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Wailuku parking structure, as is, prevails in County Council

Effort to trim bond funding is defeated

By Kehaulani Cerizo 7 min read

WAILUKU -- A second attempt this year to defund an already-approved, four-level parking structure in Wailuku town was shut down Friday when council members abandoned a plan that would have halved both the project's bond funding and the levels of the facility.

After impassioned Wailuku testifiers questioned whether halting a "shovel-ready" project was setting an alarming precedent, the council voted 5-3, with one member excused, against a bill to slice $14,233,688 of bond funding from the first phase of the Wailuku Civic Complex and to reduce the size of the parking structure from four to two levels.

The proposed bill would have resulted in 29 fewer stalls than the current municipal lot and cost approximately $20 million, a higher cost per stall than the original plan, according to county Managing Director Sandy Baz. The plan for the four-level structure provides a 214 stall increase and the lowest project bid for construction came in at around $30 million.

"The cost of building a single-family home isn't half if you only build a single story as opposed to a second story," said county redevelopment program planner Erin Wade at Friday's council meeting.

The changes to the project would generate new construction timelines and financial concerns with redesign work adding to the project's cost, Baz said. The county has spent nearly $25 million on the project to date, county documents show.

"The county will also run out of time to redesign the bid and contract because the monies for this project are fiscal year 2019, which lapses on December 31st of 2019," Baz said. "We have to enter into contract before then."

He added that it would be unwise to return to the drawing board at this stage.

"This project has been designed and redesigned and discussed for a significant period of time," Baz said. "The county has in my opinion spent way too much money in design. We should've moved forward with something a long time ago, but we are at the stage where we are now and the decision needs to be made one way or another from the council's side. Then the mayor can react to that decision."

The long-debated, roughly $80 million Wailuku Complex Civic project includes a four-story parking structure and a three-story civic center. Last year, the council approved $42 million in bond funding for the project's first phase, which includes the parking structure and road, sewer and other infrastructure.

The council also appropriated another $40 million for the project's second phase, which includes the civic center, but not the bond funding. Opposition has grown to the project and the status of the second phase remains uncertain.

Last week, the council Economic Development and Budget Committee took the unusual action of amending the already approved general obligation bond authorization ordinance. Led by committee Chairwoman Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, the panel drafted a plan to cut the appropriation for the project by about $14 million, which would leave $27.8 million for the first phase. The plan was to trim the parking structure to two stories and cut the funding in half.

The vote was 6-3 with Rawlins-Fernandez, Kelly King, Tamara Paltin, Alice Lee, Mike Molina and Shane Sinenci voting in favor. Those opposed were Riki Hokama, Yuki Lei Sugimura and Tasha Kama.

In March, Rawlins-Fernandez lost a similar effort in her committee to remove bond funding from the project.

With Hokama absent, the first of two readings of the bill in the full council Friday saw King, Molina and Lee switch their votes. Sinenci, Paltin and Rawlins-Fernandez were on the losing side.

During the deliberations, King, Molina and Lee did not clearly explain why they switched their votes. Molina and Lee attempted to get the measure sent back to committee in light of new information. King wanted to disburse the savings to other parking projects in town for county employees but was advised by administration officials that that was not possible.

Council members were difficult to reach Friday because of back-to-back sessions. A committee discussing the county's lawsuit over wastewater injection wells that has reached the Supreme Court still was going on at 8 p.m.

The first phase of the project had been rolling down the tracks with contracts inked for the infrastructure work and the closing of bids on the parking structure. Contingency plans were in place to accommodate the infrastructure work, which was set to begin later this month, and later the loss of parking while the structure was being built.

In fiscal year 2019, $10,449,847 was spent on Phase 1A (infrastructure) construction and $2,536,722 on construction management for Phases 1A and 1B (parking structure), county documents showed. In fiscal years 2016-18, $8,963,263 was spent on planning and design contracts, such as architecture, civil and structural engineering, archaeology, traffic and fiscal analysis and environmental reviews, and $2,066,776 on property acquisitions.

Opponents of the project harped on the price tag, its size and aesthetics. Supporters say the parking and the complex are needed to revitalize a depressed and deteriorating town.

The vast majority of the 20 people testifying Friday supported the parking structure and opposed the measure to halve bond funding.

In testimony Friday, Wailuku resident and business owner Richard Dan said defunding the project would be destroying the town.

"You told us a few years ago that we were going to get the parking," he said. "I invested a lot of money in changing and renovating and doing things to my business to accommodate the new parking that's coming, now you pull the rug right out from underneath me? That's not right."

Robert Kawahara, a CPA who said his family is from Wailuku, said he is concerned about the message sent by potential defunding.

"The proposed defunding of the Wailuku Civic Complex represents an unusual and unprecedented action on a shovel-ready project," he said. "The reaching back mentality to undo what has been done is unsettling to say the least."

Kawahara said that halting the project could "break" some of his clients, who have planned business around the added parking in Wailuku town.

"I urge you to respect the decision made by our past council members and to follow through with their vision" he said.

Carolyn Wright, chief operating officer of Wailuku town-based nonprofit Maui Academy of Performing Arts, said a proposal to take away parking spots should not have been considered.

"To cut the funding in half, to cut the parking structure in half, it's a half-baked idea that I think doesn't warrant a place at the table here," she said.

Wright added that the project has been in the works for decades.

"If you set this precedent that you can undo the work of the previous council, look at what's going to happen to all of the hard work that you're doing right now," she said. "All of the issues that you're passionate about, that you're working so hard to make happen to the benefit of this island, of this county, to think that the next council could just come and just sort of willy nilly, undo it.

"I don't think you want to set this kind of legacy for yourselves or for this island."

Two testifiers, John and Rose Marie Duey, said they supported defunding the project because they don't think parking is a problem and Wailuku town should be left as it is.

* Kehaulani Cerizo can be reached at kcerizo@mauinews.com.

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