Multiple sources report that the Maui County Council’s Disaster Recovery, International Affairs and Planning Committee has been in extended deliberations over the South Maui Community Plan, with sessions stretching across multiple days. Key concerns center on the plan’s fiscal soundness and whether cost estimates are sufficiently detailed, with the committee continuing to hear public testimony and legal guidance before a final vote.
- Deputy Corporation Counsel Michael Hopper told the committee the plan’s financial program likely meets the legal minimum under Maui County Code, but noted the Council has discretion to demand more precise cost estimates (Maui Now)
- Community advocate Dick Mayer raised concerns that only 80 of the plan’s 145 capital-project line items carry cost estimates, leaving roughly $500 million in costs largely underestimated (Maui Now)
- An early draft policy (2.1.3) that would have established funding mechanisms — including traffic impact fees and special improvement districts — to ensure new development pays its fair share of transportation costs was removed by the Community Plan Advisory Committee and is not in the current version (Maui Now)
- The committee also moved to strengthen the plan’s emergency evacuation provisions during deliberations
- Committee Chair Tamara Paltin canceled a separate Wednesday meeting agenda and recessed deliberations to reconvene at 9 a.m. Wednesday to allow more time on Section 4, ‘Implementation and Monitoring’
- The committee began its review of the community plan on September 14 and has held live testimony at five meetings so far
- Written testimony is still being accepted via email or the eComment system on the Maui County Council’s website
Sources
- Maui Now: Corp Counsel: South Maui plan meets legal minimum on costs—but Council can demand more
- Maui News: Committee meeting on South Maui Community Plan recessed to 9 a.m. Wednesday; separate agenda canceled
Share this article
