Can Ulua Beach Park area be restored?

UPDATE: Unfortunately it now appears the county administration will not accept an offer from this coalition to purchase and relocate several large monkey pod trees at no county expense. The group has offered to replace some of the small trees just planted after removal of numerous healthy mature shade trees in the County parking lot.

In a very positive environment this morning (5/4/12,) representatives for Maui Outdoor Circle (MOC), Wailea Elua Condo and KCA met with County Planning Director Will Spence and Executive Assistant to the Mayor, John Buck at the director’s office to discuss the complete removal of all trees at Maui County’s Ulua Beach Park lot, and how best to mitigate and prevent recurrence at other Maui locations in the future. MOC President Elaine Malina arranged the meeting and offered a well organized presentation to the county officials to examine what went wrong with this County approved action, and what could be done to restore the area to some semblance of it’s past condition.

Pete Kirkman explained how his facility was devastated by the complete removal of all the large shade trees which had separated the condos from the Maui County parking lot, and while the developer had advised they were refurbishing the resort of the North side of the lot, the was no mention that all the tress would be removed from the County lot in the process.

KCA VP Mike Moran advised how the association was deluged with complaints in the days following the arbor clear out at the County facility, with strong inquiries why KCA had not advise members what was happening, and taken action to prevent it.

Both County officials were most helpful in attempting to explain the how and why, and advised strong willingness to work with the community to rectify and prevent recurrence.