It's the last day for racing before the open lot along Vevau and School streets is bulldozed to become a parking lot for the new Maui Community College dormitory across the road.

"No more RC racing for a while. Hopefully we get another track and come back," said Kalani Holbron, a Wai'anae hobbyist on Maui this weekend to run his radio-controlled car on the track for the final competition of the Maui RC Racing Association.

He told The Maui News that he was "bummed out" that it's the last races for the Kahului track Saturday and today. The Maui RC track attracted folks from O'ahu as well as from around Maui.

"We definitely need something on Maui that's affordable," said Brooksie Ancog, a Kahakuloa mother at the adjoining Maui Go Karts on Saturday. "There's really nothing for the local kids."

The RC track is making way for a parking lot required for the Kulanaa'o student housing project scheduled to be available for the MCC fall semester beginning Aug. 20.

Kulanaa'o is a private housing complex from being built specifically to support MCC. It was originally scheduled to open last year, but delays caused by weather, permit reviews and inspection scheduling pushed construction back a year.

The dormitory project is on the makai side of Vevau Street, across from the Kahului Public Library. It will provide 100 units accommodating 400 students in four four-story buildings around a central courtyard.

Another development planned in the area along Vevau Street will shut down Maui Go Karts, although landowner A&B Properties does not yet have a firm timetable for its 'Aina O Kane residential-commercial condominium complex.

Grant Chun, vice president of A&B Properties, said permit applications for 'Aina O Kane are still being processed, and he could not say when construction can begin – except that he expects to ask Maui Go Karts to leave by the end of the year. The condominium project to be built on the lot at Vevau and Kane streets will provide 103 residential units on the upper floors with commercial spaces on the ground floor. The 3.7-acre site of the RC track and Maui Go Karts is part of the former Kahului Railroad plantation village

Chun said A&B has released only one phase of 'Aina O Kane, allocating 26 residential units to interested homebuyers and drawing "tremendous interest" with more than 250 sales reservations submitted for the first release.

At a lottery for buyers held last June, around 100 people turned out at the Maui Mall in person to sign up for the first condominium units. Chun said the remaining units will be released later in the summer.

The company is also proceeding with plans for its Kahului Town Center on the old Kahului Shopping Center site, which will be linked to the developments on the adjoining block across Lono Avenue. The 20-acre Town Center — bordered by Kaahumanu, Kamehameha, Puunene and Lono avenues – will include 442 multifamily residential units with retail and office space including combination business-residential facilities, along with a half-acre "Town Square Park."

Construction could begin in late 2008.

While people will be making their homes on the Kahului sites, the track users are seeking a new home for themselves.

"We have a lot of kids that play here," said Garett Uyesugi, a member of the Maui RC Racing Association who was watering down the track for state races on Saturday.

"We are in need of finding a new place to relocate. So far we have none. We're looking," said club President George Kennedy.

Chun said A&B has not identified any land it owns as suitable for an RC track in Central Maui but suggested that the club could seek a site at Keopuolani Park or on other public lands.

Club members said they appreciated A&B's willingness to allow use of the land for 10 years, during which they were charged a "nominal annual fee" for the site maintained by club members.

Uyesugi said the club is nonprofit and any landowner could write that off in their taxes. Kennedy said anyone who can help should call him at 283-9436.

While the club members look for a new site, they wonder where the children will go.

"It's there to keep kids off the streets. It's a good thing. We have it open all the time. It's been keeping the kids very busy there," Kennedy said.

On the adjacent site, patrons of Maui Go Karts said they are "bummed" that the go karts track also will be shut down.

Ancog brought her 3-year-old son, Pumehana Kenolio III, for rides on the Go Karts, bringing a camera to take pictures of him in a cart.

Chun said A&B has advised Maui Go Karts that the notice to close likely will be issued this fall, after the summer peak season for the business.