I oppose the construction of this property. It is not in keeping with the style, size, and nature of our community and was clearly designed to be far more than should ever have been permitted. It is the responsibility of our elected officials to care for the rights of our community and ensure not the law and bylaws are followed, but the intent and purpose of the laws and bylaws are followed. I expect and require the council to force any further construction to stop and to demolish the construction done to date. If this entails litigation and a court case then so be it, that would be a valid spend of council taxpayers money to visibly demonstrate that the laws and bylaws (intent and practice) have meaning.
Mayor Victorino & Councilperson Tamara Paltin - YOU are my representatives - REPRESENT ME! and stop this building.
Hamish Craig, Napili
Questions for Director Mclean on Greg Brown's construction:
Are Mr. Brown’s plans, as approved, in compliance with Title 19?
You asked DSA's Supervising Building inspector to perform a square footage analysis of Greg Brown’s permit application. Correct? And he’s reported to you that under the specifications laid out in Chapter 19.04.040 where what constitutes a "Story" is clearly defined, the plans for building Permit 2020-0448 show, by definition, a 3 plus story building, yes?
Does it not follow then that the plans submitted by Mr. Brown, labeled two-stories, misrepresents his actual design?
Is not that misrepresentation just cause to invalidate the SMA permit exemption that the planning department awarded to Mr. Brown?
Why did you ask a DSA inspector to perform the analysis of Mr. Brown’s plans and not your own department?
Mr. Brown's architect represented on his building plans that each of the three levels cover around 3000 sq ft, for a total of 9000. The DSA supervising inspector has affirmed that Mr. Brown’s plans show a square footage count of substantially more than 7,500. By what rule did this structure qualify for an SMA permit exemption when that exemption is limited 7,500 sq ft?.
If a developer seeks an SMA exemption for a single family residence does the home have to be built with residential use standards?
Mr. Brown's architect represented on his building plans that the maximum hight of the single family home is 35 ft. What section of the county code allows a single family home to be 35 ft and not limited to 30ft?
Can you cite any ordinance that allows a single family residence to be over 30 ft?
The building standards for a hotel allow for a hight of 35 ft plus another 10 ft for elevator and staircase shafts.
How was Greg Brown's building plan approved as a single home when it clearly applies hotel standards?
Even though the Napili Bay District did not set hight restrictions, why doesn’t the more restrictive Maui County Code, which does set a limit of 30 ft for a single family across all of Maui, still apply?
You are aware that DSA is by law not allowed to do a site inspection without the Planning Department first declaring that a violation has occurred? Your department has not issued a violation to Mr. Brown that would trigger a site inspection by DSA. Why then have you specifically requested a DSA inspector join your inspectors today at the site?
For the sake of our community's trust in the checks and balances established in the Maui County Charter, we hope this Council will support and confirm the Department of Public Works Senior Building Inspector's research and conclusions that the Brown Development has violated Title 19 of the Maui County Code and the SMA Rules established by the Maui County Planning Commission.
Director McLean clearly stated she would not have issued the SMA Permit Exemption. However, it was issued under her discretionary authority. Today, we hope the Council recognizes the only information that is acceptable from Director Mclean is the confirmation she has ethically issued a Notice of Violation to Developer Brown which will trigger a Stop Work Order from the Building Department.
Director McLean is attempting to falsify government records by sending out inspectors from both DSA and the Planning Department to mislead this Council into believing a violation has been "discovered". This act of deception will expose the County to liability in the same manner as the Fairway's / Palama Drive debacle wherein Warren S. Unemori Engineering, Inc submitted civil engineering drawings which were clearly in violation of the County grading ordinances.
For the record, it was a team of ethical professionals and attorneys that I brought together who settled the Palama Drive litigation, not Corporation Counsel. The developer's civil engineer that stamped the plans knowing they were in non compliance with the County Code was responsible for the violations. This fact mitigated the developers claims that County issued the approvals for the development, and therefore was somehow liable for the developers violations. The same is true for the consultants employed by Developer Brown. The "stamp of integrity" is being used for a financial windfall at the public expense.
Developer Brown's professional consultants submitted plans which violate the Maui County Code and SMA Rules under HRS 205A, which is lawful grounds for revocation of the SMA Permit and a Stop Work Order. If the Council is willing to listen without the conflicted interference from Corporation Counsel, the residents of Napili can provide a comprehensive and creative solution to this "disaster".
As was the case with the UpCountry Water Bill and the unaccounted for Deferral agreements executed by the unclean hands of County attorneys, the Council Member Molina is called upon to mitigate the financial harm to the taxpayers by investigating the wrong doing by the two Planning Department employees who granted approvals to Brown Development in violation of adopted County laws and ordinances.
There are community solutions which can be planted into this Village to turn this fertilizer into flowers. Unfortunately, Mayor Victorino was unwilling to listen or take action on the proven violations by Brown Development. We hope the Council will help the residents unravel the wrongdoing...
Take this illegal structure down. Enough with this illegal corruption by our own government employees. They all should be fired and Greg Brown should not be allowed to build any development on Maui.
Ui'lani Kapu
Why hasn’t a stop-work order yet been issued to Greg Brown when it’s already been determined and documented by Maui’s Senior Building Inspector that under Title 19, the County must classify what Brown has built as “Three Stories Plus", which violates the Napili Bay District Two-Story limit.
It’s also been documented that Mr. Brown's actual sq. ft. count is more than 7,500. which means he never was eligible to request the SMA permit exemption that he was granted. Granted, by the way, by Planning Department officials who have recently, and suddenly resigned.
This project is a poster child of intentional mismanagement and corruption between developers, professional consultants, and county officials. And I can prove to you that Corp Counsel will pull no stops to hide that corruption by lying to this council and in court.
Several past council members have admitted that Corp Counsel intimidated them with the threat that "if you take any action that results in our loss in court of our vigorous and costly defense a director’s decision, even though it was a demonstrably faulty decision, that you will be on your own to be held personally liable for costs and that we will refuse to represent you in your official capacity."
Corp Counsel routinely denies any conflict of interest in any situation except when they use conflict of interest as a threat to muzzle County employee whistleblowers and Council Members. And from what I hear, they are doing that here.
Speaking today will be Director McLean who has a rich, 20-year-plus experience with developments here in Maui County, on the developer's side. Over 20 years ago, Ms. Mclean was a land planning consultant for Kent Smith, a private developer, who partnered with past Public Works Director David Goode on a wildly inappropriate West Maui development that was ultimately rejected by the Maui County Planning Commission.
It was Christopher Salem who blew the whistle to the Commission and got Ms. McLean’s project killed. So you can imagine how much tension Mayor Victorino stirred up when he hired Mr. Salem to write legislation to fix the very same accountability loopholes between Planning and Public Works that allowed Greg Brown to get as far as he has today.
Director McLean has repeatedly stated publicly that she had nothing to do with Mr. Brown receiving his SMA exemption and building plan approval, and that she wished those things had never happened. She’s talked of “mistakes" made by employees at the Planning Department. Mistakes? By the very same individuals who recently resigned?
It is ridiculously premature for Director McLean to blame the department for this mess and I believe her saying so prejudices this council into being amenable to a financial settlement with Mr. Brown when he is ultimately forced to tear his construction down. In reality, Mr. Brown’s own misrepresentations make him liable for all his costs and our tax rolls could actually swell if he’s fined appropriately for his subterfuge.
In an email sent to Kanamu Balinbin last Friday, Director Mclean wrote: "Now that the structure has been framed enough to be able to determine if any violations of square footage or stories exists we are coordinating a compliance inspection with Public Works and Planning inspectors. This should occur next week. After that, we will take appropriate action based on the report provided by the inspectors and in consultation with Public Works.”
DSA's review of Mr. Brown’s misrepresented plans has already determined they include multiple violations worthy of issuing a Stop Work Order today, regardless of the fact that a planning staff member, who has suddenly now retired, had previously approved the misrepresented plans.
Director McLean has yet to acknowledge that Mr. Brown’s approved plans include violations and has repeatedly stated the Planning Department has yet to find that Mr. Brown is in violation. Director McLean requesting DSA to participate in the site inspection this week seems also a set-up designed to give Mr. Brown a legal process advantage if he ends up suing the County.
Director Mclean knows or should know that DSA does not have independent investigative authority and is legally barred from going into the field on a fishing expedition to take measurements until such time as Planning first reports that a violation exists, which, of course, Director McLean has so far refused to do. That, I’m told is the law, and Director McLean it appears is today, right now, baiting DSA inspectors into breaking the law.
If this council wants to hear the reality of how Greg Brown and other developers routinely ply the existing loopholes in order to deny us citizens of our rights to public oversight on SMA permits, in violation of state and federal laws, to stop it from ever happening again, there are three experts other than Director Mclean who are readily available to be expert witnesses for this committee.
Both Deputy attorney Mimi Desjardins and our well-respected County Clerk Kathy Kaohu have over 20 years of experience, some of it working directly with Christoper Salem, to research and expose these exact issues.
That experience is why Christopher Salem was hired by the Mayor in 2019. Isn’t it ironic that it’s for using that same experience to blow the whistle on Greg Brown last April that Mr. Salem's employment was terminated by the Mayor in July?
Mr. Salem’s suit for wrongful termination as retribution for blowing the whistle on Mr. Brown, specifically names Director McLean for her refusal to issue SMA violation notices to both Mr. Brown and to Developer Lot 48 LLC, another well-documented, west side development where Mr. Salem has blown the whistle on falsified SMA documents which allowed developers to deny citizens of our rights to public hearings. Had public hearings not been blocked by professional consultants committing fraud, neither of these projects would ever have gotten built.
Given her public mischaracterizations and her refusal to issue a Stop Work Order to Mr. Brown, there’s absolutely no way this Council can permit yourselves to go into executive session to hear Director Mclean today. All of her comments today need to be made publicly.
Corp Counsel is defending Mayor Victorino and Director McLean and just had their 500-page motion to dismiss and two motions to block adding Director McLean to the case denied, so an executive session should be out of the question for Corp Counsel too.
But they will lie to you that there’s a "Chinese Wall" that protects them from conflict of interest. Yet just watch that wall vanish when they try to use conflict of interest as an excuse to stop Deputy attorney Mimi Desjardins from giving testimony to you.
Senior Building Inspector Derek Hyland is probably the most qualified person in Planning or Public Works and has apparently done an enormous amount of research on Brown’s project specifically, as well as our County rules and how they are routinely avoided. He should also be called to testify here.
Request any of those four experts to give their expert testimony here and watch what happens. That would be just great!
Thank you for your time and attention to these important matters.
Sam Small
Director, Maui Causes
www.MauiCauses.org
I am strongly opposed to Greg Brown's building on the Low Road in Napili. He has been operating illegal vacation rentals in Launiupoko for years and will do the same in Napili. The building is obviously designed to be used as a hotel and he has told employees that is what it is being built for. I am a former employee and am still in touch with people who work there and everyone is aware of Brown's intentions for the property. To allow this monstrosity to be built is an insult to the people of Maui and only shows the amount of corruption in the system. The council has the power to require that building be shut down and the structure be removed. Do the right thing.
Aloha, Kanamu Balinbin again wanted to reiterate what I stated earlier. Council member Tamara Paltin always gets back to me whenever I contact her office or personally. My frustration stems from the answers that I receive from her. She stayed that it’s not her jurisdiction and that the decision falls on the Administration, meaning Mayor Victorino. Michelle McKean also responds to my emails. However, she states that everything needs to be checked before she can issue a violation. The correspondence between Director McLean and I has been going on for months and should have been dealt with long time ago. Mike Molina flat out doesn’t respond.
Hi my name is consuelo apolo-gonsalves I strongly oppose this should be torn down stop letting developers get away with a slap on their wrists fined them to the fullest.
Hello everyone my name is Kanamu Balinbin,. I strongly oppose this project. The one thing that really upsets me is that we have been telling and sending viable information to council members(specifically Paltin and Molina), Planning Department and other public officials about all of the violations 8 months ago regarding this project and no one listened. Reached out to council member Tamara Paltin and she pretty much said it’s out of her hands and only the Mayor’s administration can make the decisions. The mayor says that legally he can’t do anything about it. Mike Molina chair of the transparency and ethics committee has not returned one of my emails or any of my phone calls regarding this project. I am very sick and tired of having to do the work of our elected officials. Sending emails and phone calls to Tamara Paltin, Mike Molina, Michelle McLean and calling Mayor Victorino on his cell phone to no avail. Even when I testified about corruption in the Planning Department, NO ONE IN COUNTY GOVERNMENT CONTACTED ME TO FOLLOW UP.
Now Tamara wants to start a petition. Why only now? Is it because its election time soon? West Maui is tired of posers in county government. We need someone who isn’t afraid of Moana Lutey, Corp council, or Mayor Victorino and someone who will actually help the people that they are elected to represent. Other community members and myself have given you people in government enough information to stop this project 8 months ago. Now that you finally decide to do something, LETS GET IT DONE RIGHT.
I am a licensed Realtor in the State of Hawaii. I am choosing to remain anonymous. There is not a single person I know that isn't disgusted by the blatant disregard for the rules and laws. The rules are forced upon the rest of the island while we sit back and watch this project somehow progress by manipulation of the developer.While we continue to suffer from lack of affordable housing, this is a project that smells of cronyism and,"The rules apply to everyone else except the few". The hypocrisy is blatant. If you do not stop this project, you will set a precedent for more of these situations.Ms.McLean has a reputation of enforcing the rules and laws. We have all sat back and wondered why this is an exception. I have clients that have had to follow all rules from everything including building ohanas , comply with agricultural land use requirements, to simple electrical or other county permit requirements. This project always comes up as a ,"I heard about that monster house/vacation rental. How can they get away with that when I can't even get a simple permit?" Please shut this down. It reflects badly on the planning commission and they have a good reputation. It is harming the morale of the community that cannot get even a small home for their family. Please shut this down before it provides a road map to more developers on how to defraud and manipulate the system here. Mahalo for your consideration.
Aloha kakahiaka,
My name is PAUL Janes-Brown, I am a 24 year resident of Maui. Currently I’m I live in Pukalani. This project is an abomination. It is clearly in violation of numerous aspects of its permit and should have its construction permit pulled immediately and the building should be torn down. A better use of the property would be a public park with rest rooms. Mahalo.
I can’t believe this was allowed to happen. There was a law about monster homes out in place that I remember. This should not be allowed anywhere on Maui . The Corruption needs to stop now. We pay taxes and vote people in and yet the rich get around the rules. I’ve lived on Maui for over 40 years.
I oppose the construction of this property. It is not in keeping with the style, size, and nature of our community and was clearly designed to be far more than should ever have been permitted. It is the responsibility of our elected officials to care for the rights of our community and ensure not the law and bylaws are followed, but the intent and purpose of the laws and bylaws are followed. I expect and require the council to force any further construction to stop and to demolish the construction done to date. If this entails litigation and a court case then so be it, that would be a valid spend of council taxpayers money to visibly demonstrate that the laws and bylaws (intent and practice) have meaning.
Mayor Victorino & Councilperson Tamara Paltin - YOU are my representatives - REPRESENT ME! and stop this building.
Hamish Craig, Napili
Questions for Director Mclean on Greg Brown's construction:
Are Mr. Brown’s plans, as approved, in compliance with Title 19?
You asked DSA's Supervising Building inspector to perform a square footage analysis of Greg Brown’s permit application. Correct? And he’s reported to you that under the specifications laid out in Chapter 19.04.040 where what constitutes a "Story" is clearly defined, the plans for building Permit 2020-0448 show, by definition, a 3 plus story building, yes?
Does it not follow then that the plans submitted by Mr. Brown, labeled two-stories, misrepresents his actual design?
Is not that misrepresentation just cause to invalidate the SMA permit exemption that the planning department awarded to Mr. Brown?
Why did you ask a DSA inspector to perform the analysis of Mr. Brown’s plans and not your own department?
Mr. Brown's architect represented on his building plans that each of the three levels cover around 3000 sq ft, for a total of 9000. The DSA supervising inspector has affirmed that Mr. Brown’s plans show a square footage count of substantially more than 7,500. By what rule did this structure qualify for an SMA permit exemption when that exemption is limited 7,500 sq ft?.
If a developer seeks an SMA exemption for a single family residence does the home have to be built with residential use standards?
Mr. Brown's architect represented on his building plans that the maximum hight of the single family home is 35 ft. What section of the county code allows a single family home to be 35 ft and not limited to 30ft?
Can you cite any ordinance that allows a single family residence to be over 30 ft?
The building standards for a hotel allow for a hight of 35 ft plus another 10 ft for elevator and staircase shafts.
How was Greg Brown's building plan approved as a single home when it clearly applies hotel standards?
Even though the Napili Bay District did not set hight restrictions, why doesn’t the more restrictive Maui County Code, which does set a limit of 30 ft for a single family across all of Maui, still apply?
You are aware that DSA is by law not allowed to do a site inspection without the Planning Department first declaring that a violation has occurred? Your department has not issued a violation to Mr. Brown that would trigger a site inspection by DSA. Why then have you specifically requested a DSA inspector join your inspectors today at the site?
Thanks
Sam Small
Maui Causes
For the sake of our community's trust in the checks and balances established in the Maui County Charter, we hope this Council will support and confirm the Department of Public Works Senior Building Inspector's research and conclusions that the Brown Development has violated Title 19 of the Maui County Code and the SMA Rules established by the Maui County Planning Commission.
Director McLean clearly stated she would not have issued the SMA Permit Exemption. However, it was issued under her discretionary authority. Today, we hope the Council recognizes the only information that is acceptable from Director Mclean is the confirmation she has ethically issued a Notice of Violation to Developer Brown which will trigger a Stop Work Order from the Building Department.
Director McLean is attempting to falsify government records by sending out inspectors from both DSA and the Planning Department to mislead this Council into believing a violation has been "discovered". This act of deception will expose the County to liability in the same manner as the Fairway's / Palama Drive debacle wherein Warren S. Unemori Engineering, Inc submitted civil engineering drawings which were clearly in violation of the County grading ordinances.
For the record, it was a team of ethical professionals and attorneys that I brought together who settled the Palama Drive litigation, not Corporation Counsel. The developer's civil engineer that stamped the plans knowing they were in non compliance with the County Code was responsible for the violations. This fact mitigated the developers claims that County issued the approvals for the development, and therefore was somehow liable for the developers violations. The same is true for the consultants employed by Developer Brown. The "stamp of integrity" is being used for a financial windfall at the public expense.
Developer Brown's professional consultants submitted plans which violate the Maui County Code and SMA Rules under HRS 205A, which is lawful grounds for revocation of the SMA Permit and a Stop Work Order. If the Council is willing to listen without the conflicted interference from Corporation Counsel, the residents of Napili can provide a comprehensive and creative solution to this "disaster".
As was the case with the UpCountry Water Bill and the unaccounted for Deferral agreements executed by the unclean hands of County attorneys, the Council Member Molina is called upon to mitigate the financial harm to the taxpayers by investigating the wrong doing by the two Planning Department employees who granted approvals to Brown Development in violation of adopted County laws and ordinances.
There are community solutions which can be planted into this Village to turn this fertilizer into flowers. Unfortunately, Mayor Victorino was unwilling to listen or take action on the proven violations by Brown Development. We hope the Council will help the residents unravel the wrongdoing...
Christopher Salem
Take this illegal structure down. Enough with this illegal corruption by our own government employees. They all should be fired and Greg Brown should not be allowed to build any development on Maui.
Ui'lani Kapu
Why hasn’t a stop-work order yet been issued to Greg Brown when it’s already been determined and documented by Maui’s Senior Building Inspector that under Title 19, the County must classify what Brown has built as “Three Stories Plus", which violates the Napili Bay District Two-Story limit.
It’s also been documented that Mr. Brown's actual sq. ft. count is more than 7,500. which means he never was eligible to request the SMA permit exemption that he was granted. Granted, by the way, by Planning Department officials who have recently, and suddenly resigned.
This project is a poster child of intentional mismanagement and corruption between developers, professional consultants, and county officials. And I can prove to you that Corp Counsel will pull no stops to hide that corruption by lying to this council and in court.
Several past council members have admitted that Corp Counsel intimidated them with the threat that "if you take any action that results in our loss in court of our vigorous and costly defense a director’s decision, even though it was a demonstrably faulty decision, that you will be on your own to be held personally liable for costs and that we will refuse to represent you in your official capacity."
Corp Counsel routinely denies any conflict of interest in any situation except when they use conflict of interest as a threat to muzzle County employee whistleblowers and Council Members. And from what I hear, they are doing that here.
Speaking today will be Director McLean who has a rich, 20-year-plus experience with developments here in Maui County, on the developer's side. Over 20 years ago, Ms. Mclean was a land planning consultant for Kent Smith, a private developer, who partnered with past Public Works Director David Goode on a wildly inappropriate West Maui development that was ultimately rejected by the Maui County Planning Commission.
It was Christopher Salem who blew the whistle to the Commission and got Ms. McLean’s project killed. So you can imagine how much tension Mayor Victorino stirred up when he hired Mr. Salem to write legislation to fix the very same accountability loopholes between Planning and Public Works that allowed Greg Brown to get as far as he has today.
Director McLean has repeatedly stated publicly that she had nothing to do with Mr. Brown receiving his SMA exemption and building plan approval, and that she wished those things had never happened. She’s talked of “mistakes" made by employees at the Planning Department. Mistakes? By the very same individuals who recently resigned?
It is ridiculously premature for Director McLean to blame the department for this mess and I believe her saying so prejudices this council into being amenable to a financial settlement with Mr. Brown when he is ultimately forced to tear his construction down. In reality, Mr. Brown’s own misrepresentations make him liable for all his costs and our tax rolls could actually swell if he’s fined appropriately for his subterfuge.
In an email sent to Kanamu Balinbin last Friday, Director Mclean wrote: "Now that the structure has been framed enough to be able to determine if any violations of square footage or stories exists we are coordinating a compliance inspection with Public Works and Planning inspectors. This should occur next week. After that, we will take appropriate action based on the report provided by the inspectors and in consultation with Public Works.”
DSA's review of Mr. Brown’s misrepresented plans has already determined they include multiple violations worthy of issuing a Stop Work Order today, regardless of the fact that a planning staff member, who has suddenly now retired, had previously approved the misrepresented plans.
Director McLean has yet to acknowledge that Mr. Brown’s approved plans include violations and has repeatedly stated the Planning Department has yet to find that Mr. Brown is in violation. Director McLean requesting DSA to participate in the site inspection this week seems also a set-up designed to give Mr. Brown a legal process advantage if he ends up suing the County.
Director Mclean knows or should know that DSA does not have independent investigative authority and is legally barred from going into the field on a fishing expedition to take measurements until such time as Planning first reports that a violation exists, which, of course, Director McLean has so far refused to do. That, I’m told is the law, and Director McLean it appears is today, right now, baiting DSA inspectors into breaking the law.
If this council wants to hear the reality of how Greg Brown and other developers routinely ply the existing loopholes in order to deny us citizens of our rights to public oversight on SMA permits, in violation of state and federal laws, to stop it from ever happening again, there are three experts other than Director Mclean who are readily available to be expert witnesses for this committee.
Both Deputy attorney Mimi Desjardins and our well-respected County Clerk Kathy Kaohu have over 20 years of experience, some of it working directly with Christoper Salem, to research and expose these exact issues.
That experience is why Christopher Salem was hired by the Mayor in 2019. Isn’t it ironic that it’s for using that same experience to blow the whistle on Greg Brown last April that Mr. Salem's employment was terminated by the Mayor in July?
Mr. Salem’s suit for wrongful termination as retribution for blowing the whistle on Mr. Brown, specifically names Director McLean for her refusal to issue SMA violation notices to both Mr. Brown and to Developer Lot 48 LLC, another well-documented, west side development where Mr. Salem has blown the whistle on falsified SMA documents which allowed developers to deny citizens of our rights to public hearings. Had public hearings not been blocked by professional consultants committing fraud, neither of these projects would ever have gotten built.
Given her public mischaracterizations and her refusal to issue a Stop Work Order to Mr. Brown, there’s absolutely no way this Council can permit yourselves to go into executive session to hear Director Mclean today. All of her comments today need to be made publicly.
Corp Counsel is defending Mayor Victorino and Director McLean and just had their 500-page motion to dismiss and two motions to block adding Director McLean to the case denied, so an executive session should be out of the question for Corp Counsel too.
But they will lie to you that there’s a "Chinese Wall" that protects them from conflict of interest. Yet just watch that wall vanish when they try to use conflict of interest as an excuse to stop Deputy attorney Mimi Desjardins from giving testimony to you.
Senior Building Inspector Derek Hyland is probably the most qualified person in Planning or Public Works and has apparently done an enormous amount of research on Brown’s project specifically, as well as our County rules and how they are routinely avoided. He should also be called to testify here.
Request any of those four experts to give their expert testimony here and watch what happens. That would be just great!
Thank you for your time and attention to these important matters.
Sam Small
Director, Maui Causes
www.MauiCauses.org
Testimony received from Great Committee.
I am strongly opposed to Greg Brown's building on the Low Road in Napili. He has been operating illegal vacation rentals in Launiupoko for years and will do the same in Napili. The building is obviously designed to be used as a hotel and he has told employees that is what it is being built for. I am a former employee and am still in touch with people who work there and everyone is aware of Brown's intentions for the property. To allow this monstrosity to be built is an insult to the people of Maui and only shows the amount of corruption in the system. The council has the power to require that building be shut down and the structure be removed. Do the right thing.
Aloha, Kanamu Balinbin again wanted to reiterate what I stated earlier. Council member Tamara Paltin always gets back to me whenever I contact her office or personally. My frustration stems from the answers that I receive from her. She stayed that it’s not her jurisdiction and that the decision falls on the Administration, meaning Mayor Victorino. Michelle McKean also responds to my emails. However, she states that everything needs to be checked before she can issue a violation. The correspondence between Director McLean and I has been going on for months and should have been dealt with long time ago. Mike Molina flat out doesn’t respond.
This is a big obvious NO in construction on Maui . Shut this down asap !!!
Mahalo
Simple. Follow the law. Stop fraud.
This is insane. This has to stop. If he gets away with this others will too. We can’t have people cheating the laws.
REJECT, STOP & REVOKE
Hi my name is consuelo apolo-gonsalves I strongly oppose this should be torn down stop letting developers get away with a slap on their wrists fined them to the fullest.
This is a pilau project and it has to stop.
Hello everyone my name is Kanamu Balinbin,. I strongly oppose this project. The one thing that really upsets me is that we have been telling and sending viable information to council members(specifically Paltin and Molina), Planning Department and other public officials about all of the violations 8 months ago regarding this project and no one listened. Reached out to council member Tamara Paltin and she pretty much said it’s out of her hands and only the Mayor’s administration can make the decisions. The mayor says that legally he can’t do anything about it. Mike Molina chair of the transparency and ethics committee has not returned one of my emails or any of my phone calls regarding this project. I am very sick and tired of having to do the work of our elected officials. Sending emails and phone calls to Tamara Paltin, Mike Molina, Michelle McLean and calling Mayor Victorino on his cell phone to no avail. Even when I testified about corruption in the Planning Department, NO ONE IN COUNTY GOVERNMENT CONTACTED ME TO FOLLOW UP.
Now Tamara wants to start a petition. Why only now? Is it because its election time soon? West Maui is tired of posers in county government. We need someone who isn’t afraid of Moana Lutey, Corp council, or Mayor Victorino and someone who will actually help the people that they are elected to represent. Other community members and myself have given you people in government enough information to stop this project 8 months ago. Now that you finally decide to do something, LETS GET IT DONE RIGHT.
Way too large of a structure
I am a licensed Realtor in the State of Hawaii. I am choosing to remain anonymous. There is not a single person I know that isn't disgusted by the blatant disregard for the rules and laws. The rules are forced upon the rest of the island while we sit back and watch this project somehow progress by manipulation of the developer.While we continue to suffer from lack of affordable housing, this is a project that smells of cronyism and,"The rules apply to everyone else except the few". The hypocrisy is blatant. If you do not stop this project, you will set a precedent for more of these situations.Ms.McLean has a reputation of enforcing the rules and laws. We have all sat back and wondered why this is an exception. I have clients that have had to follow all rules from everything including building ohanas , comply with agricultural land use requirements, to simple electrical or other county permit requirements. This project always comes up as a ,"I heard about that monster house/vacation rental. How can they get away with that when I can't even get a simple permit?" Please shut this down. It reflects badly on the planning commission and they have a good reputation. It is harming the morale of the community that cannot get even a small home for their family. Please shut this down before it provides a road map to more developers on how to defraud and manipulate the system here. Mahalo for your consideration.
Aloha kakahiaka,
My name is PAUL Janes-Brown, I am a 24 year resident of Maui. Currently I’m I live in Pukalani. This project is an abomination. It is clearly in violation of numerous aspects of its permit and should have its construction permit pulled immediately and the building should be torn down. A better use of the property would be a public park with rest rooms. Mahalo.
Completely oppose! The county should stop this kind of illegal activity and impose penalties to make an example out of violators!
I can’t believe this was allowed to happen. There was a law about monster homes out in place that I remember. This should not be allowed anywhere on Maui . The Corruption needs to stop now. We pay taxes and vote people in and yet the rich get around the rules. I’ve lived on Maui for over 40 years.