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Posted at 4:15 p.m., Saturday, October 13, 2007

Honuaula project district on Maui faces protests

The Maui News

WAILUKU — After a monthlong break, the Maui County Council's Land Use Committee again will take up the disputed Honua'ula project district land use requests Thursday, The Maui News reported.

The last round of meetings on the 670-acre project district adjourned Sept. 19, with Land Use Chairman Mike Molina saying his committee needed to deal with other issues as well as allow the committee staff to digest the massive amounts of material presented to the committee during 52 hours of meeting time.

The review of Honua'ula is to resume at 9 a.m. in the Council Chambers on the eighth floor of Kalana O Maui. Because it is a new meeting, the Land Use Committee will again be required to allow public comment on the issue.

Molina was not available for comment Friday but said on Sept. 19 as he adjourned that he would ask committee members to be prepared with comments and concerns so they can push ahead and agree on a recommendation to the full council by the end of the year.

The committee is reviewing a list of more than 30 conditions proposed as part of the zoning changes requested by landowner WCPT/GW Land Assoc.

Opposition to the residential mixed-use project district continues strong. On Friday, members and supporters of the Maui Tomorrow Foundation held a roadside sign-waving demonstration along Piilani Highway at Wailea Ike Drive, just makai of the Wailea 670 project district site.

Members of Maui Tomorrow say the development will destroy cultural sites, displace native plant habitats and add to load on inadequate county infrastructure in South Maui — including depleted water sources, lack of sewage treatment capacity, congestion on beaches and heavy traffic loads on highways.

Previous meetings on the land use applications included more than three days of public testimony. One 6 1/2-hour session was held Sept. 10 in Kihei in response to council members who demanded a session be held at night in South Maui to accommodate residents who could not appear at committee meetings held during the day.

Public testimony to the committee also included proponents who maintained the project will create jobs for local families and provide affordable housing. The Honua'ula partnership is promising that half of the 1,400 housing units to be developed will be priced to be affordable under federal median income guidelines.

Since July 25, the Land Use Committee has been mulling the conditions to be imposed on the project district zoning for the project which is above the Wailea Resort. In addition to the 1,400 housing units, the project would include a private golf course and a commercial center. The project site is designated the Wailea 670 project district in the Kihei-Makena Community plan.

After nearly 52 hours of discussion and public testimony, the committee has reached tentative agreement on 12 conditions for the project. There are 19 proposed conditions from the Maui Planning Commission and 33 suggested by the developer, with several that overlap.

For more Maui news, visit The Maui News.