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The meeting featured a panel consisting of Maui County Planning Department Senior Long Range Planner Dave Michaelson, General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC) member and Maui Economic Development Board CEO Jeanne Skog, and Stacie Thorlakson, GPAC member, business consultant and host of the SCORE-sponsored radio program “Akamai Business.”

GPAC is the 25-member volunteer committee that helped develop recommendations for the Maui 2030 General Plan for the Planning Department. GPAC completed its work on Feb. 28 and their suggestions were sent to the Maui Planning Commission.

The KCA audience of over 50 people was welcomed by Skog, who joked that she was glad to be with so many others who could not get tickets to the Aerosmith concert being held that night at Maui War Memorial Stadium in Wailuku.

Skog expressed her appreciation for the work of the Planning Commission and the Planning Department, urged the audience not to focus entirely on the growth maps for the area and recommended they also read the policy statement in the plan. “The maps are sexy,” she said, “But the policy statements in the plan are also important and the words have meaning.”

Skog suggested that people not “…get caught up in the boxes, but step back and look at the big picture of what is being planned. “Is it where you would want to live? That’s what’s important,” she said.

The director’s recommendations for South Maui included placing controversial lands associated with the Mākena Resort within the South Maui Urban Growth Boundary. This had been opposed by GPAC, which saw the land in question as having extensive cultural and environmental significance.

Another key divergence from GPAC recommendations was the director’s proposal to increase the density of potential urban development above Pi‘ilani Highway. GPAC—led by Susan Moikeha of Kīhei—had sought a less urbanized development with larger lots and a more “country town” atmosphere.

In the recommendations sent to the council by the Planning Department, South Maui is anticipated to need a total of 1,482 new housing units by the year 2030 to accommodate population growth. Currently, 1,900 units are proposed at an assumed household size of 2.72 persons per unit.

Thorlakson, the former president of the Maui Chamber of Commerce, raised the question of funding to carry out these recommendations, especially those involving infrastructure. “The plan does not have funding. We can dream, but we need to look at the funding reality,” she said.

Questions from the audience included concerns regarding zoning changes, traffic, housing development, Olowalu, water and infrastructure needs, such as sewer capacity and the elimination of injection wells that are blamed for the increased algae growth being seen along Maui’s South Shore.

Thorlakson called on residents to set aside any private agendas and work for the common good. “We are all in this together,” she said, “…and we all have to make sacrifices to make this island a better place.”

The recommendations of the Planning Commission, GPAC and Maui County Planning Director Hunt have now been sent to the County Council, which is expected to review the work beginning in January 2010 and complete the Maui General Plan by October 2010.

Possible schedule complications include the recent Hawai‘i State Supreme Court ruling that Councilmember Sol Kaho‘ohalahala—the chair of the council’s Planning Committee with jurisdiction over the Maui General Plan—is not a resident of Lāna‘i, clouding his future council membership and the legitimacy of votes that may be taken as part of his committee’s review of the plan.

How the council will handle potential challenges, including possible appointments to any additional positions vacated, could prove to be an impediment to the General Plan review process. If the challenges prove significant, it is possible that the Council could pass an extension for conclusion of their review, which would push the final decision past the November elections.

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