In what has become the most watched council race this year, voters will decide whether the next South Maui member will be a maverick in the Nishiki mold.

The candidate who would settle most comfortably in Nishiki's chair is Michelle Anderson, his longtime aide, who has won the endorsement of both her boss and environmental groups.

Anderson said she wants to emulate Nishiki by working to keep government open and honest. And like Nishiki, she wants to make sure community zoning plans are strictly followed and that future developments don't have negative impacts on the community as a whole.

"Wayne was practicing smart-growth policies long before the term became popularly known," Anderson said.

Other candidates have distanced themselves from the outspoken councilman.

"There's got to be a balance," said challenger Ron Vaught, a visitor-magazine publisher. "Wayne believes no growth is the best growth. But you can't sustain an economy that way. I don't believe pouring concrete over the island is the answer either, but there's got to be a balance."

On his campaign Web site, Jason Norman said anyone who is "extremely independent and opinionated and even sometimes rude" is counterproductive on the council.

"It takes a majority vote to get any work done. I get along with people and get stuff done," he said. "That's not to say I won't stand up for what I believe in."

Affordable housing is the hot topic in the County Council race this year. The average price of a Maui home is well more than $500,000, and the few residential developments to spring up recently have been met with long lines of hopeful buyers.

"It's a crucial issue, " said voter Buck Joiner, a South Maui community activist. "The cost to buy is preposterous, and the cost to rent is preposterous."

It's also a complex problem, said Joiner, because increasing the housing stock could swell the island's population and threaten the quality of life.

Here's what the candidates have to say on the issue:

• Former county sports development director Johnny Jackson, 48, said he would set up a rental trust fund, and find federal and state tax credits to offer developers of rental housing. He would push for rental rates held at affordable rates for at least 50 years, like the Wilder Vista apartments on O'ahu. Jackson said he would consider rent control, but ultimately let the people decide.

• Former Planning Commission member and council candidate Joe Bertram III, 47, said he would strictly enforce current affordable-housing requirements and look for ways to redevelop commercial areas in Kahului and Kihei as mixed-use communities for all income levels.

• Planning Commission member Johanna Amorin, 61, a business owner, said she would work to ensure that infrastructure is constructed concurrent with development. That would remove obstacles to greater housing inventory, she said, and prices naturally would subside.

• Vaught, 67, said the county cannot leave it to developers to create affordable homes. He said the county should take a chunk of land as a condition of approval, then hire contractors to build homes. That would make the homes affordable while maintaining standards, he said.

• Norman, 36, a project manager with Betsill Brothers Construction Inc., said he would require developers to build all their affordable homes first, before any market-priced homes go up. The county also could take land as a condition of approval and hand it over to groups that build inexpensive housing, such as Habitat for Humanity and Self-Help Housing Corp.

• Anderson, 56, said the county must get its fair share of federal housing money and take advantage of programs not being used. She proposes bringing federal housing officials to Maui to educate leaders on new ways to create quality housing at prices that working families can afford.

• Former council candidate Zandra Souza-Amaral, 54, a paralegal, real-estate agent and member of the Maui Nui Affordable Housing Task Force, said she supports task force ideas such as dedicating a source of revenue through the state conveyance tax to buy land for affordable communities, and using land trusts to keep housing prices perpetually affordable.

• Sod farmer Juan Cendejas, 43, said he would get other levels of government involved to help deal with the affordable-housing crisis.

Maui County Council candidates are required to live in their district, but are elected by voters countywide.

The top two vote-getters will advance to the Nov. 2 general election.