Developer: Land to stay agricultural

The Maui News
Sunday, May 06, 2007
By ILIMA LOOMIS, Staff Writer

KULA - 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 last week. The neighbors said they were concerned about road and traffic impacts.

Waiakoa Ranch, a project of Kula 1800 Investment Partners LLC, 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.

While spokesman Charlie Jencks said the developer will try to minimize impacts by reducing the number of lots that access on Naalae and restricting through traffic, Naalae residents still have questions about how the project will affect their quiet farming neighborhood and dead-end road.

"Anything at the bottom of the road will cause too much traffic," said Henry Miguel Jr., whose family has lived on Naalae since the 1940s.

The land is designated agricultural by the state as well as under county zoning and in the county community plan. The project received preliminary subdivision approval by the county Department of Public Works and Environmental Management.

The property was formerly owned by Maui Land & Pineapple Co., and the sale to Kula 1800 closed a little over a year ago. Principles of Kula 1800 Investment include Michael Rosenfeld and Stephen Goodfellow, according to state business registration records.

The developers hope to complete site improvements and sell the lots within four years, Jencks said, after which owners would construct homes on their own.

He said the project was aimed at keeping the lands in active agriculture, and will continue grazing leases with Haleakala Ranch and Maui Cattle Co. The developer also will approach tenants of the neighboring Kula Agricultural Park about leasing property to expand their farming operations.

Jencks spoke to members of the Kula Community Association last week, answering questions from a crowd of around 100 Kula residents, many of them Naalae neighbors.

Jencks said the developer is taking steps to minimize impacts on Naalae, including reducing the number of lots being served by the road to four, with the remainder of lots in the development using Pulehu Road for access.

Jencks said he initially proposed building the project's main access road as a cul-de-sac, to prevent traffic from driving on through Naalae, but county subdivision codes required him to build a connector road for emergency access.

To stop drivers - including subdivision residents - from using the connector as a shortcut, Jencks said the developer will install locked gates at either end, so that only the Fire Department and emergency vehicles can get through.

"No one on this team wanted a through road," he said. "We didn't want to impact people on Naalae."

Jencks also told the crowd he would be required to make improvements on Naalae to bring the street up to current county codes. The work is expected to include widening the road to 20 feet and improving shoulders.

He pledged construction trucks and workers would not use Naalae to access the Waiakoa Ranch subdivision.

"I'll make a commitment to you," Jencks said. "All construction traffic will come on Pulehu Road."

He said the project will not draw from the county water system, but that construction is under way on the first of two wells. The wells are expected to provide 500,000 gallons per day.

With residents concerned about limiting development in the area, Jencks said county zoning law will prohibit buyers from resubdividing their lots, and that his company would attach conditions to the deeds prohibiting buyers from condominiumizing their properties to allow more than the two dwellings permitted by law.

Since the project received preliminary subdivision approval a few weeks before the county's new Workforce Housing Policy was passed last year, it will not be subject to new requirements for affordable housing, Jencks noted.

Naalae residents were concerned about the project and had mixed feelings about Jencks' responses.

"My top concern is the traffic," Miguel said. He was concerned to see any new homes added at the bottom of Naalae, and didn't want to see the road widened or improved at all, saying it would only increase speeding and traffic.

"It's like he's doing us a favor we really don't want," he said.

Miguel also was skeptical of some of Jenck's promises.

"I don't believe him when he says they won't allow construction (traffic) down that way," he said.

Shirley Watanabe, whose family members are involved in farming more than 20 acres off Naalae, said many older houses are built close to the road. The family is upset that work to widen the road could encroach on their properties.

"These (buyers) are not going to make their living farming," she said. "And now they want to come take more of our land to widen our road for these people. I don't think it's right."

Others were more appeased by Jencks' presentation, but said they wanted assurances the developers would keep their promises.

"I think every concern the neighbors had he had a good answer for," said Dr. Ron Wallach.

But he wanted to see the pledges in writing.

"We just need the follow through to know that what he said is actually going to happen," he said.