DAKOTA GROSSMAN
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A site map shows the proposed H-2 Residential Project, which would consist of 53 luxury condos and other improvements in Makena. The final environmental assessment was approved by the Maui Planning Commission on Tuesday with a 5-1 vote. Miyabara Associates LLC photo

Saying that developers “did their due diligence,” the Maui Planning Commission on Tuesday greenlighted a 53-unit high-end condominium project that some residents said would create construction jobs but others described as “luxury homes for off-island investors.”

The proposed H-2 Residential Project would consist of 53 condominium residential lots, beach parking, rock walls and related infrastructure improvements on 28 acres of land along Makena Alanui Road. After going back to the drawing board, developer H2R LLC requested approval of its final environmental assessment for a special management area use permit for the project.

Commissioners voted 5-1 in favor of accepting the final EA on Tuesday.

“They’ve shown us that they do care about our aina, they do care about the concerns, and they are willing to work with us — the commission, the government, the community,” commissioner Mel Hipolito Jr. said.

As part of the 53-unit project, each future individual lot owner will build a single-family home and related accessory buildings — not ohana units, which are prohibited in the development — located on the same lot, according to the EA.

The total construction cost of the project, including development of single-family homes, is estimated to be $128 million.

The project site is bordered by Makena Alanui Road, Makena-Keoneoio Road and the Makena Golf and Beach Club site.

Project officials said the development would put luxury housing in the right location and prevent high-income buyers from scooping up more affordable homes.

Leilani Pulmano of H2R LLC said a lack of units for households earning more than 100 percent of area median income “adds pressure” to the lower incomes.

“A mix of housing units are needed in the right locations for a functioning housing market, and this is the right location for luxury residential housing,” she said.

Ryan Churchill, president of Pacific Rim Land Inc., which is managing the project, said residents are being outpriced by luxury home buyers because there are scarce amounts of units targeting high-income bracket individuals.

“The buyers are coming here looking for homes, and if you don’t provide it to them, they’re going to buy (lower-priced homes),” Churchill said. “We are filling a need.”

Commissioner Kawika Freitas said that legislation can help control new-home purchases and that the proposed H-2 Residential Project is “very low priority.”

Freitas was also concerned with water resources as well as the socioeconomic and cultural impacts as a result of the project.

“Water is so scarce,” he said. “Our water in our state is kept in trust for our residents and people here, and this project, and all of you agree, is not for current residents, it’s for future residents and that is a significant impact.”

Demanding 47,000 gallons of water per day, the project will incorporate a dual waterline system with nonpotable water sources and recycled water from the Makena Wastewater Treatment Facility, according to the report.

There would be an increase in the groundwater flow rate of about 16,600 gallons per day, the report said.

Of the 53 units, there will be 14 workforce housing units and three affordable units, Pulmano said.

Though no transient vacation rentals or timeshares are allowed within this Makena Resort rezoning area, it is estimated in the EA report that between 0 and 15 percent of the homes in the proposed project would be actual full-time owners.

Pulmano said that “we can’t determine how long someone will be living there.”

To ease some concerns, she added that they are not building 45-foot-tall homes, though the zoning in that area allows buildings up to that height.

As part of the proposed project, the existing beach parking lot of 50 stalls would also be relocated about 150 feet to the north, closer to the existing Maluaka Beach access off Makena-Keoneoio Road. Seven stalls would be added and the new lot would be paved, surrounded by a 6-foot-high rock wall and constructed prior to the demolition of the existing lot, according to the EA.

The project was originally approved as a 500-room hotel under the previous owner.

Pulmano said they made many revisions to the original plan and design of the project. For example, the sizes of the original lots were reduced to provide more open space, more historical and archaeological preservation sites were added to the EA, pedestrian gates were removed to allow access into the area for cultural practices and developers promised to protect wiliwili trees, among other changes.

“We’re very proud of this project and the work that we’ve done with the community to get to this point,” she said.

Public opinion was split during testimony on Tuesday.

Hannah Bernard, director of the nonprofit Hawaii Wildlife Fund, said that a project of this scope should require the more extensive environmental impact statement, especially with the presence of endangered species, native plants, cultural sites and nearshore reefs.

“If we went through the EIS process, we would see a full and more robust mitigation plan that could be developed,” Bernard said.

Testifier Carol Lee Kamekona said that these “luxury homes for off-island investors” are not needed amid the local housing crisis, pointing out that the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands has a waitlist of 28,000 people trying to get a place to live on department lands.

But Sam Garcia, president of the Makena Homeowners Association, supported the project, saying they were “happy that it’s not a hotel.”

Many others who supported the project work in the construction industry to some capacity, including Wailuku resident Ken Ota, whose company Pacific Pipe Co. supplies water, sewer, landscape and drainage materials.

“Over the last 30 years, I’ve seen projects create opportunities that really benefit the communities,” Ota said.

Will Cambra of Walker Industries Limited said this project could provide job opportunities for his team of 30 employees who could do the underground utilities work; according to the EA, the project will create a total of 1,473 full-time and part-time jobs.

If approved, construction on the project is anticipated to start within six months of all necessary approvals and permits.

Work is anticipated to be complete in late 2027, with occupancy expected in 2028.

The project still needs to obtain a special management area use permit, which the commission will consider at a later date.

Commission Chairperson Christian Tackett, Vice Chairperson Denise La Costa, Kellie Pali, Kim Thayer, and Hipolito voted in favor of accepting the final EA on Tuesday. Freitas was opposed, and Dale Thompson and Ashley Lindsey were excused.