LAHAINA - Tentative state Department of Transportation plans to rehabilitate or even rebuild a little white one-lane bridge in West Maui has some conservationists worrying the project is really just the thin edge of a wedge to allow development into one of the area's last remaining pristine expanses.
DOT Director Brennon Morioka said he organized a public meeting Friday at the Lahaina Civic Center to try to alleviate the anxieties of nearby residents and members of the Save Honolua Coalition.
And in a separate interview Saturday, Maui County Mayor Charmaine Tavares said she was just recently assured by Maui Land & Pineapple's new interim CEO Warren Haruki that the hotly contested 255 acres at Lipoa Point are not for sale and the company has no plans to sell them.
The roughly 20-foot-long Honolua Bridge, which was built in 1924 and reinforced in the '70s, is in line for upgrades simply because it has risen to the top of the DOT's bridge rehabilitation list, Morioka said. The bridge is relatively safe, but it's old and needs to be able to carry twice its current threshold, or at least 20 tons, in order to accommodate modern firetrucks and emergency medical service vehicles, Morioka said.
There's no conspiracy to pave the way for development at Lipoa Point to the north, Morioka said.
"Our top concern is safety," the DOT chief said. "If the community is opposed to a ($4 million) two-lane bridge, we aren't going to shove it down their throats. . . . We don't want to waste a lot of time on a project that the public isn't going to support."
Morioka and the DOT's project partners, Austin, Tsutsumi & Assoc. Inc., presented three options: no new construction, just rehabilitation; a new one-lane bridge; and a two-lane bridge. Over the next 1 years, the private civil engineering and surveying firm will put together an environmental assessment for the project.
About 20 people attended Friday's evening meeting. The consensus seemed to be that if the Honolua Bridge was in bad shape it could be fixed, but the DOT should keep it at one lane so traffic will remain slow and giant construction vehicles can't pass easily.
Retired Maui Police Department officer Gordon Cockett and bridge neighbor John Carty said they hadn't heard of there ever being a head-on collision on the bridge or a fatality.
Maui County Council Member Jo Anne Johnson, who said she was speaking as a private citizen, said she saw no reason why West Maui couldn't keep its one-lane bridges, just like Hana has. It slows down traffic, she noted.
Cockett added that the nearby area is sacred to Native Hawaiians and felt that keeping the existing bridge - since there is no other nearby route around it - would stave off development.
Morioka pledged that no private investor is pushing DOT to put in a new two-lane bridge to accommodate development.
The Save Honolua Coalition, Maui County and ML&P have agreed in principal in the past year on a plan to preserve 255 acres at Lipoa Point, although a number of details still need to be worked out between the mayor and ML&P, the latter of which has been in crisis mode lately with layoffs and an eight-figure loss last year.
The point sits just past Honolua and Mokuleia bays, which are world-renowned for their natural beauty, secluded beaches, snorkeling, scuba diving and surfing.
"The bridge is the gateway to the last undeveloped land (in West Maui)," Cockett said.
Kahu David Kapaku helped negotiate and sell to a skeptical public the ML&P compromise, which also included preserving eight miles of prime coastline as well as hundreds more acres for agriculture. However, with ML&P on its third CEO in four months and the company hemorrhaging money, Kapaku and others said they fear ML&P may resort to selling off the land to make ends meet.
After all, the company recently sold its renowned Plantation Golf Course for $50 million, Kapaku said, a decision that raised the hackles of Save Honolua Coalition members.
The company would see quantifiable gains from its compromise. It has offered to dedicate the coastal lands at Honolua and Lipoa to preservation, and thousands more acres for watershed conservation, in exchange for the county easing restrictions on its Kapalua Mauka project district.
Those deals include allowing 630 short-term rentals and a hotel as well as granting the company millions of dollars worth of county park credits.
"I think the county better wake up and get something done fast," Kapaku said.
Tavares said ML&P is still interested but seems preoccupied with trying to remain solvent. She said she will continue to work to get the deal done.
ML&P officials did not attend Friday's meeting and could not be reached for comment Saturday.
* Chris Hamilton can be reached at chamilton@mauinews.com.
