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Last meeting, full agenda for County Council

Wailuku civic complex, Kihei hotel, short-term rentals among topics

By Melissa Tanji 7 min read

In their final meeting of the year, Maui County Council members pushed ahead the Wailuku civic complex project by appropriating an additional $40 million for the parking, office and community space and infrastructure project in Wailuku town.

On Thursday, the council also passed on second-and-final reading a bill to amend the Kihei-Makena Community Plan and land-use map from single-family to hotel to reflect the existing hotel use for the Days Inn by Wyndham Maui Ocean Front. Also passed was a bill to allow for a parking lot to be built near the Days Inn and Sarento's on the Beach, both on South Kihei Road.

But council members voted to refer to the next council bills to update the Paia-Haiku Community Plan and the County Code to prohibit permits for short-term rental homes for properties in the special management area in the Paia-Haiku Community Plan area.

Five council members, Chairman Mike White, Vice Chairman Robert Carroll and Riki Hokama, Stacy Crivello and Yuki Lei Sugimura, took part in the special council meeting. Absent and excused were Council Members Elle Cochran, Kelly King, Alika Atay and Don Guzman.

The special meeting followed a public hearing on the six bills earlier Thursday morning.

During the regular council meeting on Dec. 11 and continuing to Dec. 13, at least three council members requested a public hearing on each of the bills. Some members and testifiers requested the hearings be held in the evening and in the districts the bills could affect. But with the public hearing scheduled on a weekday between the holidays, an executive assistant for Cochran said last week that Cochran and possibly others would not attend the special council meeting to respect the public's wishes for better hearing times.

Staff from Guzman's office said he was out of town and couldn't attend the meeting. Staff from White's office said King also had a planned vacation while Atay did not respond to a polling of members.

White, who has the authority to schedule the hearings, told The Maui News last week that he scheduled the hearing for Thursday because some members who requested the hearings would be leaving the council next year. Getting quorum for separate hearings on each matter would prove difficult, he had said.

Out of the 20 people who testified Thursday, almost half complained about the hearing's timing and asked that the matters be deferred.

Members voted 5-0 to approve bills on second-and-final reading to increase the appropriation for the Wailuku civic complex by $40 million. The bill does not authorize the bond. That matter will need to come back to the new council.

This past spring, the council set aside $44 million for the first phase of the civic center hub to be located at the current Wailuku municipal parking lot site. The first phase consists of infrastructure upgrades.

Public concerns include the project's cost and design and the desire for more public input, even though various meetings and community gatherings already have been held.

Civic complex proponent Hokama said he understood it was a large project for the county, but he added that it would have long-term benefits similar to the Kalana O Maui building.

Hokama thanked people who called his office, mainly in support but others in opposition of the project.

"I see this as a great opportunity," he said. "It's going to take money, yeah, (but) we will get return (on the investment) sooner and faster than people envision."

Carroll said the parking lot project has been ongoing for years.

Different proposals have come and gone, and the council has been called out for not making a decision on the parking issues in Wailuku town in the past.

"We can't do that anymore," Carroll said.

Members also voted 5-0 on bills relating to land on the north end of Keawakapu Beach in South Maui.

One bill would amend the Kihei-Makena Community Plan and land-use map from single family to hotel. The change would reflect the existing hotel use on approximately 1.119 acres of state-owned property.

Currently, the designation is inconsistent with the parcel's hotel zoning. During first reading, the bill was amended to prohibit "any" hotel on the site from increasing its current capacity, density, height and footprint. The amendment addresses concerns from testifiers of possible expansion.

The second bill grants a two-year conditional permit to Ruby & Sons Hospitality LLC, the applicant for the project, to allow for the construction and use of the off-site parking lot in the county park district.

The bill says that at least 51 parking stalls will be designated for public beach access parking and no more than 34 stalls will be for hotel (Days Inn) and restaurant (Sarento's) parking.

The lot was previously used as a commercial parking lot. Obtaining the conditional permit for the development of the off-site parking lot is complying with the settlement agreement from a Board of Variances and Appeals' intervention, according to council documents. The request for the conditional permit is to comply with county parking requirements for the hotel, the documents said.

An attorney for the inn, Bernard Bays, testified before council members Thursday and said that the agreement rose from 2005, when Wailuku attorney Isaac Hall wanted to ensure the public could get some of that parking that was going to be used by the businesses.

He added that Council Member King held community meetings about the matter and asked for more public parking, in which 51 would be for public use.

Hotel owners have honored the intervention agreement for years, Bays said, adding matter was waiting for a decision from the county.

Testifiers at council meetings were concerned about the number of stalls, and some were worried that the parking lot was taking public parking.

County Planning Director Michele McLean testified and later explained in an email that the county continues to honor the County Code that was in effect when the property was developed, back in 1960, because the uses and square footage haven't changed. Requirements then were 54 stalls.

The inn and restaurant have 51 stalls on-site, so they are lacking three under the requirement in effect in 1960, she said.

Under the current code, the parking requirement for the businesses would be 103 total. So it would leave them 52 spaces deficient, McLean said.

But under the code, there is some flexibility. McLean said "I don't think they will effectively be 52 deficient."

She said the conditional permit allowance of 34 stalls should be about right.

A bill that failed to garner support of all five members was one to update the Paia-Haiku Community Plan by conditionally allowing short-term rental homes in the community plan area, in order to keep the plan consistent with Maui County Code.

And another bill that failed to receive support was one that would prohibit future permits for short-term rental homes for properties in the special management area in the Paia-Haiku Community Plan area. It would also reduce the cap on permitted short-term rental homes from 88 to 65.

Crivello said that in listening to the "makaainana," or the citizens, she would not support the bill on second-and-final reading.

She said area residents wanted the bill deferred so they can gain more information about it and understand it better.

Council members chose to refer the matter to the next council.

* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.

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