Kauai County Council Committee Meeting Summary – August 20, 2025
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Kauai County Council Committee Meeting Summary – August 20, 2025
The Kauai County Council held a committee meeting on August 20, 2025, addressing routine approvals, a wildfire urban interface (WUI) ordinance for plantation camps, and a series of zoning bills for plantation camp revitalization. Key decisions included passage of a wildfire mitigation ordinance, receipt of two related bills, and deferral of six others to allow further refinement of agricultural worker housing provisions.
Consent Calendar
- Approved the minutes of the August 6, 2025 Parks & Recreation / Transportation Committee meeting.
- Approved the minutes of the August 6, 2025 Committee of the Whole meeting.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Bill 2961 (Wildfire WUI): Mike McFarlane (Pacific Birds Joint Venture) testified via Zoom, advocating for restoring streams and agricultural ditches with native, fire-resistant wetland plants to create broader defensible spaces around communities. He noted that invasive species like holikoa are highly fire-prone.
- Bills 2962-2968 (Plantation Camp Zoning):
- Howard Green (representing Gay & Robinson) expressed concerns about a proposed amendment requiring 100% of new units be offered to agricultural workers on the subject parcel, stating it would disrupt existing camp management that serves a mix of workers and community needs. He highlighted complexities like transient workers and multiple income sources in households.
- Wayne Katayama (Kauai Coffee) supported the intent to house farm workers but suggested using the term "farm worker" for clarity. He noted past successful partnerships between landowners for worker housing.
- Sean Smith (BBCP) emphasized the need to house the landowner's own employees (e.g., Kukuiula workers) and warned that a 100% requirement for on-site lessee farm workers could make projects financially unfeasible. He was surprised to learn that the county’s affordable housing ordinance might also apply.
Discussion Items
- Bill 2961 – Plantation Camp Wildfire and WUI Ordinance:
- Planning Director Kaina Hall, Fire Chief Gibson, and Elizabeth Pickett (Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization) presented in detail. They explained that 90% of home losses in wildfires stem from ember intrusion, not direct flame. The ordinance mandates home hardening: metal roofs (cheaper than wood), 1/8-inch metal vent screens, six inches of flashing at wall bases, and a non-combustible five-foot zone (hardscaping) costing roughly $10,000–$12,000 for a 1,000 sq ft home. Vegetation management zones extend to 100 feet. Annual tenant education and camp cleanups are required.
- A managed retreat provision for Pakala camp allows coastal structures to be rebuilt inland on the same property.
- The committee unanimously passed a housekeeping amendment defining "Zone Zero," "Zone One," and "Zone Two."
- Bill 2961 was approved as amended (roll call vote: all ayes). It moves to full council.
- Bills 2962-2968 – Numila and Kaavanui Plantation Camp Form-Based Codes:
- Planning staff presented form-based codes for Numila and Kaavanui (Camp 6), allowing rebuilding and limited expansion (e.g., 14.9 acres in Kaavanui) while preserving historic camp character. Proposed building types include cottages, multiplexes, and dormitories, with sizes from 1,000 to 3,800 sq ft.
- Extensive debate centered on ensuring these designations remain tied to agricultural workers. An initial amendment in Bill 2962 set a 30% first-preference requirement for agricultural workers on the subject parcel. Chair Raposo then introduced a stronger amendment requiring a waiting list for on-site agricultural workers (effectively up to 100%), but withdrew it after discussion with landowners and county attorney, who noted implementation challenges and possible conflicts with the affordable housing ordinance.
- The 30% amendment was adopted for Bills 2962 and 2965. However, all remaining plantation camp bills (2962, 2965-2968) were deferred to allow further refinement of housing language and coordination with the county’s affordable housing policy. Bills 2963 and 2964 (Numila General Plan and State Land Use amendments) were merely received (no further action).
- Council members expressed strong desire to prevent speculative development and ensure plantation camp housing serves its historical purpose of housing workers.
Key Outcomes
- Bill 2961 (WUI Ordinance): Approved as amended (roll call: 5-0). Referred to full council.
- Bill 2962 (Numila West Kauai Community Plan Amendment): Deferred to October 22, 2025 committee meeting.
- Bill 2963 (Numila General Plan Amendment): Received (roll call: 5-0). No further action.
- Bill 2964 (Numila State Land Use Amendment): Received (roll call: 5-0). No further action.
- Bill 2965 (Kaavanui West Kauai Community Plan Amendment): Deferred to October 22, 2025 committee meeting.
- Bill 2966 (Kaavanui General Plan Amendment): Deferred to October 22, 2025.
- Bill 2967 (Kaavanui State Land Use Amendment): Deferred to October 22, 2025.
- Bill 2968 (Zoning Boundaries - Makaweli and Wahiawa): Deferred to October 22, 2025.
- Direction: Staff, landowners, and council to refine agricultural worker housing priority language, considering compatibility with the county’s affordable housing ordinance, and bring revised amendments to the next committee meeting.
Meeting Transcript
Ready? Everybody ready? Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the committee meeting of August twentieth. We will start off today with our Parks and Work Transportation Committee. Okay, calling to order Parks and Recreation Transportation Committee. Can the clerk please read the first item? Okay. Move to approve. Second. Any discussion? The members. Calling the meeting back to order. Seeing none, calling the vote, no objections and having no further business. Any opposed. Seeing none. Let the record record reflect all members are present. So I'm just going to go over just quick review of how today's going to go. Then testimony, then the discussion, and if there if we are good with the discussion, if there's any amendments, we can do it during the discussion. Uh that way we can be succinct because we do have eight bills to review. Um I don't want to uh make get stuck on any one bill unless uh we need to spend the full time uh having the discussion. So clerk, could I get the first bill, please? Bill number 2961, a bill for an ordinance amending chapter 8 and chapter 10, Kauai County Code 1987, as amended relating to the plantation camp district wildfire and wildland urban interface. Move to approve. Second. This we move and seconded, uh, planning director. Good morning, Chair, um, members of commission, council, sorry. Two use of the planning commission days. Um, on behalf of the planning department. Um I'm joined here with our chief Gibson and Elizabeth Pickett from Hawaii Wildfire Wildfire Management Organization. Um, just to give a little primer of what we're doing here today. Um, some history of the plantation camp zoning uh project, if you will. Going back to the West Kauai Community Plan update, we found that the plantation camps were all sitting on agriculturally zoned land. Several of them had state land use urban designations, but they were on County of Kauai agricultural zone lands, which meant virtually all but five of the plantation camp homes in each of the camp were non-conforming structures and essentially were not allowed to rebuild essentially. Repair and renovated up to the 50% of the value of the threshold. And so recognizing that these camps exist as communities today, but the de facto policy of the zoning ordinance is to amortize these uses out and move the tenants eventually somewhere else. Recognizing that was a problematic policy to have on the books. Um the department through the plan work with the community, work with the landowners to get plantation camp zoning so that at the very least they could rebuild the structure to the exact same footprint and size and dimensions that existed. There's also discussions towards the end of the West Coach Community Plan update of not only should they maybe be allowed to rebuild, but these camps exist as communities. They should be allowed to evolve and grow. And so we kind of basically felt that was appropriate as well. And so we came back, we spent two years drafting farm-based codes for Kamakani Avenue and Kamakuni camp, um, so that additional growth could happen adjacent to that camp, but done in a farm and character that was in keeping with the this existing historical plantation camps. So that was the first part of the project, and we are spinning up the second part of the project to do the remaining camps, which is Numila Camp and Kaavanui, or also known as Camp 6. And so we are eyeballs deep in that process about a year ago. Um the Kamakani fire had happened, which essentially Kamakwani almost burned. There's also Wahina had happened. And that's where we kind of turned to the fire folks and said, you know, is there anything we should be doing to address wildfire mitigation in the built environment? And the response we got from the fire industry folks was in a high wind wildfire situation. That is the only response you can do to prevent a community from burning. In a high wind event, it will burn if it has not been um constructed in a manner that deals with wildfire.
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