LIHU'E, Kaua'i — A Kaua'i citizens group believes passage of its ballot proposal would slow the rapid growth in visitor accommodations that the group believes threatens to overwhelm the Garden Island and hurt its quality of life.

The proposed amendment to the Kaua'i County Charter would allow "balanced and responsible growth" by tying it to growth projections in the county's General Plan, said Carl Imparato, a member of the Coalition for Responsible Government.

"Kaua'i does have a General Plan and unless we enforce that plan, we're going to have very bad consequences — not only for the environment, but for traffic, overcrowding at parks and beaches, affordable housing and jobs, and Kaua'i's character and quality of life," said Imparato.

His coalition collected the 1,900-plus registered voter signatures to get the item on the general election ballot. Groups in the coalition are the Sierra Club of Kaua'i, Kaua'i's Thousand Friends, Malama Kaua'i and People for the Preservation of Kaua'i.

The Kaua'i General Plan is a charter-required planning document that was last updated in 2000.

'IT'S UP TO THE VOTERS'

Since 2000, the Kaua'i County Planning Commission has OK'd permits for four times as many visitor units as were projected in the General Plan as being a manageable rate of growth, Imparato said.

If all of the 4,000-plus vacation units the Planning Commission approved from 2000 to 2008 are built, Imparato said, Kaua'i would have 40 percent to 50 percent more visitor units per resident than Maui. The units include hotel rooms, time shares and any other visitor quarters.

Deputy Planning Director Imai Aiu couldn't confirm the amendment proponents' figures, but he said they seemed accurate.

The Planning Department has no position on the charter amendment, Aiu said. "It's up to the voters," he said.

The ballot initiative would require a "supermajority" — five of seven members — of the Kaua'i County Council for the approval of planning permits, instead of the appointed seven-member Planning Commission.

The initiative would allow the council to return the power of permit approvals to the Planning Commission only if the commission is instructed to issue no more vacation unit permits per year than the amount outlined in the General Plan.

Imparato noted that the limit could change if a new General Plan is drawn up, as is required every 10 years.

STACKED DECK?

The Kaua'i Chamber of Commerce urged its 450 members to vote against the amendment.

"In our current economic situation, we can ill afford to limit growth and the development of the lifeline of our economy," the chamber said in a statement.

Chamber President Randy Francisco said one reason his group took a stand against the amendment is that early voters told them they didn't understand it.

"I think it would be clearer for voters if it were a one-sentence question," Francisco said, rather than the entire text of the proposed charter amendment.

The coalition is disappointed that its initiative is the only one on this year's Kaua'i ballot without a one-sentence question, Imparato said. Instead, the proposed amendment is on the ballot in its entirety — more than 400 words of legalese.

Proponents of the amendment wonder why the one-sentence question they submitted to the Kaua'i County attorney wasn't used.

"We don't want to dis the county clerk or county attorney," Imparato said. "Yet, we believe (it) was a conscious decision by the county to stack the deck against this amendment."

The conventional wisdom is that people will generally vote no if they are confused, he said.

The Kaua'i County attorney's office did not respond to a request for comment.

Beth Tokioka, director of the Kaua'i County's Department of Economic Development, said she doesn't dispute that Kaua'i's growth in visitor accommodations has outpaced the island's infrastructure.

"I think we definitely want to see that the General Plan is honored and finds its way into decisions we make. But there are concerns that if it is challenged in court, this may not be the best way to address it," Tokioka said.

She said she was speaking for herself, not the Asing administration or mayoral candidate Bernard Carvalho Jr., for whom she is a campaign manager.

Tokioka noted that the current economic downturn will likely slow development on Kaua'i for several years even without a cap on units approved.

Carvalho called the ballot amendment an initiative by the people that raises important points. If he is elected mayor and the initiative is not passed, Carvalho said, he will inform County Council and Planning Commission members "we need to better manage how growth is done overall."

"We cannot stop growth, but we must manage growth," he said. "Future growth should fall in line with how the General Plan is laid out."

The other mayoral candidate, County Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura, said council legislation would be a better way to handle the issue than a charter amendment. If elected mayor, she would propose a bill requiring the Planning Commission to follow growth guidelines outlined in the General Plan, Yukimura said.