Grand Wailea hotel resolves Hoolei height limitation for resort developments in the Kihei-Makena Community Plan

 

Grand Wailea resort settlement

Attorney: Ho‘olei owners happy dispute resolved

 

By Brian Perry - City Editor
reprinted courtesy Maui News 12/28/12

 

WAILUKU - A settlement has been reached in a dispute over the proposed 310-room expansion of the Grand Wailea.

Maui County planner Ann Cua disclosed the settlement Tuesday during a meeting of the Maui Planning Commission. However, settlement documents were not ready in time for discussion by commission members Tuesday, so the issue will come before the commission during its April 10 meeting, Cua said.

The dispute stems from the interventions of two parties - owners of units at the neighboring Ho'olei at Grand Wailea and Dana Naone Hall, the former chairwoman of the Maui-Lanai Island Burial Council. Both sought to intervene in the Grand Wailea's application for a special management area permit.

 

A fountain provides a tranquil focal point Tuesday for the oceanfront grounds of the Grand Wailea. A settlement in a dispute over the hotel’s expansion includes scaled-back plans for a new 300-room building and archaeological testing of its construction site.

In September 2009, the planning commission denied their requests to intervene, and the panel approved permits for the hotel expansion project to proceed. However, the Ho'olei owners and Naone Hall appealed the commission's action to Circuit Court, which in September 2010 reversed the panel's decisions and set the stage for mediation and, possibly, a contested case proceeding.

Now, with the settlement completed, there will be no contested case proceeding, Cua told commission members. Pyramid Project Management, the hotel's owner, also may renew its application for permits, including a special management area permit.

 

The settlement agreements include three main provisions:

* The hotel's proposed Molokini Wing would be reduced from the originally planned six stories to four stories with no portion of the building (except for an 8-foot-tall roof access structure) higher than 80 feet above sea level.

* The number of new rooms would be reduced from 310 to 300, which would give the 800-room Grand Wailea 1,100 when the project is completed.

* There would be extensive archaeological testing in the area of the Molokini Wing's site, which would be on the current site of the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a restaurant.

 

Speaking for the Ho'olei owners, attorney Isaac Hall said: "We're happy to finally get it resolved."

The main issue for the owners was the maximum height limitation for resort developments in the Kihei-Makena Community Plan, Hall said.

"To get the Molokini Wing reduced in height so that views are not obstructed was very, very important," he said. "We're happy to achieve that."

Hall said he was also pleased to have the project's density "reduced somewhat."

Provisions of the settlement agreement say that additional rooms lost by the top two floors of the Molokini Wing may be relocated to elsewhere on the resort property by reconfiguring space within existing buildings. However, there would be a net reduction of 10 additional rooms, even with reconfigured areas.

Attorney B. Martin Luna, representing Pyramid Project Management, said he was pleased a settlement was reached, "and we can start moving on the project."

The Humuhumunukunukuapua'a restaurant would be demolished to make way for construction of the new wing, he said, adding that the project will have a community benefit because "there seems to be a great need for jobs on the island."

Luna said he hopes the commission will be able to take up the development's proposed special management area permit when it takes up the settlement in April.

Naone Hall, whose intervention focused on her concerns about Native Hawaiian burials, said she was pleased with the outcome of the settlement negotiations.

"Pyramid recognized that it was better to know what they are dealing with (concerning burials) before committing to construction," she said. "I'm very thankful to them for that."

She said she was very concerned that any burial on the property be "accorded the justice and due process they deserve."

With the settlement in place, a protocol has been established to identify burials ahead of construction, she said.

If Native Hawaiian burials and skeletal remains are found and there's a determination to preserve them in place, then the developer won't build the Molokini Wing or another structure on top of them. Instead, the project would be changed to move the building to conform to the final determination of the Maui-Lanai Island Burial Council, according to the settlement.

Naone Hall said that if the building needs to be relocated, the new site also would be subject to archaeological testing before construction occurs.

"I feel good about it," she said.

* Brian Perry can be reached at citydesk@mauinews.com.

 

reprinted courtesy Maui News 12/28/12, original link www mauinews com/page/content.detail/id/559543.html

 

 

brought to you by Wailea Makena Real Estate Inc.

www.Wailea-Makena-real-estate.com

 

 

Peter Gelsey R (PB)

Wailea Makena Real Estate, Inc.

www.petergelsey.com

direct (808)  344-8000

Toll free 800-482-5089

email peter@petergelsey.com 

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