Kona, Hawaii Community Development Plan wins APA-Hawaii planning award
The Kona Community Development Plan (CDP) won the 2009 Outstanding Planning Award from the American Planning Association’s Hawaii Chapter.
Mandated by the Hawaii County General Plan, the Kona CDP was initiated by the Planning Department in 2005 in order to create a regional plan for the specific areas of North and South Kona. The community outreach was unprecedented and innovative. The plan took three years to complete and was officially adopted last year as the district’s guideline for future development.
The prime consultant that prepared the Kona CDP was Wilson Okamoto Corporation, which provided planning and engineering services. ACP Planning+Visioning led the community participation process together with the Environmental Simulation Center supporting the community mapping workshops. Also contributing were The Conservation Fund on “green infrastructure” and David Paul Rosen & Associates on affordable housing.
“Special mahalo to the Kona CDP Steering Committee, who reached out to over 800 residents for input on the long range plans of how they wanted 800 miles of land in Kona to look in the future,” Mayor Billy Kenoi said.
The award was presented at the 2009 Hawaii Congress of Planning Officials conference on September 23-25. The annual Hawaii APA awards are given to recognize individuals, communities, and organizations whose work exemplifies the planning profession’s highest goals and ideals. The awards program serves to raise public awareness of the benefits of good planning by showcasing significant contributions that planning practitioners, professionals, and community groups make to the State of Hawaii.
