One of the latest additions to the Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum is this 250-horsepower steam engine that was operated at Kahuku Sugar Mill on Oahu from 1896 until its closure in 1971. The photo was taken Nov. 6. On Tuesday, the Maui Planning Commission approved a change in the museum’s conditional permit to allow for expansion plans. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

WAILUKU — Puunene’s historic sugar museum may be a future site for weddings, receptions and even Christmas parties with its proposed expansion, which garnered support from the Maui Planning Commission on Tuesday.

“I think this is just one of those feel-good requests,” said Commissioner Kellie Pali. “Sometimes, we don’t get feel good ones, and this feels really good.”

A request to change a conditional permit for Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum to grow exhibition areas, outdoor displays and gardens, parking and museum-related events was unanimously approved by the panel Tuesday morning.

Located off Hansen Road, the museum, an independent nonprofit that leases about 4 acres from A&B, serves as a cultural and historical repository for artifacts, photos and documents on Maui’s sugar industry.

Moreover, it’s a way for residents to trace their roots: The industry began in the 1800s and drew immigrant workers from around the world to Hawaii.

“It’s the social makeup of our islands, and it’s very important to preserve that for future generations,” said Holly Buland, museum director. “Some may not even know that their ancestors have come here originally from the 1800s to work in the fields. We have a lot of information that can help them in our archives for genealogical purposes.”

The museum, which had been on a month-to-month lease, signed a 30-year lease with A&B that expanded the museum property from 1.8 acres to more than 4 acres in 2017. This came shortly after Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co., whose smoke stacks stood over the museum, ceased operations in December 2016.

Currently, a museum building, the former executive director’s residence, garage and shed, as well as outdoor exhibition spaces, occupy 2 acres.

The expansion of another 2 acres would include a new multipurpose building (with a meeting room, restrooms and more exhibition space), as well as more outdoor display and garden areas, additional vehicle and bus parking, upgraded visitor circulation and use of the former residence for meeting and community space.

Earlier this year, the museum received a grant to establish a display for a steam engine as part of its operations. Also, museum grounds may be transformed for special events, such as festivals, weddings, parties, receptions, cultural events and more.

The request comes during a time when the museum is facing leaner times, which parallels the overall decline in museum attendance around the nation, according to museum Treasurer Roger MacArthur.

“Museum attendance throughout the country is down,” he said during testimony Tuesday. “Museums aren’t the top of the list anymore. People are finding other activities when they’re here. It’s required us to be more innovative and creative.”

The museum, established in 1980 with a grant from A&B as a memorial to early sugar pioneers and company founders, has been busy in past decades, nonprofit officials said.

In 2016, though, HC&S, whose parent company is A&B, closed its Puunene Mill, ceased sugar cultivation on 36,000 acres and laid off 660 workers.

MacArthur said the museum’s annual revenue dropped 23 percent from $153,000 to $117,000 in the last 10 years. Also, yearly attendance has declined 16 percent — from 28,900 to 24,354 — over the same time frame.

“It was just magic to have that plantation with the smoke coming out of the chimney and the green beautiful fields of sugar and people attracted to the museum,” MacArthur said. “But we’ve lost that wonderful asset, it’s no longer there. . . . Hopefully, we can expand upon our marketing skills in order to get people to come back and understand the beauty of the sugar industry and what it meant to Hawaii and more importantly to Maui.”

A handful of testifiers spoke in favor of the expansion Tuesday. Theo Morrison, Lahaina Restoration Foundation’s executive director, credited the museum with the largest collection of plantation artifacts on Maui.

Commissioners also praised the proposed expansion.

“I am one who likes to go to museums when on vacation, and I would like to see this go through,” said Commissioner Kawika Freitas.

With the vote, the panel omitted a condition that would have restricted event attendees, saying instead that fire code will limit allowable attendance. The commission added restrictions on fireworks and pyrotechnic displays.

The proposal now heads to Maui County Council’s Planning and Sustainable Land Use Committee. If it’s approved there, it will go to full council for a final vote.

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