Maui Tomorrow dominates debate at General Plan Advisory Committee meetings in Kihei.It may have been billed as two public meetings of the Maui General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC) held on Thursday, July 19, and Saturday, July 21, in the Kihei Elementary School cafeteria, but from the opening bell, both meetings were dominated by ideas brought forward by Maui Tomorrow and other organizations committed to limiting growth and preserving cultural and environmental aspects of South Maui.
With increasing calls for the Maui County Planning Department to present maps and alternatives to its initial 2030 Draft Plan, Maui Tomorrow was first at bat at the July 10 meeting at Lokelani Intermediate School in Kihei. Fifty people attended the meeting, a panel presentation moderated by former Maui County Planning Director Mike Foley. The panel discussion was followed by a breakout session, giving members of the audience time to review South Maui maps and make planning suggestions.
Maui Tomorrow member Rob Parsons presented the organization’s map of South Maui’s proposed future with growth and open space areas that differ significantly from the more traditional urbanized growth model developed by the Planning Department.
Among the 11 planning considerations offered by Parsons, many of which later found their way into public testimony and GPAC member remarks at both meetings, was the limitation of growth and urban sprawl. According to the Maui Tomorrow plan, the future of South Maui should consist of identifiable villages separated by greenbelts at least 600 feet wide.
Also, according to the organization’s plan, there would be two Urban Growth Boundaries (UGB)—a 2020 UGB and a preliminary 2030 UGB that could be reviewed and formally adopted in 2020. UGBs do not allow any development outside of their boundaries.
Other recommendations included the creation of an identifiable urban center, which could include a medical facility, high school, transit station, and satellite county and state government facilities. In addition, each village would have its own identifiable core area with a preschool, primary school (K-5), park, convenience stores, service stop, bus station, etc.
To reduce traffic and dependence on automobiles, Maui Tomorrow also proposed that each village have a maximum internal dimension of one mile and that they be designed with internal greenways to be pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly.
Transportation corridors 300 feet wide would connect South Maui to other island districts. These corridors would be utilized for future transit systems such as rail or bus, walkways, bikeways, utility lines (cable, power, water) and recreational greenways.
In addition, under the Maui Tomorrow plan a South Maui transportation corridor would run mauka and parallel to Pi‘ilani Highway and form much of the 2020 Urban Growth Boundary.
Material distributed by Foley at the July 17 GPAC meeting explained that Maui Tomorrow’s preferred map of the future South Maui recommended tighter, more limiting UGBs than those on the growth map prepared by the Planning Department. Maui Tomorrow also recommended a reduced number of housing units in future South Maui subdivisions and rural density for projects mauka of Pi‘ilani Highway.
Among natural and cultural areas to be preserved under the more restrictive plan are Makena Beach State Park, Palauea Beach, Makena Landing, the southern portion of Wailea 670 and Kealia Pond.
Maui Tomorrow’s more limiting UGBs are achieved by significant size reductions of planned developments. Honua‘ula (Wailea 670), for example, was cited for its numerous historic cultural areas and threatened plants that Maui Tomorrow wants preserved, calling for one-third of the project area and a 100-foot buffer between Maui Meadows and the project to be zoned as open space.
Maui Tomorrow wants to reduce the size of the projected growth of Waiohuli, Kaonoulu and Ohukai villages by leaving most of the mauka areas outside of the UGB and in “agricultural” zoning. In addition, Waiohuli would not be placed in the UGB. Scaling back these three projects would significantly reduce traffic impact and infrastructure costs. At Ma‘alaea, the feasibility of future development is severely limited by a lack of facilities for sewage treatment, water supply, fire fighting and education. Even the ability to provide affordable housing would be restricted.
Until recently, South Maui was the fastest growing area on Maui and one of the fastest growing in the state. While growth has continued, it has increasingly been met with opposition fueled by anger over increased traffic, high housing prices, longer commutes between home and jobs, loss of access to coastal areas and cultural sites, and the rise of Hawaiian political and cultural nationalism that continues to question who legally owns the land being developed.
The next GPAC meetings are scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 7, in Central Maui; and Thursday, Aug. 21, and Saturday, Aug. 23, in Lahaina. GPAC plans to complete its recommendations for Maui County Planning Director Jeff Hunt by the end of October. The draft plan will then go to the Maui Planning Commission and the County Council for modification, approval or rejection.