Maui County Planning Department has recommended against allowing the development, and neither the General Plan Advisory Committee nor the Maui Planning Commission has supported including it in the plan.
By Ilima
Loomis, Staff Writer
reprinted courtesy Maui News1/27/10
Drivers in the Maalaea-bound lane of Honoapiilani Highway pass cows and empty land near Maalaea on Tuesday afternoon. Spencer Homes is proposing a 1,100-unit affordable housing project on the 257-acre property. But the Ohana Kai Village project is facing opposition to including it as a proposed development in the Maui Island Plan.
KIHEI - Spencer Homes' proposed Ohana Kai Village above Maalaea appears to be
joining projects like Olowalu Town and Pulelehua as one of the more hotly
debated developments in - or out of - the Maui Island Plan.
The Maalaea Mauka project district has been in the community plan since 1998, but it has been proposed to be eliminated as an area for growth in the current General Plan update. The county Planning Department has recommended against allowing the development, and neither the General Plan Advisory Committee nor the Maui Planning Commission has supported including it in the plan.
Spencer Homes has indicated it will seek approval of the project under the state's "fast-track" affordable housing development process, which would exempt Ohana Kai from a number of state and county requirements.
When the Maui County Council's Planning Committee met Monday night in Kihei to hear public testimony on the Maui Island Plan, council members heard from both supporters and opponents of the project.
Critics' biggest concern was the project's location. They maintained that its proposed 1,100 homes would worsen traffic on an already clogged stretch of highway, and feared on-site wastewater injection wells and construction runoff would damage reefs and marine life off Maalaea.
But proponents said Ohana Kai would provide needed affordable housing and construction jobs, and that Spencer Homes had a good track record of building quality projects.
"I don't know why there is as much opposition as there is," said developer Jesse Spencer.
The Maui County Council has until October to adopt the Maui Island Plan, which maps out growth and development on the island for the next 20 years.
Spencer is proposing Ohana Kai on 257 acres at Maalaea, with 660 units planned as affordable for families earning between 81 and 140 percent of the median income. The remaining 440 homes would be sold to families earning 141 to 160 percent of median.
The project would also include a commercial center, parks, space for public buildings, a wastewater treatment plant, drainage and an off-site private water system.
Spencer said his company had a "track record" for quality, affordable projects, most recently with its 411-home Waikapu Gardens subdivision.
"We hope to do (Ohana Kai) even better," he said.
The project would represent a $500 million investment over a seven-year buildout, he said, and would fulfill the county's most pressing needs.
"Employment is number one. Affordable housing is number two," he said.
But Robin Newbold of the Maui Nui Marine Resource Council said Maalaea Bay has already been "seriously degraded" by injection wells and sediment.
"More construction in this low-lying area will be the final blow to the reef," she said.
Anita Wintner agreed.
"I am very much in favor of affordable housing," she said. "My main concern with Maalaea Mauka is the injection wells."
Maury King of South Maui Sustainability and Don't Inject Redirect asked that the council not approve any new injection wells in the Maui Island Plan, especially in Maalaea where the reef was already compromised.
"There aren't any easy answers, but it's just not a good idea so close to the shore," he said.
Meanwhile, John Kerr of Windward Construction said his company had worked with Spencer Homes for 14 years, and expressed support for Ohana Kai.
He said his company has laid off 75 percent of its workers since the economic slowdown.
"The local economy is really hurting," he said. "Maui needs this project."
Waihee resident Brian Sarasin said he was concerned about state laws that allowed major developments to rush through the approval process. The process doesn't give community members enough chance for input, he said.
"Don't let the fast track come in and throw it down everybody's throats," he said.
Other areas that got attention at Monday's meeting included Makena.
Lucienne de Naie of the Sierra Club said the Maui Island Plan should set aside 150 acres south of the Makena Golf Course for preservation.
"It's sensitive land," she said.
Makena Resort has plenty of other land for development, and the area has many archaeological and cultural sites that were not known when the area was planned for resorts 40 years ago, she said.
Others testifiers spoke in favor of the proposed Piiholo South elderly housing project, which so far has not been included in the Maui Island Plan's Makawao growth area.
Merry Sturtz, the widow of Ron Sturtz, former Maui Tomorrow president who was also an original partner in Piiholo South, said her husband had wanted to see a needed housing project that was also environmentally friendly.
"Not every family can absorb an elder into their home . . . and not every elder has family nearby they can lean on," she said.
The Planning Committee's next community meeting on the Maui Island Plan will be at 6 p.m. Thursday at Helene Hall in Hana.
* Ilima Loomis can be reached at iloomis@mauinews.com.
reprinted courtesy Maui News1/27/10, original link www mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/528045.html
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