Something irreplaceable was lost on Aug. 8: the lives of 101 people who perished in the fires that left terrible scars on Maui’s west side — and more. The historic town of Lahaina itself, as it was from its days as Hawaii’s first capital, through more than two centuries until the present day, was all but erased from the landscape. Maui will never fully reestablish that past.

But it can and will be rebuilt. The aim of everyone, from the governor through the thousands who have visited and especially those who live there, is to see it recover some of its identity, even build upon it. Its naturally beautiful setting is an enduring asset that offers hope for what’s possible.

It’s recreating the places where life can go on — the homes, the businesses, the places of recreation — that still presents a monumental challenge. Since the disaster, government officials at county, state and federal levels have been grappling with the problem, and it was expected that state lawmakers would launch a comprehensive effort to craft a comprehensive blueprint.

They’ve done so now. The most promising proposal advancing this week is Senate Bill 3381, which would define what’s called the Lele Community District encompassing Lahaina. Importantly, it would be governed primarily by an elected nine-member board of Lahaina residents to shape the redevelopment process.

It would do so under the planning umbrella of the Hawaii Community Development Authority (HCDA), the agency the Legislature created in 1976 principally known for its management of the redevelopment of Kakaako.

HCDA was established as a coordinating agency, bringing together the functions of urban planning, infrastructure, regulatory oversight and gathering public comment under one roof. The idea was to move large projects forward with a balance of efficiency and transparency to the people affected by them, projects that otherwise could stall within the multilayered reviews by state and county agencies.

HCDA was not envisioned to take the helm of disaster-recovery enterprises, but it fits this mission reasonably well.

A competing approach is moving in both chambers, SB 2979 and its companion, House Bill 2696. However, what’s titled the Lahaina Recovery Oversight Commission would be located within the state Department of Accounting and General Services (DAGS).

The commission would comprise appointed members, including the mayor or his designee and representatives of the Maui County Council, the Legislature, the state comptroller and departments of Education and of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

But it’s attached to DAGS, where challenging endeavors have bogged down in recent history. The redevelopment of the Aloha Stadium comes to mind, as do smaller-scale projects such as the Hawaii Convention Center repairs and the state Capitol reflecting pool that deteriorated into a leaking mess.

Of course, HCDA has seen its own share of conflicts, with complaints about the ratio of affordable housing units in Kakaako part of the critique. But it by far has had the longer record of navigating the complexities of regional development, with improved community input a foundational part of its processes.

Encouragingly, HCDA officials are broadly supportive of SB 3381. In a joint hearing on Wednesday before the Senate committees on Water and Land and on Energy, Economic Development and Tourism, HCDA Executive Director Craig Nakamoto said he “is willing to help in the recovery and rebuilding efforts in Lahaina as so many other federal, state, county, nonprofit agencies, and citizens have tirelessly done.”

There are many changes that will be made to the bill as it progresses through much more committee and public review and feedback. Bringing the new structure and ongoing Lahaina recovery efforts at the county and state levels into alignment will be an imperative.

In his comments, Gov. Josh Green urged lawmakers to incorporate the “recovery support functions” that his administration identified in the fall, ranging from natural and cultural resources to housing, under state lead agencies and an overall state coordinator, State Disaster Management Adviser Luke Meyers.

That plan made sense in the early response to the initial disaster recovery, and its elements should be part of the redevelopment conversation. But where community development is concerned, the outline of SB 3381 provides a more practical structure.

The bill sets out 13 guidance policies. The eighth deserves particular attention: “Building in residential areas shall cater to the needs of residents, especially those who lost their homes in the fire, in terms of location, type of housing and cost.”

This is critical, and exploring ways of making homes affordable to Lahaina residents who were forced to relocate will have to be part of the Capitol discussion going forward.

Rebuilding a community means, above all, making it welcoming to people who have called it home, some of them for generations.