WAILUKU -- The Maui County Council Public Services Committee voted 4-1 late Monday to recommend approval of the Kula Ridge fast-track housing application with conditions.
Committee Chairman Wayne Nishiki cast the only "no" vote, while Council Members Joe Pontanilla, Danny Mateo, Bill Medeiros and Mike Victorino voted in favor of moving the application forward to the full council on Tuesday, four days before the expiration of a 45-day deadline for the council to consider the project.
Excused from Monday evening's meeting were Council Member Jo Anne Johnson, who has expressed support for Kula Ridge, and Council Member Sol Kaho'ohalahala, who supported Nishiki last week in a failed motion to reject the 116-lot development with 70 affordable housing units.
Council Members Mike Molina and Gladys Baisa, who have been present for all of the public testimony and deliberations on Kula Ridge, did not cast votes since they are not members of the Public Services Committee.
The proposed development sits on a 48 acres above Holy Ghost Church and the Kula Community Center. The adjacent Kula Ridge Mauka project has 20 agricultural lots on 272 acres.
The application is being processed under the state's fast-track state housing law, which allows a developer to bypass most state and county land-use requirements by promising to build affordable homes.
