Residents and CPAC urge stronger gulch buffers and enforceable community-plan language

Several residents and community advisors told the committee that the South Maui Community Plan should use clear, enforceable language to prevent new development in flood‑prone areas and preserve wetland parcels.

Albert Perez, commenting after Vernon Kalani Kau’s photos, told the committee that law firms representing developers have argued for vagueness to avoid enforceability. He urged stronger, 'shall' language and follow‑up changes to county ordinances: “Their recommendation… is to keep it vague so it won't be enforceable,” Perez said, arguing instead for clear, enforceable policy language.

Randy Wagner, Kihei Community Association design‑review chair, highlighted map discrepancies between CPAC and Planning drafts and urged restoring a policy that would require infrastructure be in place prior to new development. Johan Law and other testifiers reinforced the point that channelization and narrow gulch treatments accelerate downstream impacts and that buffers based on LIDAR should be preserved.

Committee members asked clarifying questions about map locations, TMK listings, and whether certain action items (4.23 and 4.25) should reappear; staff pointed attendees to Attachment 3A for the policy matrix and an attachment of TMKs for parcel references.