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The Demise of Makena, Maui | Over Development around Big Beach
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by jennyP123 | April 28, 2009 at 01:41 am
1308 views | 13 Recommendations | 5 comments
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Makena State Park in South Maui has always attracted controversy with its perfect beaches, ancestral lands, and lustful developers. Dowling Company has some seriously intense development plans drawn up for the Wailea and Makena area. Much of this development is on or around Pu'u Olai land, of which is rich in Hawaiian cultural sites.
In the following article, I'll quickly spell out some of the disastrous consequences of these major Maui developments.
- Economic thinning - I call it this, because one of the only positives to the projects are for economic growth. This is a bit shortsighted though. The economy will see some growth in the construction industry. But once built, that won't last. They also propose that the new developments will offer employment to many Maui locals via service industry. In an already crumbling island economy with huge lay-offs and historically low resort capacity, this is also not entirely true. Adding more housing and resorts only hurts the existing ones.
- Affordable Housing Shortage - Often an issue in Hawaii, we are very short on affordable housing. This is not so much a problem in other states, where the poor can move to poorer areas. All of Maui is expensive as can be due to its proximity in the world. If your area isn't on the beach, then it's probably got an ocean view. This makes Maui a haven for the rich to have second homes, contributing little to our economy (other than driving up housing costs.) Makena Resort is trying to set a new standard low in Affordable Housing. They want it down to 33% from 50%. I wonder if they ever think about where their servants will manage to live?
- Destruction of Natural lands - Not only will some of the most beautiful areas of Hawaii be bulldozed, but the indigenous life will be destroyed. This area of South Maui is one of the only parts of the island that is untouched by development.
- Deterioration of Ancient Hawaiian Historical Sites - There are very few historical sites left on Maui. Makena area is rich with these sites due to its location. Back in the day, the Ancient Hawaiians would live down in Makena during the cooler months, then make the journey up to cooler altitudes in Kula (just above South Maui coast in the Upcountry.) Today, you can see ruins of their homes in the rock around the beaches and up in the proposed development areas.
- Strained Water Resources - Maui is already in BIG TROUBLE when it comes to our water sources. With each large development, water is not considered in the way it should be. Redirecting water supplies to the South Side of Maui is dangerous for the island. The simple truth: There just isn't enough water for more development!
- Strained Power Resources - Maui is working hard towards a sustainable future. Building huge developments that need more juice is not helping our problem. Right now, power goes to the powerful. An obvious example of this is when we have a blackout on the South Side. Wailea and Makena Resort areas ALWAYS get their electricity back before the Kihei area. It's funny that this would happen when our supply of power is closer to Kihei than Wailea. hmmmm.
- Overcrowding - Makena beach (Big Beach) is a wonderful place even when it sees today's crowds. It's a huge beach that affords each visitor a chance at their own spot of sand. In summer, Makena Beach hits its peak. It's tough to find your own plot, though still manageable. With the additional developments, it will be completely overcrowded. Having Big Beach so far away from resorts makes it less crowded. With crowds come pollution, and danger from more people in the water. Despite the new Big Beach lifeguards, there will be more injuries and deaths within the strong shore break at this deceptively calm beach.
It's obvious that the new developments already in progress in Wailea and impending in Makena are bad ideas. Dowling Company is in it for the money. And with Big Money comes change, whether it's warranted or not. Maui is very different from the sprawling city of Oahu but not for long. Follow the sites below to watch what happens.
You can find more information at SaveMakena.org.
Also, we should see information about the future developments in Makena at MauiRealEstateAndDevelopment.com
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jennyP123
Kihei, Hawaii, United States
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (5)
at 04:30 on April 28th, 2009
Some of these issues would be similar here in Tokyo. What is being done to counter those problems and bad decisions?
at 13:05 on April 30th, 2009
I was in Tokyo for the first time a little less than a month ago. I was surprised at how much open land was near the airport. It makes sense that you'd be facing the same issues with such a powerful, sprawling city as Tokyo. The one thing that we've got going for us is that "Maui Time" is on our side. It takes everyone on the island 5 times as long to do ANYTHING. With an efficient Japanese culture, you have to work 5 times as fast to keep development from swallowing up nature.
Check out SaveMakena.org to find out what's being done. It's really all about community gathering and testifying, protesting, and getting involved with government. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
at 09:13 on April 28th, 2009
They pave paradise and put up a parking lot.
The real issue they should be concerned with is that noone will be buying these, so eventually it may fix itself, no jobs, no travel industry, no need for new development. There are plenty of new places to buy, no need for more until at least we gte anothr housing bubble.
They just need to wake up and smell the coffee. They will loose big on this one.
at 18:53 on May 5th, 2009
everybody is always crying about overcrowding everyone needs to be somewhere and you aer a part of teh overcrowding problem somewhere and overcrowding is a relative term go to a place like mexico city or tokyo then you will understand overcrowding. an island with population of 150 thousand is not overcrowded but then again that is just a matter of perspective please stop crying though i am tired of the environmental freaks crying about every sign of change
at 01:52 on May 19th, 2009
To put it bluntly, dkking1, you're mentality is the reason our world is moving in the poor direction that it is. You come and visit our island from San Diego, and don't care at all whether our Hawaiian historical sites are destroyed. When it comes to overcrowding, there are plenty of beaches that are already overcrowded. It's nice to have Big Beach area less crowded. I'm sure you enjoyed it when you visited. And there's probably a reason why you came to Maui on this last trip versus Oahu.
You need to take some ownership of the world, Brandon. Do you want your children to be embarrassed about their father for more than just his poor grammar and spelling? You don't want ignorant comments like this coming back to your family, but I guess it's too late for that.