#coastal zone management

County of Maui Department of Planning is informing property owners and residents within the Special Management Area (SMA) throughout Maui County of limited activities that are permissible due to the state’s emergency proclamation tied to the current and recent storms.

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 waiver of special management area rules for Lahaina wildfire survivors is expected to reduce rebuilding permit processing by about a year, speeding reconstruction and economic recovery for the West Maui community impacted by the deadly Aug. 8, 2023, wildfires.

Council Chair Alice L. Lee announced today that eight proposals have been introduced as the 2022 Maui County Council Legislative Package, including legislation to establish a “green fee surcharge”—a visitor fee that would fund environmental-protection and conservation projects.

In a 5-0 decision, the Hawai’i Supreme Court recently upheld the integrity of the Coastal Zone Management Act in a case involving the Kahoma Village Project in West Maui.

The Office of Planning Coastal Zone Management Program has received a $250,000 grant award from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.