Residents interested in learning more about coastal zoning on Hawaii Island have a new tool at their fingertips.

The Hawaii County Planning Department recently launched an interactive Coastal Zone Management Atlas website.

In addition to providing an overview of different coastal ecosystems in the county, the site allows users to search an address and select various filters to view potential coastal hazards and regulations specific to that site, among other features.

“It really allows people to zoom in on their community or property, if they’re a property owner, and understand all of the very technical pieces that there are to consider about our coastal zone,” said Bethany Morrison, the planning program manager for the Long-Range Panning Division at the county.

She said her office often gets questions from residents about Hawaii’s Special Management Area, which covers the land along the coast of the island and has specific regulations and requirements for development permits.

“So, this will give them a much deeper dive into what is the Special Management Area? What are those permit requirements? Is my property even in the Special Management Area?” She said. “All of those questions that we get, we’re trying to provide some resources for them.”

The tool was developed with the assistance of Tetra Tech and funded with an award from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and used data provided by the University of Hawaii at Hilo to create the mapping component. It took about six months and $26,267 to create. Morrison said it is part of a larger, ongoing project to re-evaluate the county’s shoreline setback policies.

“We are the only county that doesn’t have any type of erosion rate-based setbacks,” she said. “Our current shoreline setback is 40 feet, kind of regardless of what type of shoreline you’re on, what type of hazards there are – it’s just a standard sort of distance.”

Which she said does not account for other factors that could be important.

“In some cases, 40 feet is plenty, and in some cases, it’s not, depending on where you are and what’s happening, so we initiated this project to really understand what changes are happening along our shoreline, and if there’s a way to include those changes in the calculation of our setbacks,” she said.

She said she views the atlas as a valuable precursor to any changes to the setback requirements that might be introduced.

“Before we get to that, we want people to have a really good understanding of what’s happening along our coastline and be able to explore things for themselves before we try and introduce any type of changes to our regulations,” she said. “So, that’s a big purpose, is to just get this out there, being used, having people understand what those pieces are — hazards, ecosystems that we want to protect — all those kinds of details.”

She said the site will be updated as new data becomes available.

The county hosted a webinar earlier this month to introduce the new tool and answer questions.

Another one is scheduled for May 7 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Anyone interested can register at: tinyurl.com/2pxat5n8.

The Coastal Zone Management Atlas can be viewed at: tinyurl.com/mstvyjyp.

Email Grace Inez Adams at grace.adams@hawaiitribune-herald.com.

The movie is screening in an unprecedented 125 cinemas nationwide from its opening night – a triumph for Cornwall’s hugely respected rising star director

A Cornish director’s latest film has been given an unbelievable rating by Rotten Tomatoes. Mark Jenkin, the writer and director behind Enys Men and Bait, releases his latest movie, Rose of Nevada, this month.

The 50-year-old is no stranger to good ratings with his biggest work to date, Bait, filmed in Cornwall, getting a 100 per cent rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. But his most recent work has just done something equally incredible with a 100 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes a day before its release date.

The movie, Rose of Nevada, is a British science fiction drama film written, edited, composed and directed by Mr Jenkin. It has been incredibly well received with critics describing it as “terrifically atmospheric” and “superbly visceral filmmaking”.

Hilary A White, writing for the Irish Independent, says: “Jenkin leaves plenty of space between story and audience, compiling a tale that feels cobbled together from stained Polaroids, dream snatches and fleeting glimpses.”

Deborah Ross, writing for The Independent, had this to say: “Though it’s about how we carry the past and what can be lost in a single generation, the film is never nostalgic or sentimental. It’s not Back to the Future. It’s terrifically atmospheric, thrumming with foreboding and dread.”

The movie, which was released in UK and Irish cinemas on Friday (April 24), tells the story of a mysterious boat that returns to a village 30 years after vanishing. Two men join its crew, hoping for better fortune. After one voyage, they find themselves transported back in time, mistaken for the original crew.

Rose of Nevada is screening in 125 cinemas nationwide from its opening night, including all 10 of the Merlin chain sites in the South West, including Bodmin, Falmouth, Helston, Penzance, Redruth and St Ives.

BFI Distribution has confirmed big screen showings in another 70-plus cinemas a little later. The spread is from the Shetland Islands in the North, to Jersey (Channel Islands) in the South, to Triskel in Eire in the West to Broadstairs in Kent in the East.

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