By BRIAN PERRY
Staff Writer - The Maui News
KIHEI — As Maui County Council members struggled earlier this month with a decision on whether to approve future
development for the Makena Resort, Council Member Jo Anne Johnson reached for an analogy.
It’s like Maui residents are sitting in a lifeboat out in the middle of the Pacific with more attempting to climb
aboard, she said.
“We’re all in this together,” she said. But, “when does that last person sink the boat?”
With Makena Resort asking for zoning for approximately 1,100 new residences and a new hotel or time-share complex,
the point was: When does the next new development go beyond the island’s ability to supply fresh water or for its
roads to carry more traffic?
“I don’t want to be the person who lets someone on the lifeboat to sink the whole thing,” Johnson said.
Johnson’s analogy is ironic because it was the resort’s parent company, Seibu Corp., that helped build and float
the lifeboat in the first place, as part of the now defunct Central Maui Source Joint Venture.
Seibu, a Japan-based conglomerate with railroad, real estate, construction and the Prince hotel companies, bought
its first 1,000 acres in Makena in 1973. In 1975, Seibu joined Alexander & Baldwin Inc., C. Brewer and Wailea
Resort to develop new freshwater sources in the Iao aquifer, to pump as much as 13.4 million gallons per day through
transmission lines to Central and South Maui. The Makena Resort built a 1.5 million-gallon water storage tank and
extended water to the Big Beach area.
In all, Seibu’s contribution for water development has come to around $6 million, and Makena’s Maui Prince Hotel,
tennis courts, restaurant and clubhouse use approximately 250,000 gallons of water daily, according to Makena Resort
General Manager Roy Figueiroa. (The resort’s two 18-hole golf courses are irrigated with brackish water from wells
on Seibu property.)
Figueiroa estimated the resort’s projected development build-out would require another 1 million gallons of water.
But even a total water consumption of 1.25 million gallons per day would be far less than Seibu’s original plan
in 1975 to consume approximately 4 million gallons per day to supply about 6,000 homes and apartments.
In the mid-1970s, the Kihei-Makena region was largely undeveloped with stretches of dry brush and kiawe. There
were farms where there are now homes, condominiums and commercial centers. The original Azeka store was an old
wood-frame plantation-style shop near the family’s chicken farm.
Hotels and condominiums were confined to north Kihei with some condos in the Sugar Beach area, along with a cluster
from Menehune Shores to the Maui Sunset and the Maui Lu Resort offering some of the first visitor accommodations
in South Maui. The Intercontinental Hotel at Wailea, now the Outrigger Wailea Resort, was built in 1976.
Kihei Road was a rustic, rural road that turned into a rutted dirt run south of Kalama Park, leading to a few clusters
of homes at Charley Young Beach and Keawakapu.
The first Wailea golf course was constructed in late 1974 in a kiawe wilderness that still attracted the ‘60s-style
hippies who happily frolicked clothes-less on isolated beaches.
Development in Kihei didn’t really take off until the Central Maui Source Joint Venture brought water down to South
Maui from the Iao and Waiehu wells. In 1970, the population of Kihei was only 1,636, and the population of Makena
was so small it was still included in the Kula census tract, reflecting a time when it was easier to get to Makena
down a dirt road from Ulupalakua than along the shoreline road from Kihei.
In the 1980 census, with the Central Maui water system in place, Kihei’s population had risen to 6,020, not including
15 people who were living aboard boats in the Kihei-Maalaea area. Makena’s resident population was 1,227.
In 1990, the population of the region had more than doubled: at Wailea-Makena, residents numbered 2,496, and the
count for Kihei was 12,869.
Last year, the census found the population of the region had grown again by nearly 50 percent to 22,913, with 3,070
counted in Wailea-Makena and 19,843 in the Kihei district.
In 1975, Maui’s political leaders could foresee the decline of sugar plantations and were eager to make inroads
in the new tourism economy. Developments at the Kaanapali Beach Resort in West Maui and the growth of Waikiki as
a destination fueled interest in developing the South Maui area, which had a attractive line of white-sand beaches
stretching along 12 miles of coastline.
At the time, visitor resorts were a welcome economic boon. New hotels and condominium apartments sprouting along
the coastline provided new jobs in construction, in the hotels as they opened and in the restaurants and shops
that developed as more visitors began to show up on the island.
Now, in the wake of two decades of rapid growth, the economic and political climate in South Maui has changed.
A major issue is the failure of the infrastructure — the highways in particular, but parks, schools and public
services as well — to keep up.
Even though the Makena Resort has had most of its zoning for more than 20 years, dozens of South Maui residents
lined up to speak out against further development, arguing it would put too great a strain on overcrowded highways
and threaten the Central Maui aquifer that is already being pumped near its limit of 20 million gallons a day.
Supporters of the resort say it’s been a good neighbor and has made contributions toward South Maui’s infrastructure.
Aside from its contributions to developing water that mostly has gone to development elsewhere, Seibu has spent
$17 million on wastewater capacity for its own use. It is building a 700,000-gallon sewage treatment plant with
a projected capacity of 1.5 million gallons per day to handle its development,
Also, Seibu also has invested $6 million in roadways in the Makena area, and the corporation has volunteered to
pay for the design and environmental assessment for the state’s proposed interim improvements to make Piilani Highway
a four-lane highway.
The Maui Prince Hotel went through a years-long dispute over the resort’s request to cut off the old government
road that ran between the hotel and Malu‘aka Beach. The fight led to the formation of the Hui Alanui o Makena,
a Hawaiian rights advocacy group that still is involved in other development issues.
But the Makena Resort eventually was allowed to turn the road into a walking path, agreeing to provide public parking,
restrooms and walkways to the beach.
Public beach facilities were built in the mid-’80s and in 1992 to provide beach access at Makena Landing and at
Malu‘aka. The facilities include three restrooms, outdoor showers and 85 parking stalls that are maintained by
the resort staff.
Figueiroa said the resort recognizes that the island’s water resources and other infrastructure are limited.
“You have to consider the resources that are available,” he said. “You can’t build without resources. We know that.”
But Figueiroa said development plans have been scaled back in recognition of limited resources.
For example, a 545-room hotel planned on nearly 30 acres south of the Maui Prince Hotel has been reduced to only
a 100- to 200-room facility. He said it will probably be a time-share complex, depending on market conditions.
Figueiroa said the hotel, apartment and single-family developments planned for the area would still need to get
special management area permits from the Maui Planning Commission.
If development approvals go smoothly, a second hotel probably still wouldn’t be built for three to four years,
he said. Multifamily residential complexes would be done next on the makai side of Makena Alanui Road.
Less than 30 percent of the planned residential units could be built under the resort’s current water infrastructure,
Figueiroa said. To build mauka units, another water tank would need to be constructed.
Figueiroa estimated the resort’s full build-out wouldn’t come for at least 10 to 15 years.
Meanwhile, environmental issues are surfacing.
Maile Luuwai, whose family has owned land in Makena for more than 120 years, said she’s concerned about the resort
development’s impact on off-shore waters.
Reefs in Makena Bay have been covered with silt and fish populations are reported to be declining.
Luuwai said the resort had agreed to build a siltation basin to prevent runoff of mud into the ocean, but that
hasn’t happened yet.
She said Makena residents are concerned that Seibu might sell the resort and a new owner might not be as good a
neighbor. She’d like to see the council include covenants on the zoning that would run with the land to protect
Makena’s residents and environment.
Figueiroa said the resort remains committed to building a 13-acre siltation basin near its new wastewater treatment
plant. Plans to build the basin are somewhat behind schedule, but they’re proceeding nevertheless, he said.
As far as silt damage to the reef, he said the resort shouldn’t be held responsible for what experts deemed to
be a 100-year storm that struck in October 1999.
Figueiroa said a marine biologist hired by the Wailea and Makena resorts reported that silt remains on the reef
primarily because there hasn’t yet been heavy surf to wash it away.
Figueiroa attributed declining fish populations to more fishermen tapping the area’s off-shore waters. He said
fishermen aren’t allowed to take green sea turtles, and Makena waters are known for having an abundant population
of turtles.
Council members deferred action to study the issue further, particularly to focus on whether Maui’s water resources
would be jeopardized.
Figueiroa said he’s concerned the issue will be studied indefinitely.
“Are we just going to wait for a study to evolve?” he asked. “None of us is perfect. We’re not going to get a perfect
answer.”
The resort owners have worked on their long-range plans since at least
1993. The updated plans were included in the Kihei-Makena Community
Plan adopted by the council in March 1998. Although the rezoning proposal calls for redesignation of approximately
756 acres, most of that involves putting 437 acres of the resort’s north and south golf courses in the county’s
golf course zoning.
Nearly all but approximately 100 acres is reconfigured zoning. The new hotel property, apartments and residences
make up the nearly 100 acres of “new” zoning.
No further hearings on the Makena Resort’s rezoning application have been set. According to Land Use Committee
staffers, there are open committee dates in October.
(c) Copyright Maui News. All rights reserved. To see more of the Maui News, or to subscribe to the newspaper,
go to http://www.mauinews.com