5/9/19 #kihei #southmaui

On May 8th, the County Parks Department offered their  “final” plan for the next phase of the South Maui Community Park at a 4:30 pm meeting.

While the plan’s current phase features opening the long-awaited gymnasium, that gymnasium is not yet complete. There is a grand opening for this phase of the South Maui Community Park planned toward the end of this summer. The Department states that the rest of the land, extending south to Welakahao, will be developed in large segments and the finer details will be decided along the way.

We can see the proposed development areas, which include a regulation-size NCAA baseball field, a “multiuse” field, outdoor courts, parking lots, picnic areas, etc.,  but a definitive completion date remains vague.

It is our understanding that there is no construction money allocated.  There have been indications that there is some aspiration for a possible completion date by 2022.

In conjunction with this expansion is one of the many missing segments of the North-South Collector Road (NSCR).

The NSCR forms the makai border. It is certainly questionable how the park expansion could practically proceed without this road, which has current projections for completion with a target date near or by 2025.

So it is good to see a plan, but like so many countless plans which we have seen from Maui County, there is little meaning for South Maui citizens if the plans do not have funding.