if Maui well water goes to Kula Ridge, it would allow that real estate development to "jump the line" on people waiting on the Upcountry water meter list: Maui County Department of Water Supply Director.
reprinted courtesy Maui News 9/11/10
By Chris Hamilton, Staff Writer
WAILUKU - After years of holdups and a rejection two years ago, the Kula Ridge development, once again, came before Maui County Council members this week.
And again it was met with intense scrutiny and public positions both for and against the complex development.
After a full day of discussion Wednesday, the council's Public Services Committee deferred action for further study.
Maui architect Clayton Nishikawa has submitted a second application under the state's fast-track affordable housing law for the 116-lot, side-by-side developments, Kula Ridge and Kula Ridge Mauka. Seventy of the homes would be affordably priced and split between work-force residents, seniors and agricultural lots. The rest would be market-priced homes on lots as large as 20,000 square feet, according to brochures.
The state law, Hawaii Revised Statutes 201H-38, allows a developer to bypass most state and county land-use requirements by promising to build affordable housing.
Nishikawa said the project satisfies the affordable housing requirement in the county's work-force housing ordinance. Developers must also be able to provide their own water source.
Committee Chairman Wayne Nishiki said he would host a meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Kula Community Center to allow more input from neighbors. The project would be located next to the center.
Under the fast-track housing law, council members have 45 days to act once the preliminary plans are presented to them, or the project would be considered approved. Council members can reject the application or approve it with conditions.
The developers said they intend to complete construction by 2012 or 2013.
"My real concern is that a lot of people are wondering what the totality is of this," Nishiki said.
Two years ago, council members unanimously rejected the development, also presented as a fast-track project, because of questions about the project being too dense, not having an adequate water supply and having narrow streets and fewer sidewalks than normally would be required.
Nishikawa said he has addressed concerns raised during the project's earlier rejection.
Kula Ridge Mauka has about 20 agricultural lots on 272 acres.
Meanwhile, the Kula Ridge project is on 48 acres above Lower Kula Road.
The affordable homes are made up of 34 senior duplexes and 25 three-bedroom single-family houses, which all would be priced between $210,000 and $478,000, according to Nishikawa's group. Fifty-nine of the 70 affordable homes are in the Kula Ridge subdivision, and the other 11 are affordable homes on the agricultural lots.
A couple dozen people spoke in favor of the project, many wearing blue shirts emblazoned with the project's emblem. Most said they want to purchase a home in the bucolic, cool - and somewhat expensive - community.
Construction union members said they desperately want to get back to work.
But some neighbors spoke out against it, saying the project would aggravate traffic and be too dense. They also said the project doesn't have a proven plan to obtain water.
Several Native Hawaiians and activists objected to the project as well, citing the discovery of iwi, or human remains, found on the site two years ago. They wondered aloud what else could be underground.
A year ago, the Maui/Lanai Islands Burial Council advised Nishikawa to redo studies from Scientific Consultant Services Inc. after state officials said the agricultural site contained at least two burials, 309 mounds and more than 1,000 archaeological features.
On Wednesday, archaeologist Michael Dega said the consultants did five years of study, and he believes these are agricultural terraces and very unlikely have more burials. The burials that do exist are believed to be those of Asian farmers from the late 19th or early 20th century, Dega said.
Maui Tomorrow Executive Director Irene Bowie said her group supports plans for affordable housing, but group members believe the Kula Ridge archaeological study is inadequate. She noted that the burials were discovered by accident after Dega's team finished.
Bowie wanted a more thorough archaeological survey and preservation plan.
The State Historic Preservation Division previously approved of the archaeological studies. But on Wednesday, the division's interim head sent a letter dated Tuesday, to request a site visit by state archaeologists to re-evaluate the area.
Nishikawa immediately agreed.
As for the water issue, Piiholo South LLC well developer Zachary Franks said there's an agreement in place with Nishikawa and his hui to supply water to the Kula Ridge projects.
But, complicating the matter, the Maui County Council Water Resources Committee began looking last week into buying the Piiholo South well, which is located in Makawao. The well produces 1.7 million gallons a day, and much of that would go toward more than 1,300 Upcountry landowners waiting for county water meters, county officials said.
However, Nishikawa said his plan calls for using just 120,000 gallons per day for his entire project, and he is willing to share.
County Department of Water Supply Director Jeff Eng verified that if the well water were to go to Kula Ridge, it would allow that development to "jump the line" on people waiting on the Upcountry water meter list.
Nishikawa said he would also build a 3-acre park with restrooms and leave 5 acres of green space. He said he also has plans to address traffic concerns, such as putting a southbound turn lane at the intersection of Lower Kula Road and Kula Highway.
There's a lot of talk about affordable housing, but much of it never gets done because the county's approval process is too difficult, said Bruce U'u, who is in the carpenters union and a former Maui Planning Commission member.
"We've got a housing problem, and this is part of the solution," U'u said.
* Chris Hamilton can be reached at chamilton@mauinews.com.
reprinted courtesy Maui News 9/11/10, original link www mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/540630.html
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