Paul Cheng, a Texas developer with a criminal past, says he’ll use the money to construct phase one of Pulelehua, the island’s largest affordable housing project in decades. The Maui County Council is moving ahead with plans to help Texas real estate developer Paul Cheng build a sorely needed affordable housing project north of Lahaina, the biggest on Maui in decades. But its recent vote to give him millions of dollars to cover some of the costs comes despite major questions about the project’s access to water and significant state and county regulatory hurdles.
County Department of Water Supply Director John Stufflebean said in an interview this week that there simply is not enough water available in West Maui to give the potentially 1,000-unit project a green light. “We do not have sufficient source,” he said. Council member Tamara Paltin, who represents thousands of residents displaced by the Aug.
8 fire in Lahaina, introduced the budget amendment to help fund the project. The measure, which the council passed 6-3 on first reading last week, rescinds $18 million the council had awarded Cheng in 2022 for his Pulelehua project and reallocates it along with $15 million more for a total grant of $33 million next fiscal year, which starts July 1. The additional funding for Pulelehua would come out of the county’s Affordable Housing Fund, according to Council Chair Alice Lee.
The council will take it up Wednesday for final reading as part of the overall $1.7 billion .
