Final EA Submitted for Kulamalu Affordable Housing Project

Kulamalu subdivision, Photo By Wendy Osher © 2009

By Wendy Osher

The county Department of Housing and Human Concerns submitted a Final Environmental Assessment for the 64-unit Kulamalu affordable housing project in Pukalani.

The project includes a total of six two-story residential buildings and a multipurpose building on four acres of land bounded by ʻŌhiʻa Kū Street and ʻAʻapueo Parkway, west of the Kula Highway.

It is also bounded to the west by the University of Hawaiʻi’s Institute for Astronomy Maikalani Advanced Technology Research Center, and to the east by the Kulamalu Shopping Center.

The $11 million project is scheduled to start construction in the Fall of 2014, according to the Final Environmental Assessment.  It is partially funded by the Housing and Urban Development agency, with the remaining $9 million coming from the County of Maui.

The Kulamalu affordable housing project was proposed in response to the growing demand for affordable multi-family housing as outlined by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

According to the department’s population and economic predictions issued in 2009, and outlined in the Final EA document, there will be a projected unmet housing demand of 10,845 units on Maui by the year 2035.

The project calls for the construction of units ranging in size from 592 and 812 square feet, with many of the units featuring a private lānai.  The units will feature both one bedroom, one bath; and two bedroom, one bath options.

The proposed project site consists of an open, undeveloped area that was subject to previous extensive grading for the Kulamalu Project in 1997, according to the Final EA document. 

Findings from the Archaeological Reconnaissance Survey conducted in 1996 included a single petroglyph site found near the project boundary.  The FEA states that the petroglyph site was handled according to the State of Hawaiʻi Historic Preservation Division’s recommendations.

The document states that during the process of mass grading for the Kulamalu Commercial Subdivision, no archaeological or historical remains were found.

View of Longs from the Project Site. Photo Credit: Clifford Planning and Architecture LLC. June 20, 2013, courtesy DOH/OEQC/Draft Environmental Assessment.

Kulamalu. Photo by Wendy Osher.