NAPILI — The County of Maui has found likely violations of square footage and of number of stories in an eight-bedroom luxury home under construction at 5385 Lower Honoapiilani Road in Napili, said Planning Director Michele Chouteau McLean.

She said the department and Corporation Counsel will conduct a review, and she expects enforcement action against Developer Greg Brown to be issued by early this week.

Enforcement actions may include violation notices, recission of permits and a Stop Work Order by the Department of Public Works.

McLean explained that the Planning Department recently conducted a compliance inspection at the structure for a makai wall built without any permits.

She reported on the controversial project at a County Council Government Relations, Ethics and Transparency Committee meeting last week Wednesday.

Applicant Napili Beach House LLC was granted a county Special Management Area (SMA) Exemption to build a new two-story, 7,483-square-foot, single-family dwelling with swimming pool, ground catchment and landscaping outside of the Shoreline Setback Area. Plans also call for providing four public parking spaces along Hui Road.

Brown said he worked directly with the Planning Department for over two years during the SMA and building permit review process. During these reviews, Brown said he made many concessions, and upon the request of the Planning Department made numerous changes to the design of the home.

He emphasized that an SMA Exemption was approved for the house, and the county approved the building plans.

At the time the home was designed, the former Napili Bay Civic Improvement District restrictions limited structures to two stories — but didn’t specify a height limit — to preserve views and the character of the area.

The new home is over 35 feet high, causing residents to challenge its height and its compliance with Napili Bay Civic Improvement District rules in a steady stream of communications to county officials.

Attorney Joshua Downer, a Napili Bay resident, on Nov. 23 sent a letter to McLean, the mayor and County Council “… to demand that you order the immediate stoppage of the unlawful Brown construction at the corner of Lower Honoapiilani Road and Hui Drive. If you fail to act, I will have no choice but to petition a court to do so. I am a property owner and resident of the area protected by the ordinance that Brown is flagrantly violating, and face the prospect of immediate, irreparable harm from the continuing construction. I am, along with many of my fellow citizens, distraught by the blight of this construction, and I am highly motivated to stand up for the integrity of our laws. If Maui County’s administrative system fails to enforce local land-use ordinances, I have no doubt a court will in its stead.”

“Ordinance 371 places prescriptive limitations on the construction of new buildings. Among other requirements, the Ordinance provides that ‘[b]uilding height shall not exceed two stories,’ “ the letter continues.

“The Brown construction openly and notoriously violates the height restrictions in the Ordinance, which the building inspector has confirmed and documented into County records. If completed and allowed to stand, the building will be a glaring deviation on the visual landscape. From a canoe or other craft in Napili Bay, the view of the mountain, over the low-rise condominiums that have accompanied the Bay for decades, will be a modem towering structure. In addition to being unlawful, it is a dispiriting sight to any neutral observer.”

Acting on input from the Napili Bay and Beach Foundation and area residents, the Maui County Council amended the language of the Napili Bay Civic Improvement District last year.

Now, no new structures in the district can exceed two stories and 30 feet in height, and no new short-term rentals are allowed in the district. All existing businesses may proceed as usual.

Brown said that he notified the county, in writing, during the SMA permitting process that he intended to utilize the home as a transient vacation rental when his family is not using the property.

In an attempt to reach a resolution with the Planning Department and to address the concerns of the community, Brown had plans drawn up to lower the height of the house to 35 feet and voluntarily stopped work for two months.

He said the Planning Department was not receptive to resolving the matter, so building continued per the county-approved plans.

“To reduce the height at this point is not an option, as the structure is now almost completely built,” Brown added.

He said he was “… recently made aware that the Planning Department believes it may have made a minor, technical error in regards to the attic space in the house when it approved the building plans.” He offered to work collaboratively with the county to correct the “perceived error.”

Brown noted that he “… is building in accordance with his county-approved permits and has done nothing wrong,” and he has made numerous attempts to try and address the county and the community’s concerns regarding the home with no success.

“There is no legitimate, legal justification to stopping work at this point; any further delays in construction will be especially damaging,” he concluded.