Kauai commission’s wording
for ordinance ‘stupid,’ says critic

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By Anthony Sommer
tsommer@starbulletin.com

LIHUE >> When a county council passes an ordinance giving a county agency the power to do something, it's traditionally stated one of two ways: Either the agency "may" do something (meaning it's optional), or it "shall" doing something (meaning it's required).

The Kauai Planning Commission has come up with a whole new phrase it thinks is a compromise: "shall consider requiring."

Current county ordinances say the Planning Commission "may" require a developer constructing buildings on beachfront property to build a trail for public access to the beach. The Planning Department wants the wording changed to "shall" require the developer to build a trail.

The Planning Commission has suggested a compromise. Its recommended wording for the new ordinance says the Planning Commission "shall consider requiring" a trail.

"This is stupid," Ray Chuan, resident county government critic, told the Kauai County Council on Thursday. "It requires the commissioners to consider doing something but doesn't give them the power to do anything once they've considered it."

The Council scheduled the proposal for a public hearing.