A Wailuku resident is urging the Maui County Council to pause action on the EC Pāʻia Town Project rezoning until a formal wildfire evacuation study is completed for the area. The letter argues that the current traffic analysis does not account for emergency evacuation conditions on Pāʻia’s single-highway exit route.
- The Maui County Planning Commission held a two-hour hearing on the EC Pāʻia Town Project but did not address wildfire evacuation capacity for the town’s roughly 170 households.
- Pāʻia relies on a single highway corridor for all vehicle traffic, raising concerns about bottlenecks during a wildfire emergency.
- The existing traffic study only measures everyday congestion and projected bypass diversion rates — not emergency evacuation timelines.
- The letter calls on the Maui County Council to require Maui Fire Department to produce a written wildfire evacuation analysis before any rezoning vote.
- Any approval, the letter argues, should also be conditioned on construction of a full Pāʻia bypass rather than a smaller relocated bypass included within the development project.
Source: Maui News
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