On Thursday, representatives from the Kakaako Makai Community Planning Advisory Council (CPAC), the Hawaii Community Development Authority (HCDA), MVE Pacific and other planning consultants invited members of the community to discuss the future development of Kakaako Makai, an area that has been the subject of heated debate.

The contentious planning workshop, which rekindled past concerns and introduced new ones, featured an eclectic group of more than 100 vocal and impassioned attendees, most of them challenging various development proposals and advancing their own ideas, which ranged from plans for a community cultural gathering place, to the expansion of the promenade, to the establishment of Point Panic as a historic surf site.

“You see a wide spectrum of people here,” said Curtis Crabb, a CPAC general member and concerned citizen. “It’s the whole state, the whole gamut, which is Hawaiian. I got involved because I want to see the [workshop] process get done, with nothing circumvented.”

But that process quickly soured as attendees–some arguing that they weren’t being heard, others enraged by planners’ comparison of the Kakaako Makai area to mainland neighborhoods like Mission Bay in San Francisco–hurled accusations at both development representatives and each other.

CPAC representatives and many attendees were especially incensed by the what they saw as HCDA’s clear deviation from state law–updated plans for residential development were introduced despite current legislation that prohibits such development–and what most have expressed as the public interest.

While CPAC was formed to represent the community’s voice, the HCDA (which hired MVE Pacific as a planning consultant) is a state agency that oversees Kakaako’s development. Thursday’s workshop revealed the degree to which the two agencies are at odds.

“The HCDA has a bottom line, and it’s a dollar sign,” said CPAC Secretary Michelle Matson. “The community has a different bottom line: recreational and open space for Honolulu…[the HCDA] cannot serve the public interest.”

“Maybe we should look at a different entity to have jurisdiction over Kakaako makai,” said Wayne Takamine, CPAC interim chairman. “A lot of people…were wondering if the HCDA is the appropriate agency to take on a master plan that includes park space. We’re in total conflict with them. After all this talk, nothing has changed.”

But Matson notes that the hostility that erupted at the workshop could work to the community’s benefit, as it represents the explosion of a powder keg of opposition that has been developing for years.

“It needed to happen. A lot has been kept under the pressure cooker for five years. [Attendees] were trying to do what they thought needed to be done,” she said. “People will start waking up and paying attention.”

Nonetheless, following a three-hour briefing period, the antagonism had culminated into such a heated shouting match that mediators directed all audience members to join hands for a Hawaiian blessing. The interlude marked a transition to more cooperation and constructive, productive discussion as the attendees broke out into four planning groups.

“I understand that there are many people who feel very strongly about their positions, but if we can’t listen to each other then we can’t get to where we need to be. I was a little ashamed of my fellow citizens because they didn’t mind their manners very well,” said Carla Von Wiegandt, another concerned citizen who attended the workshop. “But then, good ol’ Aloha came around, and we prayed together and went into smaller groups, which I think helped keep tempers down.”

“This is what the process should’ve started out with,” said Crabb, pointing at the groups. “This is what people like to do: talk story.”

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