Thank you to everyone who participated and reached out to the Planning and Sustainable Land Use Committee Council of the County of Maui. At today’s meeting the committee heard and took into consideration the concerns we had about property rights with regard to item (PSLU-59) Transient Vacation Rentals in the Apartment, Light Industrial, and Heavy Industrial Districts. The committee voted to amend the language in section G item 2 where it reads the qualifying criteria for TVRs. The amendments include “or payment of TAT and GET taxes” and the effective date the building needs to show that use changes to the date of the bill passage, instead of January 1, 2020. These amendments and the item passed with 6 affirmative votes, with council member Kelly King excused. (if you want to read why we asked for language changes go here)

The next step for item (PSLU-59) Transient Vacation Rentals in the Apartment, Light Industrial, and Heavy Industrial Districts is the PSLU committee will create report and that will be heard at a future County Council meeting.

Item Moratorium on Transient Accommodation Permits on Lana`i (PSLU-72) had a unanimous vote of 7 in favor of this bill. The committee will write a report for this item to be taken up at a future County Council meeting. Currently there are no bed and breakfast operations on Lana’i and there are 19 STRH permits operating on Lana’i and 1 permit pending in the que. Also to note, the Lana’i Planning Commission is working on its own set of changes in the B&B and STRH ordinances specific to Lana’i, that will be heard in the future. 

A video excerpt of todays meeting is available on the MVRA youtube channel

The Loophole bill is on the agenda 

We have another update on the Minatoya Loophole bill, it will be on the Planning and Sustainable Land Use Committee Agenda as item PSLU-59 this Wednesday at 9am.

I am going to paraphrase the information that the Realtor Association of Maui (RAM) sent out, because their information was concise and to the point: 

We would like to see a change in the language in Section G 2, because that language could potentially threaten the property rights of a small subsection of non-condominium properties that have lawfully been conducting short-term rentals pursuant to permitted uses in the A-1 and A-2 zoning district, but have not been categorized in the Short-Term Rental real property tax class.

MVRA is supporting the proposed amendment from RAM: 

that MCC 19.12.020(G)(2) be replaced with the following language instead

“Transient vacation rental use was conducted in any lawfully existing dwelling unit within the building or structure prior to January 1, 2021, as determined by real property tax class or payment of transient accommodations tax.”

By adding these two details highlighted above into the language of the bill we can protect the property rights of the owners, increase Short Term Rental tax class without a net increase in TVR operators, and accomplish the goal of keeping non-TVR condominiums from converting to TVR use based on an old loophole.

Please send your own two-cents in to help get this change in the language included in the bill.

Here is what you can do:

1. Submit Written Testimony: Written testimony should be submitted no less than 24 hours before the meeting via email to: pslu.committee@mauicounty.us . I've attached a copy of RAM’s testimony, but I would recommend drafting your own individual testimony. 
2. Oral Testimony via Phone: Oral testimony can be provided via telephone by dialing in to 1-408-915-6290 and entering meeting code 994 504 421. At the beginning of the meeting each testifier will be given 3 minutes to testify per agenda item they are testifying on. 
3. Video Testimony via BlueJeans: If you would prefer to give video testimony via videoconferencing software, you can join the meeting via BlueJeans using the following link: https://bluejeans.com/994504421
4. View Live: If you don't want to testify but you still want to see what happens, you can watch the meeting live on Akaku Channel 53 or online using links at http://mauicounty.us/agendas/
5. Contact Your Council Representative: As always, you should feel free to reach out directly to your local County Council representatives on any issue using the following info:

• Alice Lee, Chair: alice.lee@mauicounty.us, (808) 270-7760
• Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, Council Vice Chair: keani.rawlins@mauicounty.us, (808) 270-7678
• Tasha Kama, Presiding Officer Pro Tempore: tasha.kama@mauicounty.us, (808) 270-5501
• Riki Hokama, Councilmember: riki.hokama@mauicounty.us, (808) 270-7768
• Kelly King, Councilmember: kelly.king@mauicounty.us, (808) 270-7108
• Mike Molina, Councilmember: mike.molina@mauicounty.us, (808) 270-5507
• Tamara Paltin, Councilmember: tamara.paltin@mauicounty.us, (808) 270-5504 <- Chair of the Planning and Sustainable Land Use Committee
• Shane Sinenci, Councilmember: shane.sinenci@mauicounty.us, (808) 270-7246 <- Vice Chair of the Planning and Sustainable Land Use Committee
• Yuki Lei Sugimura, Councilmember: yukilei.sugimura@mauicounty.us, (808) 270-7939

If you have any questions or need more information email us at membership@mauivacationrentalassociation.org

New Hawaii Vacation Rental Report

Kloninger & Sims has just released a new report on Vacation Rentals in Hawaii. The report is a snap shot of economic activity short term rentals generate for the state, including consumer travel trends and implications for the Hawai'i visitor industry.

The vacation rentals hosted 2.5 million visitors state of Hawaii in 2019, representing an increase of 5.2% over the previous year. The report finds that vacation rentals comprise 30.4% of the visitor market in Maui County.

To read the report click here.

The County of Maui has announced and posted Updated Public Health Emergency Rules at MauiCounty.gov.

The update is titled “Public Health Emergency Rules, Amended July 31, 2020.” It can be found under “COVID-19 Coronavirus Information.”

The revised rules took effect July 31 and outline that a STRH, B&B or TVR may be used as a quarantine location for new or intended Hawaii residents leasing the STRH, B&B, or TVR. The quarantine is subject to the rules and regulations observed for the full 14 day period, and the property owner, manager, landlord, tenant and guest shall be responsible for the compliance. The STRH, B&B, or TVR may only designate as a quarantine location for a new or intended resident only once in a 6 month period.

The new updated emergency rules include a limit of indoor and outdoor social gatherings to no more than 10 people. Face coverings are required, and physical distancing of at least 6 feet between separate groups must be maintained.

Businesses and places of worship will still be allowed to function under existing County and State rules. Businesses such as restaurants, bars and beauty salons must continue to follow health and safety guidelines outlined in the emergency rules.

The county also announced that Maui Police Department is the task force and contact for quarantine violations. Contact them on the non emergency email mpdquarantine@mpd.net.

Governor Ige's 8/3 Press Conference Cliff Notes

Q: Is the Sept. 1 Pre-Travel Testing Program deadline hard and fast at this point, and will people be allowed in whether or not they have received negative test results?

GOVERNOR IGE

-- We are working hard to complete all of the preparations for the Sept. 1 announcement of when we would begin the Pre-Travel Testing Program.

-- The visitor industry needs to have time ahead of those decisions if there will be changes made.

-- We continue to monitor the conditions in the state, and as well as around the country, and will be making a further determination as we get closer to the Sept. 1 date.

-- The hotels have said three- to four-weeks’ notice is needed, and the airlines would like at least two-weeks’ notice if there will be a change.

-- I will be meeting with the mayors. We would like to see a stopping of the increase in new cases in the state, and hopefully begin the trend downward.

-- If there are too many cases here, and we have not stopped the increase, then we would be looking at delaying the Sept. 1 date.

Q: What was the problem with the digital contractor? When will Google begin and is there an additional cost?

GOVERNOR IGE

-- In testing the application, they had finished the first phase. During the stress testing and assuring that we could move from the prototype to production, it became clear that we would have performance issues. The responsiveness of the app was not to our liking and would cause a delay.

-- Google was selected by Chief Information Officer Doug Murdock who interviewed several of the leading software developers.

-- Google is best positioned to develop a working app that would be able to scale to the level we need it to. If you recall, we used to get 30,000+ arrivals per day.

-- They have been on for a day or two now. We expect to catch up to the original development schedule, although three to five days behind.

-- We believe we would have a working application well ahead of the Sept. 1 date.

[Summarized from HVCB Newsletter]

Click here for the Governor's 10th proclamation.

To See the full press conference here: https://www.facebook.com/MauiVacationRentalAssociation/posts/184949253035662

Cost of Government Meeting

Planning Director Michele McLean made a presentation at the The Cost of Government meeting on 7/23/2020.

She stated that the planning department has successfully curtailed illegal vacation rentals on Maui. In this presentation she also goes over the recent legislation efforts including resolution 20-27 to reduce STRH Caps, and the most recent loop hole bill, pertaining to vacation rentals in the apartment district.

One of the criteria in the loop hole bill is that the property have done vacation rental use prior to January 1 2020, using the real property tax classification. In the loop hole bill link above there are two different lists that Real Property tax provided with names of condo buildings where there are some STR classified units and where there are no STR classified units.

Neither of these lists are comprehensive of legal short Term rental use properties under current law. The list of properties where there are some STR classified units includes buildings where STR use is not legal.

The other list of 74 properties that is being touted as a list of properties that the loop hole bill is designed to protect, however, this list includes 17 properties where short term rental use is not allowed because they were built after 1991.

You can view the director's presentation in this youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1D18KsVAqc&t=6s

2020-2021 Real Property Tax Figures

There are 4 categories directly related to visitor accommodation: Resort, Timeshare, Commercial Residential, and Short Term Rental (condos and permitted homes).  These total $189 million, or 50% of the total real property tax budget for the county. Of these the short term rental category makes up nearly 61%, resort property about 18%, time share 21% and commercial residential (permitted bed and breakfast operations) about 0.6%.

Source: Maui County Real Property Tax Division

After 3 planning commission meetings and many hours of discussion the Planning Commission did get a vote through on “Resolution 20-27 to reduce short term rental home caps on Maui”. 

(to read about the past two meetings you can look here: 6/30/20 meeting https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Gov--Ige-Delays-Covid-Test-Travel-Program--Federal-Suit-Gets-Filed.html?soid=1102067254153&aid=cTZ4BrRB640 ; 6/9/20 meeting https://myemail.constantcontact.com/What-Happened-at-the-Planning-Commission-Meeting-Last-Week-.html?soid=1102067254153&aid=YU4CTiMFwaE )

In discussion, Commissioner Kellie Pali said that what she did like about the current permitting process is that the commission can manage it. She also said that lowering the caps “is not the way we help our affordable housing problem.”

Commissioner La Costa asked “if the cap is reduced will that spur more illegal vacation rentals?”

A motion was made to approve the lowering of the STRH caps to include the existing permits and those already in the application review process. That motion failed by a count of 4 to 3, with five votes being necessary to pass a motion. Then after much more discussion Commissioner Kellie Pali made a motion to leave the caps at the current levels and recommend that the council study the short term rental demand in each community plan district and set the caps to match the demand.  

Commissioners Stephen Castro, Kawika Freitas, P. Denise La Costa, Kellie Pali, Dale Thompson voted in favor of recommending the council study the current demand in each region and setting the caps to meet the current demand, with a timeframe of 6 months for the study. The commissioners did not approve the Planning Department’s recommendation to lower the caps.

This motion passed with 5 positive votes and only commissioner Christian Tackett voting against citing his support for the hotels to get back to full employment before adding any additional short term rentals.

The planning commission’s recommendation will be sent to County council who will consider this matter further in the Sustainable land use and planning committee.

The Maui News picked up the story: https://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news/2020/07/panel-more-study-needed-on-short-term-rental-caps/

Panel: More study needed on short-term rental caps

Proposed bill to lower caps heads back to council

LOCAL NEWS

JUL 15, 2020

MELISSA TANJI

Staff Writer

mtanji@mauinews.com

After multiple meetings to discuss a Maui County Council bill that would lower the number of short-term rentals on Maui and Lanai, the Maui Planning Commission on Tuesday recommended that the council conduct more studies and set caps based on the demand for short-term rentals in each community.

The commission voted 5-1 in favor of the motion, which included a recommendation that the council be given six months to conduct the study in community plan areas and then set the caps accordingly. During the meeting, some commissioners said they hoped that the council would come back to them with refined numbers so they could make a better decision.

Ultimately, however, the commission can only make recommendations; final decision rests with the council.

In March, the council sent the bill down to the commission, proposing to reduce the number of permitted rentals from 349 to 278. The bill was authored by Council Member Tamara Paltin, who was initially looking to reduce the number of short-term rentals in her district of West Maui but decided to include other districts after learning that fellow council members were also writing similar legislation. Council Member Kelly King asked that her district of South Maui not be included.

Currently there are 212 short-term rental permits on Maui and Lanai and 18 are pending, said Jacky Takakura, administrative planning officer. The Maui County Planning Department proposed a cap of 230 to conform with current numbers. The bill would not stop those already going through the permit process.

Supporters of the proposal have said at past meetings that reducing the cap would help reduce the impacts of tourism on local neighborhoods. But opponents, including many short-term rental owners, have said their businesses employ local residents and that their homes bring in smaller groups of families as opposed to the scores of tourists drawn by the hotels and resorts. Some also feared that lowering the caps would be the start of phasing out short-term rentals completely.

On Tuesday, commissioner Christian Tackett, who was the lone dissenter on the motion, said until the community can get a handle on COVID-19 and how tourism will be handled in the state, it would probably be better to keep short-term rentals out of residential neighborhoods.

He attributed higher property values to investment properties and said he’d rather see a focus on people buying homes to live in.

Tackett also said that hotel rooms should be filled first, which would direct tourists away from neighborhoods and help provide jobs to local residents.

However, commissioner Kellie Pali pointed out that hotels have hundreds of rooms. The number of visitors who would stay in the county’s permitted short-term rentals would barely make a difference in hotel occupancy.

“I just lovingly disagree (the current cap of) 349 is going to impact us,” Pali said.

Pali said she put her faith in the process, where short-term rental permits are vetted, applicants are reviewed and neighbors are notified of any possible new short-term rentals, with the opportunity to comment.

Commission Chairman Lawrence Carnicelli pointed out that the bill was put forward before the COVID-19 pandemic hit Hawaii and felt that a broader conversation was needed. He said it’s still unclear when visitors will come back to the islands.

“The dynamics of our island will completely change who comes here,” he said. “When they come here, where they stay, that’s all going to change.”

He said he wanted the commission’s recommendation to be that “the nine council members and the mayor need to sit down” as they are the ones tasked with setting policy.

The current caps for short-term rental permits in each district and the council’s proposed reductions are as follows: Hana, 30 to 23; Kihei-Makena, 100 (revised cap still to be decided); Makawao-Pukalani-Kula, 40 to 11; Wailuku-Kahului, 36 to 6; West Maui, 88 to 63; and Lanai, no cap to 20. The Paia-Haiku district cap is being proposed to stay at 55 after it was reduced last year from 88.

In February, the council adopted a law eliminating short-term rental permits on Molokai. The island’s 17 existing permits will remain valid through the end of the year. The Maui Vacation Rental Association and four Molokai homeowners have filed a federal lawsuit against the county over the bill.

[To donate to the lawsuit go to  

Caption: The Molokai Happy House where many Molokai Residents and Visitors have enjoyed staying for over 15 years

HONOLULU: Late Friday, July 10, 2020 the Maui Vacation Rental Association (MVRA) along with 4 homeowners on Molokai filed a lawsuit in federal court against the County of Maui seeking to reinstate their permits to operate as Short-Term Vacation Rentals.

On March 10, 2020 Maui County passed Bill 22, signing into law Ordinance 5059 that set the Molokai legal, short term rental cap to zero. This, effectively, canceled the operations of 17 families, the existing reservations for visitors with plane tickets, and the jobs of some Molokai residents, on December 31, 2020. Many of these homes had operated legally for 15 years or more. Many had permits saying they could operate into 2021. 

=“Litigation was our last resort. We met with County Council members, with the Mayor and with the Planning Department. Ultimately, they were not able to protect these Molokai property owners and residents.” said Jen Russo, Executive Director, Maui Vacation Rental Association. “Reluctantly, we decided we must stand for fairness and for abiding by the Constitution. This is about creating good policy, we all benefit from that.”

The case is being handled by Attorney Terrance Revere, of Revere and Associates Honolulu, who filed a lawsuit in Federal Court on behalf of the affected homeowners and the Maui Vacation Rental Association.

“It is stunning that a County with 1/3 of its population unemployed would still be engaging in an anti-small business agenda while promoting off-island corporate interests. We are taking this action because even though my homeowner clients did nothing wrong and had no complaints against them, the County decided to make the number of STRH’s permitted on Molokai to be zero.  Instead of grandfathering in existing permit holders, they told my clients-- with no due process whatsoever-- that their STRH permits were being yanked away,” says Revere. 

The case asserts that under state and federal law the County violated the permit holder’s right to due process. Also, many of these legal vacation rental home owners will have to answer to potential claims from the renters they must now cancel. 

“Most people on Molokai didn’t even know it was on the table to shut them down. Some prominent business owners didn’t even know they are no longer allowed. I am still getting Molokai people wanting to book short term homes for next year and I have to tell them sorry, Molokai people don’t want them, don’t you know?” Dayna Harris of Molokai Vacation Properties, one of the affected businesses on Molokai, exclaimed.

“We are encouraged by the community outpouring of support for the legal vacation rental program, especially now when small businesses are hurting”, says Greg Mebel, President of the MVRA. When the Planning Commission recently heard a question about lowering the caps on STRH permits, it spurred one of the highest numbers of attendees to a Planning Commission meeting ever, via a virtual Blue Jeans video conference (at times over 200). A Planning Department sponsored STRH feedback session, held earlier this year, was attended by so many the Department scheduled an encore second session to accommodate supporters. Subsequently, the Planning Department decided not to pursue a phase out of the legal vacation rentals. 

Recently, legislation has been proposed that would take away short term rental rights from hundreds of legally operating condo owners. “While the MVRA always prefers to work with local policy makers, we’ve been forced to also raise a legal fund. Condo owners have been calling the Planning Department for information. Then they call MVRA and ask what can be done, how can they join?” says Terry Tolman, former Executive Director of the Realtor’s Association of Maui and current MVRA Chairman.

“This (Molokai) case should protect short-term rental operators in Maui, which is why our members are coming to the aid of the Molokai 17”, continued Terry, “Many fear they’ll be next.”

“There is a lot of frustration locally with high costs of living and lack of affordable housing, which we understand. That frustration has created attacks on legal vacation rentals that are simply not supported by facts. Unfortunately, these attacks won’t affect the problems they’re supposed to solve,” adds Jen Russo. “The members are prepared financially to go all the way with this lawsuit, but we sincerely hope we can resolve this amicably with the County long before then.” 

Summary of Legal Details

The lawsuit describes multiple violations with Ordinance 5059 (Bill 22): 

• Ordinance 5059, and its application is inconsistent with and conflicts with other zoning provisions and County approvals that were granted and issued to the permit holders on Molokai. Ordinance 5059 violates Haw. Rev. Stat. § 46-4, which prohibits an amendment of a zoning law to prohibit a lawful pre-existing use, and it violates the Hawaii and United States Constitutional protections for non-conforming uses and vested rights

• The permit holders went through a rigorous permitting process and made investments to rent properties pursuant to these provisions

• Many Molokai residents and businesses are dependent on the tourism industry and have been harmed by the elimination or uncertainty surrounding these legal vacation rental homes in the resort areas, including house cleaners, landscapers, contractors, property managers, and booking agents.

• Many other businesses, such as retail merchants, restaurants and activity providers, are also economically supported, in part, by these legal rentals

• Ordinance 5059 will have a direct and substantial impact on Plaintiffs, its members and those similarly situated, who currently rent properties legally under the current regulations and desire to continue to do so

• Ordinance 5059 is an unconstitutional restraint on property rights, its broad application unreasonably impairs previously granted property rights, and its application does not serve any legitimate public purpose or benefit.

• The Ordinance 5059 is contrary to the express purpose of the Ordinance No. 3941 which is not only to: “retain the character of residential neighborhoods” but also “to allow for varied accommodations and experiences for visitors.”  In setting a cap of zero and revoking the permits that had already been granted, the Molokai Planning commission and the County Council failed to show any evidence that the permitted STRH properties had created any deleterious impacts on their neighborhoods beyond the unsubstantiated allegation that they impacted the availability of housing.

 

The Molokai Community Plan was adopted in 2018 and included an important component to expand complementary tourism markets, support limited growth of alternative lodging units, and support increased enforcement of the STRH ordinance. Less than 1% of Molokai’s residential housing has been granted an STRH permit to allow short term rental uses. This is in line with the goals set forth in the Molokai Community Plan. 

The plaintiffs ask the court to have declared invalid and enjoin the enforcement of Bill 22. 

The owners of vacation rentals on Molokai are being denied due process rights and not being treated equally under the law. The County of Maui has disparately regulated permitted and lawful vacation rentals, causing devastating economic impact on the owners, interfering with their investment-backed expectations, and intentionally discriminating against these owners. This amounts to a regulatory taking, entitling the owners to just compensation. 

Greg Mebel, President of MVRA, full statement: 

“We are encouraged by the community outpouring of support for a legal vacation rental program, especially now when small businesses are hurting.  When the Planning Department held a community forum asking whether the community supported STRH’s, so many people showed up to support, they had to have a second, impromptu session to give everyone a chance to enter the forum. When the Planning Commission recently heard a question about lowering the caps on STRH permits, attendance was among the highest ever to a Planning Commission meeting. They were overwhelmingly in support of maintaining a legal STRH program. Our community knows that this program is one of our strongest tools, to vet, tax, regulate, and control vacation rentals.  It’s how each neighborhood’s voice is heard. Our program leads the entire State.

On Molokai, this program was implemented, permitted, and relied upon for years. There were no complaints against the 17 permit holders there. Suddenly removing the program and telling those permit holders that their permits will terminate, some even before the expiration date, was neither constitutional nor fair. So, our group was forced to challenge that action. We met with Council members, Planning Department and the Mayor and did not make this decision lightly. In fact, it’s the first time our small group has had to create a legal fund.

Short term rental homes make up around 200 homes of the 54,000 plus (per last US census) households on Maui. This is 1 in 267 homes. All legal STRH’s have signs out front, with contact phone and permit numbers. It’s mathematically and clearly impossible for this group to adversely affect the characters or health of neighborhoods. 

The STRH program has built in safeguards against affecting home values. Only people who have owned their home for five or more years can apply. New home owners can’t apply for a permit.

There are an estimated 11,000 – 15,000 second homes on Maui. This is about 1 in 5 homes. At this concentration, second homes could affect whether a long-term neighbor “knows” who the new neighbor may be. Many second home owners have friends who come to stay in their place with rental cars. They may look like short term renters, but unlike permitted Short term rental homes, there are no regulations on these visitors. This is where we’ve seen a great amount of confusion.

Maui’s STRH regulations include a host of requirements that the property manager must enforce, like occupancy limits, quiet hours, parking restrictions, no parties, as well as safety checks to ensure that homes are safe for the visitors and those visitors do not impact neighbors. This is why there are virtually no complaints against legal, short term vacation rental homes (STRH’s). There simply is no empirical data suggesting STRH’s detrimentally affect neighborhoods. The STRH program on Maui took that into account when it was created.  On the contrary there is plenty of data showing the benefits of a regulated, balanced program. That’s why our County's stakeholders got together and created it in the first place.”

----

To donate to the legal fund please go to MVRA.NET/DONATE

I have a big favor to ask. We would love to get some more data on our Maui Vacation Rental industry. As evidenced in the recent planning commission meeting, our community needs more information on this important industry and its workforce. We created a new survey for participants in the Vacation Rental business to fill out. It should take around 10 minutes. Please take a moment to fill out the survey. If you know someone you could share it with please do! The bigger our data set the better.

Do the Vacation Rental Survey!

To see our most recent newsletter and sign up for updates please see https://myemail.constantcontact.com/What-Happened-at-the-Planning-Commission-Meeting-Last-Week-.html?soid=1102067254153&aid=YU4CTiMFwaE

The Planning Commission public hearing on resolution 20-27 on June 9, 2020 at 9am heard hours of testimony opposing the reduction of caps. There were about 20 oral testimony given in opposition, and two in favor. Thank you to everyone who gave their testimony. One of the testimonies in support of the resolution was Councilwoman Tamara Paltin, whose committee brought forth this resolution, and who will also be voting on the resolution. For those who sent a copy to MVRA, I counted 42 letters in opposition of this resolution, none in support. The planning commission remarked it was the largest attendance that they had ever seen in a meeting, at 150 participants on the bluejeans system. It seems that the system caps out at 150 participants, I know there were people digitally getting kicked out of the meeting, or not able to attend because of the limitations. Thank you for trying.

Our attorneys at Revere & Associates prepared and submitted a letter of opposition to the Planning Commission and County Council regarding resolution 20-27. You can see a copy of that letter by clicking here.

After hours of testimony the public hearing on resolution 20-27 was recessed until the next meeting. The Planning Department erroneously published a public testimony call in number that did not work, so while they rectify that matter there is still time for more written and oral testimony. For some examples of testimony and where to send it click here.

Planning Commission Chair Lawrence Carnicelli brought up a serious issue with the resolution, and that is that it was written and proposed pre-COVID19, and he brought the broader question forth, do we need to perhaps pause this resolution, given the current situation. Commissioner P. Denise La Costa said she would like more data and statistics on the matter. Commissioner Kawika Freitas was in favor of the Resolution. Commissioner Dale Thompson suggested that a compromise could be made, if we lower the caps, but give a grace period, or fee for any that expire so that those permittees do not have to re-apply. Commissioner Stephe Castro suggested screening applicants better might help, while Commissioner Christian Tackett said this is not a great time for recommending the resolution. The planning department presented their powerpoint presentation, with their recommendations.

Next week’s Planning Commission meeting will be held Tuesday, June 23 beginning at 9:00 am, but there are 7 items on the Commission’s agenda with the continuation of the public hearing for the cap on short term rental home permits scheduled to begin NO EARLIER than 1:00 pm. The commission will likely not get to it until after 3:00 pm, given the number and complexity of the items before it. Here is a link to the next meeting agenda: the permit cap item is listed as item G-1 https://www.mauicounty.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/27409

Look for the video of last weeks meeting here, https://www.akaku.org/boards-commissions/. The video was not available as of today, but will be posted there.

To see our most recent newsletter and sign up for updates please see https://myemail.constantcontact.com/What-Happened-at-the-Planning-Commission-Meeting-Last-Week-.html?soid=1102067254153&aid=YU4CTiMFwaE