Sign the petition: https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/repeal-mauis-2015-upcountry
Please read the background section of this petition with over 300 signatures that Maui Causes is submitting today. It reflects on council minutes that clearly show that the intention of the 2015 upcountry water bill was always to benefit only families on the upcountry water meter wait list.
Instead, somehow, unbeknownst to apparently everybody, the language that got inserted into title 18’s existing roadway exemptions was the sentence fragment “2 lot subdivisions”, with no mention of “families on the upcountry water meter wait list”.
And so commercial developers, island wide, are receiving what are essentially “secret” roadway exemptions. A&B got one for 1200 acres south of Puunene and Dairy Road, Dozens more commercial exemptions have already been given with perhaps a hundred more in the subdivision pipeline.
Just like the 3 lot or less subdivision deferral agreements never collected on since 1974, Once again, hundreds of millions of dollars of developer’s obligations are being shifted onto the backs of Maui taxpayers.
Mr. Guzman is calling for the “secret” giveaway to be removed and Maui Causes agrees.
Gladys Basia said the purpose of the 2015 Bill was to streamline the issuing of water meters to premises that directly front the department’s existing water system, where it has been determined adequate.
Now I’ve been on the upcountry water meter wait list since 2001, number 68. But where I live on Piiholo Rd, we don’t have an adequate water supply. Just a 2 inch plastic pipe that runs above ground.
And yet because I’m a low number on the list, after waiting for 16 years I’ve been given just 30 days to pay thousands of dollars to purchase my meter or I forever lose my chance to subdivide my 5 acres into two lots.
The problem is, before I can install that meter I’m being told that I, exclusively me, must upgrade the water main that runs in front of 18 other properties on my street at a cost to me of over 1.5 million dollars.
From what I can see they actually shouldn’t be offering me a meter at this time because there’s not adequate source at my curb.
Now the way modern municipalities handle this kind of community water main upgrade is through an Assessment District. Our Hui Road problems could be solved using Assessment Districts too.
Shouldn’t this council move into the modern world and start creating assessment districts to address our citizen’s needs, instead of manufacturing secret giveaways to commercial developers?