As part of the West Maui Community Plan update, residents participated in Vision Workshops, describing what they want to see “more of” and “less of” in the future.

WEST MAUI – More than 250 participants over four nights planned for West Maui’s future at community design workshops from Feb. 4 to 7.

Participants engaged with each other in a small group format, discussing what they wanted to stay the same and what they wanted to change during the 20-year life of the West Maui Community Plan.

With no boundaries except the discussion questions provided, conversations and ideas covered a lot of ground: senior services to schools, affordable housing to visitor accommodations, cemeteries to parks, and the Lahaina Bypass extension to better pedestrian facilities.

“This community cares deeply about its future, and the way they showed up and worked collaboratively demonstrated their dedication to identifying challenges and also potential solutions proves that,” said Maui County Long-Range Division Chief Pam Eaton.

“Through these workshops, and those we’ve held previously, we have a ton of great ideas to include in the West Maui Community Plan update.”

Each workshop over the four evenings focused on a different community subarea of West Maui: Lahaina (Feb. 4), Kaanapali (Feb. 5), Ukumehame (Feb. 6) and Kapalua (Feb. 7).

The online version of the workshop was made available for those who could not attend the workshops at www.wearemaui.org from Feb. 1 through Feb. 17. These workshops are just the latest in a community engagement process for the West Maui Community Plan that began in 2017. Summaries of all public engagement activities, including the four workshops in February, can be found at www.wearemaui.org/events/recaps.

County staff planners are hard at work analyzing input received through the in-person and online workshops, creating community design options for consideration in the West Maui Community Plan. The department will share the options with the community in a follow-up series of open houses in the spring before the West Maui Community Plan Advisory Committee begins its work.

For more information on the West Maui Community Plan update, visit www.wearemaui.org, or go to the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/wearemaui, and Instagram handle @wearemaui. For general planning information, visit www.mauicounty.gov/planning.