Guides

Who decides what gets built

County by county: which body hears what, and where a project first shows up on the record.

Oʻahu has one government, the City and County of Honolulu, and 33 advisory neighborhood boards. (Neighborhood Commission Office board listing)

Before an applicant submits a Special Management Area major permit application, the city's code requires the project be presented to the neighborhood board of the district; the requirement is treated as met if the board does not schedule it within 60 days of a written request, or says in writing it has no objection. (Revised Ordinances of Honolulu § 25-5.3(b))

The City Council grants Special Management Area major permits by resolution and rezones land by ordinance; both pass through its Committee on Zoning and Planning, whose agendas the Ledger reads item by item. (Committee on Zoning and Planning agendas, Aug. 27 and Sept. 24, 2026)

The Department of Planning and Permitting lists applications open for public input on its map, with hearing dates where set. (DPP public-input map)

There are three planning commissions, one each for Maui, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi. The island's commission decides Special Management Area use permits after a public hearing; in the Hāna region the Hāna Advisory Committee conducts that hearing. (The commissions' SMA rules (§§ 12-202-15, 12-302-15, 12-402-15))

On Maui and Lānaʻi the planning director decides SMA minor permits and reports them to the commission; on Molokaʻi the commission decides them. (§§ 12-202-14, 12-302-14, 12-402-14)

For changes in zoning and community plan amendments, the commission holds the hearing and makes recommendations, and the County Council decides. (Maui County Code §§ 19.510.040, 2.80B.100 and 2.80B.110)

There are two planning commissions: Leeward (North and South Kohala, North and South Kona) and Windward (Kaʻū, Puna, South Hilo, North Hilo and Hāmākua). (Hawaiʻi County Planning Department, Planning Commissions page)

The commissions hear special permits, use permits and Special Management Area use permits, and forward recommendations on changes of zone to the County Council, which passes them as bills. (The commissions' agendas; the County Council's Sept. 16, 2026 agenda (Bills 181 and 185))

The planning director acts on variance applications, after a deadline for written public comments that each notice states. (Planning Department notices of variance applications accepted)

The Kauaʻi Planning Commission holds hearings on Class IV zoning permits, use permits, variance permits and Special Management Area use permits, and on zoning amendments, including bills the County Council sends it; its Subdivision Committee takes up subdivision applications. (The Planning Commission's Aug. 11, 2026 agenda and its hearing notices)

The legislative power belongs to the County Council, seven members elected at-large. (Charter of the County of Kauaʻi, §§ 3.01 and 3.02)

The Land Use Commission decides petitions to move land between the state's land use districts, such as agricultural to urban. (Land Use Commission agenda, Sept. 23, 2026 (docket A26-812))

The Board of Land and Natural Resources decides leases and other uses of state land; the Commission on Water Resource Management decides stream channel alterations and water use permits. (BLNR agenda, Sept. 25, 2026; CWRM agenda, Sept. 22, 2026)

Projects that use state or county land or money, or sit in certain sensitive places, go through environmental review, published in the Environmental Notice with a public comment period. (The Environmental Notice (HRS § 343-5(a) triggers printed with each project))

Guides are written by the Ledger for residents. Every paragraph names the record it comes from; where the Ledger has not read the governing law itself, the guide says what the record shows and links it. Found something wrong? Tell us; corrections go up the same day.