Maalaea Community Association

Funds Needed for Ohana Kai Legal Action!

The Ma'alaea Community Association (MCA) has partnered with Maui Tomorrow Foundation (MT) to initiate legal action and file a complaint challenging the adequacy of the FEIS (Final Environmental Impact Statement) for the 1100 unit Ohana Kai affordable housing project. This huge project would be located on 257 acres at the foot of the West Maui Mountains across the highway from Ma’alaea. The complaint details a long list of issues associated with the project that are inadequately addressed in the FEIS:

excessive traffic resulting in more gridlock that will affect everyone traveling to/from West Maui
lack of long term sustainable water supply for the project (2008 study suggests that water could be too saline to drink by 2015)
drainage impacts to Kealia pond, Ma’alaea Bay and condominiums on Hauoli Street
loss of prime agricultural lands needed for future sustainability
lack of supportive infrastructure, e.g. police, fire, schools
impacts of building such a large project so far from an urban core
impacts of building in such a windy, fire-prone location
impacts of building outside proposed urban growth boundaries (Maui Island Plan)
impacts of building on recommended site location for future light rail system
impacts of more injection wells and use of nutrient-rich wastewater for irrigation so near the ocean

This is a watershed project on all of the above issues. If approved as is, many more challenges to good long range planning may arise as others seek to bypass the Maui Island Plan and various environmental, traffic and infrastructure restrictions for future projects.

MCA supports affordable housing and jobs for Maui residents. We support the County Planning Dept and Maui Island Plan's present recommendations for how and where this can best be accomplished with good, long range planning.

Please join us in ensuring that the above issues are resolved.

Send your check made out to Ma’alaea Community Association and earmarked Ohana Kai legal fund to the address listed above.

Please see below for a full discussion of the issues and MCA's position.

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Below are a few links to comments from the board and other community leaders:

Here's What's New:

Funds Needed for Ohana Kai Legal Action!