Council begins talks on recovery plan after fires

Committee seeks public input, will hold another meeting in West Maui Sept. 27

A union official representing many members who live and work in Lahaina said that "a lot of them want hope" and want to get back to rebuilding in West Maui, but the style of the old structures that once housed many families could pose a challenge.

"We have been talking to our members that have been affected and it has been devastating and a lot of them want hope," Stephen West, business agent for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, told a Maui County Council committee on Monday. "They want to get back, they want to start the rebuilding process. They want to start everything back."

The ILWU Local 142 has 2,700 members who work in West Maui, of which 1,750 members live in Lahaina.

But, West said, "the hard part" is that Lahaina had old structures as a former plantation town, and some of the properties may only allow for one bedroom. He said the emergency order could potentially allow unpermitted structures that were lost in the fire to be rebuilt.

"I will ask the council to take a hard look at that because many of these structures that were lost would not stand up to current code," West said. "So there will have to have some give and take there to see if we can get these families back."

Council Member Tamara Paltin, who holds the West Maui residency seat, asked if a set of preapproved housing plans could work in this situation, noting that other council members had concerns about nonpermitted structures not being able to get insurance.

"I think we have to look at the footprint of a lot of those lots and find a way that we can put permitted structures back in there that would offer the same type of amenities that were there," West said.

He added that along Front Street up toward the old Chart House, "there were a number of units that had multiple, multiple, multiple, families living in and I think it's going to take a real hard dive into that, a lot of compassion, because I'm all for it really."

West, who was raised in Wahikuli and got emotional at times as he spoke, also suggested there be a moratorium on transient vacation rentals and Airbnbs, saying they have driven up rental costs that make it hard on local residents to find housing.

West testified before the council's Government Relations, Ethics and Transparency Committee, which met in Council Chambers at the Kalana O Maui building. It was the first time the committee took up the resolution that aims to develop a comprehensive recovery and resiliency plan in response to Maui's wildfires in Lahaina and Kula on Aug. 8.

The committee will meet again to discuss the plan at 9 a.m. Sept. 27 at The Westin Maui Resort and Spa in Kaanapali in the Honoapiilani Ballroom.

Committee Chairwoman Nohelani U'u-Hodgins said the committee wants to hear from everybody, but especially the residents of West Maui on their ideas for recovery. She also encouraged written testimony for people who are busy or may not feel comfortable to testify in front of the committee.

Testimony instructions are on the meeting agendas at mauicounty.us/agendas.

U'u-Hodgins said the committee plans to hold several meetings to take in testimony, then send the various issues to the appropriate council committees.

West Maui residents said Monday they wanted to help gather those ideas. That includes Juen-Lee Brown, who lives in Mahinahina and has children who attended Lahainaluna. Her family business was impacted by the fire. Brown said she would "love to be involved" in a task force if needed to help the council committees gather information.

"I believe we need to get right in with the community and call people who are willing and able to talk about what we ask, what we need together in the community," she told the committee.

"The community itself we can do this, come together and form a way to ask all the questions, cover all the needs of our community as best as we can. Set a plan for how to recover, how to heal," said Brown, who started the nonprofit Friends of LHS Music to support Lahainaluna's music department.

Paltin also shared thoughts for recovery that she has heard from around the community.

Some ideas include placing utility wires underground and having an area designed for modular or tiny homes where special permits could be issued for the homes so that they can be insured.

Paltin said displaced residents should not be located in fire-prone areas such as Ukumehame, Olowalu and Launiupoko. Preferred locations would be near and between West Maui's fire stations of Lahaina and Napili.

She also said the community will have to decide which historical aspects will be reflected now that the town will be rebuilt, such as the plantation era that influenced the town.

But, she said, attention should also be given to Moku'ula, once the home of Native Hawaiian royalty, and Mokuhinia, a 17-acre spring-fed wetland pond.

There has also been discussion about restoring ulu trees in Lahaina, where they had grown in the past.

Paltin said other issues raised by community members include having a setback for sea level rise exposures along with more bikeways and greenways.

Parking for the Sept. 27 meeting on the recovery plan will be available at Whalers Village. Shuttle transportation will be provided between the Westin and the Aston Ka'anapali Shores, Honua Kai, Aston Ka'anapali Villas, Royal Lahaina, Ka'anapali Beach Resort, Whalers Village, Hyatt Regency and Lahaina Civic Center.

For information on pickup times at each location, contact Roberts Hawaii at (808) 871-6226.

For information on the meeting, contact committee staff at GREAT.Committee@mauicounty.us or call (808) 270-7838.

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