Maui Neutral Zone -host Jason Schwartz & Albert Perez —– 2 2 21- Al was a guest before if you check thru site engine search. He has ssn us through important issues about our Hawaii environment and has kept Maui’s long term vision tied to practical vigilance in our everyday world, doing extraordinary work for ALL of us !
Summary & Transcript
Jason Schwartz featuring Al Perez of Maui Tomorrow”
[00:00 → 11:22] Introduction and Current Context
- The host, Jason Schwartz, welcomes viewers to The Neutral Zone on Maui’s community media platforms. The show is set in January 2021, shortly after the inauguration of President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. The political climate is tense with the possibility of former President Trump’s second impeachment underway.
- Jason touches on the many pressing issues: economy, environment, and executive orders. He emphasizes the importance of open-mindedness amidst the flood of opinions and encourages viewers to focus on improving their lives.
- COVID-19 situation on Maui is relatively controlled with low daily new cases and no recent deaths, thanks to community efforts like social distancing and hygiene. However, vaccine hesitancy and differing attitudes towards vaccination complicate the situation.
- Economically, Hawaii’s unemployment rate has decreased to about 9.3%, reflecting a slow recovery. Jason hopes tourism and employment will rebound, possibly by 2024, although local businesses are showing signs of gradual improvement.
- Infrastructure challenges exist, such as discussions about adding a roundabout near Kihei’s upper highway and concerns over insufficient road plans amid growing development.
- Housing development trends are skewed towards luxury estates and condos far from urban centers, while affordable housing remains a critical unmet need with a goal of 5,000 new units in the coming years.
- Jason introduces his involvement as director of the Maui Arts and Music Association (MAMA). This organization aims to promote local art, music, culture, and environmental solutions through virtual and in-person events, creating an umbrella network that incorporates tourism and healing arts.
- MAMA focuses on three key environmental areas: hydrogen technology for tourism and health retreats, soil regeneration, and extracting water from air. These innovations aim to support sustainable living by providing decentralized power and water, reducing pressure on prime agricultural land.
- Jason introduces the upcoming guest, Al Perez, executive director of Maui Tomorrow, highlighting the organization’s long history of environmental advocacy and community planning on Maui.
[11:22 → 20:36] Interview with Al Perez: Maui Tomorrow’s Mission and Coastal Zone Management
- Al Perez explains Maui Tomorrow’s mission as preserving Maui’s quality of life and environment against exploitative development.
- He credits early efforts by Maui Tomorrow and partners for protecting McKenna State Park from private development, preserving it as a public resource.
- Concerns are raised about proposed changes by Maui’s Planning Department to streamline the Special Management Area (SMA) permit process, which governs coastal development. The department seeks to exempt minor projects (e.g., small concrete slabs) from detailed review, which Al warns could lead to cumulative environmental harm if unchecked.
- The conversation shifts to shoreline setback rules designed to protect coastlines from erosion and rising sea levels. Maui currently bases setbacks on erosion rates, but new state guidelines incorporate projections of sea level rise—estimated at 3.2 meters by century’s end, possibly more.
- Al stresses the necessity of prohibiting new construction and sea walls in vulnerable coastal zones to protect beaches and natural habitats. He warns that some property owners and developers resist these regulations due to economic interests.
- The inevitability of losing some shoreline properties to erosion is acknowledged, with examples of collapsing stairways onto beaches illustrating the risks.
- Maui Tomorrow supports amendments to enforce stricter shoreline setbacks, stopping further risky development and focusing on long-term sustainability rather than short-term gains.
[20:36 → 31:23] Ongoing Environmental and Planning Issues in Maui
- Al updates on ongoing legal battles over county injection wells discharging into the ocean, with cases returning to lower courts following Supreme Court rulings. Maui Tomorrow supports related environmental groups but is not directly involved in litigation.
- The West Maui Community Plan process is underway, with extensive community input over dozens of meetings. The plan articulates a vision for sustainable development, but Al notes concerns about the enforceability of its policies.
- He highlights examples where the Planning Commission weakened enforceable language by changing words like “require” to “encourage,” undermining the community’s ability to hold developers and agencies accountable.
- Maui Tomorrow advocates for clear, enforceable policies in community plans to ensure the vision translates into real protections.
- The conversation touches on urban development, such as the Wailuku parking lot and hotel projects. Maui Tomorrow opposes the construction of new large visitor accommodations in Wailuku, arguing the town should remain a refuge for local residents, not tourism expansion.
- The proposed six-story, 156-room hotel in Wailuku is seen as excessive compared to historic smaller hotels that fit the local scale. Maui Tomorrow successfully mobilized thousands of petition signatures and public comments opposing the project.
- Al warns that changes to SMA rules could allow projects like this to proceed without proper review, increasing risks to Maui’s environment and quality of life.
[31:23 → 44:38] Advocacy, Public Participation, and McKenna State Park Concerns
- Maui Tomorrow is actively preparing for upcoming hearings on the West Maui Community Plan with the County Council’s Planning and Sustainable Land Use Committee. They seek to amend language to ensure the plan’s enforceability.
- Al encourages the public to engage with Maui Tomorrow through their website, social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), and email alerts to stay informed and participate in public testimony, which is now more accessible through virtual platforms due to COVID-19.
- Virtual testimony has made civic participation easier and more inclusive, especially for neighbor island residents who previously faced travel barriers.
- Al expresses concern about a proposed state plan to expand parking lots and install showers at McKenna State Park. He argues that such expansions would increase visitor numbers, potentially harming the park’s pristine waters and the endangered hawksbill turtle nesting sites.
- The group called the One Loa Coalition actively monitors this issue, advocating to maintain the park’s wilderness character and opposing infrastructure that could lead to overuse.
- The state parks department is expected to release an Environmental Assessment claiming no significant impact from the expansion, which Maui Tomorrow and partners dispute, calling instead for a full Environmental Impact Statement to properly evaluate consequences.
- Al urges community members to voice their concerns to protect McKenna State Park’s natural and cultural resources before decisions are finalized.
- Archaeological and cultural site considerations have delayed some plans, but vigilance is necessary as the pandemic wanes and state agencies resume activities.
[44:38 → 50:02] Closing Remarks and Vision for Maui’s Future
- Jason thanks Al Perez for his enduring advocacy and leadership on Maui’s environmental and planning issues.
- Al underscores the importance of public support and private donations to sustain Maui Tomorrow’s work, which often involves costly litigation to protect the island from harmful development.
- Maui Tomorrow operates without grants, relying on community contributions and pro bono legal support to remain a powerful voice for the environment and quality of life.
- The conversation ends on a hopeful note, affirming that Maui still has a chance to grow sustainably through informed civic engagement and visionary leadership.
- Jason closes by sharing his own vision with the Maui Arts and Music Association (MAMA), which aims to integrate art, culture, environmental solutions, and economic development into a self-sustaining community model.
- MAMA supports manufacturing and distribution of green technologies, creates jobs for local artists and musicians, and promotes a holistic approach to island sustainability.
- The video ends with a call to action for viewers to join these efforts in any way they can, fostering a collaborative future for Maui.
Key Insights
- Maui faces critical challenges balancing economic recovery, environmental protection, and sustainable development amid climate change impacts.
- Protecting coastal zones and enforcing strong shoreline setback rules are essential to preserving beaches and preventing costly damage from sea level rise.
- Community plans are powerful tools for expressing local values but require enforceable language to be effective against development pressures.
- Public participation, especially through easier virtual testimony, is crucial for holding agencies and developers accountable.
- Maui Tomorrow plays a vital role as a watchdog and advocate, relying on community support to continue their work.
- Innovative environmental technologies (hydrogen power, soil regeneration, water-from-air) paired with cultural preservation offer promising pathways toward self-sufficient island living.
- Preserving natural areas like McKenna State Park requires vigilance against infrastructure expansion that could degrade fragile ecosystems.
- Collaboration between environmental, cultural, and economic initiatives can create resilient, sustainable communities.
Recommended Actions for Viewers
- Stay informed by following Maui Tomorrow’s social media and subscribing to their newsletter.
- Participate in virtual public hearings and submit testimony on community plans and environmental assessments.
- Support Maui Tomorrow and similar organizations through donations to sustain their advocacy and legal efforts.
- Advocate for enforceable language in local planning to ensure real protections against overdevelopment.
- Engage with community arts and cultural programs like MAMA to promote integrated sustainable development.
- Monitor and comment on proposed changes to coastal management rules and state park expansions.
- Encourage sustainable tourism models that respect local culture and environment while supporting economic recovery.
This detailed summary captures the depth and breadth of the video content while adhering to the original structure and timestamps, providing a comprehensive understanding of Maui’s current environmental and community planning landscape through the lens of Jason Schwartz and Al Perez’s conversation.
Transcript
00:00
[Music] aloha and welcome to the neutral zone mauineutralzone.com i’m your host jason schwartz we are on kaku 88.5 fm the voice of maui we’re also on akaku maui community media we’re also on youtube we’re also at mauineutralzone.com you’ll find all of our shows and a link to all that we’re doing anyway we are progressing through january of 2021 and we’re right at the beginning of a new presidency for a new president joseph biden and uh kamala harris president trump former president trump
01:01
now is uh beginning the potential of a second impeachment second impeachment going on here in congress and lots to do with the economy lots to do with the environment all kinds of executive orders um one of these times we’re going to have a call in so that you guys will be able to speak and voice your opinions i just know that opinions at this point there’s so many opinions out there now the most important thing is to be open to seeing what’s right for you and trying to make your life
01:40
better i bet huh we are fortunate in some ways our numbers at covid have stayed low relative to elsewhere i know here on the islands when you hear 20 and 30 a day that’s a lot and new cases thank goodness no deaths and very little but you know it’s staying out of clusters it’s staying socially distant washing your hands and being responsible if you’re sick to not be out and about and if you’ve got a cold and stuff don’t share it i know that’s easy to say and sometimes you can’t help but have to
02:21
be out but i would keep that you know you know adam can don’t get that one out of control because that’s what’s going on on the mainland you know we are so fortunate we have so many outside environments here rather than only strictly inside but obviously this covert thing is something yet and then the fact that some of us want vaccines and others of us say no i don’t want vaccine no no no and there are all kinds of stories attached but you know makes for a complicated mix and our
02:56
economy locally i saw that the state of hawaii’s unemployment rate went down to like 9.3 i you know i always wonder what that really means and it’s you know a fluctuating thing based on what’s going on here hopefully we’re going to be coming right back with lots of employment i’m hoping that some of the larger employers have the means to carry a lot of their people and hopefully bookings will start again i know that um they talk about business tourism coming back in 2024 that may be a nation
03:40
thing somehow here in hawaii i figure they are more johnny on the spot to regrow their business but they probably have a shorter frame for business but someone told me that one of the hotels was going to be 80 full in february here in january you know it’s something in the the 20s and maybe 30s but they’re talking about um numbers that high we’ll find out there’s a lot of stuff going on you know i mean i know in kihei when you drive through kihei people that are looking at the upper
04:16
highway now there’s talk about a roundabout being put there in front of the school i’m not sure what that’s going to do i mean it’s such an interesting thing that our island has grown and the roadways even the plans for the roadways seem terribly insufficient i mean we don’t want to see it built out to be up or low or middle that means all that much more development when in fact we need to to do some of that kind of stuff that makes sense for affordable housing and uh stop this i want to call it runaway
04:58
all the way out to mckenna now further all the way out um almost if not to looks like the la peruse all the building and development all the way out all luxury all multi-million dollar estates and even condos multi-million dollar condos and houses and um so much affordable needed we got a goal of 5 000 is it in the next handful of years i’m looking forward to seeing that i don’t mean a lot of employment i’d also like to see some some smart alternative developments you know um you probably many of you
05:42
know that i’m the director of something called the maui arts and music association which is we’re going to put shows at our website maui mauiartsandmusic.org the cultural center is mauiartz.org but we’re mauiartzenmusic.org and we’re going to have shows at all kinds of different venues in fact we’re going to probably invite them the mac to be part of us because we’re not one to swallow it all up we’re going to be like an umbrella we are an umbrella but we have to be used that way and in these times
06:15
with things being virtual and things now going on the web the understanding of the value of a marketing center that’s maui arts and music that can encompass tourism that can encompass visual things and activities and and visual art and healing art and music and culture and the islands and to be able to share that with the world and the money that we make and bring in we are going to be buying products to put into housing so environment let’s say if you look at the website you’ll see the three main
06:54
categories that we deal with hydrogen hho which for long-term tourism health retreats for people that want to be able to enjoy different things with hydrogen there’s a whole industry there the world knows hydrogen the united states a little bit slow on the trigger here too slow but we’re beginning to change and that’s what we’re talking about being with the head of the curve and having the technology that is the top of the line and manufacturing in fact some of it here um in fact the best one
07:28
from here and then uh soil regeneration that’s a whole area you’ll see up there and then water from air can you imagine if we have power and water from air that means we can use land that otherwise might have been considered challenging to build on and thereby leave more agriculture land and other lands open so that housing can be around instead of taking the prime land still leaving the open space and being able to use things because of the power and water decentralized you’d like to
08:09
have your own water and your own power in fact and the how to finance it all how to create the building and how to create structures that aren’t very very expensive and what we can do to use the emergency designation now to build some temporary solutions that would help a lot a lot of people and from there find a way to construct and get those people many of them to be working toward integration toward a future that really employs more people and creates solutions that we didn’t think were possible
08:46
imagine if we also employ the hawaiian culture and their methods and the culture and embrace that and share that with the world and share the music and the art to the world and all of it together self-sustainability model and we live in it that’s what i’m talking about so here on radio you can’t see me but on tv you’re wondering i am sitting at a place you’ve seen me do some shows here um this is the studio that is in cal louie uh we are now all with our home studios and zoom you know used to say zoom for a
09:27
fast car now it’s for your internet you know and uh you look to see oops on my muted you can even hear the beeping in the background from someone backing up in just a few minutes we’re going to have al perez the executive director of maui tomorrow and he’s going to be talking about whatever he’s going to be talking about you know maui tomorrow is an organization been here as long as i have i remember way back when when i was on the board of the sierra club and maui tomorrow is in its infancy but
10:03
they’ve been doing important work for a long time and um you know many of you may know albert perez as the head of maui tomorrow but years ago albert perez rick sands dr rick sands and attorney anthony rankin or the corps of spam state park at mckenna one of the main reasons that we still have a state park at mckenna so there are people doing a lot of good for a long time and maui tomorrow right now has been active on a few things and i will be talking about that and tell you what’s going on now in 2021
10:43
in these coveted times i say that in a funny way you know these times if you keep your distance we’ve been no i’ve been okay but i i really feel sorry for the people that are cloistered together on the mainland but really no choice and indoor in the winter tough time god willing we’ll all get through this and here we are now we have a guest that’s been on here before and people in maui know him and love him because his name is albert perez and he’s the head of maui tomorrow someone said what what is
11:22
maui tomorrow about that sounds like we’re about preserving the quality of life on maui so um you know there’s a lot to love about our island here and it needs to be protected because there are people from around the world who would like to exploit uh what we have here and make money without regard for the consequences on those of us who live here yeah well i was sharing with the audience that uh state park at mckenna there wouldn’t be a mckenna beach quite like we’ve gotten half it wasn’t
12:04
for your efforts so long ago so thank you for that and incredible life of service you were away from maui for a while but came back where were you when you left oh i went up to washington state i just want to say that as far as mckenna most of that work started in the 80s before i moved from oahu to maui in 1988 so the people who were with me who started maui tomorrow i’d already been working on the mckenna state park for probably five years before i arrived so that would be rick sands anthony rankin and a whole host of other
12:49
people there were 4 000 people who were members of the group called state park at mckenna yeah so they got the ball rolling and then rick and anthony were co-directors of maui tomorrow when we finished the job and that’s when i was around so i can’t take credit for mckenna myself but i did help some at the end well i like giving you credit because you know to me because you’re in the planning department and you know the rules i think that always helps when it comes to all that’s going on around here
13:21
how are they doing on rules now any things that are going on that we should keep our eyes on right now yeah we’re actually um quite concerned about a couple of things um that the planning department is pushing um one of them is streamlining the special management area regulations the the rules of the maui planning commission so the maui planning commission makes decisions in the shoreline area on what’s called a special management area permit it’s an additional permit it’s supposed
13:55
to be because our coastal zone requires extra special attention we all we all get um we’re all affected by we benefit from and are affected by the coastal zone so anyway the state set up this coastal zone management law and the counties administer um the coastlines through the special management area um there are a lot of activities that you’re supposed to just check with the planning department to make sure that it’s not going to have any impact on the on the coastal zone the planning department feels that
14:43
there are a lot of things that they shouldn’t be reviewing and they’re trying to streamline things by declaring them to be okay up front and we are very concerned that that’s going to lead to some kinds of abuses if the planning department doesn’t have a chance to at least review what they’re doing i’m not concerned about someone changing a doorknob in their house or painting the inside of their house but you know if we’re exempting things like a 300 square foot concrete slab that you can do up to once
15:18
a year those are the kinds of things that i think might have a cumulative impact over time if they’re not monitored and so is that one of them by example is that one that’s one example so i forget if it’s 300 or 400 square feet but you can do one of those every 12 months so to limit their need for for taking care of something they’re just letting it go but the impact is that’s what you’re talking about i get it yeah and i understand um you know it’s a process it’s busy
15:56
but that is their responsibility under the coastal zone management act so we’re very concerned about this effort to quote unquote streamline the shoreline management rules um are we doing anything to stop people from building when we know that the sea level is rising is that just nothing we can i mean i don’t know how so that’s the other thing in the same update they’re also updating the shoreline setback rules um so right now we have shoreline setback rules that are based on the
16:38
erosion rate in a particular area and that’s good um when maui adopted it that was pretty advanced in terms of what other people were doing across the state but now that we know about sea level rise and the state adopted an assumption i’m trying to simplify it here but the assumption is that the c level is going to rise 3.2 meters by the end of the century i believe um and so they’ve gone ahead and mapped that out and it goes pretty far inland there are structures there people are living in that area
17:19
um that are structures are worth billions of dollars um but the sea is going to come and if we want to preserve our beaches we need to um we need to number one stop building sea walls and number two stop building structures that are going to be in harm’s way that people are going to want to protect later um so it’s it’s gonna be quite a battle uh i think the the property developers are opposed to it but really you know jason nature bats last that’s right if you have a sea wall and the sea level is rising the water
18:05
table is going to rise behind the sea wall you’ll start getting sink holes and you’re going to lose your property anyway so it’s better for people to build behind this line so the state delineated a line that’s 3.2 feet of sea level rise inland and so it’s better to just have people build behind that line now we’re finding out that the 3.2 feet may be a very conservative estimate now they’re talking six feet or maybe even eight feet by the end of the century if you can imagine that so
18:45
huh i can’t imagine i can’t imagine that anybody would think to even think to build on the shore now i mean once you know that aren’t you unless you’re just living for today like the like the romans at the end there you know so i’ll just keep drinking till we fall over are we doing that sounds like we are i think some of us are but some of us definitely are trying to be a little more forward-looking than that well you know you watch the realtors now and their their focus is that shoreline
19:20
property is so i can’t imagine you know how do you leave that you start i don’t know that’s a tough one well i i don’t want to put all realtors in the same boat there are many who are opposed to this kind of regulation but there are some um who recognize that the aina is important and we all have to live here the other thing that’s happening with the with it’s already happening some of some structures are already being destroyed by shoreline erosion and in some cases um especially out on the west side you
20:01
can see stairwells concrete stairwells that have fallen down onto the beach and they’re interrupting people’s ability to walk along the beach so what’s going to happen to all these owners when they find that they can’t afford to upkeep their properties and they just walk away yeah it’s enough of a problem with existing structures i mean i maybe you don’t look at it the same but i mean uh that’s what we’re talking about just burying our just leave it there and become
20:36
rubble and change our whole society the whole everything i it’s been a long time since i saw that movie i remember the statue of liberty was almost buried and there were riding horses or something that’s exactly what i remember that’s why i mentioned it i think about these stairwells that are falling and then like you say there’s no real incentive to clean it up or so it changes everything so is that what’s going to happen i wonder yeah so by so we have existing structures that
21:10
are in harm’s way um you know in the next 80 years why should we add more structures that are in harm’s way and i think that’s what the purpose of the shoreline rule amendment is we support that sure so um wow yep what else is going on here in maui i mean you guys have been involved in so many things that have been it’s almost like it’s not vindication because you’ve been just champions think about the injection wells with the county that’s what’s going on for a long time
21:49
have they handled that yet is that all handled or is it still in process that’s it’s gone back to court we’re not actually involved in that directly although we do support the efforts of some of the other groups like the hawaii wildlife fund and the sierra club in that regard and we testify on those issues but we’re not part of that lawsuit my understanding is that it has been sent back the supreme court ruled in their favor and it’s been sent back to the lower court to make a decision and
22:20
apply the tests that the supreme court prescribed i think the main test is to determine if if the injection wells are functionally functionally equivalent to a direct discharge into the ocean which i believe they are so that’s what’s going on with that i’ve been spending a lot of time lately on the community planning process so the west maui community plan is currently being it’s going to go before the council starting on thursday so it went through the community plan advisory committee
23:02
and they provided they came up with a draft they spent 37 meetings that were probably three hours long each so how many hours is that it’s over 100 hours just sitting in the meetings discussing these things not to mention all the prep time and you know a lot of people testify so i really believe in the community plans as the expression of the vision of the community and i think that they should be enforced and the problem is that if the community plan is not worded properly then it won’t be enforceable if you use
23:42
language like oh this should happen or it’d be really nice if it’d be really nice if all the ag land would stay undeveloped that’s not an enforceable statement if you say instead that ag land shall be used for agriculture the word shall is enforceable so that’s kind of the battle and the community plan advisory committee um i’m just generalizing here they they made a lot of things much more specific and enforceable and then when it went over to the planning commission there were some
24:20
changes that made it less less so planning commission well those are all appointed positions right can they be ousted no well there might be a way but um appointed by the mayor so i’m just looking at an example here the community plan advisory committee had a policy that said require public and water public and private water purveyors to coordinate water development in order to optimize pumpage and mitigate impacts on streams etc the planning commission is recommending that the word require
25:13
be changed to encourage which is not enforceable why would they do that why was that a developer i mean what’s your why would they do that i don’t know i don’t you can’t make generalizations about people just because they have a certain profession you said encourage and i can’t imagine a planning commission wanting to weaken that that’s why i’m saying it that way and maybe it is you know a perspective of doing it but what is that they they wanted their they wanted the water
25:53
purveyors to have flexibility instead of to have to be required to do something so but that’s exactly the problem if it doesn’t say require then it’s not an enforceable policy and that’s what i’ve been trying to push and get people to understand that if they want all the time they spend putting these community plans putting their vision into the community plans if they want all that time to be spent and not wasted right then it needs to be enforceable it’s not enforceable then they might as
26:30
well have just gone and had a beer instead that’s a great point that’s a great point were you here in wailuku when they did a charette about that parking lot thing 20 maybe 20 years ago maybe a little more oh no well they’ve been doing those things for a long time well the wailuku parking lot um it’s not something that we got involved in i have my own personal feelings about it but maui tomorrow’s mission is about preserving open space and you know preserving the quality of life
27:13
part of that is to concentrate development in urban areas so it doesn’t sprawl out into rural areas so that’s that’s what we try to do and if they’re going to be developing a parking structure in the middle of town it’s not something that we would object to based on our mission so we didn’t get involved in that on the other hand we did get involved in the wailuku hotel project because we’ve got enough visitor accommodations on this island and then some we’ve got way too many
27:51
so we had a campaign against the wailuku hotel that seems to be on hold at this point and we’ll see what happens with that but we got i believe 3 500 petition signatures and we encourage people to comment on the environmental assessment and i believe there are about a thousand people who commented on the environmental assessment so we’ll see what happens with that i’ve heard that the project is on hold but i’m pretty sure that the developer still wants to go ahead at some point and build a hotel there
28:34
we don’t think it’s appropriate and we don’t think it um we don’t think we need any more visitor accommodations on the island and you don’t think it would enhance wailuku that’s what i’m doing okay no no wailuku is a refuge for local people need a refuge from tourism just to be very blunt um you know people where people can be themselves and not feel like they’re always on display wailuku is still a cool old town and it’s coming back you know it had its um it had its heyday and then it
29:16
went into decline around i guess around the 60s 70s but it seems to be coming back now with the friday night parties of course kovit has done a number on all kinds of businesses yeah um some of my favorite restaurants in wailuku have gone out of business um because they don’t have any customers but um yeah no i don’t think a hotel a six-story hotel is appropriate there maybe a a 20 room hotel see that’s the thing there’s a history of hotels in wailuku but they’re all much smaller than this
29:55
156 room monstrosity that’s being proposed um the wailuku grand hotels like that you know that are not there anymore but there are maybe 20 rooms or so and that right now is the limit on hotels in the wailuku redevelopment area according to the rules that they’ve adopted so this developer is asking for a variance to go up to 156 rooms that’s quite a variance i got you i mean uh i know that uh i forgot his first name baskin they’re in uh paella built yes michael dawson michael and uh he kept it within
30:46
reason within the area that’s what you’re talking about you’re building to the size and make of an environment rather than dominating the environment that’s been the issue um well i i don’t know if i would characterize it that way you know oh yeah there was a lot of there was a lot of opposition to um what he was trying to do there a lot of people came out and opposed that and one of the effects of these proposed special management area rule changes that i mentioned initially
31:23
one of the effects of that of that of those changes is going to be that a change in use is not going to require permit anymore so something like mr baskin’s project would just have occurred and not had any review by the planning department wow yeah that’s very significant very significant yep so we’re trying to push back on that um when you guys are under deadline like now when you’re like you have a deadline what are you pushing for to different groups or where is the thrust of
32:05
your current activity now well it depends on the issue right now um with the west maui community plan is coming up before the planning and sustainable land use committee on thursday at 9 00 a.m so we’re trying to propose some amendments to the language that would make the plan enforceable and so i don’t know it’s just the first meeting i know that uh council member paulton wants to approve everything before the budget starts uh in late march so we’ve got about two months to get through the whole thing and make all
32:54
any changes that the council wants to make so we need to kind of just make our case to the various council members and also to the public i’ve been working with the community plan advisory committee members to help them understand uh what the problems are um with the existing language and so then we’ll see what happens on february 4th so if everyone would like to link anything from our pages to assist in getting people to your issues please just say the word happy to help i will i’ll call you up
33:36
and i’ll say the word you know i mean if there’s a link that can get to things and that kind of stuff because i think of i really think of what i do as i’m sort of like the matrix i’m trying to put pieces together that others don’t often perceive as going together but it’s all one thing here and so that’s why you know you wonder what the heck is jason doing all these years how’s he what’s he’s involved in i’m trying to put things together that people say well that
34:08
doesn’t yes it does yes it does take a look again yup they can also go we have a facebook page maui tomorrow facebook page we have a maui tomorrow twitter account we have a maui tomorrow instagram account we have our website which is mauitomoro.org right and on the website you can sign up to be on our email list to get alerts and things like that so we have uh five ways that i can think of right there yeah getting the word well and i know how many people have told me you know they they think sierra club
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and they think maui tomorrow for some reason i guess there’s been such a close uh symbiotic relationship between you guys um we do share a lot of um the same issues and uh sarah club is more environmentally oriented and we’re more uh planning and quality of life oriented i see so there is a lot of overlap between those issues and we do work well together do you foresee any um things that the public can do right now to be helpful to you to stay aware of issues and things and then besides contributions i’m sure
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always help just subscribe to our newsletter um and check out our facebook page a lot of people prefer instagram so everything we put out on facebook we’re doing on instagram and twitter as well um gotcha yeah yeah it’s a lot easier to testify too now because of covid uh everything is virtual including testimony before the council and i’m hoping that that’s going to stay permanent after the pandemic is over with which hopefully it will be soon and even i found out recently that even
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the state legislature is going to be allowing virtual testimony on zoom which is great because one of the big problems for neighbor islanders has been having to get on a plane and get to the capitol and then get home and we’ve been we’ve been really really hoping and asking for virtual testimony at the state legislature for a long long time and now it’s happening hopefully they won’t get rid of that after the pandemic but maybe a little see how how much more efficient and effective it is it’s certainly going
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to save um yeah a lot of air fuel and you know and like you say the input from the neighbor islands can be great and needs to be you know brought into perspective the way it needs to be it’s just like and funny as it seems like the department of human services at the county here when they do things and they send them through the mail and you wonder well why aren’t they using email for that i don’t know what some of these systems here maybe it just the cost of upgrading to be in the 21st century is so much for some
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of these organizations that they’re the lagging behind or insurance companies that won’t send insurance cards through email only will mail them that’s amazing to me i have a lot of answers jason but i don’t have an answer for that one um do you um you know i when i talk to you i often leave the ball up to you because i think that you’re kind of looking over the horizon any other issues or things that the public can do to prevent some of these things that you have to take care of or any
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just general recommendations on things that you see that can shift some of the future problems well i think just being being involved as much as you can it’s difficult if you’re working all the time and that’s why um a lot of people who don’t have the time to put into all of this they just figure it’s it’s easier for them to send a check and make a donation and we can represent the aina for them at the county council in the legislature etc but just staying staying in touch with
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everything it’s getting easier and easier online um you know and visit our facebook page um we try to keep people apprised of the issues that are out there there’s one that i want to talk a bit a little bit about uh there’s an effort at the at mckenna state park um the state apparently has a couple million dollars that they’ve gotten and they want to actually be expanding the parking lots there and installing showers i’m very concerned about both of those issues um i don’t know if you’re aware of this
39:59
jason but mckenna state park the water there is like really really really really clean much cleaner than if you go north to kihei or even wailea sometimes can be clear and sometimes not but the waters at mckenna are really pristine it’s just a beautiful area and so we’re concerned about some of the impacts from uh having too many people there especially people who are putting on suntan uh lotion and the carrying capacity of that park has yet to be determined i’m convinced that it’s much lower than it is so why
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are we going to be expanding parking lots i am opposed to doing that similarly i’m opposed to putting showers there because right now mckenna state park doesn’t have any showers and there’s a certain kind of person who won’t go to a beach because there’s no shower there um if we put in showers then those people will say okay i can go there too now and that will increase the number of people that go there um the beach at mckenna is a known nesting site for the hawksbill turtles
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which are endangered that’s one of the places where they’re found consistently so having more people there um having potential runoff from showers just more people with suntan lotion in the water when we preserved mckenna state park one of the objectives was to keep it as sort of a wilderness park which at the time it was out beyond the end of the road and now it’s not there’s many many expensive homes beyond mckenna state park but as much as possible we would like to keep the wilderness character of the
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park well that’s a great one right that that’s something people can uh make their comments known to the people right that are going to do that we are expecting that the state parks hawaii state parks is going to be putting out an environmental assessment claiming that expanding the parking lots and putting in showers will have no significant impact on the park and we just don’t feel like that’s the case that they will need to do an environmental impact statement and disclose the significant impacts
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of this kind of expansion you just refuted it right here now you’ve saved them hundreds of thousands of dollars terrific well i’ve been trying that we actually were meeting with them and the group of people who care about the park uh called the one loa coalition because it’s not that the real name of the beach is oniloa which means um um it means big beach but in hawaiian it’s oniloa so the only lower coalition has been meeting and talking about these issues some of the people on the coalition are
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adamant and they’re in favor of showers other people are adamant and they don’t want showers but it’s been very clearly discussed that an environmental assessment that assumes no significant impacts would be inappropriate but the state parks department is persisting and going in that direction so we’re very concerned about that and if you care about mckenna state park please stay tuned to our uh maui tomorrow facebook page absolutely well thank you for bringing that up that’s what i meant
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about staying ahead of it and being an influence before before it erupts sounds like just a little only before when are they doing this formally is that coming up now uh you know last i heard as they were still doing archaeology because there are some archaeological sites in the area there was a lot of cultural use there before so i think they’ve just been kind of delayed by the pandemic um i don’t know when they’re going to come out with it but we’re watching okay well i know you’re busy
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and i thank you for taking your precious time to be here with us now you know i like to think we’re we have people on this show that have that need to stay in public view i want the public to know there’s an al perez and maui tomorrow way ahead of you in an emergency i want to see support coming out for things that are really saving this place what can i say your work is absolutely significant and i’ve always been a big al perez fan i’m sure you know that thank you jason i’m hoping that
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you’re welcome that uh if there’s anything important that we can do to help we always want to anything that you want to be sure to tell these people before we let them go well i just think that you know if you really value the work that maui tomorrow does that you should tell other people because um the reality is that most people still don’t know about us we have really high expenses we try not to have to litigate but sometimes um the developers the government whatever the case may be there’s a real
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determination to go ahead with these projects that are not good for the aina and so sometimes we do have to litigate and that’s expensive and the way that we cover those expenses is with private donations from from the public we don’t get any grants we don’t that’s how we do it so we’re able to do the work that we do because of people like you and people with deep pockets but also hopefully you get some attorneys that do pro bono we had some advice pro bono we get some you know but the bottom line is it’s
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very expensive to do litigation especially to sustain litigation over a period of decades um like with that mega mall situation that was very expensive and we did get some significant donations from the community but in order to remain an effective force that developers would respect they’re going to think twice if they know that maui tomorrow is there and ready to litigate if necessary and we thank you i mean like i thank you for everybody here on maui and elsewhere that that believes and loves maui thank you for all you’ve been
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doing thank you for joining me here today i know it’s uh we’re 20 21 and god knows exactly what’s happening in the future but whatever it is um we want to be here to lead maui in a great direction to itself sustainability and doing the right thing which is great yup maui still has a chance that’s because of you my friend well thank you all of you out there for joining us i’m gonna say goodbye from me and uh al thank you for joining me here today and um we will see you again hello thank
48:06
you jason aloha well thank you all for joining us today uh al perez is a great guest we’ll have him back as things keep happening here and things we need to be aware of here on maui um i am going to go out i’m going to play a one and a half minute intro that is on our website mauiartsendmusic.org talking about our overall vision of what we’re hoping to do with all this stuff aloha aloha my name is jason schwartz i’m the director of the maui arts and music association also known as mama we’re also known as
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papa and we’re also known as the dream acres foundation all wrapped up mauiartsonmusic.org is our website and our vision is to promote art and music and culture of the islands and educate people about environmental solutions and implement them here and the money that we make through putting on these shows and promoting art music culture environment tourism in a responsible way will go towards supplement development of important technologies and implementation if you look at the website you’ll see we focus on three
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environmental areas so for example as we’re making money and we’re creating jobs of that money by buying product and by putting money into helping manufacturing ramp up by putting money into the delivery of product and then use in the community as an example to the world a self-sustainability model we’ll also of course create jobs for artists and musicians and we’ll be able to sell and share art all over the world and have people all over the world support this vision of a matrix of a community taking part
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together and creating an environmental economic model and that’s what this is so i hope you’ll be part of it in some way in many ways aloha
