To help a 202-unit, 100 percent workforce housing project in Wailuku to move forward, the Maui Planning Commission last week backed a district boundary amendment needed to build the project.

The commission voted 5-0 to recommend to the full Maui County Council the amending of the state land use district classification from agricultural to urban for the proposed 14.9-acre Kuikahi Affordable Housing Community development.

This will include around 126 single-family and multifamily homes and condos combined, 18 duplexes, 14 townhomes, 16 live-work units and 28 tiny homes.

“This project is what Maui desperately needs,” Maui Planning Commission Chairperson P. Denise La Costa said during the meeting Nov. 7. “It’s the whole package.”

The Maui County Council’s Affordable Housing Committee supported the project with modifications, but deferred action on amending the state land use district so that the Maui Planning Commission could make a recommendation first before it goes back to full council for final approvals.

The project, which sits on the Waikapu side of Kuikahi Drive, below Wailuku Heights, will be marketed to households earning at or below 140 percent of the area median income.

“Basically, we’re focusing on for-sale because we’re trying to promote generational homeownership for folks here on Maui,” said Alaula Builders Vice President of Development Lawrence Carnicelli.

Proposed prices for the lowest of incomes are roughly $236,000 for a tiny home model and around $754,000 for a single-family residence in the highest range of incomes. However, Carnicelli said developers are working with the county Department of Housing and Human Concerns in reducing the home prices through affordable housing funds.

Homes will be for Maui residents — applicants with at least one tax return filed — and owner-occupied for perpetuity. There will be no vacation rentals allowed and no Mainland buyers, Carnicelli said.

Construction is anticipated to commence in August 2023, with a completed date by 2025.

La Costa was overall happy with the project plans, but hopes developers will consider making the residency requirements more extensive to ensure that eligible applicants have lived in Maui County longer than a year.

“The developer has done a really great job. I hope other developers look at what this developer has done,” Commissioner Mel Hipolito Jr. said. “I applaud them for what they’re doing.”

Any housing projects over 15 acres must go through the state Land Use Commission, while projects under that limit are county jurisdiction.

Commissioner Kelly Thayer, who ultimately voted in favor of the project, was a little conflicted with Kuikahi Village pushing the size threshold at 14.9 acres.

While Thayer agrees that the project provides much-needed affordable housing for local residents, she is concerned about losing agricultural lands and starting a ripple effect of development in the area, including projects that may not build or offer homes at fair prices.

“The change from ag to urban is a pretty significant and a potentially permanent change, and this piece of land is kind of like the first on Waikapu side of Kuikahi Drive to have any development outside of Waikapu Town itself,” she said. “Is it OK or good or beneficial to have fully affordable housing at the cost of some of our most fertile, accessible, watered, ag land?”

Still, urbanizing the area is a worthy sacrifice for affordable housing, Commissioner Dale Thompson said, and noted that the project has been and will continue to be well-vetted.

Commissioner Kawika Freitas also voted in support of the district change. Vice Chairperson Kellie Pali and Commissioners Mark Deakos and Ashley Lindsey were excused.

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