#Department of Planning

A federal lawsuit accuses Pāʻia Inn owner Michael Baskin of “rampant sexual harassment” of young female employees, including some teenagers, since at least 2015. Through a representative, Baskin denied the allegations filed Thursday in US District Court by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The commission’s news release says Baskin violated federal law when he […]

Residents are encouraged to attend the County of Maui’s in-person Lahaina Community Meeting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 7, at the Lahaina Intermediate School cafeteria.

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.”

The County of Maui Department of Planning is encouraging property owners whose legally nonconforming structures were destroyed in the August 2023 wildfires to apply for building permits and begin the process of rebuilding.

With growing numbers of Maui County employees, on paper, at least, is there enough space for them to park at the Kalana O Maui campus in Wailuku?

Maui County Council members heard about progress and plans for future needs Tuesday from the Maui Emergency Management Agency, now less than two years after the August 2023 wildfires disaster.

Residents are encouraged to attend the County of Maui’s Lahaina Community Meeting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 2, 2025, at the Lahaina Intermediate School cafeteria.

Maui County Council members voted unanimously, 9-0, on Friday to approve by resolution the use of up to $5 million from the Managed Retreat Revolving Fund for property acquisition by the Lahaina Community Land Trust.

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.

A bill to help with rebuilding historic Lahaina town advanced Monday afternoon out of the Senate Water and Land Committee, chaired by Sen. Lorraine Inouye of Hilo, Hawaiʻi Island.

Rebuilding in historic Lahaina town would not require special management area permits, under a bill introduced by West Maui Sen. Angus McKelvey, if the structure was destroyed by the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfire and planned reconstruction stays within the footprint of structure that stood before the disaster.

When asked about the worst thing about life in the County, the top response was Economy and Cost of Living (40%), followed by Social and Population Issues (19%) and Infrastructure and Services (16%).

Public comments are due Jan. 22 for a proposed installation of a “geotextile, sand-filled burrito” as erosion control at the Kanai A Nalu, a nearly 50-year-old, four-story condominium in Māʻalaea.

Residents are encouraged to attend the County of Maui’s Weekly Disaster Recovery Community Meeting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 6, in the Lahaina Intermediate School cafeteria. The meeting will include a presentation by Keʻeaumoku Kapu on the work of Nā ʻAikāne of Maui and the cultural monitoring program in place for debris cleanup in Lahaina.

The Maui Planning Commission heard more than seven hours of often impassioned testimony Tuesday, then deliberated nearly three hours before recommending that the Maui County Council approve a bill to phase-out of thousands of short-term rentals in apartment districts, mostly in South and West Maui.

The Maui Planning Commission failed to have enough commissioners available this morning for an anticipated continuation of a public hearing on a proposed phase-out of approximately 7,000 transient vacation rentals in Maui County’s apartment-zoned districts.

Round 2 in a battle over Mayor Richard Bissen’s proposed phase-out of approximately 7,000 transient vacation rentals in Maui County’s apartment-zoned districts will move tomorrow to a different venue and have a duration estimated at only one hour.

Mayor Richard Bissen’s proposed elimination of transient vacation rentals in Maui County’s apartment-zoned districts is expected to lead to more available long-term rental and for-sale housing, although the high dollar value of apartments in coastal resort areas mean there “may be issues” about their affordability.