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An animated group of South Maui residents heard DPW Director David Goode tell the KCA  the answers to a lot of questions on flooding & transportation by foot, bicycle & motor vehicle across and around Kihei, at the first meeting for 2012, on Jan 17.       Beginning his second year in his office in this vital position, he offered a lot of information, including,  there is a Kihei drainage master plan under development, which will address flooding and more, but needs 2 years or more to complete. His department plans to upgrade the culverts at S. Kihei Rd by Kulanihakoi in 2 years. They plan to upgrade the culverts byUwapo (Old Suda’s store) sooner, and they’re now fixing headwalls and cleaning gulches in Maui Meadows. They’ll fix the bad drain by Kalama Park “very soon,” and will remove what he called “sand plugs” (sand dunes?) that stop water from getting into the ocean, when a storm is approaching.

The department is evaluating  extending the Collector Rd North from Waipuilani and South from Lipoa, but it’s very expensive to cross  the gulches. He stated they expect to resurface S. Kihei Rd from Auhana to Walaka this Spring.

On flood mitigation, Director Goode explained the heavy equipment work in the Waipuilani gulch was an attempt to match the 1989 gulches when constructed, including removing berms that were misdirecting the flow. When asked about how upcountry problems are literally dumped on shoreline area, he mentioned the Poli Poli forest fire, indicating this as a contributing factor.

On road construction, he estimated  that rebuilding (with sewers, etc) could cost 5-10 million per mile. Resurfacing was much less. The county’s budget means that ON AVERAGE a given mile of Maui road gets resurfaced every ~30 years. Of course, some roads get it more often and some less.

The meeting opened with announcements from the Kihei Charter School’s Stuart Karlan, Community police officer Brad Hickle, Councilmember Don Couch, and a brief presentation by Ron Agor on Kihei Wellness Center.

 A detailed report on this meeting will be available in next week’s edition of the Maui Weekly.

The February 21 meeting will focus on NPAC, Nutritional and Physical Fitness Coalition and the YMCA’s Pioneering Healthy Communities (PHC,) from Mike Morris