With 5-4 vote, contentious development plan goes to the mayor
by Chris Hamilton, Staff Writer
reprinted courtesy Maui News 3/20/08
WAILUKU
— Shortly before the Maui County Council approved the controversial Honua‘ula
housing development just before 1 a.m. Wednesday by the slimmest of margins, Chairman
Riki Hokama issued an ominous warning to his colleagues.
Hokama said, for some, it will be a benchmark day. For others, it will be Waterloo.
“We’ll find out come November,” Hokama said.
That’s when eight council members will be up for re-election. Hokama will not,
since he is serving in the last of his maximum five consecutive terms.
Beginning Tuesday and ending Wednesday, the marathon council meeting ended, for
the record, at 12:49 a.m., with two 5-4 votes. It has taken 20 years of stops and starts —
plus, most recently, nearly a year of hearings before the council’s Land Use
Committee — before the council reached the point of forwarding the Honua‘ula
land use measures to Mayor Charmaine Tavares for final action.
As they had on first reading in mid-February, Council Members Hokama, Jo Anne
Johnson and Michelle Anderson voted no on the Honua‘ula bills on second and
final reading.
Council Member Bill Medeiros of Hana changed his vote to no, citing Native
Hawaiian land ownership, environmental and other philosophical questions.
Council Members Mike Victorino, Joe Pontanilla, Mike Molina, Gladys Baisa and
Danny Mateo voted yes.
Molina responded to Hokama’s day of reckoning comments by saying that he was
elected to office partially on the promise that he would bring more affordable
housing to the residents of Maui. While the Honua‘ula issue hasn’t been easy, he said, for him,
it’s a social issue.
“It’s about tolerance,” Molina said. “This isn’t a perfect project. But people
are going to keep having babies, and people are going to keep wanting to live
here. It’s a beautiful place.”
Johnson also said she favors affordable housing and has pledged to her
constituents to help create more of it; but not at the cost of a flawed
development agreement and political process.
During the day, which began at 9 a.m. Tuesday, more than 30 people spoke for
and against Honua‘ula, which includes a golf course, community center, new
parks and police and fire stations. Those against Honua‘ula said it would
eliminate wilderness, damage the marine environment and likely provide homes
out of the financial reach of ordinary working people.
Proponents have said it will create much-needed affordable and work force
housing as well as well-paying construction jobs for years to come.
Medeiros said it was hard not to support affordable housing.
“But for me, when Hawaiian issues are brought up, I know this is hard for some
people to understand, but I feel the presence of my kupuna, and we need to
respect what was left for us by our ancestors,” he said. “I have to respect my
constituents.”
Honua‘ula, designated Kihei-Wailea Project District 9 (Wailea 670) in the
community plan, proposes 1,400 housing units, half priced under federal
guidelines as affordable. Construction on the project is expected to begin in
five years and would last up to 20 years, the developers’ representative said.
Honua‘ula Partners LLC representative Charlie Jencks said the project could
cost up to $800 million, including $300 million in infrastructure. Honua‘ula is
planned on 670 acres mauka of Piilani Highway and east of the Maui Meadows rural-residential
subdivision.
“I think it’s been a long time coming,” said Jencks, who spent much of the
evening pacing in the back of the room. “We are very grateful to everyone who
supported us through this arduous process.”
Anderson, who holds the South Maui residency seat, said her constituents are against the project 3
to 1. South
Maui
roads, parks, police and infrastructure are already maxed out in the community,
she said.
“We’re just hoping that things work out,” Anderson said in her impassioned final comments. “You
don’t have to live there.”
Baisa said considering the national economic downturn and rising cost of
living, the county cannot turn its back on a project providing affordable
homes.
Pontanilla said he was especially pleased with the affordable housing component
and the opportunity for Maui’s children to come back home.
Mateo echoed those sentiments. He said Honua‘ula will be the first large-scale
development to validate the county’s Residential Workforce Housing Policy,
which requires a minimum of 40 percent affordable housing.
Opponents in the audience disputed the benefit.
“Yeah, sure maybe a few of us may get a home but at what cost? I’ll tell you:
at the cost of our true home of Maui,” said Paz Padilla.
The 23-year-old fisherman and diver was the last speaker Tuesday afternoon. In
his lifetime, he said he’s seen the ocean degrade steadily due to runoff from
Wailea Resort golf courses.
The council approved two bills to grant project district zoning, with 30
conditions attached.
Victorino said the council worked hard to put in conditions to make certain the
development is smart growth. He said he was proud of his stand.
“Is it the right decision? Only time will tell us. But we have an opportunity
to put the onus on the developer, and it’s our responsibility to make sure they
follow through,” he said.
Anderson dominated the council’s
discussion. First, she said that council members should take any measure they
can to ensure that no harm comes to endangered or threatened plants, insects
and animals, such as the pueo, the endemic owl.
She later urged her colleagues again and again to send the ordinances back to
the Maui Planning Commission and take another month to examine several
potential amendments to the ordinance. Each of her proposals failed.
Like Medeiros, Hokama said the question of whether Native Hawaiians have a
claim on the property remains outstanding. Several council members said they
expect the matter to be resolved in the courts.
“This is something that should have been done by the applicant,” Anderson said.
Opponents, including Maui Tomorrow, Anderson and Johnson, also said that the
area deserves a supplemental environmental impact statement, since the last was
done 20 years ago, when the project was considerably different. The community
group has asked that the Maui Planning Commission demand a new environmental
impact study.
Maui Tomorrow Executive Director Irene Bowie said on Wednesday that it’s
premature to say what her group would try next.
“I would say right now we’re definitely disappointed by the vote,” Bowie said.
The project also faces a lawsuit and a possible judge’s injunction based on the
work of Wailuku attorney Lance Collins, who represents five residents claiming
they were not provided adequate opportunities to comment to the council
committee under the state Sunshine Law.
Collins said on Wednesday that he was drafting a letter calling on Mayor
Charmaine Tavares to veto the bills.
“I will be reviewing the conditions set forth by the council and conferring
with my departments prior to making a decision,” Tavares said Wednesday.
If approved by Tavares, the project will again be subject to public review for
Phase II approval by the Maui Planning Commission. That review will include
detailed plans for roads, grading, structures, landscaping and water drilling.
Phase III project district approval involves a review by the planning director
before the applicant seeks building permits.
“It’s not over by any means for the applicant,” Molina said. “They still have a
lot of hoops to jump through.”
Jencks said he has no problem with the conditions and is committed to
complying.
“That’s just part of the deal,” he said.
• Chris Hamilton can be reached at chamilton@mauinews.com.
Photo: Council Members Michelle Anderson (from right), Gladys Baisa and Jo Anne Johnson listen to six hours of public testimony Tuesday at a council meeting that ran until 12:49 a.m. Wednesday.
-- Fact Box --
The Honua‘ula zoning bills:
Approval of the Honua‘ula project district adds 30 conditions including:
• Expand Piilani Highway to four lanes to Wailea Ike Drive and other improvements to state highways
• Build a $5 million Little League field
• $24 million in public park assessments
• $7 million in county traffic impact fees
• $4.2 million in school impact fees
• Create a cultural resources preservation plan in conjunction with state experts
• Develop its own water sources and wastewater treatment plant
• 250 work-force housing units will be built at a separate site in north Kihei before any market-rate homes are constructed at Honua‘ula
• Six acres of park and 84 acres of open space will be open to the general public
• On Tuesdays, Maui residents can play at the private golf course at 40 percent of regular greens and cart fees
• Regular ocean water quality and ecological testing will be conducted
• The developer will contribute $550,000 for a South Maui police station
• The residences will use the most energy-efficient technologies available
reprinted courtesy Maui News 3/20/08
brought to you by Wailea Makena Real Estate Inc.
www.Wailea-Makena-real-estate.com
Peter Gelsey R (PB)
Wailea Makena Real Estate, Inc.
direct (808) 357-4552
Toll free 800-482-5089
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