Maalaea project's EIS ready for review

The Maui News
Thursday, December 20, 2007
By CHRIS HAMILTON, Staff Writer

MAALAEA - 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.

The developers have said it will be an unpretentious, ungated, low-density community on what is now pasture land.

It also would be accessed to the south by Honoapiilani and Kuihelani highways, an intersection that critics said is already too frequently jammed up with traffic.

The development has its share of critics.

Rob Riebling, past president of the Maalaea Community Association, said they passed a resolution in November 2006 against the project. Traffic was the association's No. 1 concern. The association also questioned the distance from where people work and the impact of the massive new urban project on their sleepy seaside community, he said.

Former Mayor Alan Arakawa also spoke out publicly against the Maalaea development, Riebling said. Arakawa wanted to wait until the county's General Plan, island plan and community plans were completed in the next couple of years before making a decision on Maalaea, he said.

Mayor Charmaine Tavares said Wednesday that she would not have a comment on the proposal until she consults with Planning Director Jeff Hunt.

The public has until Jan. 22 to comment on the 3-inch-thick draft EIS, which is available to view at local public libraries.

Comments should be sent to Munekiyo & Hiraga, Inc., 305 High St., Suite 104 Wailuku, HI 96793 as well as to the state Land Use Commission at P.O. Box 2359 Honolulu, HI 96804.

Project Manager Mark Alexander Roy of Munekiyo & Hiraga said that there are a number of steps that must take place before the project can come to fruition.

The consultants will need to address any valid concerns raised by the public on the draft EIS, before preparing and presenting a final EIS to the Land Use Commission. The commission will hold a public meeting before voting on whether to accept the document - which is an initial step in the process of reviewing the application to reclassify the land.

Maalaea Properties is asking that the land be reclassified from agriculture to urban, said Roy.

The Maalaea Mauka project district is designated in the 1998 Kihei-Makena Community Plan, but will require county zoning approval. The Maui Planning Commission and County Council would need to approve the zoning.

The developers said they've addressed concerns raised about infrastructure. They plan to dig two to three wells that would completely sustain the development, according to the EIS. Maalaea Properties would also construct their own wastewater treatment plant, according to the EIS.

Over the past several years, Maalaea Properties has bought up hundreds of acres south of Wailuku. Its properties include the Maui Tropical Plantation and King Kamehameha Golf Course.

Maalaea Properties partner and spokesman Steven Kikuchi could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Kikuchi and the rest of his partners are experienced builders in California.