This version of Maui Nowʻs letters includes discussion about drainage for repeat flooding areas, lack of effort to find Mauiʻs missing persons, Villages of Lealiʻi development, discrimination by TSA at Kahuli Airport pre-check, Makawao fire, longtime visitors upset about recent lack of “Aloha Spirt,” radical idea to get rid of Axis deer and more.
DeCoite
Current and former state and county lawmakers and well-known community leaders are among a growing field of candidates likely to submit their names for consideration to fill the seat of recently retired state Sen. J. Kalani English.
The Democratic Party of Hawaii officially put out the call on Wednesday for “expressions of interest” from qualified candidates for the Senate District 7 seat that represents East Maui, Upcountry, Molokai and Lanai. The deadline to apply is 11:59 p.m. on May 13.
English, a lawmaker for nearly 25 years and Senate majority leader since 2014, retired on Saturday as he deals with the long-term effects of COVID-19.
kcerizo@mauinews.com
Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, through his company Pulama Lana’i, is proposing to develop 150 rental homes for Lanai with 49 percent slated for market rates and the other 51 percent scheduled for affordable rents under a state fast-track process for affordable housing.
Although the Hokuao project is still in the planning stages, some Maui County Council members are already questioning the number of affordable units in the project, with one saying it should be 100 percent affordable.
The Hokuao project would build 76 affordable and 74 market-rate rental homes on about 76 acres of former pineapple fields neighboring Lanai City.
The plan includes a one-acre public park, a 1,500-square-foot public community center and 60 parking stalls for Hokuao residents, according to its draft environmental assessment published last week in the state Office of Environmental Quality Control’s “The Environmental Notice.”