Oahu voters now have the chance to decide whether to amend the Honolulu City Charter to require that four of the nine members of the Planning Commission have certain expertise requirements.
Commission membership historically has skewed toward professionals from real estate and development circles or related unions. Earlier this month, the Honolulu City Council approved the reappointment of Pane Meatoga III, a registered lobbyist for the Hawaii Operating Engineers Industry Stabilization Fund, to a second term on the panel.
If City Charter Question No. 2 on the general election ballot passes, the amendment would marginally alter the commission’s future membership.
Going forward, the next four appointees would have to have expertise in one of the following fields, with each field accounted for: climate change and sea-level rise causes, effects and solutions, or environmental preservation and protection; Native Hawaiian customary and traditional practices, law or traditional land use; land use planning, principles and policies; and land development and construction.
The Planning Commission is tasked with advising the mayor, Planning Department and City Council on land use, reviewing changes to zoning ordinances and the general plan, and assessing larger projects. Commission members can serve a maximum of two five-year terms.
Should the charter amendment pass, it won’t have immediate effect until the next vacancy on the commission is filled by the mayor. Barring unforeseen events, that could be June 30, when Planning Commission member Kai Nani Kraut’s term ends.
Kraut is founder and president of construction firm QRSE, so her experience might meet the “land development and construction” requirement, likely rendering her eligible for reappointment. It would be up to the mayor to decide to reappoint her or choose someone who meets any of the three other requirements.
In 2024, commission members Brian Lee and Ken Hayashida’s terms will end. Lee will have served only his first term, making him eligible for a second. He is a registered lobbyist and director of the Hawaii Laborers- Employers Cooperation and Education Trust, a union for contractors.
On his second and final term now, Hayashida, founder and president of the engineering firm Kai Hawaii, will leave a seat open.
Since the first two new appointments could satisfy the amendment’s more standard requirements that don’t pertain to Hawaiian practices or climate change, the Planning Commission may not have members who bring that expertise until 2025.
Council member Brandon Elefante said the amendment would lead to a “more diverse board. You could have more robust discussion, more thoughtful discussion. And generally speaking, when you have an expert you have a tendency to defer to that person, so that will only help with the city.”
Some consider diverse voices urgent to the commission’s work.
“There’s going to be a lot of decisions that are going to have to be made with respect to climate change and sea-level rise. We see on the North Shore all of the issues with illegal shoreline activities,” said Elena Bryant, an associate attorney at the environmental law nonprofit Earthjustice. “It’s important to have somebody on the commission that has expertise in that area.”
How far might a minority voice get?
“It’d be the hope that if that person is an expert in that area, that other folks on the Planning Commission would heed their advice and recommendations. How that’s going to work practically remains to be seen,” Bryant said.
When the City Council was still considering the charter question, former director of the Department of Planning and Permitting Dean Uchida wrote in testimony in September 2021 that mandating requirements would make it difficult to fill vacancies on the commission.
He understood the desire for certain skill sets on the commission, but “rather than requiring,” he instead would “recommend” them, Uchida wrote. “Finding people willing to serve on the various Boards and Commissions has always been a challenge even with no qualification required.”
Planning Commission members serve on an unpaid basis and must spend many hours poring over lengthy, technical documents. Choon James, a community advocate, thinks that doesn’t necessarily deter citizens from wanting to serve.
“If you would ask me, I could give you 12 names of people who would be most willing to serve for free simply because they love this island and they feel there are issues that need to be addressed for the public good and the public trust and they don’t work for any of these industries,” said James, a former mayoral candidate.
While the charter amendment wouldn’t hurt, she said, “I don’t think it’s going to contribute significantly to the Planning Commission either,” because the new appointees would be a minority among industry insiders.
James sees the current commission as “an inside trade industry lobbyist commission.”
“Certainly there is a need for the trade industry to be at the table but so is there a need for an environmentalist or a cultural person, or just a mom-and-pop person who has lived in the neighborhood and knows what it’s like to live next to a monster home,” she said.
“If the City Council is really worried about diversification, why not start now?” James asked, referring to Meatoga’s recent reappointment to the commission. “Why don’t we walk the talk today and not reappoint this guy?”
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