A Maui developer is seeking to create a largely rural residential subdivision near Lahaina on 271 acres of land zoned for agricultural use.

Makila Land Co. LLC proposes developing 150 rural lots for homes, 50 to 75 urban single-family houses and a commercial center on land once used for cattle grazing and sugar cultivation.

The company recently filed a petition with the state Land Use Commission to change the state’s designation of the land from agricultural use to a combination of rural and urban uses.

Makila, which is headed by West Maui Land Co. principals Peter Martin and Jim Riley, intends to produce an environmental impact statement before the LUC can act on the land-use change request.

Makila also would need Maui County approval for a zoning change and to amend the county’s West Maui Community Plan for the project to proceed.

The developer proposes that the 150 rural lots would each be between a half-acre and 1 acre in size and collectively cover 231 acres. The single-family homes would have minimum lot sizes of 6,000 square feet and be on no more than 40 acres along with a “village core” with commercial space, a park, a community center and possibly a site for a fire and ambulance substation. About half the property would be reserved as open space for agriculture, community gardens, trails, parks and natural area.

Home and lot prices have not been estimated, according to the developer’s petition to the LUC. Such figures are expected to be included in the environmental report. However, the developer said in its petition that the homes would be for Maui’s workforce.

“The Makila Rural Community is not intended as a resort development,” the petition said.

Makila added that it anticipates that at least some rural home lot buyers will engage in agriculture on the property if the project is developed.

The property, which is about a third of a mile from the edge of urban Lahaina town and is above Launiupoko State Park, has not been in intensive agricultural use since Pioneer Mill Co. ceased sugar plantation operations in 1999, the developer said in its petition.

Makila acquired the site as part of 4,500 acres in West Maui it bought from Pioneer Mill in 2001. Since then Makila has developed several subdivisions with bigger lots on land zoned for agriculture, including Pu‘unoa and Makila Plantation adjacent to the property it now proposes to subdivide.