Honoa’ula Partners project is to the right of Maui Meadows, mauka of Piilani Highway and delineated with black hash marks. Courtesy photo

The Maui Planning Commission may have a final vote on a proposed 650-acre development in Wailea when it convenes Tuesday after early indications suggested commissioners weren’t going to pass it at their last meeting on March 11.

With a minimum quorum of five members during a discussion in early March, Commissioner Mark Deakos indicated he wasn’t going to support decreasing the number of affordable housing units from the original 700 units of workforce housing out of 1,400 units to a proposed minimum of 288 out of 1,150 units.

“It’s a far cry from what it was,” Deakos said.

In 2008, the Maui County Council approved the proposed development of 14,000 units, 700 of which were supposed to be workforce housing.

Cal Chipchase, attorney for the developer Honua’ula Partners, said the proposed change to 288 units came after the 700 units did not pencil out.

The revised project is required to go to the Maui Planning Commission for review and recommendations before being sent to the Maui County Council for a decision.

Deakos said there was convincing testimony that there’s not much support for the project.

He said the Maui County Council had a 5-4 vote when the Wailea project was approved in 2008 with the promise of 700 affordable units.

The public meeting on March 11 took about 12 hours with many testifying against the project and pointing out the proposed reduction in the number of units. Commission chair Kim Thayer decided to call a recess to the meeting until March 25.

Some said traffic is already bad and they are opposed to the development until a section of the Piilani Highway in the Wailea area can be widened from two lanes to four.

The project received support from labor unions including the Hawaii Operating Engineers Union.

“We support it because it provides housing,” Operating Engineers official Pane Meatoga said.

He added that the project will provide affordable housing quickly.

Stephen West, the Maui Division director of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, said he supports the project and his members need more affordable housing.

“We need all kinds of homes,” said West, whose union has 5,600 members in Maui County.