WAILUKU — The Maui Planning Commission on Tuesday approved a special management area use permit for a gas station and an 800-square-foot convenience store on a corner of the Lahaina Cannery Mall property near the intersection of Honoapiilani Highway and Keawe Street.
After an initial vote by members came out to four in favor and two opposed, Chairman Lawrence Carnicelli cast a deciding vote in favor. The project is being proposed by mall owners Lahaina Cannery Retail Owner L.P., an affiliate of U.S. Realty Partners. Safeway anchors the mall.
The gas station would have eight fuel pumps, and plans also include cutting total parking stalls at the complex from 719 to 638, which is still above the 550 stalls required. The project would cost $950,000, according to county planning documents.
The commission deferred an initial decision on the permit at its meeting in April, as members wanted more information on the traffic impacts and the installation of the tanks for the gas station, which is in proximity to Kahoma Stream and the ocean. There was no quorum at the commission’s June meeting, so no action was taken until Tuesday.
Vice-Chairman Christian Tackett, who voted against the permit, said he felt the station was not in the right spot and was too close to the ocean.
He was also worried about the new station’s effect on other nearby mom-and-pop stations.
“There is a large amount of gas stations there already,” he said.
But Tackett commended owners and consultants, who pledged on Tuesday to establish electric vehicle charge stations at the mall as well as installing a photovoltaic system on the canopies of the station, even as consultants said it wouldn’t pencil out. Those two pledges are among five new conditions added to the permit.