General Plan Update, County of Kauai

The Kauai General Plan Update addresses policy directions, ordinances, land use amendments, and prioritization of capital improvement projects in service of four goals.

1. A Sustainable Island: Growing responsibly to meet the needs of current and future generations without depleting resources.
2. A Unique and Beautiful Place: Stewardship and protection of the natural, cultural, social, and built environment assets that are of value to the community.
3. A Healthy and Resilient People: Increasing health, vitality, and resilience of communities through improving the natural, built, and social environment and responding to impacts from climate change.
4. An Equitable Place, with Opportunity for All: Fostering diverse and equitable communities with vibrant economies, access to jobs, housing, and a high quality of life.

The planning process entailed integrating the Kauai General Plan demographics, land use, climate change & other technical studies, developing and implementing the public participation program, formulating policy and land use recommendations, developing, implementing and monitoring a program to guide planning department actions, capital improvement prioritization, community and county actions.

APA’s Prestigious Daniel Burnham awarded to the Kauai General Plan

The American Planning Association selected the General Plan Update for the County of Kauai, as the recipient of the 2019 Daniel Burnham Award. APA’s Daniel Burnham Award is the most prestigious honor the organization bestows for excellence in comprehensive planning.

“We are proud to be recognized as part of the team that developed this plan. The process was particularly groundbreaking in the way that it engaged the community throughout its development. The resulting plan views the entire community as a partner in implementation of the vision for Kauai’s future,” explains Melissa White, Senior Planner and Associate at SSFM. “The County’s leadership was visionary in understanding and addressing long-standing community issues head on, and developing an action-oriented framework to guide Kauai in growing responsibly.” The theme of the plan is Kaua’i Kākou, a Hawaiian concept meaning we’re all in this together. The planning process embraced collaboration and partnerships among government agencies, civic leaders, non-profit groups and the community. To address residents’ concerns about transparency in implementation, the plan establishes a regular monitoring cycle with several feedback points, and it calls for the creation of the Kākou Committee, which convenes every two years to review the plan.