Developer outlines 'green' subdivision planned for Kihei

The Maui News
Thursday, February 10, 2005
By HARRY EAGAR, Staff Writer

WAILUKU - Speaking for Maui Tomorrow, Ron Sturtz has been before the Maui Planning Commission "countless times," usually voicing more or less criticism of other people's developments. Tuesday, he stood up to speak for himself as a developer of a 65-lot residential project in Kihei.

"I've been to countless hearings, and we listened to what you say," he said of his Liloa Village plans.

The 21 acres at the corner of Liloa and Welakahao streets is in the Kihei master drainage area, but Sturtz and his consultant, Will Spence, said they attempted to turn that potential headache into an amenity.

Unlike many neighboring lots, Liloa Village does not include any wetlands, but it is bisected by Keokea Gulch.

Under county regulations, developers have to make provisions for at least a 50-year flood - the amount of rain that would be expected just once in half a century. Liloa Village proposes to accommodate even a 100-year flood by leaving a wide green belt along the gulch.

The open zone could transfer 9,000 cubic feet of water per second - about the size of the Colorado River, says Sturtz - but that would be "one day out of 100 years. The rest of the time, it's a park."

In addition, Liloa Village is proposing a community open space area that also would function as an additional detention basin. The land is zoned R-3 residential, which requires a minimum lot size of 10,000 square feet.

Under a seldom-used provision of the zoning ordinance, Sturtz's MEDO LLC is requesting a mix of lot sizes. Seven of the 65 would be about 7,500 square feet (R-2 Residential standard), but all would back up to the half-acre of open space.

"It would be an extension of their back yards," Spence told the commission. It also would function as a neighborhood gathering place and garden.

According to Spence, the design goal was to use principles of "smart growth" to create a "sense of neighborhood."

Bike paths and walkways have become standard features of Maui developments, but Liloa Village proposes to go a step further along smart growth lines, with reclaimed water from the Department of Public Works and Environmental Management for irrigation, solar hot water, possibly photovoltaic electricity generation and net metering.

"We want to make it the greenest project we possibly can," says Spence.

Sturtz has been negotiating with the state Department of Health for permission to use reclaimed water on individual lots. If he can manage that, it will be a first in the state.

Helping with that concept, a transmission line for treated reclaimed wastewater from the Kihei Wastewater Treatment Plant already passes the project, which also will contribute to a section of the adjoining Kihei north-south collector road.

The project will provide ready-to-build lots, all eligible for ohana units. A proposal to use the ohana units to comply with a requirement for affordable housing was explored but deemed impractical. However, Liloa Village will make school and housing contributions.

The commission voted unanimously to grant a special management area permit.

Commission member Bernice Lu, who in nearly five years on the panel has heard testimony from Sturtz many times, said, "We expected no less than a very, very green and smart project from you. You have risen to the challenge."