Groups seeking to rally opposition to 1,400-unit project

The Maui News
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
By CLAUDINE SAN NICOLAS, Staff Writer

KIHEI - The 670-acre Honua'ula development came under attack from multiple fronts Monday night during a forum on how much development is too much in South Maui.

Criticism boiled up as the project prepares to seek land use approvals this summer from the Maui County Council. Monday's forum was billed as a venue to cover project plans by both Honua'ula, also known as Wailea 670, and Makena Resort, but discussions focused on Honua'ula, with calls to cut back the project or to block it completely.

By the end of the evening, the event's coordinators - Maui Tomorrow Foundation and SaveMakena.org - had mobilized the nearly 200 people in attendance to put their views in writing about the proposed development so that they could be delivered to the County Council.

Panelists on Monday night included attorney Isaac Moriwake, a water issues specialist with the Earthjustice environmental law firm; Ed Lindsey, president of Maui Cultural Lands; community activist Buck Joiner; "green" developer Zachary Franks; Stan Franco of Housing for the Local Person; and Lee Altenberg, a biologist.

Franks said that unless Maui County purchases Honua'ula's 670 acres, the land is bound to be developed.

"I know this is going to be developed. It's almost inevitable," Franks said, suggesting the proposed 1,400 housing units be reduced to 100 estates and 100 affordable homes and then "call it a day."

In response to moderator Diane Shepherd's question, Lindsey said more lands need to be preserved, not developed, in South Maui.

"Something we all need to join together to stop. Golf courses and archaeological sites don't mix," Lindsey said to a crowd that applauded him.

The crowd came to a hush as Lindsey, a Native Hawaiian who has tried to fight off similar developments in West Maui, talked about the effects such projects have on the lands and on people here. "I cry. I cry for what is happening to our Hawaiian people here. It's a crime."

Listed on the Kihei-Makena Community Plan as Project District 9 (Maui Wailea 670), the project mauka of the Wailea Resort would involve development of up to 1,400 housing units (700 market-priced and possibly as many as 700 affordables) and an 18-hole private golf course. The project requires the council to approve a plan that modifies the project district plan that originally had two 18-hole golf courses.

Concerns over water supply, traffic, deterioration of cultural resources and not enough affordable housing surfaced as panelists invited by the forum's sponsors each spoke up and encouraged others to do the same.

Charlie Jencks, a representative for Honua'ula, attended the forum but was not asked to speak, even when a written question posed to the panel apparently asked for answers from him.

"You'll have to ask Charlie yourself," Shepherd said.

Chandrika McLaughlin, a coordinator of the public forum, said the purpose of the event was "to make sure all viewpoints" were represented.

"The developer has been speaking up, and we feel like an alternative viewpoint is needed," she said.

Altenberg, a Kihei resident and associate professor of information and computer sciences for the University of Hawaii at Manoa, called on Honua'ula to establish a 110-acre nature preserve within its proposed development.

Altenberg shared results from a botanical survey he took of the Honua'ula property some three years ago, showing photographs of wiliwili trees and other native Hawaiian plants.

He said Honua'ula's properties are among the largest areas in South Maui that currently have thriving wiliwili trees, some of them hundreds of years old, and other native Hawaiian plants. The majority of the wiliwili trees in South Maui have been destroyed by development, according to Altenberg.

A native plant found within Honua'ula, awikiwiki (Canavalia pubescens), is a prime candidate for listing as an endangered species, according to Altenberg. Another rare plant, nehe (Lipochaeta rockii), is currently thriving in only two other places on Maui, Altenberg said.

In response to a question from Shepherd, Altenberg said the native plants could not thrive if only placed in a 6-acre reserve, which he said was suggested by the developers. The wiliwili trees would also not do well, unless the entire 110 acres they sit on were put into a reserve.

"With 95 percent of the ecosystem gone, we shouldn't be destroying any more of it, especially to put in a golf course," Altenberg said.

He said a nature reserve within Honua'ula "would be a tremendous asset" and could be used to educate residents and showcase the island's native plants. It would be "Hawaiian nature in action," Altenberg said.

One audience member asked why so many wiliwili trees have been allowed to be destroyed and now the ones on Honua'ula lands are being singled out for a nature reserve.

"A lot of mistakes have been made in the past," Altenberg said, adding he wasn't around when other developments were approved without attention to preserving wiliwili trees and other native Hawaiian plants.

Another audience question posed to Moriwake asked if water from the Iao aquifer were already tapped out as he stated, then why was any development going forward.

"It seems like a simple question with a simple answer, yet we haven't found it, an answer," Moriwake said.

Honua'ula expects to develop a private water system with two wells in place and another two being drilled. Moriwake opposes private water systems, saying there would be questions whether a private system is sustainable and citing the Hawaii Constitution in calling water a public trust that should not be controlled by private developments.

"Water belongs to everybody," he said.

Both McLaughlin and Maui Tomorrow Vice President Judith Michaels were happy about the large turnout on Monday night.

"I think this is just the beginning," Michaels said.

She said Maui Tomorrow will provide training on methods for lobbying county officials and the community on the issues.

"Maui Tomorrow has fielded lawsuits in the past and really we want that to be our last option. Our major role now will be to educate the public about issues," Michaels said.

In addition to issuing testimonial cards about the Honua'ula project, the forum sponsors collected signatures for a petition calling for a "planning strategy that puts Maui residents' needs first, before those of offshore investors."

Franco, a member of the Maui General Plan Advisory Committee, urged residents to speak out at upcoming hearings including a GPAC meeting set for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Kihei Elementary School cafeteria. The meeting will give people a chance to comment on a the 2030 Draft Countywide Policy Plan.

Manager focusing on what is right in plan for Honua'ula

The Maui News
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
By CLAUDINE SAN NICOLAS, Staff Writer

KIHEI - At a forum Monday night focused on what people think is wrong with the 670-acre Honua'ula project district, developer's representative Charlie Jencks said he was prepared to defend the development. He wasn't invited to speak.

"I'm here because I'm interested in hearing what people have to say," Jencks said following the two-hour, anti-development event organized by Maui Tomorrow and SaveMakena.org and held at the Kihei Community Center.

What he heard was disturbing, he said. Some statements were untrue and others were offensive, he said. Among the points with which he took issue:

-- Maui Cultural Lands President Ed Lindsey objected to the Hawaiian name for the project originally known as Wailea 670.

"That's as foreign as giving me a Japanese name," Lindsey said. "It's window dressing."

A project with a Hawaiian name needs to be worthy of the name and be respectful of the Hawaiian people and culture, Lindsey said.

Jencks said the name was determined based on research of the area and consultation with respected Native Hawaiian cultural specialists Hokulani Padilla-Holt, Clifford Naeole and Leslie Kuloloio. Honua'ula means "red land" and is a name used for a church at Kanaio and for a land division at Makena.

"We studied long and hard. We didn't take it lightly," Jencks said. He said his Hawaiian consultants agreed Honua'ula was an appropriate name for the development. "Everybody said it was fine, use it."

-- Responding to a question posed by moderator Diane Shepherd, Lindsey objected to the developer hiring kupuna as consultants.

"I'm sorry I'm not for sale," he said.

Jencks said he believed the question was inappropriate and the answer offensive.

-- Earthjustice attorney Isaac Moriwake was on the panel to discuss water issues, with the Iao aquifer designated as a water management area and Earthjustice involved in efforts to designate the surface waters of the Wailuku watershed for state management.

Moriwake said the water sources for Central and South Maui were at capacity and could not accommodate further development. He also objected to private water systems.

Jencks said Honua'ula will not require water from the Central Maui system and will not deplete any county water sources. The project expects to use up to four privately developed wells pumping out as much as 1.5 million gallons a day.

-- On demands for affordable housing, Jencks said 50 percent of the 1,400 units in the project plans will be affordably priced. Over the 20-year buildout, he said the development group promises affordable units will be built simultaneously with market-priced units.

In addition to the 1,400 single-family homes and multifamily units, Honua'ula would have 80,000-square-feet of commercial space and one private golf course. Jencks said the developers also agreed to take the lead in widening Piilani to four lanes, at a cost of some $15 million, from the Kilohana Drive intersection to Wailea Ike Drive, will donate up to $16 million in park assessment fees, support a new police substation and provide property for a homeless resource center in Kihei.

-- Lee Altenberg, a biologist who did a botanical survey of Honua'ula's property, suggested that instead of a golf course, the developers create a 110-acre nature reserve to keep native plants and wiliwili trees thriving in the area. He also told the forum the developer planned to set aside only 6 acres.

Jencks said developers will set aside land for a native plant preserve, but the amount of acreage has not been decided. The range is from 6 to 20 acres. Honua'ula hired a team of biologists including experts from the University of Hawaii and federal resources biologist Art Medeiros. Jencks said Altenberg's presentation on Monday night was contrary to his own consultants' reports.

Although he was not invited to participate in the program geared to opposing further development in South Maui, Jencks said he found it helpful to listen to the opposition.

"It prepares me even better," he said.

The project district land use request for Honua'ula is scheduled for another round of hearings before the Maui County Council this summer.

"I still believe in our project," Jencks said. "I really believe it'll be good for Maui."