General Plan update contracted out to consultants tied to developers

The Maui News
Sunday, January 21, 2007
VIEWPOINT by DAVID MOGILEFSKY

The Maui County General Plan will undergo a major overhaul this year. Policy will be set that will have major impact on development versus preservation for many years. The General Plan Advisory Committee is just now beginning its work. A scenario exists that may heavily influence the process.

The Planning Department is outsourcing much of the process to companies that have a direct financial interest in building and development on Maui.

Specifically, the Planning Department has entered into contracts with Plan Pacific Inc. and Chris Hart & Partners to do most of the update. It will then be submitted to GPAC, the Planning Commission and ultimately the County Council for review and approval.

Plan Pacific is a Honolulu planning and development company. Chris Hart & Partners is a Maui planning and development company that has been the consultant to many building and subdividing projects. It represents developers in pushing their projects through the county approval process. Clients include Hyatt, Marriott, Alexander & Baldwin and Maui Land & Pineapple. Chris Hart is a former Maui County planning director.

One of Mr. Hart's principal associates is Michael Summers, twin brother of John Summers, head of the Long Range Planning Division of our Planning Department. The General Plan ordinance does permit the hiring of consultants.

I became aware of the Chris Hart & Partners participation at the Plan Story event last October. Plan Story was billed as "a unique chance to participate in planning for Maui County's future." Once there, however, participants were told that they must plan for a 40 percent increase in Maui's population, and 16,000 new housing units. That is in addition to some 17,100 units publicized as already in the pipeline. Questions about why we must have this much development were dismissed

with "those are the projections."

We were formed into small groups and given land-use maps of Maui. "Important Agricultural Land" areas were in green. "Other Agricultural Land or Vacant/Less than Fully Developed Land" areas were white. We were told these "Other Agricultural" areas were suitable for development.

I don't believe anyone said "Other Agricultural" might also be suitable for open space, view planes, scenic beauty, hiking trails or regional parks.

We were given sticky pieces of paper representing development, and told to stick them on the maps. We could not discuss any concerns we had about overdevelopment, but we were free to write them down on a large pad of paper.

It was a very scripted and controlled exercise. I watched as the people in my group had little choice but to place their development stickers in the white "Other Agricultural" areas. Most went into a large swath stretching from Kihei, Wailea and Makena to Kula and Keokea.

I wondered if the maps with the development stickers on them would someday be presented to GPAC, the Planning Department and the County Council as "what the people of Maui want."

I learned that the "facilitator" for my group was Mike Summers of Chris Hart & Partners. As far as I can tell, the company makes all of its money through development and none by preservation of Maui.

The General Plan consulting contracts were entered into with Plan Pacific, "in association with Chris Hart & Partners." They specify in detail the work to be done. It is not just preliminary work, like mapping and statistics, but things that will have a substantial impact on our future quality of life on Maui.

Examples are: "Define a preferred growth scenario for Maui Island." "Define and map important agricultural lands." "Define Urban and Rural Growth Boundaries for Maui island." "Formulate policies for zoning and regulation of rural development." "Prepare a preliminary draft revised General Plan and report."

The contracts have this standard government contract provision under General Terms and Conditions:

"3.6 Absence of Interest. The Contractor covenants that it currently has no interest and shall not acquire any interest, direct or indirect, which would conflict in any manner or degree with the performance of services required to be performed under this Contract. The Contractor further covenants that in the performance of this Contract, no person having such interest shall be employed."

I have no reason to doubt the integrity of anyone involved, and the facts are quite transparent. Chris Hart & Partners is noted as consultant on the General Plan Update Web page and John Summers readily provided copies of the contracts. Still, it doesn't seem right to me. Is the General Plan Update process tainted?

I don't know what, if anything, should be done. Possibilities range from rescission of the contracts to simply awareness by everyone concerned. If something needs to be done, it should occur before the General Plan update goes very far.

What do you think?

David Mogilefsky is an attorney, holds Hawaii and California real estate licenses, and served 4? years on the North Tahoe (Calif.) Design Review Committee of the Placer County Planning Department. He lives in Kihei.