The Hawaii Community Development Authority (HCDA) was established to foster the redevelopment of special districts, with Kakaako being its initial, and still principal, concern. HCDA’s mission is to ensure that this precious section of Honolulu ocean frontage does not grow haphazardly.

To that end, HCDA’s board of directors plays a crucial role in setting the rules that guide development, enabling a planning and approvals process more coordinated and thoughtful than normally occurs through city permitting channels.

That’s why the next two vacancies on the board, to be filled through appointment by Gov. David Ige, are so important. Two members on a board of nine could shift the direction of the agency. It’s incumbent on Ige to choose board members who will represent the interests of the community as a whole.

The HCDA board facilitates development. But it’s also there to ensure that the community grows in ways that the developers themselves don’t always flock to deliver. In the case of Oahu — the entire state, in fact — the most acute need is for affordable housing.

HCDA has been working with project planners to fulfill this need, but that drive requires advocacy from those who represent various interests and are not as bound by the risk-and-profit constraints of developers.

Steve Scott and Jason Okuhama will reach the end of their current terms on the board June 30. Scott owns Scott Hawaii, the slipper manufacturer based in Kakaako, and Okuhama is a self-employed commercial mortgage broker, owner of Hawaii Lending Specialists LLC.

These are spots on the board that are reserved for a small-business owner of the district and by a resident of the area.

Roughly half of the planned buildout of Kakaako is complete or in progress, so considerable development potential remains. It’s not surprising that there’s competition for these seats with ties to the construction industry, which is weighing in with support for one candidate or another.

Nominees include Jay Kadowaki, a previous member who heads a general contracting firm; Phillip Hasha, executive of a commercial real-estate development firm; Nani Medeiros, executive director of HomeAid Hawaii, a nonprofit that helps with facilities and services for the homeless, with development representatives on its board; and Jonathan L.W. Ching, a government relations specialist with Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and a former assistant to Ige in the state Senate.

The board has provided more robust oversight in recent years, increasingly casting a critical eye on some requests from companies to depart from the rules guiding the redevelopment of Kakaako.

The delivery of the “reserved” or workforce units with a more affordable price point has increased in pace, according to the HCDA annual report.

Of 14 completed projects permitted by 2005, two provided the required affordable units on-site. The rest had an easier path, either with their requirement waived, cash accepted in lieu of units, or units built off-location.

Since 2011 the record has been better. Nine developments are completed, with on-site units provided in seven, the other two off-site.

The new Kakaako includes some shiny glass towers and posh townhouses aimed at the high-end local buyer or international investor. Without a doubt, the money made from these projects helps to finance the lower-priced homes, which are built with little or no profit margin for the developers.

But a community that’s designed as a live-work-play environment, as it’s often described, needs the full complement of amenities: shops and eateries, businesses and parks, wide sidewalks and setbacks to make the place feel less congested. It also should reflect Hawaii’s diversity, both socially and economically.

Guiding the realization of this vision requires a diverse group of people bringing varied expertise to the table, but sharing the common goal. That includes Ige and the people he appoints to the HDCA board.