The Maui County Council is reviewing the South Maui Community Plan update and finding that most capital projects lack cost estimates, with known costs already totaling $554 million. Council members are also pressing whether evacuation routes in Kīhei, Wailea, and Mākena are adequate given wildfire risk.
- The Council committee is doing a section-by-section review of Bill 108 (2026), which would replace the 1998 Kīhei-Mākena Community Plan.
- Of 145 action items in the plan’s implementation schedule, only 8 carry actual cost estimates, while 65 have no cost figure at all.
- The known cost estimates already total $554 million, with the full price tag unknown due to the large number of unfunded line items.
- Council members and residents raised urgent concerns about whether evacuation routes near Kīhei, Wailea, and Mākena are sufficient given the surrounding brush and grassland fire risk.
- Infrastructure gaps in water, wastewater, flood control, and roads are a central issue, as South Maui has historically developed faster than supporting systems were built.
Source: Maui Now
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