Draft EIS Prepared for Olowalu Town Master Plan

Olowalu town, file photo by Wendy Osher.

By Wendy Osher

A Draft Environmental Impact Statement has been prepared for the proposed Olowalu Town Master Plan.

The Olowalu Town Master Plan is proposing to establish the new community in the once thriving Olowalu plantation town in west Maui.

The plan consists of approximately 1,500 residential units, and 375,000 square feet of commercial and retail space.  According to the EIS, the units would be built in phases concurrent with appropriate infrastructure, over a period of 10 years.

Olowalu General Store, file photo by Wendy Osher.

The infrastructure plans include the proposed relocation of the existing Honoapiilani Highway inland to a new mauka alignment, designed to accommodate light rial or mass transit if needed in the future.

Plans call for the existing highway and monkey-pod trees to be preserved and converted to a secondary coastal roadway.

Other infrastructure improvements include upgrading the Olowalu Water Company system, construction of a drainage system and water treatment plant, and the construction of interconnected streets, greenways and bikeways.

Olowalu file photo by Wendy Osher.

The Master Plan will be a small-scale and mixed-use community designed to be pedestrian-friendly, allowing residents to live within walking distance of stores, schools, parks, and employment.

Since sugar cultivation by Pioneer Mill ended in 1999, the lands surrounding Olowalu have been utilized for small farming operations or have remained fallow.

There is already a single-family residential cluster known as Kapa’iki located to the south of the Olowalu General Store.

The ownership of the lands surrounding the existing village are retained by Olowalu Elua Associates, LLC and Olowalu Ekolu, LLC.

Olowalu, file photo by Wendy Osher.

The two land owners are the applicants for a proposed master planned community on these surrounding lands, which include 23 agricultural parcels encompassing approximately 636 acres.

A 45-day public review and comment period ends on April 21, 2010.  Comments should be sent to the Applicant, Consultant and Approving Agency.

• Applicant: Olowalu Town, LLC and Olowalu Ekolu, LLC, 2035 Main Street, Suite 1, Wailuku, Hawaiʻi 96793.
• Approving Agency: State Land Use Commission, P.O. Box 2359, Honolulu, Hawaiʻi 96804.
• Consultant: Munekiyo & Hiraga, Inc., 305 High Street, Suite 104, Wailuku, Hawaiʻi 96793.

***Supporting information courtesy Olowalu Draft EIS