Sean O'Keefe worked for Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar and then spent 31 years with Alexander & Baldwin. In 2000 he was on the crew that partially demolished the Pāʻia Mill. He told the Maui Planning Commission in January that "it was a very emotional time for all of us." He also noted that the plantation kept running for another 16 years after the mill came down. He testified for himself, not for A&B, and he testified in strong support of the plan now moving through the county for the site at 300 Baldwin Avenue.
That plan would rezone the old mill for light industrial use. Every condition the county has attached so far points the same way. The mill is being set up as a place where things get built, processed and stored. Restaurants and shops are allowed only as supporting uses, and the county has written in limits to keep it from becoming an extension of Lower Pāʻia.
What the owners asked for
Dan Ellis told the commission he is a Pāʻia resident and one of the mill's owners. He laid out the site's history: heavy industry from 1870 until the mill shut down in 2000, then distilling that went on until 2020. That's 150 years of industrial use in his telling. He said the restoration project started in 2018. The land-owning company is Pāʻia Village Company. Its goal, as Maui Now reported in October, is an "advanced manufacturing village that facilitates and fosters local manufacturing, diversified agriculture, skilled jobs, and local businesses."
The request has two parts. Bill 109 would change the Pāʻia-Haʻikū Community Plan designation for one 2.5-acre parcel from Heavy Industrial to Light Industrial. Bill 115 would rezone the land to M-1 Light Industrial. At a Council committee meeting in September, the owners said their current zoning keeps them from building a food processing center and cold storage. A council member added that farmers find refrigeration hard to come by, and that the shortage limits what they can do. The site also still carries some infrastructure from its industrial past. O'Keefe said Mahi Pono still runs an irrigation well on the property, and the old sugar bins that once loaded trucks bound for the harbor now hold cell phone antennas.
The Planning Commission drew the first line around restaurants and retail
At the January 27, 2026 hearing, Commissioner Kealoha named the tension directly. Warehouse manufacturing and food distribution for small farmers, she said, were "all great." Then she added: "It's where I start to get a little bit nervous is when I start to see commercial and eateries because that seems to fit well with lower Pāʻia." In the same remarks she raised the Pāʻia bypass, which she said had been under discussion for 20 years.
The commission's answer was a condition that ties the project to what the owners presented that day:
"the project shall be limited to the uses represented to the Maui Planning Commission at its January 27, 2026, meeting specifically those listed in the Staff Report on page 2. Business centers, including eateries and retail spaces that support the primary uses of the property, as well as other similar supporting uses as determined by the Director"
That amendment passed 5 to 1 with one commissioner excused. The phrase that matters is "support the primary uses." Under it, a café can exist at the mill because people work there. A restaurant that draws its own crowd is a different matter.
Two more votes followed, also 5 to 1. The first required that "to maintain the small-town character of Pāʻia a minimum of 20% of the property shall remain in open space in perpetuity." The second sent a comment to the Council asking it to pass a resolution urging the state Department of Transportation to advance the Pāʻia bypass, "to alleviate traffic on Baldwin Ave. and enable future development to occur without aggravating the traffic." The main motion then passed 6 to 0 as a recommendation to the County Council. The commission doesn't make the final decision.
The Council committee tightened it in September
On September 2, 2026, the Council's Housing and Land Use Committee took up both bills. Members voted to recommend passing them on first reading and added conditions along the way. You can watch the committee meeting recording yourself. Here is how the commission's January framework and the committee's additions fit together:
| Topic | Planning Commission, Jan. 27 | Council committee, Sept. 2 |
|---|---|---|
| What can operate there | Uses presented to the commission; eateries and retail only if they support the primary uses | Bed-and-breakfasts, animal kennels and car lots removed from allowed uses |
| Chain stores | Not addressed as a separate condition | Condition on chain, or "formula," businesses |
| Open space | 20% minimum, in perpetuity | 20% kept; the evacuation route counts toward it, on a 6 to 1 vote |
| Water | Not a separate condition | Water-saving practices, enforced by the Department of Water Supply |
| Traffic and access | Comment urging the state to advance the Pāʻia bypass | Condition on an emergency evacuation route |
| Housing | Not addressed | Homes must be in the same building as a business or other non-home use |
The chain-business condition keeps out the national tenants that could turn the site into a stop on the visitor route. Dropping B&Bs takes overnight stays off the table. Under the housing condition, any homes would sit above or beside working businesses, so the site can't be split off into a residential subdivision. The chair also noted during the meeting that M-1 zoning allows cold storage and agricultural processing. Those are the two facilities the owners said they can't build today.
The owners argued against at least one condition. They told the committee that 20% open space, which they put at about four acres, is a big burden. The committee then counted the evacuation route toward that total, which gives the owners partial relief while the 20% figure stays in place. At the January hearing, Ellis had described the emergency route as part of the old Cane Haul Road corridor, which was once discussed as a possible bypass. County staff said the final wording of the new conditions would be ready when the bills return for first reading.
The work has already started inside
The manufacturing plans aren't just on paper. Voltage Vessels, a maritime startup run by founder and CEO Sam Young, is developing advanced maritime systems at the mill. According to Maui Now, the company is expanding into large-format additive manufacturing, which means 3D printing at boat-part scale. The Voltage Vessels site lists basalt-reinforced printing materials, sold as filament and pellets, along with custom printed parts.
The same Maui Now story describes an internship program run with the Maui Economic Development Board and the Maui Advanced Manufacturing Alliance, known as MAMA Corp. Its first group of 20 Maui students worked on site, and photos show interns with an Eclipse X9 Marine prototype and a six-meter rigid inflatable boat. After the internship ended, Pāʻia Sugar Mill announced its first scholarship fund to keep the program going. Ellis told Maui Now that "we want to build a future where advanced manufacturing, innovation, education, and Hawaiian culture can come together in a meaningful way," and that this "requires partnerships — with students, educators, industry, cultural practitioners, and the broader Maui community."
So the conditions describe something already underway. People are already building boats and training students inside the mill, and the rules would keep any future eateries and retail working around them.
Where things stand this November
The process so far, in order:
- 2018: The owners begin restoring the mill, according to Ellis's testimony.
- January 27, 2026: The Maui Planning Commission recommends approval to the Council with conditions on uses, open space and the bypass.
- September 2, 2026: The Housing and Land Use Committee recommends Bills 109 and 115 for first reading, adds conditions on chain businesses, water, evacuation access and excluded uses, and asks staff to finalize the wording.
- Next: The bills return to the full County Council for first reading, with the conditions in their final wording.
Separately, the State Historic Preservation Division's review and compliance register lists an entry titled "Resolution 25-195 Pāʻia Sugar Mill Redevelopment Project."
If you'd like to see the mill from the inside, the mill's own site says it holds monthly Talk Story sessions and on-site tours. Right now, though, the events page lists the on-site tour as "Postponed" and "Coming Soon," with no new date. Until the bills reach the full Council, the best way to follow along is the Council's agendas, along with that events page for a tour date.
When the bills come back for first reading, the final wording of these conditions will settle how much of the site stays open space, which businesses can lease space and how much traffic Baldwin Avenue will carry. Wendy and Kate follow land-use questions like this on the North Shore because they shape what a place becomes long before anything is built. If you'd like to talk through what the mill's future could mean for your part of Pāʻia or Haʻikū, reach out to Kate and Wendy Peterson anytime.
