Kauaʻi County Council Committee Meeting — November 2, 2026

This summary uses the provided meeting timestamp of 2026-11-02 20:45:00+00:00; the agenda and transcript label the session as October 21, 2026. The agenda listed an 8:31 AM start, and no adjournment time appears in the transcript. No official minutes were available, so this summary is based on the agenda and raw transcript.

Consent Calendar

• The Finance & Economic Development Committee approved the minutes of its October 7, 2026 meeting by voice vote, with no public testimony or discussion recorded.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Yelena Oakman, a real estate professional of many years, testified on Bill No. 2998. She said she has already been asked how the bill will increase construction costs and permit complexity, noting permits are already delayed for many months. She expressed deep respect for the planning and fire departments and said she supports fire prevention, but raised concerns about five-foot setbacks in residential areas, including a referenced area called Vayale Ali Estate, and about drainage, gravel, landscaping, and food-growing implications. She said more study is needed before making construction more complex.

Discussion Items

• The Planning Committee took up Bill No. 2998, Draft 3, a bill for an ordinance amending Chapters 15, 12, and 8 of the Kauaʻi County Code 1987, as amended, relating to wildfire and wildland urban interface (WUI), with the County of Kauaʻi as applicant (ZA-2026-6). The item had been deferred on October 7, 2026. A motion to approve and a second were made.
• Committee Chair Bulasan supported passage, saying the committee worked to protect the community while considering unintended consequences, especially costs to new development. He said the effective date was pushed back to give the community and industry more time; the bill would affect new development, not existing homes; and vegetation references were included. He said the bill is not perfect but represents substantial work and is important after recent storms.
• A non-committee council member said they agreed with wildfire protection but opposed the bill as written. They argued it must be practical, affordable, and financially responsible amid a housing crisis; said small independent contractors were not consulted and were afraid to testify; and said those contractors' cost estimates are significantly higher than those from large contractors. They cited $1.1 million in Facilities Reserve Charge (FRC) revenue from residential construction, not counting TVRs, equal to 3.5% of the Water Department's revenues, and said the department is already in deficit. They recalled Water Department manager Joe Tate's prior emotional testimony about insufficient capacity to fight fires, questioned the rush to pass the bill even though it takes effect October 1, 2027, and said they would not support it at the full council.
• Councilmember Cowden asked Planning Director Hall whether the Board of Water Supply could withdraw its action to remove the FRC and fund the difference elsewhere. Director Hall said the board had already acted and the position was solid at that point, though as a single board member he said it could change. Another member noted that FRCs may look different in the future and that the current waiver is meant to protect single-family homeowners.
• Councilmember Cowden said she would vote yes, citing planning department flexibility for subdivision-level fire prevention review and Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization flexibility in plantscape requirements. She said she still worries applicants may need extra consultants but wanted to move the bill forward.
• A committee member said the planning and fire departments did good work, that the Water Department manager had been supportive based on their last understanding, and that after heavy discussion the bill should move to the next level.
• Councilmember Kaneshiro supported the bill, describing it as an urban-interface measure because homes themselves add fuel. They said the fire department strongly supported it and the Water Department did not oppose it; that most mitigation measures are minor, with the five-foot home-hardening zone being the biggest cost; that they would prefer three feet if science supported it; and that the Water Department waived its FRC, which they described as $14,000 for a single-family home. They said total FRCs in the Water Department budget are a little over $2 million annually and that FRCs are likely to change and probably rise for single-family homes in the future.
• Vice Chair Kualii said they still had concerns about the numbers but accepted that both cost estimates could be true. They were especially concerned about offsetting housing-cost increases through Water Department FRC exemptions and said the money should have been found elsewhere. They said they would vote no to signal that the county should not deepen the Water Department's financial hole and that future administrations and councils should support the department more.
• Another council member supported acting before the new council begins on December 1, saying the incoming council would face a steep learning curve and that Kauaʻi would be the first county in the nation to make this decision. Chair Bulasan disagreed that urgency required passing the bill now, saying committees exist to resolve issues such as five feet versus three feet and alternative funding such as a real property tax exemption for hurricane safe rooms. He noted the bill's effective date of October 1, 2027 would give the new council 11 months.
• Chair Bulasan closed with three stories: a classmate building an additional dwelling unit on his parents' property, a friend with property in Līhuʻe who has family in Lahaina, and himself as a renter who does not own a home. He said the bill adds costs but also protection, compared it to hurricane clips that he said probably saved about 70% of roofs in recent storms, and said he would vote in favor. Councilmember Kaneshiro added that the five-foot zone is based on fire science showing a vector within five feet, while three feet was their personal preference, and that annual review allows adaptation if fire science changes.

Key Outcomes

• The Planning Committee passed Bill No. 2998, Draft 3 by a 4-1 vote: Vice Chair Kualii voted no, and the other four committee members voted aye. The bill was advanced out of committee; a non-committee member said they would oppose it at the full council.
• The bill's stated effective date is October 1, 2027, per Section 22 as described in the transcript.
• The Finance & Economic Development Committee approved the October 7, 2026 committee meeting minutes by voice vote. No other business was recorded, and the meeting adjourned.