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Mayor approves ‘common-sense changes’ to law

Updates to the Maui County Code relating to subdivisions, including one that could help the county regulate speeding on Eha Street, were signed into law by Mayor Alan Arakawa on Tuesday.

“We need more common-sense changes to our laws like these revisions,” Arakawa said. “This bill will save the public and county staff significant time and effort in processing future subdivisions, while retaining the needed safeguards to protect our community’s health, safety and the environment.”

Among the revisions included in the 37-page bill that was unanimously passed by the Maui County Council on Thursday is one that would loosen the county’s current guidelines for accepting streets, pavements, waterlines or other similar infrastructure from developers.

For years, speeding on Eha Street has been a concern of Iao Parkside residents, but the county had no power to install proper signs or striping because it was a privately owned roadway that did not meet standards. The owner of the road, KLD Holding LLC, a company controlled by Stanford Carr Development, reported that it lacked the funds for proper upkeep, county officials said, but the county was forbidden by law to adopt the street until it reached “full compliance” with county standards.

The approved version of the County Code, however, allows the county to accept the roadway, even if it does not satisfy county provisions, as long as it is “deemed in the public interest by the council.”

Other revisions in the bill simplified the number of tax clearances required, eliminated redundancies with the building code, clarified that council-approved zoning conditions prevail over subdivision requirements, simplified when and how extensions to subdivision applications are granted and eliminated language that indicated some leases were subject to subdivision requirements.

* Eileen Chao can be reached at echao@mauinews.com.

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