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General Plan committee seeks more time
Already years behind schedule, the Maui County General Plan update could be looking at further delays, as the volunteer committee tasked with reviewing it has asked for a three-month extension.
Committee members acknowledged the delay but said hours of public testimony and the plodding pace of meetings that give all 25 members of the volunteer board a chance to speak have made for slow going. After waiting more than a year to get a draft from county planners, the panel had six months to review the document and make recommendations but isn't on track to meet its deadline.
The committee has asked for an extension from October to the end of January. The request must be approved by the Maui County Council.
Panel votes to allow B&Bs in agricultural districts The Maui County Council's Planning Committee reversed itself and voted to allow bed-and-breakfasts to be located in agricultural districts. For about two months now, the five-member committee has been meeting to address a series of bills presented by Mayor Charmaine Tavares' administration and the Planning Department.
Tavares' approach has been both to streamline the transient vacation rental legislation and try to crack down on unpermitted vacation rentals located in residential neighborhoods. The premise is that short-term rentals damage a community's character and further deplete an already shallow pool for long-term rentals.
Community learns about West Maui General Plan issues At a community forum sponsored by Maui Tomorrow and Save Honolua Coalition, about 50 participants learned that County Councilors elected in 2008 will decide the outcome of the General Plan. If the review goes according to schedule, the General Plan will become legally binding in 2010 and remain until 2030 with reviews every ten years.
Court denies Wailea 670 motion to dissolve injunction
The Second Circuit Court in Wailuku today denied a motion by Wailea/Honua'ula 670 to "dissolve or reconsider" a preliminary injunction previously ordered by the court in the case of Kanahele et al. v. Maui County. This is the case in which five South Maui residents are suing to void the granting of conditional residential zoning to a 1,400 unit project south of Maui Meadows and mauka of the Wailea resort.
DLNR proposes new rules to create civil penalty system for natural resource violations
Statewide public information meetings to be held
In an effort to step up the protection and compliance with the state's natural and cultural resources laws, the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) will hold statewide public informational meetings, starting July 14, on draft rules to establish an administrative system to process DLNR's civil (non-criminal) enforcement cases in a just, expeditious and cost-effective manner.
"People in Hawai'i care deeply about our natural and cultural resources, and want us to do a better job in protecting them and enforcing against violations that harm our lands and environment" Laura H. Thielen, DLNR chairperson, said.
Sunshine suit on Honua'ula held up
Second Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza gave the county and Honua'ula Properties LLC four months to prepare a defense on a lawsuit filed by five Kihei residents against the County Council. The residents, represented by attorney Lance Collins, had asked for summary judgment against the council for allegedly violating the Sunshine Law by restricting testimony from the public and for backroom negotiations during zoning hearings for the 1,400-unit South Maui development. Cardoza on Wednesday said it was premature to rule on the motion. Collins asserted that the county has already admitted the facts, so all the judge needs to do is apply the law.
GPAC Adopts Vision and Goals
The General Plan Advisory Committee assembled on Thursday, June 5, at the Kaunoa Senior Center in Spreckelsville in a meeting that uncovered signs of growing strain on both planning staff and GPAC's volunteer members. The meeting ended abruptly when Chair Tom Cannon declared the lack of a quorum after seven members left over the course of the meeting, completing only four of the 12 items on the evening's agenda. GPAC is slated to complete its work by mid-October of this year, although the original completion date was December 2007.
Maalaea project's EIS ready for review The developers of a proposed 949-unit residential community at Maalaea have submitted their draft environmental impact study for public comment. The $400 million Maalaea Mauka would cover 257 acres of former sugar cane land classified by the state and county as agricultural. The project would be mix of single- and multifamily homes, townhouses, rental apartments and affordable housing for seniors. Maalaea Mauka would also include park land and a community center, according to the document issued Dec. 8.
(see also: 1,000-home Hawaii subdivision planned)
Bad reviews sink Molokai EIS
Those critical of Molokai Ranch's proposed luxury development at Laau cheered yesterday after the large landowner withdrew its environmental impact study during a state Land Use Commission hearing. Ranch representatives said they are still committed to developing the project but wanted to revise the 3,000-page study because of public criticisms. The commission's pending staff report, usually read at the end of the hearing, would have been unfavorable, according to one of the commissioners.
Transit corridors would link Maui's population cores
Unveiling a concept for a mass transit system for Maui, a subcommittee to the Maui General Plan Advisory Committee emphasized that establishing the routes may be a key to future success.
"It's important to set the corridors early on to keep down the cost of acquiring property," said Tom Cannon as he unveiled the mass transit concept for Maui. Cannon was reporting to the Maui General Plan Advisory Committee as it works with the Planning Department to come up with a Maui island plan as part of a new county General Plan designed to guide development through 2030.
Planning commission action on Montana Beach affirmed
Circuit Judge Shackley Raffetto has affirmed a Maui Planning Commission decision to uphold former Planning Director John Min's withdrawal of SMA exemptions from the Montana Beach project. In an order issued Oct. 2, Raffetto ruled that the owners of the condominium units could not rely on "so-called 'long standing policy' and/or oral employee assurances" from county staff, since in this case "both are against the law."
Wailea 670 – What's in a name?
In traditional Hawaiian life, a name was often very important. A place name like Wailea, for example, told a story. In one more generation, few will recall that Wailea once referred to a small spring and the remains of an ancient Hawaiian fishing settlement on Wailea Point. Fewer still will recall the place name Kahamanini, referring to the abundance of reef fish in nearby waters. Who will remember that Wailea is part of the ahupua'a of Paeahu?
Sprawlification – A&B's plans for expanding Kahului's boundaries, and more On July 5 the top brass of Hawai'i's largest corporation showed up at the Maui County Council Land Use Committee hearing on whether to reclassify 179 acres of agricultural lands on the outskirts of Kahului. The request for light industrial zoning for Maui Business Park Phase II could double the acreage already congesting the Dairy Road gauntlet of retail-commercial big box stores, traffic lights, fast food outlets and parking lots. Alexander & Baldwin owns 69,000 acres of Maui. Thirty-seven thousand of those acres, stretching through Maui's Central Valley and up across the lower slopes of Haleakala, are growing cane for Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar, an A&B subsidiary. Another 16,000 acres are conservation lands, including watershed areas with water catchment systems managed by A&B subsidiary East Maui Irrigation.
Will South Maui embrace golf links, or links to our past?
"Some places gotta be left alone," Ed Lindsey said. "We think we own the world. Here's a news flash: We don't. We represent the plants and animals and spirits and stories that have taken place here. Don't destroy any more of our cultural sites."
Developer: Land to stay agricultural
The developer of an 1,800-acre agricultural subdivision in lower Kula said the plan is aimed at keeping the former pineapple land in agricultural use. Farmers and residents in the area were not convinced when representatives of Kula 1800 Investment Partners LLC presented the plans at a special meeting of the Kula Community Association. Waiakoa Ranch would have 86 large lots on the former pineapple and pasturelands running from Pulehu to Naalae Road below Kula Highway. Lot sizes will range from 6 to 40 acres, with one large remnant parcel of 323 acres available for sale or lease.
Living Legacies:Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and the Maui Coastal Land Trust
Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. is one of America's most passionate environmentalists. Last Wednesday, Feb. 21, he addressed a near-capacity audience at Maui Arts and Cultural Center's Castle Theater, as the first of five speakers in the Focus Green lecture series. Though his voice quavered at times (Kennedy lives with a condition known as spasmodic dysphonia, which strains his speech), his ardent environmental and political message never wavered. In fact, he gave so much information that one audience member likened listening to "trying to drink from a fire hose."
Hawaii's paradise falls victim to progress
Early Hawaiian culture taught that the earth is a living, conscious being. It is not to be dominated but is to be cared for with pono (balance and rightness). In the land of true aloha (love, compassion, divine blessings) the land provides for its people. This sacred Hawaiian value is similarly expressed in the cultures of many ethnic groups. As 2006 concludes, I struggle to find the words to express the angst and powerlessness I feel about what is happening to our planet and to the values that should be guiding our relationship with it.
NORTH SHORE HERITAGE PARK – Time for a bigger vision….
The Paia-Haiku and Wailuku-Kahului Community Plans set aside over 200 acres of north shore land for park and open space in the mid 1990s. Only a small amount of that (around 20 acres) is in public ownership. Slowly, parcels designated for parks or open space are being sold off. At the same time large projects are poised to move forward Upcountry and Ha‘iku agricultural lands are being rapidly developed. The North Shore beaches serve thousands of residents and visitors every day. Let Mayor Tavares know that you support a North Shore Heritage Park that will eventually include all undeveloped shoreline areas from Stable Road to Maliko Gulch along with several hundred acres of appropriate mauka lands for flood control, parking, cultural and historic interpretation, recreation, greenways and bike ways.
