"We're hoping this isn't the beginning of a landslide," said Sam Clark, president of the Haiku Community Association.

"I don't want Haiku to be known as a 2 o'clock in the morning bar town."

But Blaze Anderson said the microbrewery he and his partners want to build in the old Pauwela pineapple cannery won't attract the late-night revelers and heavy drinkers associated with many watering holes. "It's not a bar crowd," he said. "It's more of an eating, relaxing, socializing crowd. We're looking at something really low-key, with a quiet, relaxed atmosphere."

The Maui County Liquor Control Commission will hold a 9 a.m. hearing tomorrow on Brewdha Inc.'s application for a liquor license. If more than 50 percent of the cannery's 63 neighbors object, the panel must turn it down, he said.

Seven protests have been filed against the pub so far.

Brewdha's owners want to brew beer - including root beer and nonalcoholic ginger beer - and serve lunch and dinner from 10 a.m. to midnight, according to their application.

"They could shut us down at 8 o'clock and we would still be hitting our core, and that's a huge difference between us and a bar," Anderson said. "But we want to stay open till 10 so people can eat late."

Anderson said the pub, which could open next spring, may offer acoustic music on Saturday afternoons, but would apply for a permit before adding any live entertainment. "We don't want to disturb the quiet, rural feeling of Haiku," he said. "It's exactly the image we want."

Clark said most residents don't object to the brew pub, although they are worried about the possible proliferation of liquor licenses in Haiku.

Of greater concern to most, he said, is Vernon Lindsey's request to keep The Lounge open until 2 a.m. at the Haiku Cannery.

"After 10 p.m. or midnight, the concentration is on drinking," he said, and some residents fear that will breed noise, fights, drug dealing and drunken driving.

Eve Kaikala has been circulating a petition against Lindsey's request, which the liquor board will consider at its November meeting. "Drinking until 2 a.m. poses a threat to a rural community like Haiku," she said

Lindsey said he voluntarily restricted his hours to 10 p.m. on weeknights and midnight on the weekends. But now he needs the longer hours to make The Lounge economically viable and finance his move into a full-service restaurant in the cannery. He said he's collected 1,200 signatures favoring his plan, and thinks those opposed simply want to stop growth and change in Haiku.

"I've been trying to create a vivacious economic atmosphere," he said.

"If you've got the right attractions, people will come. Why should Lahaina and Wailea get all the business?"

Kaikala said Haiku lacks social services, especially for youth, and the emphasis on liquor-based businesses threatens to further tip it out of balance. "If we allow all these bars to come in, we'll have real serious problems in the future."

Clark agreed. Haiku already has five liquor licenses, he said, and some residents think that's enough. He said the association has begun looking into legislation that would limit the numbers of businesses with liquor licenses in Maui's rural towns.