According to Maui News:
On July 19, Wailuku attorney Isaac Hall filed an appeal with the Maui Planning Commission asserting that the Planning Department should not have granted Rock & Brews Paia building a minor SMA permit and that pushed the cost above the $500,000 level that requires the project developers to submit to a full SMA permit review.
Rock & Brews came back for an after the fact amendment for more demolition and work, still claiming the amount remains under $500,000.
Hall said that the restaurant developers’ application to amend their SMA minor permit “contains numerous misrepresentations and erroneous or unsupported statements.”
Maui News went on to say:
“Hall said that the demolition work on the bathroom and an outdoor eating area was done from July 16 to 18, at least. Then, the developers filed an application for an amendment of their minor permit on Aug. 9, “without notice to appellants,” who did not discover the request for an after-the-fact amendment until Sept. 3.
“Appellants, in the brief time available to them, prepared and filed written objections to the planning director,” Hall said in his letter. “The public participation rights of the appellants and others have been violated again.”
He objected to no notice being given to the appellants, even though they were, by that time, parties to an appeal of the earlier SMA minor permit.
“The applicant’s claim that it discovered ‘previously unknown and unforeseen defective improvements’ is not credible,” Hall said. “The applicant had a lengthy period of due diligence before it presented its initial building plans to the county, at which time all of the alleged ‘defects’ could and should have been identified,” Hall said.
He said that the project requires an SMA permit.
“By a proper application of the rules, the value of the project clearly exceeds $500,000 and may cause substantial adverse impacts,” Hall said.
He said he’s seeking a determination that the project’s SMA minor and other permits are “invalid, void and of no force or effect.”
“Further, all development or construction based upon these illegal permits must cease and the project restored to its original condition prior to the issuance of these illegal permits,” he said. “Penalties and fines must be imposed, as allowed by law.”
Hall said Spence ignored the appellants’ objections when he issued his decision approving the amended after-the-fact permit on Sept. 6.”
Spence maintains that the value is under $500,00.
Maui Tomorrow Executive Director Irene Bowie said that project opponents filed appeals “because the community expressed concern that the project purposely undervalued construction costs in order to void a public hearing.”
You be the judge whether this project AND demolition of the old building is under $500,000:
