If all goes as planned, in the next few years, the estimated $235 million, state-of-the-art jail would spring up in Pu‘unēnē’s abandoned sugar cane fields. The jail would replace the aged and overcrowded Maui Community Correctional Center, which sits across Waiale Road from residential subdivisions in Wailuku.

The agreement to move ahead with the project follows a squabble between Gov. Lingle and Sen. Tsutsui, vice chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

After a Maui News article in September in which Sen. Tsutsui criticized the jail’s high price tag, campus-like design and a general lack of details provided to lawmakers by the administration, the governor abruptly halted the project indefinitely. Sen. Tsutsui said he didn’t object to the project itself, but he maintained his concerns about the project’s design and cost estimates. Then, Gov. Lingle invited the senator to a meeting at her office last week to resolve their differences, the senator said. The meeting included the governor, Sen. Tsutsui, Fukunaga and Public Safety Director Clayton Frank. After the meeting, the state senator said he still has questions and doubts, but he is very interested in learning more and seeing the project get underway.