Council advances Upcountry wells deal with Hawaiian Home Lands

The Maui County Council approved on first reading a bill authorizing an agreement with the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to develop three water wells in Waiʻōhuli, a project that could supply water for about 2,880 homes for Native Hawaiian beneficiaries.

Bill 97, CD1 (2026), would let Mayor Richard Bissen enter an intergovernmental agreement between the county Department of Water Supply and the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. Under the agreement, the department would plan, design, build and fund the wells, a storage tank and a transmission pipeline linking them to the county’s Central Maui water system. The county would review and approve the plans and inspect the work, and the project is estimated to take six years.

The three wells could produce up to 2.592 million gallons a day with continuous pumping. The Water Supply department plans around 16 hours of pumping a day, which would yield about 1.728 million gallons a day, or 576,000 gallons per well. All of that operating capacity is reserved for Hawaiian Home Lands use, not for the general public.

Once the wells are completed and accepted, the county would hold a license in perpetuity to use the improvements. The Hawaiian Home Lands department would receive water source credits for its planned developments in Central, South and Upcountry Maui. In the meantime, the county would issue water meters for up to 683,400 gallons a day, about 40% of the water the department needs, once well development begins. Beneficiaries would be reimbursed for the fees they pay for those meters after the wells are accepted.

Kula resident Dick Mayer, former vice chair of the Upcountry Community Plan Citizens Advisory Committee, said the advisory panel made a special effort to support Waiohuli homelands and ensure its residents have the highest priority for any new water sources.

However, because of water shortages and Upcountry droughts, a special provision was put into the Upcountry Community Plan to restrict the export of water from the district, he said. And, the map attached to the memorandum of agreement shows that water from the three wells will be going to a pipeline that goes directly downhill to the Lipoa Research & Technology Park in Kīhei.

“There is no pipeline showing that any of the water will go to Waiohuli Hawaiian homelands,” he said.

Council Member Tamara Paltin noted that the Department of the Corporation Counsel signed off on the bill as to its form and legality. She asked Mayer if he intended to file a lawsuit.

“I or somebody else may do that,” Mayer said. “That’s certainly possible because I think we need to protect our community. . .  We go through such an extensive [community plan] process to know how to violate this willy-nilly just because we need housing. I don’t think it’s a justification to do this. We should do it properly.”

During discussion of the bill, Council Member Keani Rawlins-Fernandez said she had been told that the water from the wells would be used for Department of Hawaiian Home Lands housing only, “which is why I support it.”

“An initial MOU was going to give the county credits for private development, which I did not support,” she said. Also, “DHHL, like with a lot of things, is not held to county regulations, like the community plan. So I understand that the community plan calls for water not to leave the district . . . since this is DHHL, and it’s outside of the county community plan, I’m supportive of this project.”

The Water and Infrastructure Committee, chaired by Council Member Tom Cook, recommended the bill 7-0 on Aug. 31. Council Vice Chair Yuki Lei Sugimura and Council Member Nohelani Uʻu-Hodgins were excused.

The committee amended the bill so the source credits can be no less than the wells’ actual operating capacity, rather than a fixed 1.728 million gallons a day. The change accounts for differences between estimated and actual output.

The committee report said the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands lacks the transmission system to deliver the water to beneficiaries, and that adding the wells would make the county system more resilient.

The agreement also needs approval from the Hawaiian Homes Commission. The bill still requires second and final reading by the Council.

Hoʻonani Village mixed-use development

The Council passed on second and final reading Bills 163 and 164 the proposed Hoʻonani Village mixed-use development on former sugarcane fields near Kahului Airport.

The measures would expand the Maui Island Plan’s urban growth boundary and change the Wailuku-Kahului Community Plan designation from agriculture to business-multifamily for approximately 166 acres near Pūlehu and Hansen roads and Maui Veterans Highway.

The site is part of a larger parcel that Hoʻonani Development plans to transform into an approximately 1,608-unit workforce housing community with light industrial, commercial, office and open space components.

Other bills passed on second and final reading include:

• Bill 117 (2026) authorized the mayor to enter a partnership agreement with the Department of the Army for an early flood warning system for the ʻĪao Stream flood risk management project.
• Bill 122 (2026) amended the fiscal year 2027 budget with new conditional language for $10 million for Hurricane Lala response costs.
• Bill 118 (2026) added conditional language to the fiscal year 2027 budget for $319,905 in fire hazard removal expenses.
• Bill 119 (2026) added conditional language for East Maui Residency Area funds in the Office of the Mayor’s Grants Division.
• Bill 120 (2026) appropriated a $250,000 state Department of Health grant for the Rural Health Transformation Program.

Bills passed on first reading:

• Bill 124 (2026) would authorize a mutual aid agreement with Kauaʻi County related to Hurricane Lowell.
• Bill 125 (2026) would raise the budget’s US Environmental Protection Agency grant appropriation by $1,457,065.
• Bill 126 (2026) would add conditional language for $7,500 each to Grassroots Ministries Inc. and the Kīpahulu Community Association.
• Bill 127 (2026) would raise the Victim/Witness Assistance Program’s grant appropriation by $95,202.
• Bill 128 (2026) would appropriate $3 million for countywide water upgrades and replacements from the State Revolving Loan Fund.
• Bill 129 (2026) would authorize a loan from the state’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund for water supply projects.
• Bill 130 (2026) would amend the Maui County Code on repayment of fee waivers for affordable housing.
• Bill 85, CD1 (2026) would let planning commissions publish public hearing notices in any suitable countywide publication instead of requiring a newspaper.

Resolutions adopted:

• Resolution 26-152 accepted donated playground equipment from KABOOM! and United Airlines for the Department of Parks and Recreation.
• Resolution 26-153 established a sister-city relationship with Laoag, the capital of Ilocos Norte in the Philippines.
• Resolution 26-154 referred to the Maui Planning Commission bills to reclassify the state land use district, amend the Makawao-Pukalani-Kula Community Plan and change zoning for 8.037 acres in Makawao, including Seabury Hall.
• Resolutions 26-155 and 26-156 approved first amendments to a county property lease with Maui Youth and Family Services Inc. and a license with Aloha House Inc., both for Makawao properties.