County wants to buy land to improve emergency evacuation routes in Lahaina

Maui County is moving quickly to buy a half-acre site in Lahaina that it hopes to use as part of a larger effort to revamp emergency evacuation routes, which proved deadly inadequate in 2023 when dozens of residents were trapped while trying to flee the fast-moving wildfire.

On Wednesday, a Maui County Council committee unanimously backed the purchase of the 24,000-square-foot site at 968 Limahana Place for no more than $1.7 million, the listing price for the vacant lot. The purchase still needs to go to the full council for approval. 

Managing Director Josiah Nishita said the property recently went on the market and already has other interested buyers willing to pay full price. 

“We do have to take quick action when properties become available. This was one of those situations,” Nishita told the Disaster Recovery, International Affairs and Planning Committee.

The owner has expressed a desire to sell the property to the county, according to county documents. 

Council Member Tamara Paltin, who holds the West Maui seat and chairs the committee, said the purchase “wouldn’t be sufficient to create an emergency evacuation route” on its own. More parcels or easements would be needed for complete connectivity. 

However, Nishita said it’s still a good opportunity to secure land “before it gets further developed into something else that would be problematic in the long term.” 

Nishita said the property could be used in the short term to house volunteers who are helping with the rebuilding of Lahaina or to store building materials. In the long term, the lot’s strategic location could help in county planning efforts that include extending nearby streets to improve evacuation routes as well as improving accessibility to public transportation, walking and biking. 

He said the site could potentially be used as a stop on the 25-mile West Maui Greenway project that aims to connect Ukumehame to Līpoa Point. Some residents say a greenway could have provided another way out of town on the day of the fire.  

Acquiring land in critical locations is part of the county’s efforts to improve evacuation routes by extending or connecting streets at nearly a dozen spots around Lahaina. The project is expected to take three to five years and cost more than $10 million, according to the county’s final Lahaina Long-Term Recovery Plan released in December.

The property at Limahana Place could potentially help with access to the planned extension of Kuhua Street to Komo Mai Street and the connection of Papalaua to Aki Street, depending on agreements with property owners in the area, Nishita said.

However, the $1.7 million asking price raised concern for Council Member Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, who said the cost was “excessive” for an undeveloped half-acre lot.

Nishita said that the property is zoned light industrial and had a commercial structure on it prior to the fire. The wide range of uses allowed in light-industrial zoning make it more expensive than land zoned for agriculture or other uses, he explained. The money for the purchase is expected to come from bond funding for roadway evacuation routes that was approved by the council.

Council members had plenty of ideas for the site, including multifamily housing, cold storage for farmers or resiliency hubs. Nishita said those could all be discussed in the future, but that evacuation routes were the priority. 

“The main reason why we’re acquiring it is for the roadway evacuation routes, so any other portion of the property that doesn’t need to be used for something related to that, we can all discuss on what would be most appropriate or what is most needed in the Lahaina community,” said Nishita, who temporarily led the Office of Recovery created after the fire until John Smith was chosen as the permanent administrator in December.

Committee members, who voted 8-0 in favor of the purchase with Tasha Kama excused, agreed with Nishita on the need to move quickly.

“Sold, let’s do this,” Council Vice Chair Yuki Lei Sugimura said. “We feel your urgency.”

NOTE: This story contains a correction stating that Managing Director Josiah Nishita previously served as head of the Office of Recovery until John Smith was chosen as permanent administrator in December. An earlier version of the story incorrectly stated that Nishita currently served as the head of the office. HJI apologizes for the error.