ONELOA COALTION MONTHLY MEETING REPORT

3/15/9 #kihei

Last evening at the usual Pacific Whale Foundation (PWF) classroom at Maalaea Harbor location, the Oneloa Coalition (OC) commenced their umpteenth meeting on matters of Makena (Oneloa) State Park at 6:30 PM.

Coalition representatives included Maui Tomorrow President Albert Perez, who is also the OC Chair; State Parks, Makena Homeowners Association, Makena Resort;  Maui Cultural Lands, the Kihei Community Association, and environmental scientist Robin Knox of Kihei. Other representatives included are ccommunity activist Kai Nishiki;  Kula Makai Moku representative Cody “Koko Roots” Tuiviti; and Peter , retired from Haleakala National Park. The event was hosted by Kristie Wrigglesworth, Acting Executive Director, and  Deb Merrill  from the Pacific Whale Foundation.

The long-running conversation on wastewater options for the Oneloa restroom facilities received a variety of new input from Kihei’s Peter, based on his decades of experience at Haleakala. This input led to Sam Garcia’s latest and fifth revision of the action plan from that committee. Garcia is the Chair of the subcommittee on Objectives and Action Plan of the Oneloa Coalition. Garcia asked all members to read the action plan and to offer suggested mitigations or move the plan for approval at the next meeting.

The carrying capacity for the park was once again mentioned. While we believe it should NOT be determined by parking places or the number of vehicles arriving at the park, the capacity is often based on either of those two items. There is a clear problem with creating more parking. This will naturally create more attendance. The increase in attendance will likely lead to a call for more parking. The increases in parking will lead to further erosion and damage to this sensitive area. There are decisions that need to be made on how to regulate traffic flow and parking at Oneloa, but those decisions are not quite outlined as of yet.

Virtually every car going to Oneloa park goes through Kihei. There is a strong need in south Maui to reduce the number of cars as regional development continues and as infrastructure lags. 

Martha Yent from the State Parks Interpretive Program offered some sample signage to potentially address safety concerns at the park, as the meeting concluded at 8:00 PM

Next meeting is set for April 30, 2019