WAILUKU - A controversial Spreckelsville campground intended primarily to serve the homeless is likely "dead on arrival" as one Maui Planning Commission member put it after neighbors on Tuesday successfully threatened to tie up the project in litigation, The Maui News reported today,

The Maui Planning Commission voted 8-1 to allow a group of 77 Spreckelsville residents, represented by Wailuku attorney Isaac Hall, to intervene on the application from landowner Peter Martin to build the Hoomoana Campground on 5 acres mauka of his Stable Road home and next to the Kahului Airport.

After the vote, Martin formally withdrew his application for a state Land Use Commission special use permit to operate the campground for one year in an agricultural district.

"I'm not ready to say I'll never reapply, but I've been through one of these (intervention cases) before and it has taken years and lots of money in lawyers' fees," Martin said.

Although the commission was voting on the intervention process, which allows the neighbors to take their complaints about the 30-site campground before an independent hearings officer in a contested case, the members knew they were likely deciding the fate of the project.

Prior to the meeting, Martin passed out a letter to the commissioners telling them he would not risk a protracted legal fight with his friends and neighbors.

Several Spreckelsville neighbors spoke out against Martin's plan Tuesday, charging that it would attract burglars, sex offenders, trespassers and trash, and diminish property values. And yet some of the same folks also lauded the importance and worthiness of helping the homeless.

Martin said he was shocked not to find broad support for the idea.

The residents, however, reiterated that they felt blind-sided by Martin's plan since many had not heard about the campground, 11 months in planning, until only a few days before it went before the commission two weeks ago.

"I don't think this should be a hardship on the community, even if it is a good work," said Spreckelsville resident Barbara Woods.

Martin's attorney - and Spreckelsville neighbor - Tom Welch argued that there is no proof that this project will lessen home values or damage the fabric of the community whatsoever.

But Martin had rankled his neighbors from the start by not disclosing much information about his plans. He promised it was only an oversight on his part. And a week ago, Martin met with neighbors at the Kaunoa Senior Center to tell them about his hopes to assist nonviolent and mentally ill homeless people find permanent homes.

A few residents said that after Martin gave his presentation, he asked the group of about 50 people how many would support his endeavor. Two raised their hands.

When Planning Director Jeff Hunt suggested on Tuesday that the sides engage in county-sponsored mediation so the project won't die, public discussion between Martin and his neighbors followed.

Martin is part owner of the former Camp Pecusa in Olowalu, which is providing low-rent housing for the homeless, and his supporters lauded him for trying to fill gaps that the state and nonprofits can't.

Martin had hoped to set up a foundation with an undisclosed amount of his own money to construct a landscaped tent campground in what is now fallow sugar cane fields. The foundation funds would also subsidize operations, but Martin said he wants it to be a mix of two-thirds homeless people in transition along with one-third commercial campers.

The plans, presented by planning consultants Munekiyo & Hiraga Inc., included revitalized agricultural fields, a farmhouse, manager's cottage, parking lot, showers and restrooms on the site makai of Paia Spur Road and mauka of Stable Road, where Martin lives.

Much of the Maui Planning Commission's morning session was devoted to procedural wrangling as commissioners tried to decide whether the neighbors had a right to intervene since they'd missed the deadline by 10 days.

Commission Chairman Jonathan Starr struggled to limit his colleagues' discussion to the motion for intervention rather than the merits of the overall project.

A few other commissioners repeatedly expressed concerns that Martin's plan was incomplete or flawed.

Martin tried a final compromise, to no avail. He said he'd shrink the campground down to six sites just to give it a trial run for the first year. Then, he'd come back to the commission and they can decide how he did.

"I'd go down to one site," Martin said. "Let's do something proactive and good."

The neighbors, many of whom live in a newly developed rural-lot subdivision developed by Henry Spencer, live within a half mile of the proposed campground, Hall said.

The commission members agreed that the neighbors could intervene past the deadline under the County Code's "for good cause" clause, considering all the circumstances. Hunt noted that description given to neighbors was for only a commercial campground.

Hall also appeared to successfully argue that the parcel in question is actually 27 acres, which would require the hearing on the application be held by the state Land Use Commission instead of a county planning commission.

He said that the Federal Aviation Administration objected to building a campground or structures 500 feet from a noisy runway.

Commissioner Joan Pawsat was the lone "no" vote, saying she was disgusted by what she saw as community outrage based on people's prejudices.

Commissioner Wayne Hedani said that even if the commission voted to deny intervention, the residents had the right to appeal to 2nd Circuit Court, which would likely cause Martin to abandon the project anyway.

"This is a very worthy cause," Hedani said. "But a lot of people with a lot of money are against this, making it very difficult to proceed."

* Chris Hamilton can be reached at chamilton@mauinews.com.