Nonprofit’s expansion plan in historic district worries some Wailuku neighbors

A Maui nonprofit’s plan to expand its preschool facilities and host more events at a historic residence is getting opposition from some Wailuku residents who are concerned about losing even more of the island’s history in the wake of the Lahaina wildfire. 

Imua Family Services, a nonprofit geared toward children of all abilities, hosts educational activities and community events at Imua Discovery Garden, a 5.6-acre property on Main Street in Wailuku that’s located in a designated historic district, one of three in Maui County — the August 2023 wildfire destroyed most of the structures in the other two.

Now, the nonprofit wants to turn a former Wailuku Sugar Company manager’s home built in 1936 into a central gathering space and transitional housing for employees of the organization and preschool. It also plans to convert a garage for preschool space and build additional facilities that include an 18,000-square-foot play space with bridges and slides, a 2,300-square-foot preschool building and two water features. 

The proposed plans were considered Thursday at a meeting of the Maui County Cultural Resources Commission.

“This is literally the last historic district other than Lahaina,” said Ke‘eaumoku Kapu, a longtime Lahaina resident and chairman of the commission. “I know times will change. My fear is on whether or not this will diminish the historic character of that town.”

Wailuku’s neighborhoods weave together a mix of Native Hawaiian and colonial history, with places like ‘Īao Valley, the setting for Kamehameha I’s 1790 victory over Maui forces; Ka‘ahumanu Church, which was built in 1832 on the site of a heiau and named for the Hana-born queen; and traces of Hawai‘i’s sugar plantation days that include the manager’s residence in the nonprofit’s plan.

The area designated as Maui County Historic District 3 includes roughly 20 buildings along Main and South High streets. Special uses are allowed in the district, including day care centers and preschools, but they need permission from the commission.

The property where Imua Family Services hosts its programs is located next to the Maui Historical Society, with an entrance at Koeli Street. Historic buildings on the lot include the Wailuku plantation manager’s house, garage and tennis courts also built in 1936, as well as a pool built in 1992 and the Kama Ditch and an aqueduct that both pre-date 1878, according to Planning Department documents.

Known as the Yokouchi Family Estate, it was once home to the Yokouchi ‘ohana and was formerly rented out to local nonprofits for events.

Imua currently hosts three events annually at the property: the Imua Butterfly Festival in May, the Keiki Halloween Festival in October and a two-day Keiki Holiday Festival in December. The nonprofit said it would also consider additional events but set a maximum of eight per calendar year. The events range in attendance from 800 to 1,000 people. 

Imua also runs a preschool in Kahului and some of its biggest events are at separate venues, such as Paddle Imua, its benefit canoe race, and Camp Imua, a weeklong recreational camp for youth with cognitive or developmental disabilities.

While praising the work of Imua Family Services, some Wailuku residents at the meeting said they are worried the changes will impact their neighborhood with large events that would jam traffic and be better suited for venues like the Maui Arts & Cultural Center.

About 20 people testified at the commission’s meeting, with opinions split between Imua staff and families who supported the project and Wailuku residents who said they didn’t know about Imua’s proposal and raised concerns over the notice of violation that the county issued to the nonprofit on July 11 for using the property as a preschool, art gallery, commercial office and event venue in a historic district.

Lianne Malapit grew up on Koeli Street and learned all the secret doors and closets in the plantation manager’s house as a kid. She said Imua’s changing plans and lack of communication have created distrust between the organization and residents. 

“Once you open the Pandora’s box and say ‘OK, you can have a special event,’ then there is no limit to what can evolve in 5, 10 years from now,” Malapit said. “And then we would have lost this opportunity to have kept Maui, Maui. So this is our only chance. You can’t turn back time. You can’t get it back once it’s gone.” 

But families whose students attend Imua’s preschool say their services are needed more than ever. Margaret Pulver’s son was diagnosed with autism just after he turned 3 years old. She said 10 child care programs denied them entry because they were full or didn’t have the resources to support her son. So she was relieved when Imua Family Services opened up more spaces for preschool students and her son jumped off the waitlist and into the program.

“Taking away one of the only inclusive preschool programs on this island not only hurts the students that are currently enrolled but also continues to support the systemic inequities and discrimination that exists on this island,” Pulver said. “And while these neighbors claim they support children, their actions do not support those words coming out of their mouths.”

Dean Wong, who’s been the executive director of Imua Family Services for 14 years, said it’s getting more difficult to find open spaces in early childhood education programs, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2023 wildfire that destroyed “a very vital district” for child care and preschools. 

“Children in the most critical development of their life, which is birth through age 5 … they need outdoor places where they can attach themselves to the ‘āina and be nurtured in natural spaces and outdoor places,” Wong told the commission on Thursday. “For so long in our island recently, we have disregarded the needs of our children.”

After O’ahu, Maui County has the second-highest median rates for infant and child care programs in Hawai’i, according to a 2023 study by the state Department of Human Services. A 2023 report by the Washington, D.C.-based First Five Years Fund found that 68% of Hawai’i residents live in a “child care desert,” with federal and state early learning opportunities serving close to 9,000 families, or 9% of children ages 0-5. The high cost and limited supply of quality early childhood education opportunities “have created serious challenges,” especially given that parents for 61% of children in this age group are in the workforce.

Wong said Imua Family Services has simplified its initial plans after hearing concerns, and that the proposal is not about large-scale events for the entire community, but about “having a place that children and families can access for their personal growth, their development, their ability to connect with each other as families and with each other as children.” The Imua Discovery Garden aims to offer hands-on activities and experiences that include an alpaca shelter built in 2023 and a butterfly enclosure added in 2024.

He pointed out that outdoor spaces were among the only places for families to connect during the pandemic. 

“I really do apologize if there are neighbors and community who feel like we haven’t been transparent in this,” Wong said. “I feel like this has been our message from the very beginning, and I feel like we’ve tried our best to reach out.”

Hōkūao Pellegrino, the longtime head of Hui o Nā Wai ‘Ehā, which has advocated for returning water to the streams in the central valley following decades of diversions by sugar companies, pointed out that the history that people are concerned about was tied to the plantations and never served the community in the way that Imua Family Services has. He said it was fitting for Imua Family Services to be located in the same community where a Hawaiian language immersion school, Pūnana Leo o Maui, also was born.

“I believe that this opportunity to have community, students, ‘ohana being in this space that has always been a private space is really an opportunity but a win-win not only for the Wailuku community but for the Maui community,” Pellegrino said. 

The commission deferred a decision on the plan to give Imua Family Services time to do more community outreach and to get comments from the State Historic Preservation Division.