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At least once every month for more than five years, the Honolulu City Council gathered in the same spot, and nowhere else. Honolulu Hale, almost always on the third floor.

That all changed last week, if only for one day. The full Council — not one or two of its members or even one of its subcommittees — held a meeting at Kapolei Hale. Much of the was of great interest to the Leeward Oahu community.

In particular, many were interested in the Waianae Sustainable Communities Plan that will provide a blueprint for regional growth in the community for decades.

“There was a lot of passion from the community, both for and against certain items in the Sustainable Communities Plan,” Council Chair Ernie Martin said. “So it’s good, I think especially for the Council members who don’t live in the district, to have those perspectives as they contemplate whether to support or oppose or even seek amendments to that particular document.”

For the Council, putting more attention on Leeward Oahu issues is a natural progression. Kapolei has long been planned as Oahu’s “second city,” and it’s been the site of the greatest population growth in recent decades. The shift has been so dramatic that the Honolulu Reapportionment Commission is considering a plan that would split Ewa Beach into two different Council districts, with Fort Weaver Road serving as the dividing line.

The Council member representing the region, Tom Berg, is even suggesting that West Oahu should secede from the City and County of Honolulu and form its own government.

The last time the full Council convened outside of Honolulu Hale was May 17, 2006. That’s according to the Office of the City Clerk and was confirmed by a Civil Beat review of every meeting agenda posted on the city’s since that date. Most specify “City Council Chamber,” though some special meetings were held in the committee meeting room on the second floor.

The May 2006 meeting was held in Laie, at Brigham Young University-Hawaii’s Aloha Center Ballroom. included a number of regional issues: asking the state government to condemn land in Kahuku as well as to help advance development at Kahuku Village.

That meeting was so long ago that one of the Council members at the time (Barbara Marshall) has since passed away and another (Rod Tam) is about to go to jail. The chair at the time was Donovan Dela Cruz, now a state senator. Only Ann Kobayashi, Romy Cachola and Nestor Garcia remain on the Council today.

Garcia’s District 9 doesn’t include Kapolei, but he’s right next door. And of course he has that side job working for the Kapolei Chamber of Commerce. He told Civil Beat he was encouraged by the turnout to discuss the regional development plan.

Community Planning and Other Issues

The is one of eight such plans being produced for different segments of the island. At Wednesday afternoon’s public hearing on , more than a dozen citizens testified, many focusing on the so-called “purple spot” that would rezone about 96 acres of agricultural land in Lualualei valley and turn it into an industrial park. The measure has drawn a healthy amount of , but there are benefits for the Council to go out in person.

“These plans especially, you’ve got to make the effort to go out and reach the people,” Garcia said, pointing out the challenges that driving and parking downtown present to residents who live and work elsewhere. “I think people appreciate the fact that we try to make the effort to go out there. … They always say that. ‘I’m glad you guys came out here.'”

Martin said the fact that there are still three or four remaining sustainable communities plans coming up for review “provides the impetus for us to go out and have an opportunity for the community to fully participate when those plans come up because those are very critical documents.”

Of course, the Sustainable Communities Plan wasn’t the only regional issue on the agenda. Berg introduced three of the Leeward-focused measures discussed at Wednesday’s meeting:

• , which urges the formation of a Joint Federal-State-City Task Force on the prevention of flooding and remediation of flood damage losses on the Leeward Coast.
• , which urges the city to develop a public shooting complex in Kalaeloa.
• , which urging the city to develop a public-private partnership for a paintball gaming complex in Kalaeloa.

Other items included:

• , which authorizes an agreement with the state’s Housing Finance and Development Corporation for the use of certain lands in Kapolei.
• , which grants permits for new bridges over a pair of streams in Makaha.

And then there was to float a ballot question asking voters if the city should abandon steel-on-steel rail technology in favor of magnetic levitation, rubber tire or monorail. Despite some support from a handful of testifiers, the measure failed to pass first reading — a rarity — with only Berg and Kobayashi voting to move it forward to public hearing.

“Chair Martin did this out of respect … and he didn’t have to, but he’s trying to do everything in his power to make this a traveling show,” Berg told Civil Beat Friday afternoon. “We had a lot of substance pertaining to the residency of District 1, so he saw it as a marriage and a good fit.”

Read Wednesday’s edition of Inside Honolulu for more about what happened in Kapolei.

‘Get a Full Perspective’

Turnout for the meeting rivaled a normal gathering at Honolulu Hale.

Michelle Yee came from Mililani to testify in favor of the gun range, saying she’s already taught her four children how to handle a firearm but doesn’t want to have to drive to Koko Head to let them practice their skills. Waianae’s Polly Grace — a regular at Honolulu Hale who routinely identifies herself as “Granny” from the Leeward side — said better shooting means you don’t come home with a pig that’s all shot up. Less bullets means more edible meat.

Homeless advocate Alice Greenwood testified on the “purple spot” but also about the proposed bill that would give the city the power to confiscate personal belongings stored on public property like sidewalks and city parks. The Waianae Coast is one of Hawaii’s most economically disadvantaged areas, and is the site of a major homeless encampment.

Others brought up Native Hawaiian sovereignty or agricultural sustainability issues. The Waianae Coast has a higher percentage of Native Hawaiians than almost anywhere else in the islands — an issue Civil Beat explored this week in a Fact Check of the White House after it promoted First Lady Michelle Obama’s upcoming visit to MAO farms.

But it was the Sustainable Communities Plan that drew the most attention. The public hearing went for hours, finally wrapping up after 6 p.m., according to a Council staffer. The measure passed second reading 9-0, albeit with five members registering their reservations, and will now head back to committee for more work.

Wednesday was actually the second bite at the apple for the Leeward Oahu community, as the Zoning and Planning Committee held a at Nanaikapono Elementary School’s cafeteria in Waianae back in September specifically to discuss the Waianae Sustainable Communities Plan.

Just this year, the Planning Committee to talk about the North Shore Sustainable Communities Plan, and the Zoning Committee to discuss a proposed Marriott hotel in Laie.

But those aren’t the full Council, and Martin says there’s a difference that justified Wednesday’s meeting in Kapolei.

“It truly embraces the value for the Council members to really get a pulse of what the community is, because not all of the members sit on subject matter committees,” Martin said. “So we don’t really have an opportunity to get a full perspective on any issue affecting a community unless we have an opportunity to hear direct testimony. So I felt it was worthwhile.”

The Kapolei meeting may have been the first in more than half a decade, but it won’t be anywhere near that long until the next such meeting.

“If I’m still chair,” Martin said with a smile, “I’m hoping to take not just committee meetings but full Council meetings out into the district.”

A staffer said Martin intends to put two full Council meetings in Kapolei on the calendar for 2012.

The Council’s next full meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 8, back at — you guessed it — Honolulu Hale.