Plan: 40,000 new units by 2030

WAILUKU — A proposed 20-year development plan for Maui island calls for expanding and increasing the density of existing urban areas, while drawing growth boundaries to stop sprawl.

The Maui County Planning Department presented its draft of the Maui Island Plan to the General Plan Advisory Committee on Thursday night. The document, which includes maps outlining proposed “urban-growth boundaries,” anticipates more than 40,000 new housing units by 2030, of which around 24,800 are expected to be built by projects that are already approved.

Mayor Charmaine Tavares said she was excited to see the plan ready after years of work.

“It is the landmark of this new way of looking at planning in Maui County,” she told the committee before the plan was handed out.

As a member of the Maui County Council, Tavares helped create the legislation that established the general plan review process, and championed it through years of debate. That made seeing the plan finally unveiled even sweeter.

“I feel like I’m kind of giving birth,” she said.

The release of the plan came after months of complaints and criticism by advisory committee members, who felt they had been left hanging while the plan lagged further and further behind schedule. Committee members applauded as Planning Director Jeff Hunt announced on Thursday that the draft plan was complete.

“I would like to apologize for the wait and the inconvenience,” Hunt said. “But we thought it was well worth the wait.”

He asked panel members to “look to the future and not the past” as they launch their review.

The committee has until the end of October to make recommendations on the plan.

The island plan is based on a projected population of 151,000 people on Maui by 2015, and 186,300 by 2030.

But it also anticipates growth in demand for nonresident housing will be reduced by 25 percent through “policy, taxation and the placement of new housing.” That would reduce the total number of needed additional housing units — on top of those already expected to be built — to 12,876.

Hunt said the county was hoping to reduce offshore interest in housing by locating developments away from the beach and out of resort areas. But he acknowledged projections may have to be revised if those policies don’t work.

“To be honest, we’re not absolutely confident that it will be achieved,” he said Friday.

Nonresident housing currently makes up one-fifth of all properties on Maui.

A cornerstone of the planning document is proposed urban-growth boundaries that Hunt said would mean “proactive planning.” The boundaries would delineate about 25,850 acres of planned urban expansion, new towns or high-density in-fill, while restricting growth in other areas.

“This should dictate where development will occur,” Hunt said.

Proposals for urban-growth boundaries include:

• The community plan could designate land for urban-style development only within urban-growth boundaries.

• Capital improvement projects would be limited to areas within boundary areas.

• No new sewer systems would be developed outside urban boundary areas.

• Existing projects outside the boundaries could continue, but could not be expanded further.

• The county could “automatically” rezone land inside an urban-growth boundary to implement the community plan or facilitate affordable housing.

• Urban-growth boundaries could only be expanded if an inventory of available lands shows more land is needed to meet estimated population growth within 10 years.

Within urban areas, the plan calls for increasing density with in-fill, smaller lot sizes and establishing minimum density requirements. It proposes setting deadlines for developers to start building after receiving land-use approvals, and calls for stricter regulation of “big box” stores.

The plan also would designate 62,100 acres of “prime agricultural lands” and an additional 168,500 acres of “productive agricultural lands.”

In addition, it calls for protecting cultural and natural resources by creating a “heritage area” over much of East Maui, the West Maui Mountains and Kahakuloa, where special cultural impact assessments would be required of developments. Lands identified as “sensitive” would require site plan review for development.

In the tourism arena, the plan recommends establishing a “cap” on the number and type of visitor accommodations.

Draft island plans for Molokai and Lanai are still pending in the Planning Department’s Long Range Planning Division.

Advisory committee members Thursday voted on a meeting schedule that will include weeknight and Saturday discussions held at venues around the island.

The group’s next meeting is set for April 24.

• Ilima Loomis can be reached at iloomis@mauinews.com.