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County Council seeks input on proposed Front Street affordable housing project

By Staff | Jan 9, 2014

Carroll

LAHAINA – On Wednesday, Jan. 8, the Maui County Council’s Land Use Committee will consider the proposed 203 residential unit Kahoma Village Project in Lahaina.

Committee Chair Robert Carroll said the panel has scheduled a site inspection for 10 a.m. on the mauka side of Front Street, where it intersects with the Kahoma Kai Stream Bridge, on the side of the bridge opposite Lahaina Cannery Mall (south side of Kahoma Channel).

A separate meeting will follow in the Council Chamber in Wailuku at 1:30 p.m.

Carroll encourages interested members of the public to provide testimony at the morning site inspection and the afternoon committee meeting.

For the afternoon meeting, testimony will also be accepted from the council’s district offices in Hana, Lanai and Molokai.

Testimony may also be e-mailed to lu.committee@maui county.us, referencing LU-3(2). Agendas are available at www.mauicounty.gov/committees/lu.

“Our goal is to provide access to high-quality housing for residents while preserving environmental and cultural assets,” Carroll said.

“Public input will help the committee decide whether the Kahoma Village Project meets this standard.”

The project is proposed under Chapter 201H, Hawaii Revised Statutes, which allows for exemptions from certain standards for qualified affordable housing projects subject to council approval.

Chapter 201H requires the council to make a decision on the proposed project within 45 days of receipt of the application.

For the Kahoma Village Project, the council’s deadline is Feb. 13.

The 21.6-acre parcel is bordered by Front Street, the Kahoma-Kai Stream Bridge, Kenui Street and Honoapiilani Highway. It is situated makai of Honoapiilani Highway.

The property is owned by The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation Incorporated, and the project is being presented by Standard Carr Development LLC on the foundation’s behalf.

Approximately 102 units (51 percent) are proposed as multifamily meeting the county’s affordability criteria, with the remaining 101 units proposed as single-family, market-rate units.

The project also includes three private parks encompassing 1.75 acres.

Carroll noted that the public should not confuse this project with an earlier development identified as the Kahoma Residential Subdivision, which was approved by the council under the same Chapter 201H process in December 2011. The earlier, 68-unit project is located mauka of Honoapiilani Highway.

According to the Final Environmental Assessment for the Kahoma Village Project, construction is anticipated to take 48 months (following receipt of a Special Management Area use permit and construction-related permit approvals) at a cost of $60 million.

For information, visit the site inspection agenda at www.mauicounty.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/18617, the committee meeting agenda at www.mauicounty.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/18618, and the Kahoma Village Project Final Environmental Assessment at oeqc.doh.hawaii.gov/Shared%20Documents/Environmental_Notice/Archives/2010s/2013-09-08.pdf.