Here Comes Santa in a Red Canoe! Fairmont Kea Lani Welcomes

‘Ole St. Nick

by kelii on December 16, 2010

From the Maui Visitors and Convention Bureau

 

Santa and his Menehune Ride a wave to Polo Beach!

Okay, so the canoe isn’t exactly red (it’s white), but you get the idea! The holidays are upon us and while there are many exciting festivities taking place all across Maui Nui, one of my all-time favorite happenings is Santa and Mrs. Claus’ arrival at the Fairmont Kea Lani in Wailea.

 

Santa in his local “slippahs” and Mrs. Claus in her lovely Hawaiian muumuu greet the crowd!

This festive event takes place on Friday, December 24, 2010 at noon. Kris Kringle, along with his menehune and Mrs. Claus, splash ashore Polo Beach to spread holiday cheer as local residents and hotel guests gather in anticipation.

 

“Mele Kalikimaka” Hawaiian-style and Sean the Juggler courtesy our friends at the Fairmont Kea Lani!

Bring your camera for a photo with Santa. Sean the Juggler will be there to cheer on the crowd as well. It will be an unforgettable experience for all.

From the Maui Visitors and Convention Bureau

The report by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations defines green jobs as including those in the renewable energy industry; that reduce pollution and waste, and conserve natural resources; and that are focused on energy efficiency.

The study says there are more than 11,100 such jobs currently in the state, mostly in the construction, professional services and waste management industries.

It says in 2012, the number of such jobs will rise to about 14,000, or almost 3 percent of the islands’ total employment.

The report was financed by a $1.2 million competitive grant Hawaii won from the federal economic stimulus law.

Wailuku attorney Isaac Hall sought and received a temporary restraining order to halt the nonprofit Wailea Community Association’s construction of the public parking stalls.

In his order issued at 2 p.m. Thursday, August said the allegations in Hall’s request for a temporary restraining order could, if substantiated, “provide a basis for finding a causal nexus between the current construction of the beach access parking stalls . . . and the (special management area) permitting process for the proposed expansion of the Grand Wailea Hotel.”

Immediately after the judge issued his order, the community group’s volunteers and its contractor, Sonny Vick’s Paving, stopped work that had begun Monday.

The parking is intended for Keawakapu Beach, and it was initiated by the community association and Maui County in 2003 after the association raised concerns about pedestrian safety.

But Hall successfully argued to the judge that the project paid for by Pyramid Project Management, which is proposing the Grand Wailea expansion, is a way for the developer to “circumvent” a number of special management area permit conditions needed for the expansion project.

For example, the Grand Wailea had been ordered to increase parking at its property and elsewhere in the Wailea resort.

Hall pointed out that Pyramid is financing the $86,000 beach access project.

Although Keawakapu is not adjacent to the Grand Wailea, paying for the access was part of the Pyramid’s permit that the judge vacated on Sept. 15 after he decided that adjacent landowners were improperly denied their request for intervener status before the Maui Planning Commission.

Attorney B. Martin Luna, representing Pyramid, said that although it is true that construction of parking stalls was a condition of the hotel’s special management area permit, that permit has been vacated by August.

The judge’s action means, Luna pointed out, that “the permit and all conditions set forth in the permit are now void. Pyramid cannot be fulfilling a requirement that no longer exists.”

“In no way shape or form is the Grand Wailea expansion part of this,” Luna said.

Community Association General Manager Bud Pikrone also insisted there is no connection between the project to build beach-access stalls and the hotel’s expansion.

“I’m disappointed,” Pikrone said of the stop-work order. “We thought we were supporting the county since it’s their land and (it’s) doing good for the community. Long before there was any Grand Wailea expansion planned, back in 2003, we were working on this beach project.”

He said adding parking for people going to beaches like Keawakapu was a county project at first. But plans remained shelved because county money wasn’t available for the project.

“We offered to pay for it because the alternative was parking on a dangerous and dusty road shoulder,” Pikrone said. “And, now, unfortunately, some people don’t see the benefit and are fighting it for their own personal reasons. This whole thing is crazy.”

Neighbors have said the parking project is unnecessary and would result in fewer parking spaces. Now, motorists park haphazardly in the dirt on the mauka side of the road. The project would create a partly paved, partly grassed walkway, with some parallel parking, on the mauka side of the road for beach access. On the makai side, where people have parked on grass, the project would install parallel spaces. Some of the current parking spaces would be lost, but it’s unclear how many.

Pikrone said the community association has its own special management area permit for the beach parking project. Work was supposed to be done in 10 days.

Now, the next move will be for both sides of the dispute to meet with August at a hearing scheduled for Tuesday.

* Chris Hamilton can be reached at chamilton@mauinews.com.

The next step is whether Mayor-elect Alan Arakawa and the new Maui County Council will support the bills seeking community plan amendments and changes of zoning.

If the measures and building permits are approved, construction of the “mixed-use” community on 94.3 acres could begin in late 2012 and last for five years, said A&B Properties Vice President Grant Chun.

By the time “For Sale” signs are ready to be planted in the north Kihei subdivision’s front yards, A&B is betting the housing market will have improved enough to sell the planned apartments, single-family homes, condominiums and commercial space.

Commission member Penny Wakida cast the only vote against A&B’s plans. She called the project “premature.” She said there are at least 600 home and condo listings unsold in Kihei. So, she asked Chun, what makes this project any different?

“This is for local residents,” Chun said. “And we see signs that our economy will improve over time, and we want to make sure that this project is ready so it dovetails in time for the need.”

On Tuesday, the commission voted 7-1 to support A&B’s requests for:

* About 53 acres, a community plan amendment from agriculture to multifamily apartments and a change of zoning from an agricultural to A-1 apartment district.

* About 15 acres, a community plan amendment from agriculture to multifamily and a change of zoning from an agricultural to A-2 apartment district.

* About 25 acres, a community plan amendment from agriculture to single family and a change of zoning from an agricultural to R-1 residential district.

* About 1.4 acres, a community plan amendment from agricultural to business/commercial and a change in zoning from agricultural to B-2 community business district.

Even with the construction industry in the dumps, the project has detractors other than Wakida, particularly since it is along the corner of Mokulele and Piilani highways. Some worried aloud that the rectangular-shaped subdivision would increase traffic and that its traffic-mitigation plans would not be good enough to get state Department of Transportation approval. Others called it “urban sprawl,” although Chun noted that it’s next to another subdivision along Piilani Highway.

The county Planning Department previously wanted the long-delayed Maui Island Plan and individual community plans completed before moving ahead on the north Kihei project.

However, two years ago, the state Land Use Commission supported reclassifying the land from agriculture to urban. The LUC put 28 conditions in place for the project to get approval. Those conditions included getting approval from the state Department of Transportation, meeting high energy-conservation standards and providing affordable housing intended for Maui County residents.

A&B also must provide the north Kihei subdivision with a 7-acre community park with all the amenities, at least 1 acre of green space and bicycle trials and walking paths. Project supporters pointed out that the county’s General Plan Advisory Committee included the project site within future urban-growth boundaries for the Maui Island Plan.

That plan is part of the General Plan 2030 update, and it would be a step toward including it in the Kihei-Makena Community Plan.

A&B also has completed an environmental impact statement for the site, and Chun said the environmental review found no significant obstacles. There were no findings that the project would have an adverse cultural impact on the land, and endangered plants and animals were not threatened either, he said.

The project would satisfy a work-force housing requirement by providing at least 25 percent of the homes in the affordable range. Other housing would be close to that price range, Chun said. The rest of the homes would be sold at market value.

Chun said the plan calls for two-thirds of the homes to be multifamily units, with “clusters” of condos and apartments as tall as four stories high. The remainder would be single-family homes, he said.

Developers also plan to include a 1.4-acre commercial area with a grocery store, barber shop and maybe a gas station or doctor’s office.

In addition, the subdivision would satisfy the county’s “Show Me the Water” ordinance by getting the 500,000 gallons a day it needs through an A&B-planned water treatment facility along Waiale Road, or A&B would dig the wells it needs, said planning consultant Mike Munekiyo.

The subdivision would create about 200,000 gallons a day of wastewater, which would be treated at the Kihei Wastewater Treatment Facility, he said.

As for rain runoff, the designs – which are not yet complete – call for much of it to go into retention ponds. The rest would go into the Waiakoa Gulch, and some commission members worried the runoff would further damage Maui’s delicate reef system. They wanted to see more done to avoid runoff into the ocean.

Chun noted that, although project planners have been working on the subdivision for five years, they still need to put together detailed designs, engineering plans and artist renderings.

Public testimony was short, but community activist Dick Mayer was among those with questions.

He called for evening public meetings on the project to allow more Kihei residents to attend. But commission Chairman Jonathan Starr said he’s seen “a lot of letters against this.”

Commission member Kent Hiranaga said it could be 10 years before the Maui Island Plan and individual community plans are completed, and it would be unfair to make people wait so long for affordable homes.

Mayer accused A&B of being in the zoning “entitlement collecting business.”

His comment was echoed by commission member Warren Shibuya, who expressed frustration with developers getting land entitlements and then not proceeding with plans.

“A&B is one of them,” he said.

But Shibuya added that he likes the north Kihei project and its location.

* Chris Hamilton can be reached at chamilton@mauinews.com.