The Honolulu City Council's Zoning and Planning Committee met on Thursday, February 5, 2026, at 9:01 a.m. to consider a series of resolutions and bills related to land use, permitting, affordable housing, and zoning standards. The meeting included reappointments, special management area permits, conditional use permit reforms, apartment district development standards, sign regulations, and affordable housing options. Several items were amended, passed, or postponed after discussion and testimony.
Aloha and good morning, everyone. It is Thursday, February 5th, 2026, and the time is now 9 01 a.m. Will the committee on zoning and planning meeting please come to order. We'd like to welcome committee members, Councilmember Cordero, Councilmember Okimoto, Councilmember Topola, Vice Chair Waters will be coming in shortly. Also joining us today will be Councilmember Wire. Although remote verbal testimony is being permitted, this is a regular in-person meeting and not a remote meeting by interactive conference technology under HRS section 92-3.7. Therefore, the meeting will continue notwithstanding loss of audio visual communication with remote testifiers or loss of the public broadcast of the meeting. Members of the public will be allowed to provide verbal testimony on all items on the agenda when each item is taken up in two ways in person in the council and remotely via video conference or phone. Before testifying, each person shall state their name for the record. Each speaker may not have anyone else read their statement and would be limited to a one-minute presentation per item. All persons who register to testify in person will be called upon first. Persons who did not register will be given an opportunity to offer testimony after the registered testifiers. Members of the public may testify in either language. For verbal testimonies offered in Olelo, Hawaii. Additional time as may be necessary will be allowed for the testifier to provide an English translation of their testimony. As a courtesy, please turn off or silence all cell phones for the duration of this meeting. And item number seven, Bill 70, 2025, CD1 on page 11 of the agenda have been cancelled and will not be considered. Moving to agenda item number one. Mr. Kano Camel is an architect at Design Partners Incorporated and will continue to provide representation on the commission under the land use planning policies and principles category. We have posted on the agenda a CD1 version of the resolution, which I submitted for your information. A summary of the amendments is listed on the agenda. The CD1 makes technical amendments, including adding that the planning commission members are appointed by the mayor and appointed by the city council to staggered five-year terms, referencing the mayor's message number, and clarifying that Mr. Camel is being reappointed as a member of the commission. I would like to call up the appointee to say a few words. Could you please introduce yourself and share a little about your current and envisioned future role on the planning commission? And welcome uh Vice Chair Waters. Aloha. Good morning. Thank you, Chair Kia Aina and members of the zoning and planning committee. Uh thank you to the committee for your consideration and to the mayor and to the mayor's office for their continued support through this process. I'm humbled and honored to be considered for reappointment to the planning commission and definitely take this role seriously. Um through my practice of architecture, I've been fortunate to see the impacts that nuances of land use legislation as well as decisions made in this chamber have on the impacts of our communities today and for our future communities. And I'd be honored to share my experiences as well as my perspectives with the planning commission. Um it's been an honor to serve thus far and look forward to continued collaboration with city council. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Camo, and thank you for your consideration uh for this reappointment. Members, are there any questions for Mr. Kamel? Seeing none. Uh Mr. Camo on question six of your nominee forum. You responded that your employer does business with the city. However, you did not indicate the nature of the business and approximate dollar amount in the last five years. Can you please provide us with this information? And if you do not have that information now, can you please get back to us before the next full council meeting? We'll do. Um, the nature of the business too was potentially RFP work. Um, right now we don't have any ongoing contracts with the city and county, um, but we'll get that information for you.