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Editor’s note: For Hawaii’s Nov. 5 General Election, Civil Beat asked candidates to answer some questions about where they stand on various issues and what their priorities will be if elected.

The following came from KipuKai Kualii, candidate for Kauai County Council. The top 14 primary vote-getters advance to the general election. The other primary candidates are Abe Apilado Jr., Addison Bulosan, Bernard Carvalho Jr., Felicia Cowden, Sherri Cummings, Bill DeCosta, Fern Holland, Ross Kagawa, Arryl Kaneshiro, W. Butch Keahiolalo, Jacquelyn Nelson, Mel Rapozo and Bart Thomas.

Go to Civil Beat’s Election Guide for general information, and check out other candidates on the General Election Ballot.

1. What is the biggest issue facing Kauai County, and what would you do about it?

It continues to be the lack of housing. We must support the building of a lot more housing units for our growing families, our overcrowded (“invisible homeless”) and our homeless.

As the council’s Housing chair, I’ve worked closely with our mayor and housing director to bring about critically needed improvements to our housing policy that incentivize private developers to build more units. We are currently working on even more improvements.

We’ve passed several bills supporting additional rental units (ARUs); waiving zoning permit application, sewer and building permit fees; creating a subsidy for water meters; and exempting EIAs saving over $20,000 per ARU in fees alone. We also passed a bill co-sponsored by Council Member Luke Evslin and I supporting tiny houses; legalizing sleeping lofts, lowering ceiling heights and allowing for stairs and ladders designed for small spaces.

We’re working to replicate successful projects like our Kealaula transitional housing, our Haupu View affordable rentals and our Lima Ola project in Eleele that includes senior, single-family and affordable housing. We’re partnering with the state and developers to go after tax credits and federal funding. We’re also providing fast-track permitting and a streamlined regulatory process for affordable housing projects.

2. Kauai has proven vulnerable to natural disasters especially on the island’s north shore. What would you do to improve disaster preparedness?

Our county needs to prioritize working together with our state to build a Kuamoo-Maalo connector road to ensure our east and north shore communities have continuous access to medical, transportation and other facilities in the event of tsunami or other debilitating damage to our shoreline highway and bridges.

I helped pass a law that updated and strengthened our Shoreline Setback Ordinance. It incorporated the University of Hawaii’s Coastal Geology Group’s Kauai Coastal Erosion Study data from 2018 and strengthened shoreline setback requirements in order to protect life and property; and, to ensure the longevity and integrity of Kauai’s coastal and beach resources. I also helped pass a law which adopted the updated flood insurance maps to meet the requirements of the national flood insurance program.

Our mayor, Emergency Management Agency and entire disaster response/emergency response team do incredible work responding to major weather and disaster events. I know we are making improvements with regards to preparedness by planning for emergency/resiliency hubs in different communities that could be cut off; starting with Hanalei.

3. There are nearly 14,000 cesspools on Kauai that must be removed by 2050. With an average cost of $15,000 to $30,000 to convert to septic, many homeowners say making the transition is not affordable. How can the county help to jump-start cesspool replacements?

We passed a law establishing a Residential Cesspool Conversion Program to be administered by our housing agency. It gives our Housing Agency the authority to apply for, pledge its full faith and credit as security for, submit required loan documents and accept, administer and repay Clean Water State Revolving Fund monies to assist with costs associated with residential cesspool conversions.

I would also like to see our county work with our state to go after federal infrastructure dollars to invest in helping our homeowners with converting to septic or hooking up to our sewer where possible.

Finally, our county absolutely needs to invest in the maintenance and expansion of our wastewater treatment plants so that we can provide more sewer hookups to folks who are close to existing treatment plants.

4. Traffic is getting worse on Kauai, and different regions face different challenges. What would be your approach to improve Kauai’s transportation problems?

Continue working with the state to maintain and improve our highways and to best manage our contra flow operations. Work with the state and private landowners to acquire lands or accesses for additional bypass roads such as one from Koloa to Puhi and another from Puhi to Hanamaulu.

Continue reducing the number of vehicles on the road by improving the routes and frequency of our bus system and by adding convenient shuttles that could also be used by tourists instead of them renting cars.

Continue maximizing our General Excise Tax (GET) funds for catching up with our backlog of county roads maintenance in the most efficient and expedient ways possible.

Continue retrofitting existing county roads (for example, Poipu Road) as a catalyst for economic development by creating inviting places for socialization and commerce; as well as traffic calming measures and complete streets design strategies. Pedestrian-friendly streets not only provide for safe walking (and less traffic) but also for more folks spending their dollars at our small businesses.

Finally, I would like to see our county work with our state to go after federal infrastructure dollars to invest in maintaining our bridges and replacing those that need replacing.

5. The median price for a single-family home on Kauai has topped $1 million. What would you do to help address the shortage of low-income, affordable and middle-class housing?

I’ve been pushing for increased investments in our Housing Development Fund including the now required annual investment of 2% (estimated $3.5 million) of real property taxes. During budgeting, I supported the mayor’s vacation rental tax rate increase to the level of hotels (raising an additional $8 million) as well as raising both categories (raising an additional $7.5 million). I’m working to raise that annual investment guarantee to 5% (est. $8 million-$9 million).

We should work closely with the Department of Water to ensure water distribution expansion plans line up with plans for increased density and infill development within our town centers, as well as for other housing development in the larger town areas.

We should get our county planners to engage with Department of Water planners updating the county water plan to guide system expansion, improvement, rehabilitation and rate structures that support growth consistent with housing development plans.

We need to properly maintain our four wastewater treatment plants and fund the necessary upgrades to our current systems; even if that means increasing sewer fees.

We should work in partnership with private entities wherever possible. I propose residential developments in Lihue in order to take advantage of that treatment plant’s significant excess capacity.

6. Kauai’s landfill in Kekaha will soon run out of capacity and there’s still no timely plan in place to build a new one. What can the county council do to address what could become a garbage crisis for the island?

Our mayor and solid waste/public works administrators are indeed looking into siting our next landfill across the highway from the existing landfill as potentially our only safe, viable and feasible option.

In order to prevent a garbage crisis on our island our County Council needs to support:

The expedited permitting of a new landfill across the highway at Kekaha Mauka.

Seeking state approval for a vertical expansion of the existing landfill that would extend operations through November 2030.

Doing extensive outreach and education to get our citizens to play a decisive role in helping us avoid a garbage crisis by changing more habits and diverting more waste; composting, recycling, reusing materials and source reduction.

Excavating waste from the oldest part of the landfill, separating out recyclables and reburying the waste on top of the landfill’s newest section.

Creating a construction and demolition reclamation center to dispose of construction and demolition garbage, which makes up the largest portion of the current landfill’s waste stream.

7. Overtourism can degrade the environment, threaten biodiversity, contribute to wear and tear on infrastructure, generate traffic and disrupt neighborhoods. What more can be done to better manage the island’s tourism sector?

Continue working with our mayor, our Office of Economic Development and cusiness, community and tourism industry leaders to help implement the Kauai Destination Management Action Plan (DMAP), which presents a blueprint for managing tourism on Kauai.

In the DMAP vision of tourism in 2040, Kauai is a global leader in the reinvention of the visitor industry. Collaborative action by community stakeholders has addressed unsustainable visitor growth as well as climate change and social inequity. Tourism remains a valued economic sector, as other sectors have emerged to offer greater stability and opportunity for the island. The DMAP Plan goal is to rebuild, redefine and reset the direction of tourism over a three-year period.

The plan contains the following six objectives:

Create positive contributions to the quality of life for Kauai’s residents.

Support the maintenance, enhancement and protection of Kaua‘i’s natural resources.

Ensure the authentic Hawaiian culture is perpetuated and accurately presented in experiences for residents and visitors, materials and marketing efforts.

Maintain and improve visitor satisfaction of their experience on Kauai.

Strengthen the economic contribution of Kauai’s visitor industry.

Increase communication and understanding between residents and the visitor industry.

8. Should more be done to encourage agriculture and food sustainability on Kauai? What would you suggest?

Yes, absolutely. A thriving agricultural sector is critical for our food security and our economy. We as a county have developed a social cohesiveness around the goal of diversifying agriculture for our survival. At the University of Hawaii’s Kauai Agricultural Research Center in Wailua, there are research gardens growing varieties of taro, ornamental gingers, pineapple, tree crops, heliconia, coffee, corn, tea, pasture grass, noni, protea, awa and banana. The Kauai Coffee Estate is the largest coffee farm in the U.S. with 4 million coffee trees grown on 3,100 acres.

Along with the mayor, our Office of Economic Development and our entire administration and our council need to:

Build on the success we’re having with our Kilauea Ag Community park; Aina Hookupu O Kilauea.

Expand our Sunshine Markets program.

Eexpand our Kauai Made & Grown program to grow local markets.

Create food gardens and food orchards at all county-supported housing projects.

Create edible landscaping at all county facilities.

Plant and grow food-bearing trees in our parks and parking lots.

Work with the state to establish food forests across the island.

Support a container gardening education and equipment distribution program for residents.

Support water catchment education and equipment distribution program for residents.

9. What would you do to ensure transparency and accountability in county government?

In order to ensure transparency and accountability in county government, I will continue to support:

Government reforms that limit the influence of money on the creation or execution of policy.

Campaign finance reform that limits the amount of money organizations, corporations or individuals can donate to political campaigns.

The full public financing of our elections, ban on corporate contributions, regulation of corporate donor bundling, automatic voter registration, ranked choice voting, and the full disclosure of gifts, expenditures, visitors’ logs, clients and bills lobbyists are working on.

Efforts against corruption in all forms, including extortion and bribery.