Discussion goes one way on Makawao road issues

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MAKAWAO - For 2-1/2 hours Tuesday night, Baldwin Avenue turned into mostly a one-way street at a town meeting of the Makawao Main Street Association. Many of the more than 100 people who attended wanted to say something about the association's plans for changing the parking and sidewalks in the heart of the business district.

Except for a few instances, they did not get the chance. Nearly all the talk flowed one way.

About half of the 2-1/2 -hour session at Makawao School was devoted to developers' projects in and around Makawao, some as far away as Haliimaile. None of these is likely to proceed soon because of water and zoning requirements.

The unusually large turnout was for the Baldwin Avenue safety and beautification project. That was placed at the end of the agenda. The agenda was reviewed by Jocelyn Perreira, program coordinator for the Tri-Isle Main Street Resource Center, who told the audience that no questions from the floor would be allowed. All had to be submitted in writing, to be answered at the end of the night.

Lawyer Joel Edelman then rose to say that "at least half the people here, and probably 75 percent, are here for one item at the end of the agenda." He asked if the Baldwin Avenue issue could be brought forward. The crowd applauded. Perreira did not answer him but continued the meeting.

When the last item did come up, Perreira said: "I accept your right to be cynical about it," especially because the proposed changes for Baldwin have been compared to the changes to North Market Street in Wailuku.

Perreira said that was unfair, since the Wailuku project was done by the Maui Redevelopment Authority. "I know that project scared the living daylights out of you people," she said.

It was endorsed by the Wailuku Main Street Association, with the proviso that it not go forward until the municipal parking lot was expanded. The lot has not been expanded, but the authority went ahead anyway, with the loss of about three dozen parking spaces in Wailuku.

Perreira promised that the mistakes that dogged the Market Street project would be avoided in Makawao.

She also said it "was unfair for those who came late to the project to mischaracterize the project."

She said seven public meetings had been held. Several people in the audience said they did not know what the Makawao Main Street Association was or who its members were.

Perreira said it is a community organization with almost 500 families as members.

"It is not a merchants' association," she said.

Landscape architect Bill Mitchell of Chris Hart & Partners then described what is proposed for Baldwin and why. The attraction of Makawao town is that it is "old, funky and cool," and the intention is to keep it that way, he said.

However, he said, technology evolves and the town has to change with it. He cited, for example, the diagonal parking on the east side of the street. Stretch-cab pickup trucks stick out into the roadway, creating a traffic hazard. The deteriorated sidewalks also are a hazard.

By changing to parallel parking, the roadway would be left clear, the sidewalks would be wider and there would even be room for kiosks. And "only eight parking spaces" would be lost, he said.

"That's a lot," called someone from the audience. It was one of the few instances when the public was heard.

On Wednesday, Calvin Shibuya, chairman of the Makawao Main Street board of directors, said, "I expected there would be some rowdiness." He added, "I think the project itself was accepted.

"It would be a shame for the project, especially the sidewalks, if it were not happening, it would be a loss to the town."

He said the format of the meeting had been chosen "to accommodate all the projects" for which the association presented updates.

These included the Alexander & Baldwin/Maui Land & Pineapple proposals for Haliimaile, Piiholo South's proposal for the pineapple field next to St. Joseph's Church and the Barto property in the middle of town. None will be ready to proceed for years.

Two other projects could happen sooner. At 1170 Makawao Ave. (Casanova restaurant), architect Jim Niess said there are plans to tear down the old post office, improve the parking lot and build a 7,000-square-foot commercial building at the front of the lot and a duplex toward the back. At the former Elan Vital gallery, the owner is making repairs to the interior.

"If questions were allowed during the meeting, we would have been there for a long time," Shibuya said.

The written questions were then answered by the various consultants, but whenever anyone tried to offer a comment or expand on a question, he or she was shut off.

At the end of the meeting, Edelman said he had conducted community meetings all over the world, and "this meeting was the most undemocratic, uncollaborative I have ever taken part in. There was no real input allowed here, no real sense of commitment."

If the idea was to exclude the community, "you definitely accomplished it. You win, you win," he said.

He was applauded.

* Harry Eagar can be reached at heagar@mauinews.com.