Panel votes to allow B&Bs in agricultural districts
The Maui County Council’s Planning Committee reversed itself and
voted to allow bed-and-breakfasts to be located in agricultural
districts. For about two months now, the five-member committee has been
meeting to address a series of bills presented by Mayor Charmaine
Tavares’ administration and the Planning Department.
Tavares’ approach has been both to streamline the transient vacation
rental legislation and try to crack down on unpermitted vacation
rentals located in residential neighborhoods. The premise is that
short-term rentals damage a community’s character and further deplete
an already shallow pool for long-term rentals.

Maui Land & Pine’s Pulelehua  project

Community learns about West Maui General Plan issues
At a community forum sponsored by Maui Tomorrow and Save Honolua
Coalition, about 50 participants learned that County Councilors elected
in 2008 will decide the outcome of the General Plan. If the review goes
according to schedule, the General Plan will become legally binding in
2010 and remain until 2030 with reviews every ten years.

Court denies Wailea 670 motion to dissolve injunction
The Second Circuit Court in Wailuku today denied a motion by
Wailea/Honua’ula 670 to "dissolve or reconsider" a preliminary
injunction previously ordered by the court in the case of Kanahele et
al. v. Maui County. This is the case in which five South Maui residents
are suing to void the granting of conditional residential zoning to a
1,400 unit project south of Maui Meadows and mauka of the Wailea resort.

DLNR proposes new rules to create civil penalty system for natural resource violations
In an effort to step up the protection and compliance with the state’s
natural and cultural resources laws, the Department of Land and Natural
Resources (DLNR) will hold statewide public informational meetings,
starting July 14, on draft rules to establish an administrative system
to process DLNR’s civil (non-criminal) enforcement cases in a just,
expeditious and cost-effective manner.
"People in Hawai’i care deeply about our natural and cultural
resources, and want us to do a better job in protecting them and
enforcing against violations that harm our lands and environment" Laura
H. Thielen, DLNR chairperson, said.

Sunshine suit on Honua’ula held up
Second Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza gave the county and Honua’ula
Properties LLC four months to prepare a defense on a lawsuit filed by
five Kihei residents against the County Council. The residents,
represented by attorney Lance Collins, had asked for summary judgment
against the council for allegedly violating the Sunshine Law by
restricting testimony from the public and for backroom negotiations
during zoning hearings for the 1,400-unit South Maui development.
Cardoza on Wednesday said it was premature to rule on the motion.
Collins asserted that the county has already admitted the facts, so all
the judge needs to do is apply the law.

GPAC Adopts Vision and Goals
The General Plan Advisory Committee assembled on Thursday, June 5, at
the Kaunoa Senior Center in Spreckelsville in a meeting that uncovered
signs of growing strain on both planning staff and GPAC’s volunteer
members. The meeting ended abruptly when Chair Tom Cannon declared the
lack of a quorum after seven members left over the course of the
meeting, completing only four of the 12 items on the evening’s agenda.
GPAC is slated to complete its work by mid-October of this year,
although the original completion date was December 2007.

2007

Maalaea project’s EIS ready for review
The developers of a proposed 949-unit residential community at
Maalaea have submitted their draft environmental impact study for
public comment. The $400 million Maalaea Mauka would cover 257 acres of
former sugar cane land classified by the state and county as
agricultural. The project would be mix of single- and multifamily
homes, townhouses, rental apartments and affordable housing for
seniors. Maalaea Mauka would also include park land and a community
center, according to the document issued Dec. 8.
(see also: 1,000-home Hawaii subdivision planned)

Bad reviews sink Molokai EIS
Those critical of Molokai Ranch’s proposed luxury development at Laau
cheered yesterday after the large landowner withdrew its environmental
impact study during a state Land Use Commission hearing. Ranch
representatives said they are still committed to developing the project
but wanted to revise the 3,000-page study because of public criticisms.
The commission’s pending staff report, usually read at the end of the
hearing, would have been unfavorable, according to one of the
commissioners.

Transit corridors would link Maui’s population cores
Unveiling a concept for a mass transit system for Maui, a subcommittee
to the Maui General Plan Advisory Committee emphasized that
establishing the routes may be a key to future success.
"It’s important to set the corridors early on to keep down the cost of
acquiring property," said Tom Cannon as he unveiled the mass transit
concept for Maui. Cannon was reporting to the Maui General Plan
Advisory Committee as it works with the Planning Department to come up
with a Maui island plan as part of a new county General Plan designed
to guide development through 2030.

Planning commission action on Montana Beach affirmed
Circuit Judge Shackley Raffetto has affirmed a Maui Planning Commission
decision to uphold former Planning Director John Min’s withdrawal of
SMA exemptions from the Montana Beach project. In an order issued Oct.
2, Raffetto ruled that the owners of the condominium units could not
rely on "so-called ‘long standing policy’ and/or oral employee
assurances" from county staff, since in this case "both are against the
law."

Wailea 670 – What’s in a name?
In traditional Hawaiian life, a name was often very important. A place
name like Wailea, for example, told a story. In one more generation,
few will recall that Wailea once referred to a small spring and the
remains of an ancient Hawaiian fishing settlement on Wailea Point.
Fewer still will recall the place name Kahamanini, referring to the
abundance of reef fish in nearby waters. Who will remember that Wailea
is part of the ahupua’a of Paeahu?

Sprawlification – A&B’s plans for expanding Kahului’s boundaries, and more
On July 5 the top brass of Hawai’i’s largest corporation showed up
at the Maui County Council Land Use Committee hearing on whether to
reclassify 179 acres of agricultural lands on the outskirts of Kahului.
The request for light industrial zoning for Maui Business Park Phase II
could double the acreage already congesting the Dairy Road gauntlet of
retail-commercial big box stores, traffic lights, fast food outlets and
parking lots. Alexander & Baldwin owns 69,000 acres of Maui.
Thirty-seven thousand of those acres, stretching through Maui’s Central
Valley and up across the lower slopes of Haleakala, are growing cane
for Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar, an A&B subsidiary. Another
16,000 acres are conservation lands, including watershed areas with
water catchment systems managed by A&B subsidiary East Maui
Irrigation.

Will South Maui embrace golf links, or links to our past?
"Some places gotta be left alone," Ed Lindsey said. "We think we own
the world. Here’s a news flash: We don’t. We represent the plants and
animals and spirits and stories that have taken place here. Don’t
destroy any more of our cultural sites."

Developer: Land to stay agricultural
The developer of an 1,800-acre agricultural subdivision in lower Kula
said the plan is aimed at keeping the former pineapple land in
agricultural use. Farmers and residents in the area were not convinced
when representatives of Kula 1800 Investment Partners LLC presented the
plans at a special meeting of the Kula Community Association. Waiakoa
Ranch would have 86 large lots on the former pineapple and pasturelands
running from Pulehu to Naalae Road below Kula Highway. Lot sizes will
range from 6 to 40 acres, with one large remnant parcel of 323 acres
available for sale or lease.

Living Legacies: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and the Maui Coastal Land Trust
Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. is one of America’s most passionate
environmentalists. Last Wednesday, Feb. 21, he addressed a
near-capacity audience at Maui Arts and Cultural Center’s Castle
Theater, as the first of five speakers in the Focus Green lecture
series. Though his voice quavered at times (Kennedy lives with a
condition known as spasmodic dysphonia, which strains his speech), his
ardent environmental and political message never wavered. In fact, he
gave so much information that one audience member likened listening to
"trying to drink from a fire hose."

2006

Hawaii’s paradise falls victim to progress
Early Hawaiian culture taught that the earth is a living, conscious
being. It is not to be dominated but is to be cared for with pono
(balance and rightness). In the land of true aloha (love, compassion,
divine blessings) the land provides for its people. This sacred
Hawaiian value is similarly expressed in the cultures of many ethnic
groups. As 2006 concludes, I struggle to find the words to express the
angst and powerlessness I feel about what is happening to our planet
and to the values that should be guiding our relationship with it.

NORTH SHORE HERITAGE PARK
The Paia-Haiku and Wailuku-Kahului Community Plans set aside over
200 acres of north shore land for park and open space in the mid 1990s.
Slowly, parcels designated for parks or open space are being sold off.
The North Shore beaches serve thousands of residents and visitors every
day. Let Mayor Tavares know that you support a North Shore Heritage
Park that will eventually include all undeveloped shoreline areas from
Stable Road to Maliko Gulch.