Back to Business as Usual for County Council?

This article in West Hawaii Today is entitled "Council shuns CDP in zoning action." Basically, the council gave preliminary approval to a development in Kona by Kona Heights LLC. Council member Brenda Ford proposed an amendment, claiming that the development without the amendment did not comply with the Kona Community Development Plan. Apparently the corporation counsel ageed with Ford. The Hilo-centered majority rejected the amendment. In the most revealing detail of the story, Council Chairman J "it's my name, not an initial" Yoshimoto said he voted against it because the developer's attorney said that Ford (and the corporation counsel) were wrong. After all, who needs the Corp Counsel? Is it credible (or likely) that the developer's attorney would exaggerate or misrepresent something like that?
Unfortunately, because the State Campaign Finance Commission's online records are up to date only as far as 2006, I can't play "follow the money."
Will the new Hilo majority return to the days when ordinances and zoning were enforced in direct proportion to the development's distance from the County Building? Are we back to "who cares, it's in Kona"?
Probably too soon to tell. But it's not a positive development (get it?).