Maui Organizations Celebrate Community Planning Month
Special to DOTs: Lauren Armstrong, Maui Metropolitan Planning Organization
Along with causing deep hardship and uncertainty for Maui County residents, the coronavirus has also brought us together in unexpected ways.
safety.
Within days, volunteer groups organized to sew thousands of masks for frontline workers. Neighbors delivered food to each other and checked in on kūpuna.
The street art project will also move us toward Maui’s Vision Zero goal.
Community input is being solicited for the art installment in March.
Our biggest strength is our sense of community. The lower risk of transmitting the coronavirus outdoors has provided us with a key moment to revitalize our outdoor public spaces as a way to increase social connectivity, health and resilience.
After receiving valuable input last month from several community focus groups on how to keep our Maui roads safe, the Vision Zero initiative aims to complete its report in 2021, outlining recommendations to reach the goal of zero traffic fatalities by 2040. The County Department of Planning is working to finalize the West Maui Community Plan, which will guide the growth and character of neighborhoods, parks and public spaces for the district in the next 20 years.
We need to ensure safe opportunities in many places for the types of social connections that help foster community during this prolonged period of social distancing. Community planning is a process to identify goals for how we want places to be in the future, and establish actions to help us achieve those goals. In 2019, Mayor Victorino proclaimed October “Community Planning Month” at a Wailuku Town Friday event. This year, under different circumstances, we want to celebrate community planning by sharing a few highlights of work being done to plan for public spaces on Maui. The Maui Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and Healthy Eating + Active Living (HEAL) coalition have partnered with local artist Matthew Agcolicol to paint street art by Lihikai Elementary School on Papa Avenue with a Complete Streets design approach to promote
The department has initiated the process for the South Maui Community Plan update. Plans for the Ka‘ahumanu Avenue Community Corridor are also getting in motion, to envision a connected network of housing, transportation options and inviting public spaces. As part of its long-term planning strategy, the County’s Department of Parks and Recreation is now conducting a vulnerability analysis of its beach parks and other properties along the coast. This study will describe environmental threats to specific parks and include a range of options that will be used to guide future decisions on how these sites will be improved and managed. The study will be completed in 2021.
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See COMMUNITY PLANNING page 17
