A long-awaited high school in Kihei will open its doors to students for the 2023-2024 school year, Maui County officials announced Thursday.
The $245 million Kūlanihākoʻi High School is the first public school built in south Maui, but a decade of missteps between state and county agencies had delayed opening the state-of-the-art campus.
The state Land Use Commission placed a condition in 2013 for the Department of Education to build a grade-separated crosswalk — an underpass or overpass — for students to get across the busy Pi‘ilani Highway, which is half a mile from the school.
Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said the county granted a temporary certificate of occupancy that deemed the campus buildings safe to use.
“As we work together to resold long-standing issues, the safety of our students remains our top priority,” Bissen said. “Students will be arriving by vehicle only and not have to face the street crossing that the South Maui community rightfully raised concerns about.”
He said the roundabout on the highway was nixed for pedestrians to cross.
More than a dozen people attended Thursday’s news conference, including Superintendent Keith Hayashi and Department of Transportation Director Ed Sniffen.
Hayashi said the department is working with the state transportation department and architecture company G70 to design and build the crosswalk, although it’s unclear when that will be.
This past legislative session, lawmakers rejected funding for building an overpass from the budget.
Sniffen said the department plans to request funding from the Legislature next year, adding that the department is committed to meeting the State Land Use Commission’s condition.
“Funding is a big piece of it, so it’s very difficult to say how quickly to meet it (conditions) without it,” Sniffen said.
The DOE had spent $16 million on a roundabout to slow down traffic, but community members raised concerns that it’s still unsafe for students to cross and goes against the State Land Use Commission’s condition.
The school opened to 9th graders last year at a temporary site, but the newly opened campus will welcome its sophomores on Aug. 7. The campus is designed for a capacity of 1,600 students, according to the DOE.
