Please, greedy developers, don't make it sound like the meanie environmentalists are stopping affordable housing from being built in Kihei by interceding to make sure the supermalls are legal if they are built.
The supermall land is the same parcel the housing will be built on. This land is zoned light industrial, which doesn't create high density of people and traffic flow. Somewhere in the county process, they've decided that light industrial includes supermalls and housing. With high density and very high traffic flow (the one intersection into the project has been labeled "F" and that is before the Upcountry road traffic gets added).
And as this process unfolds, the immediacy of providing the affordable housing in question seems less important than it did at the County Council in 2007 when developer representative Charlie Jencks discussed how quickly this housing could be provided.
Now, as Charlie and his developers ask to have the housing portion of the project separated from the malls at the Land Use Commission hearing, he has said that no timetable has been established for building this housing. Don't forget, they can't build Wailea 670 until after the affordables are delivered.
Please, greedy developers, you're the emperors of puzzle pieces of land in South Maui. Don't screw the place up just to keep moving pieces around, creating the overdeveloped vision of South Maui you have. Go ruin some other beautiful place, please. Maybe you'll find fewer people who care about playing by the rules there.
Maury King
Kihei
