwell said he won’t stop the $1.43 million first phase of the project because work already has begun and halting now would cost the city at least $300,000.

Some of the protesters questioned Caldwell’s plan to grow more trees around the island when the parks project has resulted in the loss of trees in the Sherwoods area. Caldwell, in response, said most of the trees removed were invasive species and will be replaced by native trees.