Maui delays
building of Paia
shoreline condo

A county official has raised
legal questions about the project

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By Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.com

WAILUKU >> Maui Planning Director John Min has tentatively reversed his previous approval of a shoreline exemption for a three-house condominium site in Paia that some beachgoers want for a recreational park.

Min announced yesterday the county has issued a stop-work order on the building permits for Montana Beach LLC, pending the outcome of a final opinion by Deputy Corporation Counsel Richard Minatoya next week.

"We feel that the prudent thing to do is to hold off on building activity in this project until the opinion has been rendered," Min said.

The 5.7-acre site, located east of Baldwin Beach near a place known as the "Old Lime Kiln," is under construction as three residences.

The building of a two-story house is nearly completed at one residence.

Attorney Thomas Welch, representing Montana LLC, said his client plans to appeal the stop-work order and take other action if the projects are halted, including attempts to seek compensation for the loss in property value of several million dollars.

"They've spent a lot of money," he said.

Welch said the owners acquired the property based on a long-standing county practice of exempting up to three single-family residences on a parcel within a shoreline area.

Officials with Hui Alanui O Makena, a group challenging the project, said the developer was aware it was building on a site designated for park and public use in the county's community plan and took a gamble in trying to obtain the necessary permits.

"They have constructed at their own risk," said Hui Alanui spokeswoman Dana Hall. "They gambled and they lost."

Hall said her group feels the Apana administration is moving in the right direction and that the developer should go through the shoreline permit process administered by the Maui Planning Commission.

Minatoya has raised legal questions about issuing shoreline permit exemptions to projects that have two or three single-family residences built on the same property under condominium guidelines.

According to a preliminary opinion by Minatoya, in order to be exempt from shoreline requirements, the construction of a single-family residence must not be part of a larger development.

Minatoya raised a legal question of whether the residences at the condominium are part of a larger development.