Maui Land & Pineapple Co. wants to construct the 3.5-mile trail between Kapalua and Honolua bays that will feature panoramic vistas of Molokai and Lanai. When completed in early 2009, the public trail will likely be a combination of sidewalks, crushed gravel and natural paths makai of Honoapiilani Highway as well as boardwalks over fragile sand dunes.

It will connect seven beaches to ML&P resorts and is part of the developer's overall plan to build a 100-mile network of trails across West Maui. The Kapalua Coastal Trail will also link several public recreation areas together, including D.T. Fleming Beach Park.

"There's some amazing, just breathtaking places that people have never seen because it's always been on private property," said ML&P Development Coordinator Yarrow Flower. "I think it's going to be a spectacular resource for the entire island."

The estimated $1.5 million Kapalua Coastal Trail has taken nearly three years to get to this far in the development process. The land for the trail is owned by ML&P and the state Department of Transportation.

The project still needs to get county building permits and permission from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources' Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands, said Thorne Abbott, Maui County coastal resources and shoreline planner.

The trail is in the application process for a state conservation district use permit, said DLNR spokeswoman Deborah Ward. It could go before the Board of Land and Natural Resources next month, she said.

The county building permits could be granted in at least the next four months and construction could begin soon after, Abbott said.

Not everyone is a trail fan, though. Some residents of Plantation Estates at Kapalua oppose the foot trail.

Michael and Barbara Resmo wrote to the planning commission to say they were concerned that the trail, which runs along the estates property for 250 feet, would jeopardize their privacy and security. They want ML&P to build a 6-foot-tall stone wall to separate Plantation Estates residents from the trail.

Planning commission member Bruce U'u said he is a strong supporter of the trail and intends to use it himself.

"Anytime I can get out of my car and walk or bike, that's what I'll do," U'u said.

This summer, the Maui Planning Commission also unanimously approved a final environmental assessment of the project.

ML&P owns Kapalua Resort and planned the trail system to transform the resort into one that focuses on more than golf in order to revitalize its visitors' minds, bodies and spirits, according to planning commission documents.

Some trail sections, particularly those in front of several residences and resorts, are already completed or in the works.

———