Members need more time as new amendments introduced

The Maui News
February 20, 2010
By CHRIS HAMILTON, Staff Writer

WAILUKU - The Maui County Council came close to passing the 2030 General Plan's Countywide Policy Plan on Friday, but instead decided to send it back for further additions.

The council voted unanimously to refer to the Planning Committee the volume, which sets out the guiding set of principles that will accompany the more detailed Maui Island Plan.

Earlier this month, the County Council had passed the Countrywide Policy Plan on first reading. But on Friday, council members decided to work on it further in committee after a pair of amendments were introduced.

Council Member Joe Pontanilla introduced an amendment that would allow a developer building a project in one community planning district to use water from a neighboring community planning district via pipelines.

Two former county Public Works Department directors, who are now developers, David Goode and Charlie Jencks, have lobbied for the change. The amendment would allow Jencks' Honua'ula, or Wailea 670, residential/commercial project in South Maui to utilize wells the developer has secured Upcountry.

General Plan Advisory Committee Vice Chairman Dick Mayer also presented an amendment that piqued the interest of council members.

Mayer wants removed a single sentence he said was added by the Planning Department toward the tail end of the process to give the administration a loophole.

It reads: "Because this Policy Plan is largely general and aspirational in nature, it is not intended to be used in the review of applications for ministerial permits."

Mayer said the phrase "ministerial permits" is vague and not defined in the document, so it could mean that the Planning, Public Works and Water Supply departments' various heads could pass out permits for subdivisions and special management areas at their own discretion.

Council Member Wayne Nishiki and Planning Committee Chairman Sol Kaho'ohalahala cited the amendments in recommending to send the entire Countywide Policy Plan back to Kaho'ohalahala's committee, which is in the midst of working through the Maui Island Plan.

The policy plan has been in the works for years, with dozens of meetings by the volunteer General Plan Advisory Committee as well as individual island planning commissions and finally the County Council Planning Committee.

In other council action, members unanimously passed an amendment to the controversial residential work force housing ordinance. It next goes to Mayor Charmaine Tavares for her signature before it becomes law.

The bill reduces to at least 25 percent the number of affordable homes or new lots a developer would be required to build in a new subdivision, down from the 40 percent requirement in the 2006 version.

However, the measure applies only to projects in which the planned market-rate homes are estimated to fetch $600,000 or less on the open market.

The bill also states that when more than 50 percent of the houses in a new subdivision are affordable houses or lots then the number of off-site affordable homes shall be equal to 50 percent of the total number of on-site market-rate homes.

Council members have said the changes in the housing ordinance will likely just be the first of several adjustments. The County Council has been under pressure from developers and the construction industry to loosen the requirements to help stimulate building in the economic downturn.

The County Council also finalized the county zoning and state land use changes needed for the Maui Police Department to move forward on plans to build a large new South Maui police substation.

Tavares' administration hopes to break ground on the $40 million project in June.

Council members also threw their support behind a resolution calling on the governor and Legislature to leave alone the counties' share of the transient accommodations tax, also known as the hotel room tax. Maui County's share of the tax this year was $17 million, and taking it to help fill the state's $1.2 billion budget deficit would only add greatly to the county's own budget crunch, council members said.

With the Maui Bus system growing each year, the County Council voted to capitalize on its popularity by creating a $25 fee for advertising display cards on the buses.