Honua’ula Affordable Housing Lacks Sufficient Water

As part of the new Maui County work force housing policy, the proposed Honua’ula development is required to build 700 affordable housing units. The developers had earmarked a property in North Kihei away from the development to construct a portion of the affordable housing requirements. The county land use commission spent much of their meeting yesterday discussing the proposed affordable housing in North Kihei. A 13 acre parcel off of Ohukai road would be used to build 280 affordable rental units. The developer has proposed that if Honua’ula were approved, construction of the affordable housing would commence before the rest of the project. Some members of county council have objected to the location arguing that in a sense it constituted economic segregation. Those objections were overcome as the county commission agreed in principle to allow the units to be constructed away from the rest of development. However, the agreement was reached on the premise that there would be sufficient water in place to support the development. County water director Jeff Eng indicated that the current county water source was insufficient and it could be three years or more for the requirement for water to be met. As mentioned in a previous blog post, the commission is seeking assurances that their is sufficient water for all elements of the project before granting approvals. Stay tuned to the Maui Real Estate Blog for additional information on county land use meetings on Honua’ula.