The General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC) and about 40 members of the public were mildly stunned when members of the environmental organization Maui Tomorrow announced an “Alternate General Plan” at the July 17 GPAC meeting at Kihei Elementary School. The alternate is intended to compete with the draft general plan presented to GPAC by the Planning Department.
The initial announcement was made during the “public testimony” portion of the meeting by Mike Foley, who was the Maui County Planning Director immediately preceding incumbent Jeff Hunt. Foley announced that he and three other Maui Tomorrow representitives would use their allotted three minutes each of public testimony time to present the alternate plan in a total of 12 minutes.
After referring to the Piilani Highway as “a very long cul de sac’, Foley went on to explain that the alternate general plan proposes a 300 foot wide multi-use transportation corridor for South Maui, a high school for the 1,000 or so students who must commute to high school in the Central Area, and tighter and more limited growth boundaries than those set forth in the Planning Department draft plan.
Next, Irene Bowie pointed out that the alternate plan proposes a Civic Center for South Maui, a permanent “planning advisory board” for South Maui, similar to the board for Hana, and subdivisions no denser than two units per acre North of Piilani Highway.
Judith Michaels spoke about greenbelts between South Maui “villages”, a requirement that all projects over 30 units must include a park, and a requirement in the alternate plan that all beaches and reefs should be protected from the ravages of development, which would entail mapping the reefs.
Richard Michaels spoke about the transportation elements of the alternate plan. In addition to express busses, and requiring hotels to provide bus and shuttle service from the airport, it calls for “developing the political will” to designate and purchase light rail corridors.
GPAC is free to consider the “Alternate General Plan” if it wishes to do so.
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