ANTI-SUPERSTORE ORDINANCE KEPT ALIVE

I would like to thank the Planning Committee for deciding to continue the discussion of the effort to ban "Superstores" in Maui County.

At their final meeting, the Planning Committee decided to keep the issue of banning Superstores from our county alive by recommending that the new Planning Committee revisit the issue after the new council is sworn in.

The ordinance has been much discussed by residents and municipal officials alike, but feared dead until the PC's decision on Tuesday. The Maui Planning Commission has recommended that the ban's original language be simplified and based on a simple definition of 90,000 sq. ft. The Lanai and Molokai Planning Commissions, the Hana Advisory Committee, and the Cultural Resources Commission all recommended the approval of the ban based on the new changes. Hana and Lanai suggested that the "cap" be lowered to 75,000 sf. and 15,000 sf. respectively.

I applaud this measure to protect our local economy introduced by Riki Hokama, and hope that the new Planning Committee will move to make these changes and immediately put the new ordinance up for a vote as one of their first orders of business. It is clear that the community as a whole supports this type of ban, and it is needed to maintain our island culture, protect our local businesses in these tough economic times, and needs to happen before another big box store tries to move here.

Studies show that big box stores crush small businesses, increase congestion, create sprawl, and reduce net tax revenues by replacing good paying jobs with bad, and denying their employees medical insurance. In a time when we should be focusing on local and environmentally sustainable development solutions, big-box stores are the wrong way to go.

Again, thanks to the Planning Committee for their insight and forward thinking decision and we hope the new Council will follow suit and finish the job.