#Michael Hopper
Corp Counsel: South Maui plan meets legal minimum on costs—but Council can demand more
Maui County Council members spent all Monday and half of Tuesday working through the South Maui Community Plan update, getting a legal opinion on the plan’s fiscal estimates, hearing more public testimony and moving to strengthen the plan’s emergency evacuation provisions.
Maui Planning Commission recommends EC Pāʻia Town project rezoning as private water source raises questions
The Maui Planning Commission voted 5-3 Tuesday to recommend approval of the EC Pāʻia Town Project’s rezoning, after developers said the 170-home, mixed-use development would rely on private wells and a private wastewater treatment plant rather than county systems in Central Maui that already operate at or near capacity. The commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of a related community plan amendment for the same 40-acre property.
Hoʻonani Village project recommended for first reading passage by full Council; calls for deferral set aside
A Maui County Council committee voted 5-1 Wednesday to recommend passage of two land use bills that would clear the way for the proposed Hoʻonani Village mixed-use development on former sugarcane fields near Kahului Airport, overriding deferral recommendations from three county departments with concerns about infrastructure shortfalls.
Pulelehua zoning condition amendment gains Council committee approval, despite West Maui water scarcity concerns
A Maui County Council committee tried to breathe life Wednesday into the languishing 304-acre Pulelehua development in West Maui, a “shovel ready” housing project with the promise of hundreds of affordable units but long dying of thirst. Chaired by West Maui Council Member Tamara Paltin, the Disaster Recovery, International Affairs and Planning Committee voted 7-1, […]
Four Seasons wins SMA permit after Maui Planning Commission backs off property-wide water monitoring
The Maui Planning Commission voted 5-1 Tuesday to grant a special management area use permit for the Four Seasons Resort Wailea’s $16.3 million project to make exterior renovations, including new swimming pools. But the approval came after legal concerns compelled the commission to back off attempts to impose property-wide monitoring of the resort’s water usage.
Planning panel OKs rebuild of smaller Front Street home amid precedent-setting concerns
The Maui Planning Commission approved a special management area permit Tuesday for a somewhat scaled-back reconstruction of an oceanfront home on Front Street property owned by a retired Boeing executive and his wife, Stanley and Dilara Deal. In the end, the most hotly disputed issue: the size of the home was reduced about 10% from […]
Rent stabilization considered to slow runaway post-disaster housing costs
Rent stabilization is legal, but will it work to help residents at the mercy of landlords seeking the highest possible return on their Maui property investments? That’s the question left hanging after Maui County Council members heard Monday evening from more than two dozen testifiers, most of whom favored putting brakes on runaway rental costs.
Maui Planning Commission advances vacation rental phase-out bill
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.