August 29, 2024
“Maui County has a unique chance to acquire these old systems, fix the leaks and manage the watersheds properly.”
Editor’s note: For Hawaii’s Nov. 5 General Election, Civil Beat asked candidates to answer some questions about where they stand on various issues and what their priorities will be if elected.
The following came from Shane Sinenci, candidate for Maui County Council East Maui District. He is unopposed.
Go to Civil Beat’s Election Guide for general information, and check out other candidates on the General Election Ballot.
1. Clearly, Maui County faces big issues related to the fires. What’s the primary thing Maui needs to do now to recover from the fires?
Housing continues to be the greatest priority. The fires left over 12,000 people without homes, and while FEMA is helping to house those victims in hotels and condos, unfortunately that help will end sooner than we can build more housing. And although the state is funding its temporary housing projects for residents who do not qualify for FEMA aid, the county is left to its own endeavors to produce housing.
In this budget, I supported the funding of the Kaiaulu ‘O Kupuohi and Pulelehua housing projects, from the Affordable Housing fund, of which both projects are in West Maui.
2. What should Maui do to encourage people to stay? What can the county do to ensure that families aren’t priced out?
The fires revealed a brutal reality for many families who quickly realized that their homes weren’t insured to their capacity, and that they didn’t have enough to rebuild their homes.
Enter the Lahaina Community Land Trust, a nonprofit of community leaders and residents who want to keep Lahaina lands from being gobbled up by out of state investors. The trust seeks to raise funding to purchase those properties that land owners simply cannot afford to rebuild. The trust intends to find local buyers and sell them at affordable rates, and keep these properties in a trust for perpetuity so that families are able to rebuild. In this year’s budget, I supported efforts to direct funding to the Lahaina Community Land Trust.
In another historical move, we have seen the state substantially fund the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands housing projects, which was a condition of statehood. Finally, after three generations, Native Hawaiian families are able to build equity and generational wealth through home-ownership.
As a council member, I supported efforts to designate general excise tax revenues toward building important infrastructure for these building projects.
3. Do you support the new state law that allows counties to regulate and even shut down short-term rentals? Why or why not?
First of all, I do believe that counties should have the authority to regulate their own zoning laws. These are unprecedented times, and I can understand the mayor’s intentions to quickly find a housing source for his people.
That said, I look forward to hearing from our residents, and I will request that the bill be referred to the South Maui and Hana advisory committees so we can receive maximum community input on the bill. I supported the council’s request to fund a study of the ramifications of the bill, including the benefits and the economic impacts that are generated by the bill.
4. What’s your vision for Lahaina? How should it be rebuilt and who should decide?
As a Lahainaluna graduate, I still cannot stomach seeing the devastation in social media posts. I have been in contact with some of my classmates but cannot fathom the personal loss that they have experienced. That said, I believe that the residents who have lost the most should have the greatest say.
Of course, there are other factors that will help to rebuild Lahaina, such as safety. We have received requests from residents to bury power lines but not without coming at an incredible cost. Also, improved evacuation routes and larger roads for emergency vehicular access will likely redesign transportation routes and may involve eminent domain requests.
Other factors include SMA requirements when rebuilding within the tidal and SLR-XA zones, and sewering Wahikuli will be a monumental task. Lahaina also has designated Historic Designation zones to protect cultural resources. All of these factors will have to come into play.
5. What should elected officials do to restore trust in county government?
As a current council member, I am happy that our council meetings are governed by Chapter 92 of the Hawaii Revised statutes, also known as the Sunshine Law. This law seeks to promote transparency in all government business and makes sure that the public is not only accessible to these records, but participatory.
Our meetings are agendized six days prior and are open for public testimony. Our annual budget was highly influenced by public testimony. Residents turned out in strong support of their community non-profits, programs and community agencies.
Unfortunately not all government agencies adhere to this law, namely the state Legislature. The results are decisions oftentimes made behind closed doors and not for public review, and meetings not called up if they don’t have the votes.
6. Do you think Maui County should do more to manage water resources? Why or why not?
In Hawaii, water is held in a public trust doctrine which means that water used for domestic purposes and for native practices supersedes all other uses. In the past, the state has prioritized large plantation owners by affording them long-term leases to important watersheds. However, those plantation owners have since ceased their operations but continue to apply for these leases to boost land deals to foreign buyers. The result has been old dilapidated water systems that waste water and leak out of unlined reservoirs.
Maui County has a unique chance to acquire these old systems, fix the leaks and manage the watersheds properly. In 2022, 64% of Maui County residents voted to form the East Maui Water Authority board and pursue the acquisition of four watershed leases from the state and move away from foreign control of our water resources.
7. What is the first thing Maui County should do to get in front of climate change rather than just reacting to it?
The fires were a huge wake up call for our island community. Warmer temperatures, less rain and frequent storms have put our natural environments at risk of devastation. The lack of water resources in drier parts of the island often leave open spaces dry and potential fuel sources for wildfires.
Large landowners don’t always rid their properties of abandoned vehicles and trash dumped by irresponsible residents, including county-owned properties. Each year we provide funding to remove abandoned vehicles, but holding private landowners to mitigate large acres of dry brush can be difficult, but efforts are currently being made to hold them accountable.
The County Open Space fund helps to acquire large tracts of land to place in conservation but oftentimes we do not fund the non-profits who manage them the funding to clean and mitigate these open space properties. I will work to change this policy.
8. Homelessness is becoming more of an issue on Maui. What do you think needs to be changed to help people get into housing, and stay housed?
Currently, there is not enough bed space for the unhoused at our local shelters. And although the state has provided an emergency campsite at Puuhonua ‘O Nene, a shortage of certified staff and resources to service the mentally-impaired remains to be immediate challenges. Gov. Green recognizes that in his Kauhale Project initiatives, primary health care needs to be included in efforts to house the homeless community.
At the local level, we see the humanitarian efforts of local non-profits like Holomua Outreach that help to provide life-giving water and food to homeless camps and who also manage cleanups to rid encampments of garbage and thereby reducing fire dangers.
In this year’s budget, I increased the Homeless Program fund to support these nonprofits who provide critical aid to a vulnerable community. In the interim, we can do more by providing safe parking areas for the houseless at night, so they may continue to work during the day.
9. Traffic is getting worse on Maui, and different regions face different challenges. What would be your approach to improve Maui’s transportation problems?
Expanding our roads and highways will certainly alleviate our traffic woes. Some notable roads are the Northern Terminus of the Lahaina Bypass road, which would increase important evacuation routes.
The North-South Collector road in Kihei will begin to move traffic away from the shoreline and impending sea-level rise, including addressing flood mitigation and wetland restoration.
A possible extension of Lono Avenue in Kahului onto Kuihelani Highway could also alleviate afternoon traffic on Puunene Avenue, and using the old Sunnyside Plantation Road around Paia town will greatly address traffic going to Haiku, Huelo and Hana.
I understand that these projects come with huge costs, so applying for federal funding through the Infrastructure Bill will be paramount. The Maui Metropolitan Planning Organization Board consists of county and state representatives and department directors. The MPO prioritizes the projects that utilize federal funding and is a great place to start advocating for these projects.