#1045 Front Street

As Lahaina begins to rebuild in the wake of the August 2023 wildfire disaster, residents and visitors of the beloved historic town are asking whether it will retain the historic character that went up in smoke and ashes.

The Maui Planning Commission is wrestling with a precedent-setting decision on the first special management area permit for reconstruction of an oceanfront Front Street home destroyed in the August 2023 Lahaina wildfire, after concluding public testimony Tuesday.

A proposed $1.85 million project to rebuild an oceanfront home on wildfire-ravaged Front Street in Lahaina is getting support from neighbors who also want to rebuild while taking hits from critics concerned with coastline impacts, rising sea levels, and what one opponent called “another mansion on the shoreline.”