Land donated
for Maui hospitalResidents say they need the
acute-care facility because the
nearest is an hour's drive away
LAHAINA >> The Kaanapali Development Corp. has agreed to donate 14.9 acres of land for a West Maui hospital.
James Wriston, the company's director of real estate, said the hospital site will be adjacent to the Lahaina Civic Center complex. "It's really a nice spot," Wriston said.
Announcement of the donation will be made at an Aug. 9, $25-a-plate fund-raiser at the Royal Lahaina Resort organized by the West Maui Taxpayers Association and West Maui Improvement Foundation Inc., nonprofit groups that want a community hospital in Lahaina with 24-hour acute care emergency medical service.
The organizations say west Maui residents need a hospital because the nearest 24-hour medical center, Maui Memorial, is a 66-minute drive from Napili to Wailuku by emergency ambulance.
Wriston, whose firm is a subsidiary of JMB Hawaii, said the 14.9 acres are located on former sugarcane land and within the firm's "Kaanapali 2020" master plan for commercial and residential construction on its 4,000 acres in West Maui.
He said an environmental impact study for the master plan is expected to be completed by the end of August or early September.
Wriston said the land donation is not tied to his firm receiving land-use approvals.
He said foundation officials have the option of developing the acute-care emergency medical hospital on their own, if they can receive separate government land-use approvals.
"They have the ability to go off and do it on their own or stay as a Kaanapali 2020 project," he said.
Joseph Pluta, president of both organizations, said the foundation has chosen to stay as a Kaanapali 2020 project because Kaanapali Development is farther down the permit-process road than his group and is paying for the environmental impact study.
Pluta said the foundation envisions a hospital in West Maui similar to the North Hawaii Community Hospital on the Big Island.
He said private hospital firms have expressed an interest in developing and operating an acute care hospital in Lahaina.
He said the private hospital firms are waiting for the foundation to secure the land entitlements, including the county zoning to allow the hospital to be built there.
Pluta said that at no expense to the taxpayers, his foundation has already developed a feasibility study and provided an assessment of the hospital's need in West Maui.
But he said more funds are needed to coordinate the selection of the development company and act as a facilitator to help to gain the land-use approvals.
The fund-raiser includes a dinner buffet at 6:30 p.m., with no-host cocktails at 5:30 p.m. The event also includes silent and live auctions.
For more information, call the West Maui Improvement Foundation Inc. or West Maui Taxpayers Association at 661-3942 or access the Web page at www.westmaui.org.
