Home-based businesses may be limited to 250 square feet if modifications to the current county ordinance are passed. The ordinance was up for public hearing last Wednesday alongside changes to the interim-zoning district. The current definition of interim zoning, which covers most of the island, would be repealed and replaced with a new chapter, 19.02A.

That chapter, in turn, would be subject to change by the pending comprehensive zoning map, and would force compliance for bed-and-breakfasts through chapter 19.64, which was reworked in the fall. Altogether, bed-and-breakfasts may eventually become a permitted use for Molokai’s interim-zoned land, which is the majority of the zoning on the island.

Also on the agenda was a special management area exemption for the Kaluakoi Villas. Residents there applied to MoPC for permission to reroof their existing buildings. The homeowners and renters will pay more than $890,000 for a custom MetroShake roof. The roof is nearly fireproof, but should last for 75 years. As the fire response time for Kaluakoi nears 45 minutes, residents hoped that the roof will help to protect their homes and investments on the West End.

Malama Pono addresses MoPC, asks for support

East End activist group Malama Pono O Ka ‘Aina appealed to the Molokai Planning Commission Wednesday to further their cause. The group would like MoPC to assist them in asking the Maui County Council, and the state, to request cooperation from the Army Corps of Engineers and the United States Geological Services in surveying Molokai’s East End. The group requested that the “wetlands of Mana’e be surveyed, studied, and determinations made” of the extent and variety of the ecosystem. Malama Pono has long been in negotiations with the Corps for such an inventory.

Corps representatives told Malama Pono, reads a letter submitted to MoPC, that they are willing to devote a portion, $100,000, of their budget to the project if Malama Pono can find matching funding and intergovernmental support. The project would cost a total of about $200,000 and could eventually lead to the creation of a computer map layer of Molokai’s wetlands.

Malama Pono first contacted the Corps about the project in 2005, however the project went nowhere.