Data centers are allowed only as part of the defined “knowledge industry” use and are expressly listed as information-technology data centers; that use is permitted in the employment, campus, and mixed-use districts, but not listed as a permitted use in the residential, civic, or open-space/park districts. “Information technology data center” is included in the knowledge-industry definition.

Construction, alteration, expansion, or site improvements require review by the MRTP Design Review Board before applications for building, plumbing, electrical, or other permits may be filed. Applications must follow Design Review Board review.

Building and site-improvement applications are subject to coordinated review by the planning coordinator, a technical review committee, and the public works director, with review steps of up to 7 calendar days for completeness and referral, 20 calendar days for committee review and referral, and 15 calendar days for the public works decision. The review timetable creates additional permitting requirements.

Permit applications may require a final subdivision plat, detailed development plans, drainage and grading reports, landscape and signage plans, building specifications, waste-disposal plans, parking and circulation plans, and permit fees. The required application materials add documentation and potential costs.

All construction, alterations, and site improvements must comply with MRTP design guidelines approved by the property owners’ association and are subject to Design Review Board approval. The design-review requirement can limit building and expansion designs.

Data-center operations may not create specified nuisances affecting adjoining properties, including harmful discharges, offensive fumes or odors, intense glare or heat, impermissible radiation, excessive noise, perceptible vibration, excessive smoke or particulate emissions, or interference with telecommunications signals. The environmental controls impose operating requirements.

All on-site utilities, including electrical, communication, drainage, sewer, gas, and water lines, must be installed underground. The underground-utility requirement may increase data-center construction costs.

Individual MRTP lots may not have direct access onto a state highway; access points and internal driveways must comply with the approved design guidelines. The access restriction can constrain site access and expansion.

Nonresidential uses, including data centers, remain subject to MRTP parking requirements, although the ordinance applies a 40 percent reduction to the otherwise-required number of spaces. Parking generally must be located at the rear and accessed by an alley or side street, or be at least 20 feet behind the principal building’s front façade. The parking rules may require land or construction expenditures.

Materials, supplies, and equipment must generally be stored inside a closed building or enclosed area; loading and unloading zones are required every 400 feet in the employment, campus, and mixed-use districts; and service, storage, loading, trash, and equipment areas must be screened and kept away from pedestrian areas and public rights-of-way. The storage and loading standards impose site-design and operating constraints.

Roof-mounted equipment, pipes, and ducts must be screened from adjacent public roads and streets, and exterior electrical, plumbing, heating, cooling, and ventilation components should not be visible from adjoining streets, lots, or buildings. The equipment-screening requirements can add construction costs and limit equipment placement.

Refuse collection areas may not be located between a street and the front of the building. The solid-waste siting restriction limits site-planning options.

Landscape planting and irrigation plans are required for development other than single-family development, must be prepared by a Hawaii-licensed landscape architect, and are subject to Design Review Board approval; landscaping is also required at MRTP entrances. The landscaping requirements add design, approval, and potential construction costs.

The MRTP rules expressly define “Knowledge Industry” to include an information technology data center, allowing data centers as a recognized use.

Knowledge-industry uses are permitted in the Employment District, and the Campus District allows all uses permitted in the employment district, providing multiple areas where data centers may be developed.

The Employment District permits energy systems, small and large scale, as well as public-utility substations and minor utility facilities, subject to the applicable nuisance and safety limits.

The ordinance establishes development standards for office/research-and-development and campus-type development, including a minimum 6,000-square-foot office/research lot, floor-area ratios of 0.3 to 0.65, and buildings up to four stories or 50 feet, which can accommodate data-center facilities.

The MRTP can use an improvement-district program to finance off-site and on-site improvements through improvement district bonds, tax increment funding, or another instrument, subject to Title 14, Article 3 of the Maui County Code.

Building and site-improvement applications receive an expedited process: the coordinator must determine completeness and refer a complete application within seven calendar days, forward it with recommendations within twenty calendar days, and the public works director must decide within fifteen calendar days.

Subdivision applications receive a similar expedited process, with seven days for completeness and referral, twenty days for forwarding a complete application, and fifteen days for the preliminary decision; final approval can be granted if the public works director does not act within ten days, provided design-review, association, and engineering requirements are satisfied.

The planning director serves as the MRTP coordinator and is authorized to coordinate and facilitate review of zoning, subdivision, construction, and building-site applications, including establishing review procedures and time limits consistent with the chapter.

Existing permitted uses must be liberally construed, and a use without a clearly comparable classification may be approved through a special review process based on economic diversification, job creation, cultural and environmental appropriateness, regulatory compliance, and compatibility with existing users.

The special review process for an otherwise unlisted use must be convened within seven working days after an application is deemed complete, with the decision conveyed to the applicant no more than seven calendar days after the committee decides.

The MRTP parking rules provide a forty percent reduction in normally required parking for all nonresidential uses, and allow approved off-site, commonly owned, and joint-use parking arrangements.

Ordinance No. 4346 changes approximately 390.104 acres from Project District 6, Public/Quasi-Public, and Agriculture to Maui Research & Technology Park, creating the community-plan designation needed for the MRTP development framework.