KAHULUI, Maui — A public comment period ends next week on a proposal to relocate the Maui Swap Meet to a 4.5-acre drainage retention basin on the northern edge of Maui Community College's campus, The Maui News reported.

The Friday deadline for public input is tied to a draft environmental assessment for the $300,000 project to clear, grub and grade the drainage basin, install concrete walkways and construct a fence around the property. (See box for public comment information.)

"I'm looking at a world-class swap meet with paved walkways and shade trees," said swap meet operator Wil Wong, president of Maui Exposition Inc. "I can't wait to move somewhere that's more accessible to everyone and more convenient."

For 16 years the swap meet has been doing business on Saturdays on 4.5 acres owned by Alexander & Baldwin off Puunene Avenue, next to the Kahului Post Office. The event was established a decade earlier at the Kahului Fairgrounds.

According to the draft environmental assessment, the relocation of the swap meet from its current site has been spurred by Maui County plans to develop an affordable housing project on the property. On Friday evening, county spokeswoman Mahina Martin said the county is reviewing plans for the project.

The swap meet has grown in popularity over the years with an increasing number of residents and visitors putting a squeeze on vendors at the current location, a grass lot where there's room for only about 300 vehicles to park.

Admission costs 50 cents for customers, who can find a variety of products such as locally grown produce, flowers, arts and crafts. Retail vendors pay $35 per day, while those holding "garage sales" pay $25.

The new MCC location also is 4.5 acres, but the area can all be devoted to vendor space while customers would use the college's 800-stall parking lot, which occasionally provides overflow parking for events at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center.

Eliminating the parking hassles at the Puunene Avenue location could lead to a 15 percent increase in swap meet attendance, Wong said.

"We're salivating on how much easier it will be to bring in customers," he said, adding that the college's parking lot is "very lightly" used on Saturday mornings. "It shouldn't conflict with anything they're doing."

Swap meet customers would enter the college's parking lot through its Wahine Pio Avenue entrance. The Saturday event's hours would be 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., an hour later than now. The swap meet has an option to allow vendors to use the parking lot during wet weather, Wong said.

The swap meet's agreement to use MCC property includes a 12-year lease, with an option to continue for five years, he said. For rent, the college will receive a percentage of the swap meet's attendance fees. Wong declined to say what that would be, but he said the agreement called for the percentage to go up every three years.

Wong said that with a larger area for vendors at the college, he's considering having promotions such as cultural festivals with dancing or music that could be tied in to product sales.

College Chancellor Clyde Sakamoto said he thought the relocation would be good for both the swap meet and the school.

"The swap meet is a popular community event, and we are looking forward to its relocation on our campus," he said. "We believe the location is a win-win for the swap meet, the college and the community. It provides ample parking and a beautiful setting. The swap meet's new home will also provide our students with entrepreneurial opportunities to test their ideas for new services and products as well as inviting more of our community onto our campus."

Longtime swap meet vendor Woody Goble was enthusiastic about moving to the new location.

"It think it's a marvelous idea," he said. "Certainly the enlarged parking area ... (would) benefit the entire swap meet."

"Maybe the old folks for whom parking was too much of a hassle will come back," said Goble, who sells flowers such as protea, bird of paradise and carnations.

Wong said the drainage retention basin on the college's property would be expanded in the direction of Kahului Beach Road, increasing the capacity of the area to handle rain runoff. A kiawe tree buffer would be maintained to screen the property from the roadway, and sea grape trees have been planted as well, he said.

Grading of the property will create a "gentle slope" from the parking lot to the vendor area that should make it easily accessible to anyone, including those who use wheelchairs, he said. Waterlines will be installed to make running water available to vendors as well as for maintenance and landscaping.

The fencing would be designed to be aesthetically pleasing, using concrete pillars to have it blend in with the architecture of buildings at the college, Wong said.

The project needs a special management area permit from the Maui Planning Commission, which could take the matter up as early as May, he said. Grading and grubbing permits also are being sought from the county.

If all goes as planned, the swap meet could open at its new location in November, he said.

For more Maui news, visit http://www.mauinews.com/default.aspx">The Maui News.