Maui County Council DRIP Committee Reviews Long-Term Recovery Operations and General Plan Implementation on March 18, 2026

The Disaster Recovery, International Affairs, and Planning (DRIP) Committee of the Maui County Council met on March 18, 2026, from 1:33 PM to 4:29 PM. The committee received two informational presentations: an update on Maui's long-term recovery operations from the Office of Recovery and the 2025 Annual General Plan Implementation Report from the Planning Department. No legislative action was taken on either item. The meeting coincided with a severe storm impacting the county, which became part of the recovery discussion.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Johan Lowell supported the recovery efforts and encouraged public discussion on permitting complexity, noting that county staff are working hard and that delays are due to legitimate regulatory requirements (SMA, historic districts, archaeological resources).
• Jim Langford urged the committee to track performance metrics such as cost per home built, time to deliver, consultant burn rate, and local contract awards. He called for a closed-loop system connecting land, permits, financing, and occupancy.
• Junior Nakoa thanked the team but stressed the need for community-led, government-supported recovery. He raised concerns about parking requirements for new housing and urged inclusion of community voices beyond advisory groups.
• Royal House of Hawaii asserted that descendants of original title holders (Royal Patent holders) have not been contacted regarding land use, and that TMK records must show the original land awards.
• Johan Lal (testifying on the general plan item) criticized developer-written staff reports for discretionary permits and argued community plan actions should be applied through conditions on permits (e.g., public access, parking). He emphasized that community plans, while not as rigid as zoning, are regulatory tools.
• JC Law (also on the general plan) spoke about the difficulty of using state tax IDs for Hawaiian identities and urged meaningful community participation in the upcoming Upcountry Community Plan.

Discussion Items

• DRIP 9-4: Maui's Long-Term Recovery Operations – Deputy Managing Director Aaron Wade and Office of Recovery Administrator John Smith presented a comprehensive update. Key points included:

  • The Office of Recovery is coordinating with MIMA on the current storm response, especially debris management.
  • Permitting progress: 355 permits processed, 550 issued, 159 homes completed (people moved back). Permit time reduced to 44 days overall; residential permits average under 30 days.
  • 60% of single-family residential housing in the burn zone is either permitted or under construction.
  • 800 families remain without permanent housing; FEMA extended temporary housing through February 2027, after which county funds will be needed.
  • Housing programs: First-time home buyer (501 active applications, 41 shopping letters, 6 homes purchased), single-family reconstruction (59 active, 250 planned), multifamily (7 approved projects, 281 units for reconstruction, 238 new construction).
  • Infrastructure: 22 projects conditionally awarded, including Lahaina Bypass North extension (up to $100 million from CDBG-DR). Total infrastructure requests exceeded $1 billion; $950 million unfunded gap remains, which the office is pursuing through other federal programs (FHWA, EPA, NRCS, FEMA HMGP, etc.).
  • Policy updates: Council actions enabling SMA waivers, parking flexibility, height limit adjustment, factory-built housing, ADU size limits, and encroachment amendments were highlighted.
  • The “One Water Lahaina” initiative was introduced as a holistic, systems-based approach to water management, integrating departments and traditional ʻāina knowledge (though Councilmember Rollins Fernandez questioned its lack of credit to ʻahupuaʻa management).
  • Committee members asked about community engagement, local contractor preference, multifamily R1 water requirements, and fire safety compliance. The administration committed to providing a data sheet on housing demographics.

• DRIP 9-10: 2025 Annual General Plan Implementation Report – Planning Program Manager Scott Forsyth presented the report, which tracks 1,261 implementing actions across the countywide policy plan, Maui Island Plan, and six community plans. Key findings:

  • 78% of actions are complete, ongoing, or in progress.
  • The Planning Department is assigned 323 actions; other departments collectively 856; 103 fall under federal/state/other entities.
  • The report includes color-coded status (complete, ongoing, in progress, not begun) for each action.
  • Councilmembers discussed the tension between aspirational plan language and implementation, the need to update the out dated Hana Community Plan, and the difficulty of measuring progress with percentages. Councilmember Rollins Fernandez suggested a performance dashboard; Forsyth noted an exploratory effort with Invisio estimated at $500,000 initial cost plus ongoing subscription, and that dedicated staff would be needed.
  • Acting Planning Director Jackie Takakura clarified that the Planning Department does not allow applicants to write staff reports for discretionary permits, contrary to a testifier’s claim.

Key Outcomes

• No legislative action was taken on either agenda item; both were deferred.
• The committee received the presentations and testimony into the record.
• Chair Paulton noted that an emergency appropriation request for the current storm would be before the full council on Friday, March 20, 2026, requiring seven votes.
• The Planning Department agreed to provide a written list of unimplemented “good governance” action items from the countywide policy plan that could be assisted by the council.
• Planning will consider incorporating Councilmember Rollins Fernandez’s data from the Molokai Community Plan (adopted 2018) into future annual reports.
• The Office of Recovery committed to providing a one-sheet with detailed housing and demographic data from the CDBG-DR action plan.