By BRIAN PERRY
Staff Writer
WAILUKU -- A potentially precedent-setting application for county agricultural zoning is headed for the Maui County Council.
Anthony Edington wants a change of zoning from interim to agricultural for 24.6 acres off Ulumalu Road in Haiku to make way for a subdivision of seven lots ranging from 2.8 to 5.7 acres.
The Edington rezoning application came before the Maui Planning Commission Tuesday, marking the first time such a request had reached the panel. The case will be watched closely by others seeking to rezone land. In particular, hundreds of acres are awaiting residential development on the makai side of Hana Highway off Lower Ulumalu Road.
Following Planning Commission approval, the application now goes to the council, which is considering a revision to the county's agricultural zoning law in the wake of a milestone June 1996 opinion by the Department of the Corporation Counsel.
The opinion put a halt to the proliferation of so-called 2-acre ``gentlemen estates'' and found that any land not zoned by ordinance is in the interim zone. Previously, land in the state agricultural or rural zones was treated as having state zoning, and people seeking to build in agricultural or rural areas needed only building permits. There was no county rezoning or review of wider planning issues by a planning commission or the council.
The ruling meant people with land not specifically zoned had a problem getting building permits. County laws require owners of interim land seeking permits to obtain appropriate zoning, and interim lands cannot be subdivided.
During Tuesday's meeting in the Department of Planning's conference room, maps of Edington's Aloali`i Subdivision showed it in an area already extensively carved up into 2-acre lots.
Department of Planning Director David Blane said you don't need to be a land use expert to look at a map of Edington's property and tell it's not in a farming community. ``It is a suburb,'' he said.
A Planning Department report says there are 204 lots in the area from Hana Highway to Five Corners. Of those, about seven lots could be subdivided further into another 64 lots, totaling 295 lots with access to Ulumalu Road.
In a presentation to Planning Commission members, Edington doubted whether some of the other lots would be subdivided and said he saw no impact from his project other than what's already going on in the area.
A number of Edington's Haiku neighbors raised concerns about drainage, traffic, parks, a lack of water availability in the area and about the location of a road on Edington's proposed subdivision.
Edington told commission members his project would improve the drainage situation for neighbors and said the area's infrastructure shortfalls could be overcome.
Blane said the county must address the infrastructure needs and the cumulative impact of subdivisions like Edington's.
In itself, a seven-lot subdivision doesn't have much of an impact, Blane said. But then there's another, and another, and another. Soon, such subdivisions could stretch as far as Keanae.
``I don't know. This is really, really tough,'' Blane said.
Commission member Barbara Long said public opposition to ``gentlemen estates'' is anti-elitist.
``I don't understand what is wrong with having 2-acre parcels or larger,'' she said.
Blane said there needs to be a public process for the county to analyze the need for infrastructure such as schools, roads and water.
Commission member Moana Andersen said the Edington application is a good opportunity for the Planning Commission to tell the council that direction is needed on zoning of agricultural lands, and ``we need it soon.''
``I can't stand to see Haiku and Olinda scattered with 2-acre lots,'' she said.
But Andersen said she supports Edington's project because it's not as dense as it could be and is ``definitely less dense than anything that's out there.''
Planning commissioners voted unanimously to recommend the council approve agricultural zoning for Edington's proposed seven-lot subdivision.
Under a draft agricultural zoning bill pending before the council, Edington's project would be limited to six lots, according to an analyst for the council's Land Use Committee.
The committee's next review of the ag bill will be 9 a.m. Nov. 4 in Council Chambers on the eighth floor of the Kalana O Maui building in Wailuku.
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Psy 412 Miami University. Last revised: . This document has been accessed times since July 15, 1997. Comments & Questions to R. Sherman .