More park space and fewer gentleman’s estates
Draft community plan covering next 20 years finished
Designating 500 more acres in West Maui for parks and open space and restricting gentleman’s estates and fast-track affordable housing projects in certain West Maui areas, are some of the highlights of the updated draft of the West Maui Community Plan.
The community plan is a key policy document for the region that establishes social, environmental and economic goals and desired growth patterns over a 20-year planning horizon. Other regions of the county have their own community plans, which all direct land uses for housing, business and agriculture.
The community plans are supposed to be updated every decade but the last time the West Maui Community Plan was revised was in 1996.
In May, the West Maui Community Plan Advisory Committee completed its 10month review of the draft plan and unanimously voted to forward its recommendations to the Maui Planning Commission, which will begin its review process on July 28.
Planning Director Michele McLean said the planning commission “appropriately sees its role to be much different from the CPAC’s, with the goal of reviewing and making minor edits to the plan over just six meetings.”
“We look forward to working with them,” McLean said, noting that the department may make recommendations but that each of the drafts will be the final product of the various entities and not the Planning Department.
West Maui Community Plan Advisory Committee Chairwoman Kai Nishiki said this week that the panel “focused on the quality of life for residents and needs of our community and let that guide our actions.”
With new community plan designations from the Planning Department, which placed a great emphasis on interconnectedness, Nishiki said the committee used already designated urban growth boundaries “to include all aspects of a functioning community,” such as parks, open space, housing, business, infrastructure and cultural resources — “not just further development and sprawl.”
“We provided growth in areas close to jobs and services, such as Wainee and around Kapalua Airport,” Nishiki said. The Pulelehua project, which is near the Kapalua Airport for example, is being kept in the draft plan.
The project calls for up to 1,000 residential units made up of affordable rentals, market rate rentals and ohana units, several neighborhood pocket parks, jogging and hiking trails, a larger park, an elementary school and a neighborhood service retail center, Pulelehua’s website said.
A Wainee residential project, which is in the works and being built by Hope Builders, also was retained, Nishiki said. A project sheet obtained by the committee showed 800 units for the Wainee project with 50 to 75 percent of the units being workforce housing.
“There is a multitude of already entitled projects that are capable of fulfilling our housing needs in West Maui,” she said, adding that it is frustrating to see projects undeveloped for decades.
In other areas of West Maui, the committee identified where things needed to remain unchanged. These places included the northern portion of West Maui from north of Makaluapuna Point to Poelua Bay, as well as south of Puamana to the pali, which includes Launiupoko, Olowalu and Ukumehame.
The draft plan says that these largely undeveloped areas are “highly valued by the community” and provide a sense of stability and assurance for residents, who desire to protect these areas from change. These places protect watersheds, coastal areas, cultural resources and farming, Nishiki said.
To protect the areas, the draft plan says that gentleman’s estates and state or county fast-track affordable housing projects should not be approved.
For years, landowners have sought to build market rate and affordable homes south of Puamana, where there is space to develop. But they have run into opposition from a segment of the community that is worried about traffic, fire, lack of infrastructure and impacts to the reef. Supporters of those projects voice the need for more affordable housing for residents.
Some projects proposed but denied in the past few years — which would fall into these “areas of stability” — include Makila Rural East and Polanui, both of which were seeking approval under the 201H fast track process.
Developers of those projects have said that they could turn their affordable housing projects into gentleman’s estates.
“We have seen the proliferation of gentleman’s estates in places like Launiupoko and Kapalua, and our community has been very vocal about the importance of protecting West Maui from further sprawl and placing future smart growth developments near existing infrastructure, jobs, schools and services,” Nishiki wrote in explaining the proposed policy. “There was also a lot of concern to place future homes in areas that are safe from fires and floods, which have impacted our community recently.
“West Maui has seen the 201H process used to circumvent community plans and abused by developers.”
When asked about the legality of restrictions on gentleman’s estates, Nishiki said the draft plan still needs to undergo a legal review. Until the draft plan is adopted by the County Council, it is considered the committee’s recommendation.
Perhaps the council may need to look at amending the County Code to accomplish some of the draft plan’s directives, Nishiki added. The CPAC’s goal was to have people listen to the community’s voice and protect those areas it wants.
The draft community plan also calls for 500 acres of parks and open space throughout West Maui. This includes the addition of 97 acres to expand Hanakaoo Beach Park mauka of Honoapiilani Highway, 50 acres in the Kahana area, 200 acres for a “central park” along Lahainaluna Road and 300 acres from Puamana Park to Papalaua Park, Nishiki said.
In the Olowalu area, there is an option to develop a beach park and cultural reserve with parking, restrooms and walking trails, instead of the current pull-off areas off Honoapiilani Highway, which can be dangerous, Nishiki said.
“More and more tourists are coming here, crowding out the locals for parking and beach space and the CPAC responded by designating hundreds of acres for beach park expansion,” she said.
Other new polices folded into the draft plan include mandating all developers consult with Native Hawaiians through ‘Aha Moku ‘o Maui and policies and actions to address sealevel rise, Nishiki said.
Prior to the work of the committee, the Long Range Division of the Planning Department culled the extensive information it received during about two years of public and stakeholder meetings, workshops, open houses and online activities, said McLean. Then the department prepared the framework for the committee to complete.
To view the draft plan, see wearemaui.org.