WAILUKU - Maui Land & Pineapple has been granted an exemption to the county's "Show Me the Water" ordinance for a large-lot subdivision below the Kapalua-West Maui Airport in Mahinahina.
ML&P has applied to separate the site of its proposed worker housing development Pulelehua from a larger parcel of former pineapple fields. If Pulelehua is approved, the company would have to apply to resubdivide the property into smaller lots for actual development, and Maui Pine argued the water source requirements should not be applied until then. The Board of Variances and Appeals voted unanimously Wednesday to grant the exemption.
The case is the first time a challenge to the 2007 law has been tested. The so-called "Show Me the Water" ordinance requires landowners to prove they have a long-term source of quality water that can meet the needs of their proposed projects. The requirement is triggered when a landowner applies to subdivide a property. But the law allows a number of exemptions, including an exemption for large-lot subdivisions where no water will be required.
Maui Land & Pineapple's subdivision application asks to break a 1,739-acre parcel into three pieces. Two lots, 159 acres and 151 acres, would be the site of its future Pulelehua development. A third 1,429-acre lot would be a remnant parcel.
County officials argued that the company should be required to show water plans for the subdivision because technically it would be legal for ML&P to develop a single home on each of the three lots, even though the company has said it does not intend to do so.
"There's no intention to build anything, certainly not dwellings," said Greg Garneau, attorney for Maui Land & Pineapple.
ML&P officials said it would be more appropriate to enforce the requirement when and if they move forward with plans to develop the Pulelehua site. The development is proposed with 882 residential units. The company has said 51 percent of the units would be affordable.
Maui Land & Pineapple still needs a change in zoning and community plan designation for the project, which will also need to be included in the county's general plan update in order to move forward.
* Ilima Loomis can be reached at iloomis@mauinews.com.
