A Maui County Council committee Tuesday deferred a resolution to grant a lease to redevelop the Old Maui High School campus, which sits vacant in Hamakuapoko.

The Economic Development, Energy, Agriculture and Recreation committee chose to put off voting on whether to recommend a lease for TEACH Development, a Hawaii limited liability corporation formed to develop the project. The company was chosen by Mayor Alan Arakawa’s administration through a request for proposal process to reuse and redevelop the 23-acre campus in Hamakuapoko.

The proposed lease terms are $1 a year for 60 years. Administration officials said that the lease terms are minimal because the developers will be paying millions of dollars for infrastructure work.

Kit Zulueta, Office of Council Services communications director, said Wednesday it is unclear when the resolution will be taken up again. Council committees currently are preparing “end-of-the-year” referrals for the next term, which begins in early January with three new members.

Nearly 30 people testified at Tuesday’s meeting, though 53 had signed up, Zulueta said. Midway through testimony, committee Chairman Don Guzman noted his intent to defer the item, so some who signed up to speak did not testify.

At a community meeting Nov. 10 at the Old Maui High School campus, some meeting-goers asked TEACH Development to delay the county-approval process until the public had more time to review the project. Some community members said they had only recently heard about the proposed plans.

TEACH officials said it was too late to withdraw the item from Tuesday’s committee meeting but agreed to delay the process to allow the newly elected council, whose terms begin in January, to determine the outcome of the measure.

TEACH officials have pledged to do more public outreach. Company officials said securing a lease first was important to raise funds and that the lease was only the beginning of the process, which will be subject to further reviews down the line. Public concerns aired at the community meeting included the possibility of the project attracting more development on the north shore as well as distrust of developers, some of whom, testifiers claimed, had duped the community in the past. Others urged TEACH to contract with local companies and education groups.

The project, estimated to cost around $50 million, is envisioned to preserve the historic Charles W. Dickey designed buildings and to use others on campus and to possibly construct buildings to house technological advancement, agricultural and jobs programs.

The project is backed by the Friends of Old Maui High School. The county currently pays the nonprofit $65,000 to $100,000 annually to maintain and to make repairs to the campus established in 1913.

* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.