County plans hundreds of homes on Lanai

WAILUKU - Hundreds of new homes would be built in Lanai City under an affordable housing project proposed by the county for development over 17 years.

The $23 million development would provide more than 400 homes on a 73-acre parcel at the end of Fifth Street behind Lanai High and Elementary School. It would include a mix of single- and multifamily residences and empty house lots and would have areas set aside for two parks and a community center. A draft environmental assessment on the project will go to the Lanai Planning Commission at its Wednesday meeting.

The county is seeking a speedy review for the project under the "fast track" process for affordable housing developments. The process allows exemptions from state and county land-use laws, and the project's draft environmental assessment says the county will seek exemptions from community plan amendment and change-of-zoning processes.

The Maui County Council will review the project, but council members would be working under a deadline to take action.

Jo-Ann Ridao, deputy director of the Department of Housing and Human Concerns, said the county hoped to provide infrastructure, then eventually issue a request for proposals to find a private developer interested in building the project.

But it could take a while before the project gets to that stage.

"We're hoping we can do the infrastructure part of it," Ridao said. "But we know (the county is) going to be in a deficit position, so there's no way we can say we're going to put this in the budget this year, I don't think."

Instead, Ridao said, she hoped to find federal funding for the infrastructure work.

"We are going to have to be creative," she said.

The project site is part of a larger 115-acre parcel provided to the county by Castle & Cooke Resorts as a condition of zoning for the Koele Project District in 1992. Another 42-acre section of the parcel is set aside as an expansion area for Lanai High and Elementary School.

Lanai resident Ron McOmber said he was glad to see plans moving forward to use the land for affordable housing. McOmber is part of the group Lanaians for Sensible Growth, which urged including the land donation and other conditions in the Koele zoning approval 17 years ago.

But while he said it would be appropriate to plan the project now, the need for the development was "a long way off."

"At this point, we have all the houses on this island we're going to need for the next 10 years at least," he said.

Lanai resident Alberta De Jetley agreed.

"Right now the economy is so bad," she said. "It's hard for people to think about how they're going to buy a house when they're having trouble putting food on the table."

There are already many vacant houses listed for sale in Lanai City, she added.

"A lot of families have left the island," she said.

Unemployment on Lanai was at 10.1 percent in October, according to the state Division of Labor and Industrial Relations, compared with 9 percent for Maui island.

McOmber said he didn't think Lanai residents would be opposed to the county's proposal but they were preoccupied with the economy and may not have even heard of the affordable housing project.

"If you talk with people on Lanai, they're going to go, 'Huh?' " he said. "They have no idea."

Ridao noted that the county had held four meetings on Lanai to share information about the project. While they were mostly attended by community activists, Ridao said she was pleased to see several young couples attend the last meeting and speak in favor of the project.

"They're living with family, and they said this would be an opportunity for them to get their own place," she said.

While groundbreaking might be years away, Ridao said the county wanted to make it through the project approval process and prepare the Lanai community to take advantage of the housing once it does become available.

"Our next step might be for us to start doing some credit counseling over there," she said.

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