Mahalo to everyone who submitted comments on the Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) for the proposed Hotel Wailuku. We have now heard that the developer has put this project on hold (although it could come back at any time). The proposed 6-story, 156-room hotel would be built on the corner of Main and Market streets, and would significantly impact Wailuku’s historic small-town core, including residential neighborhoods that local families call home. Over 1,000 comments were submitted on the Draft EA. In addition, our petition asking the County Department of Public Works to require a full Environmental Impact Statement (instead of an EA) garnered over 3,500 signatures. The County has not made a decision yet, but the fact that the project is on hold is a hopeful sign. We will continue monitoring this proposal.

In a related issue, the Hotel Wailuku project would require that a variance be issued by the Maui Redevelopment Agency (MRA). However, the Wailuku Good Government Coalition and Maui Tomorrow Foundation filed a lawsuit earlier this year, challenging the legal authority of the Maui Redevelopment Agency to make land use decisions in Wailuku. We were headed to court in June when the County administration proposed a delay of the hearing date, so that they could submit an ordinance that would address the present illegality of MRA granting these permissions.

In the meantime, the County administration has agreed to a moratorium on MRA decisions on zoning and variance applications. Since the proposed ordinance will need to be reviewed by the planning commissions and then the County Council, we have now agreed to postpone the court hearing until March 2021. This may have been a factor in the developer’s decision to put the project on hold.

Stay tuned!