The Maui County Council has approved extending the construction completion date to September 2029 for Waikapū Development Venture’s 80-unit affordable workforce housing project south of Wailuku town.
Originally planned as 68 single-family dwellings and six duplex dwellings with 12 units, the revised project now calls for 80 single-family units near schools, shopping and jobs, according to Keoni Gomes, of Waikapū Development Venture.
On May 29, the Council’s Housing Committee, chaired by Council Member Tasha Kama, approved amendments giving the County the right of first refusal to buy units for sale from 11 to 30 years after occupancy and prohibiting vacation rentals in the development in perpetuity. Last week Friday, the Council further amended the project extension resolution by adding that units would be offered for the appraised value as assessed by a disinterested appraiser.
The project is being processed under the state’s Chapter 201H affordable housing law, which allows an expedited review process and exemptions from certain laws and rules of government agencies. Because the development received streamlined treatment from the government, homes need to be owner-occupied for at least 30 years.
The Maui County Council approved the project with a resolution that required construction to begin in September 2020.
When there were project delays, the Council agreed in July 2020 to a deadline extension to September 2022 for beginning of construction and Sept. 7, 2024, for project completion.
After construction began in August 2022, a waterline project was completed. Now, with rising construction costs and delays, the project sought and received a $10.65 million in a grant from the County’s Affordable Housing Fund, Gomes told council members.
Housing sale prices are expected to range from $274,565 to $313,650 for a two-bedroom unit for a family earning 70% to 80% of the adjusted median income of $110,800. A four-bedroom unit for a family of four earning 121% to 140% of AMI is anticipated to cost $742,670. In May, the median cost of a single-family home on Maui was $1,297,500.
In another housing-related measure on Friday, the Council approved Bill 71 on first reading.
As recommended May 15 by the Housing and Land Use Committee, the bill would allow a 500-square-foot increase in the size of secondary farm dwellings in agricultural districts on Maui and Lānaʻi. The measure advances to second-and-final reading.
Bill 71 would not change the permitted size of a secondary farm dwelling on Molokaʻi, as requested by the Molokaʻi Planning Commission.
Currently, on 2-acre agricultural lots, the Maui County Code allows a 7,712-square-foot main farm dwelling and a 1,000-square-foot second dwelling, according to the Department of Planning. The proposed amendment would permit a 7,212-square-foot main house and a 1,500-square-foot secondary dwelling.
In other action, the Council adopted two resolutions for Maui County to purchase two one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment units at the Maui Lani Terraces condominium project at 3740 Lower Honoapiʻilani Road in West Maui. The units are for affordable rentals for kupuna displaced by the August 2023 wildfires.
Councilors also passed on second-and-final reading Bill 98, which facilitates the permitting and inspection of manufactured and modular homes.
