WAILUKU, MAUI, Kānaka Maoli groups Mālama Kakanilua, Ho‘oponopono o Mākena, and Pele Defense Fund (Intervenors) appealed the Maui Planning Director's exemption for the Grand Wailea Resort's waterline improvements. These improvements are needed for the resort to increase water use and to obtain County Department of Water Supply (DWS) approvals for further building permits.

Since 2018, the resort has sought approximately sixteen exemptions for construction. The Planning Director's exemptions are separate and additional to her recommendations to approve the larger resort expansion, a decision that remains in contested case proceedings before the Planning Commission.

Intervenors, who are parties to those proceedings, expressed concern that the Planning Director's successive exemptions eviscerate procedures for reviewing resort construction impacts, including increased use of water. They filed a motion to incorporate the new water exemption proceedings on the larger resort expansion project.

Palikapu Dedman, president of Pele Defense Fund commented, "[Maui] Mayor Bissen recently said he wants to gain the trust of the people. Let's see if he will start by cleaning up after his Planning Director."

In 2020, the resort used approximately 800,000 gallons per day (gpd) and proposed additional pools and hotel units, which would use another 80,000 gpd. The resort stated nearly 130,000 gpd is due to underground leaks. DWS records show the resort has been the largest private water user on Maui for nearly a decade. Ho‘oponopono o Mākena's officer, Carol Kamekona stated: "Grand Wailea does not deserve more of our water."

The resort, and nearly all development in South Maui, obtains its water through a DWS transmission line that draws from aquifers and streams in Wailuku, including the the historic Nā Wai ‘Ehā streams used by Kānaka Maoli kuleana farmers. V. Kalae King-Alconcel, a Mālama Kakanilua member asked, "Where will the resort be getting water from that won't affect our local farms and the increase of water restrictions on the residents of Maui that has been occurring over many years? Solve these issues first. Do not approve the resort's exemption."

Intervenors' actions also stem from efforts to protect iwi kūpuna (Hawaiian burials), hundreds of which have been displaced since the resort's construction in 1991. "The new buildings, pools, and these water improvements propose extensive digging in a burial ground of our ancestral iwi. The resort's archaeological plans won't protect them. This is why we need to intervene," said Mālama Kakanilua officer U‘i Hotta.

The Planning Commission received Intervenors' appeal at its September 12, 2023 meeting in Wailuku, Maui.