The Maui County Council’s Planning and Sustainable Land Use Committee on Thursday recommended a proposed bill by a 7-0 vote that would ultimately extend the expiration of a conditional use permit another 26 years and expand the A&B Sugar Museum property about 2 acres for additional uses and activities in the master plan.

The museum is seeking to expand from the originally approved leased area of just under 1.8 acres to a total approved leased area of nearly 4.2 acres off Hansen Road on Puunene. Munekiyo Hiraga senior associate Bryan Esmeralda said during a presentation at the committee meeting that the purpose of the property expansion is to implement the museum’s master plan, which calls for the development of a multipurpose building to house a meeting room, restrooms and additional exhibition space for components of the Sugar Cane Train.

The Sugar Museum underwent the master planning process following the new 30-year lease agreement it received from A&B in 2017 that terminates in 2047.

Through a conditional use permit, the museum could continue to expand its operations and have additional space for outdoor displays, exhibits and garden areas, vehicle and bus parking, upgraded visitor circulation and use of the former director’s residence as a meeting space.

A giant gear sits at the entrance of the Puunene museum. The Maui News MATTHEW THAYER photo

Proposed uses may also include special events like sugar- and plantation-themed celebrations, all-day events similar to past “Plantation Days” as well as opportunities for other community groups to host events.

Any private events will be held outside regular business hours.

Esmeralda said that the purpose is not to increase visitor counts, but rather the improvements are “intended to enhance the museum experience” and “preserving and presenting the history and heritage of the sugar industry as a multiethnic plantation life.”

Project planner Munekiyo Hiraga initially requested a five-year time extension of the permit to January 30, 2029 — the current permit is valid until 2024 — but Council Member Yuki Lei Sugimura proposed to extend its length to 26 years, matching the duration of the museum’s current lease that expires in 2047.

After deliberation between the committee and Planning Department, all seven members in attendance voted in support of the extension, with Council Members Mike Molina and Tasha Kama excused.

A museum display features a variety of examples of plantation life in 2017, including kitchenware, large photographs and a scale model of a home. The Maui News MATTHEW THAYER photo

“If you look at the mission and the things that the Sugar Museum is planning to do with their master plan, I believe they can use the additional time to implement their vision,” Sugimura said.

Committee Vice Chairwoman Kelly King said she supports the museum’s efforts, but was concerned that things could change between now and 2047, such as the growth of surrounding residential areas or changes in intended land use, climate change or pandemic-related impacts.

“I’ll go with the flow with whatever the committee decides but I just wanted to share those concerns,” King said. “We don’t know what’s happening from week to week these days, much less year to year.”

Because it’s a museum with “harmless” intentional uses, Council Chairwoman Alice Lee said she’d support the longer-term conditional permit, but reminded the committee that the reasons for such a permit is “to be used temporarily to see whether something fits.”

The museum currently provides educational programs about sugar plantation history and heritage, and teaches how it has helped “shape our current island society and landscape,” staff member Holly Buland said during testimony.

“Our education program provides these tools for the young people of Maui who have not seen sugar cane on the island and don’t understand what that big old building is out there that is the old sugar mill,” she added. “It’s also important for the museum to hold cultural events for these different cultural communities on the island. This would provide a venue for them to have celebrations to celebrate their plantation history.”

Museum Director Jill Pridemore said that the future goal is to begin to elaborate and share all pieces of the narrative, including the conflicts over land and water use and the impacts on Native Hawaiians.

“The history of sugar is an incredibly complicated story and in the past I think we’ve done a bit more to focus … maybe on very specific things, and losing track of the whole picture,” Pridemore said. “So it’s really my goal to show the good things, the bad things, and all aspects of that. Especially when it comes to visitors, it’s important for people to recognize and see everything that it did — both good and bad things.

“I just want to make sure we have a rounded outlook and that we’re presenting the history in its entirety.”

* Dakota Grossman can be reached at dgrossman@ mauinews.com.