The Maui News - Dive operator Robert Baker sued Maui developer Everett Dowling in 2nd Circuit Court last week to keep Makena Landing open to commercial businesses, including his Maui Sun Divers Hawai‘i LLC, which has been using the landing for 30 years. Baker said Wednesday that several other businesses are being affected as well, although he could not persuade them to join his suit. The county is not named as a defendant in the suit, which seeks to declare that Makena Landing and nearby Maluaka North and South have been open to the public for both private and commercial uses since Hawai‘i was a kingdom. Although the land may be privately owned, attorney James Fosbinder claims in the complaint that the public has a prescriptive right to continue using it, based on historic uses. There are no restrictions on general public access to the landing, or use of the parking lot, restrooms and showers. The prohibition was to commercial tours operating from the pocket park at the landing. The lawsuit asks for an injunction for commercial as well as general public use to continue, for a declaration by the court that Maui Sun Divers’ and other companies’ use of the accesses is not unlawful or injurious to others, for a permanent grant of easement to the public, for attorney’s fees and costs, and a jury trial.