Land Use/Planning

Community Planning Maui Tomorrow has been very much engaged in the West Maui Community Plan update – the first community plan update on Maui in 16 years. We have attended all public meetings on this topic, and have let concerned citizens know that under state law, their community plans can be enforceable if they are worded properly. Educating the public about this community plan revision will continue to be a major focus of our efforts in the coming year. Community plans represent the vision of the people, which should be respected, not ignored. Unfortunately, there has been a long tradition in Maui County government of treating the community plans as just “guidelines” that have no teeth. This practice is convenient for developers, but it ignores the law, as well as the hard work and forethought that has been put into these plans by members of the community. 1989 – Proposed Condo Development 2018 – Protecting cultural sites + affordable housing Growing Preservation Areas Maui Tomorrow and two community groups entered into a landmark legal settlement that significantly reduced the allowable development on 1,800 acres owned by ATC Mākena, developer of the latest 47-acre phase of the Mākena Resort. We have continuously been meeting regularly with ATC to implement the terms of the settlement along with additional archaeological work that we required has progressed well. Working with lineal descendants and cultural practitioners, we have helped identify dozens of new culturally important areas and a number of large, new cultural site complexes that will result in a significant preserve area above the Mākena Landing area shoreline. In addition, the settlement calls for over 100 acres of Mākena’s mauka lands to be set aside. A recent site visit to this area revealed magnificent wiliwili trees, ancient boundary walls and habitation sites. Maui Tomorrow has worked diligently to incorporate the cultural perspective of our Hawaiian allies in order to guide our decisions and achieve a pono outcome. We truly appreciate all who have continued to give so selflessly of their time and mana‘o, which is enabling us to find so much more of the story of the ‘āina of Mākena and its people.