Today Mayor Victorino announced in his press conference it is now ok for Maui Short Term Rentals, this includes permitted homes, permitted bed and breakfast operations, and condos, to advertise for accommodations, and they can begin taking reservations on June 16 for people who are not subject to quarantine. 

Here are the details from the administration:

Governor Ige's 9th Supplementary Proclamation Related to the COVID-19 Emergency, dated June 10, 2020, states that persons traveling to the State who require paid or commercial lodging while subject to the mandatory 14-day quarantine shall designate a hotel or motel as their designated quarantine location. 

Quarantine for persons traveling inter-island expires on June 16, 2020.

Under Mayor Victorino's Public Health Emergency Rules amended June 8, 2020, operation of essential business includes hotels and motels, in compliance with the State of Hawaii restrictions.

 

Therefore, effective June 16, 2020, all vacation rentals, including condominiums, Bed and Breakfast Homes and Short-Term Rental Homes, may operate for inter-island travelers, or out-of-state travelers who have completed their mandatory 14-day quarantine. 

Out-of-state visitors that arrive in Maui County must complete a 14-day mandatory quarantine at a hotel or motel prior to rental of a condominium, Bed and Breakfast Home or Short-Term Rental Home.

These rules remain in effect until July 31, 2020 unless they are terminated at an earlier date or extended to a later date. Violation of this rule is punishable as a misdemeanor, with fines of up to $5,000, up to a year in jail, or both. This applies to visitors and hosts who do not follow quarantine requirements.

If the Governor’s Proclamation expires or is terminated prior to the expiration or termination of Mayor Victorino’s Public Health Emergency Rules, the Mayor’s Rules remain in effect.

Click Here for today's slides from the Mayor’s press conference.

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The planning department is presenting a case for phase out at the next Maui Planning Commission Meeting. The item on the agenda is Resolution 20-27 from Maui County Council proposing to reduce the number of short term rental home permits in each region, capping them at their existing numbers. The Planning Department is using this resolution as a platform to bring up their idea of phasing out the permits. 

Agenda: https://www.mauicounty.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/27356

Report: https://www.mauicounty.gov/DocumentCenter/View/122051/060920_Agenda-Item-C1_Council-Reso-2027_STRH-permits_memorandum

Submit written testimony by 9am Friday June 5 to planning@mauicounty.gov

Planning Commission Meeting June 9, 2020, 9am

To testify and watch the Planning Commission meeting: https://maui.bluejeans.com/663596249

To listen to the meeting or provide oral testimony via phone, dial 1-888-749-9073 and enter code: 663 596 249 

The Real Property Tax Public Hearing is Wednesday April 29, 2020 at 6PM in the evening.

The Economic Development and Budget Committee (EDBC) Chair Keani Rawlins-Fernandez proposed a set of tax rates at the budget meeting today. Most of these tax rates are close to last year’s rates and similar to the rates proposed by the Mayor. 

There are two rates that have changes for Maui Resident homeowners: the owner occupied rate and the rates for B&B homeowners, classified as commercial residential. For the Commercialized residential tax rate, Fernandez has proposed a reduction of about 13% from last years rate of $4.60/$1000 to $4.00/$1000. We have been asking for a reduction to $3.35/$1000 because B&B permit holders are currently forbidden from hosting visitors. For owner occupied, She has proposed a rate reduction of about 28% from last year’s rate of $2.90/$1000 to a proposed rate of $2.10/$1000. 

B&B permit holders should plan to sign on to Wednesday night’s public hearing and testify that it is not equitable to continue to tax them at a premium from homeowner taxation, if they are not allowed to have guests. We should all urge the council to give us back the ability to use the permits as soon as possible. Testimony from one of your empty B&B rooms might be effective.

For Hotels, the EDBC has proposed a rate of $10.25/$1000 and this represents a reduction of 7% from last years rate of $11.00/$1000.  Short term rental was the only tax category where an increase over last year's rates has been proposed. The tiered Short term rental rates have been proposed at $10.75/$1000 for the assessed value up to $800,000 (same as last year) and $11.00/$1000 for the assessed value from $800,000 to 1,500,000 and $11.40/$1000 for assessed value in excess of $1,500,000.

STRH permit holders should give testimony at Wednesday night’s public hearing to express their concern about the fairness of raising short term rental tax rates, while reducing tax rates for hotels. And allowing hotels to continue to operate yet forbidding Short term Rentals from operating. 

The STRH permit holders should ask for the short term rental rate to be reduced to $8.28/$1000 for the first $800,000 of value, as this is the lowest rate that was published in the notification for the public hearing of tax rates and they could not by law set the rate any lower than this. To make up the difference in revenues, testifiers should propose increasing the Hotel tax rate and give a reason why hotels should be paying a higher tax rate than Short Term Rentals.

How to sign in to testify:

The public hearing will be run remotely through a videoconferenceing site on the blue jeans platform. You click here to sign into the meeting https://primetime.bluejeans.com/a2m/live-event/pgxygess

You can also give oral testimony via phone. To join the meeting by phone call 1-408-740-7256 (US) or 1-888-240-2560 (US toll free), then enter meeting ID 358865836 and passcode 5937.

The clerk will call out to the testifiers and you will be given three minutes for your testimony. If your connection is lost, the meeting will continue, you can just call in again, or go to the website link again and reload. If you need more information on the process you can also call the county clerk at 808-270-7748 before the public hearing.

The proposed Loophole Bill is agenda item CC 20-246 , at the County Council meeting tomorrow.

This bill turns the use of the condo units in the apartment district into nonconforming uses that are subject to Maui County Code section 19.50.110 C that states:

C. Nonconforming uses.

1. A nonconforming use shall not extend to any part of the structure or lot that was not arranged or designed for such use at the time the use became nonconforming. 
2. Any nonconforming use that is discontinued for twelve consecutive months shall not be resumed.
3. Work may be done on any structure devoted in whole or in part to any nonconforming use if the work is limited to ordinary repairs, including repair or replacement of walls, fixtures, wiring, or plumbing. Further, the work shall not exceed 50 percent of the current replacement cost of the structure within a twelve-month period, and the floor area of the structure, as it existed at the time the nonconforming use was created, shall not be increased.
4. No nonconforming use shall be changed to another nonconforming use.

This would take away the right to short term rent any unit that stops operating for a year. Here is a list of condos the planning department says is not currently doing short term use. This bill changes short term use rights on the planning department's Short Term Occupancy list, also known as Maui's Minatoya list. This is a list of the condos that could be affected.

Another major issue with this proposed legislation is it is significantly different from the bill that was presented to the three planning commissions last fall . We feel that the planning department should not be misleading the council or the public, and that this bill should be sent back to the planning commission for review.

For more detailed information on the distinctions between the two bills and the planning departments bait and switch please see this letter from Jason Economou, the Government Affairs Director of the Realtors Association of Maui . 

For updates on this and other news sign up for our newsletter at mvra.net/newsletter

This is a heads up. We will be sending sample testimony in a newsletter next week. 

Public Hearing to be held Wednesday, April 29, 2020, beginning at 6:00 P.M.  

THE REAL PROPERTY TAX RATES FOR THE

COUNTY OF MAUI FOR THE FISCAL YEAR

JULY 1, 2020 TO JUNE 30, 2021

 

The foregoing schedule of rates will be considered at the public hearing. The final rates

for each property class may be fixed within the proposed ranges.

Meeting Site: Online Only via BlueJeans Events link:

https:llprimetime.bluejeans.com/a2m/live-event/pgxygess

Meeting will be televised on Akaku: Maui Community Media, Channel 53, and

livestreamed on https:llmauicounty.legistar.com

website: http://co.maui.hi.us/Archive.aspx?AMID=226

SEND WRITTEN TESTIMONY TO: county.clerk@mauicounty.us

Under Mayor Victorino’s most recent emergency order, B&Bs and Short term rental homes may only accommodate essential workers. Existing guests may finish out their stay, but no new non essential visitor stays may begin. Owners of lodging where passengers arriving at the airport to stay at a short term rental home or bed and breakfast will be subject to the $5000 penalties. This order is in effect until April 30, unless extended. The Mayor also indicated that his next move will be to work with car rental agencies to shut rentals down. You can view the county of Maui press conference video here on our facebook page. You can also see the powerpoint slides here. Mayor Michael Victorino announced in a press release late Thursday:  A night-time curfew pilot program will start at 11 p.m. Friday night, April 10, for Maui County. Curfew will be from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The public may not travel outside the home during these hours, unless for urgent medication, medical emergencies or essential business. This includes motor vehicles and other wheeled means of transportation. “After reflection on the upcoming holiday weekend and concerns in our community, I have decided to mandate a night-time curfew for at least the next three days,” Mayor Victorino. “These are difficult times for all of us and we’re doing everything in our power to stop the spread of COVID-19. We will evaluate the effectiveness of this curfew after this weekend and will continue to make policy changes as needed.” Other rule changes effective 11 p.m. Friday, April 10: Only two (2) members of a household may leave home to conduct essential activities, unless other household members absolutely cannot be left home alone (i.e. young children, elderly and persons with disabilities). Businesses are required to limit entrance to two (2) people from one household, unless other household members absolutely must accompany them. Essential businesses with employees that have direct public contact or handle food, shall be required to wear a mask or other face covering. Employers also shall allow employees to voluntarily wear masks or face coverings. Bed and Breakfast homes and Short-Term Rental homes may only operate to provide housing for essential workers.

To see a copy of the Public Health Emergency Rules click Here . In section B item 22 The Emergency Rules Read: “Hotels and motels, to the extent used for lodging: and service providers to hotels and motels that provide services that are necessary to maintaining the safety, sanitation and essential operations of the hotel and/or motel. The operation of Bed and Breakfast Homes and Short Term Rental Homes is permitted but only for purposes of providing housing to exempt personnel defined in Rule 13 or by approval of the Mayor.” We also received some further guidance on the subject. These emergency rules go through April 30, 2020. They are primarily intended to stop the flow of incoming visitors, in line with the goal of stopping travel-related coronavirus spread.  This rule applies to all short term rentals, any rental less than 6 month.  If you have a current existing reservation that is fine. If you are an owner of the rental you can be there, if you are a new purchaser visiting your rental property is fine. If you have a new long term rental that is ok.  You may also rent short term to a Hawai’i resident that needs to self-isolate, or any Hawai’i essential workers.

We want to know how you are doing in light of the County of Maui COVID19 Shutdowns and quarantine.

Please take this survey to let us know better what the situation is. This survey is anonymous, and internal. 

After you complete the survey there will likely be a solicitation message from survey monkey, there is no obligation to participate in that.

Take The Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MvraCOVID19

Governor Ige has called for a mandatory 14 day self quarantine for all arriving visitors and residents beginning March 26, 2020. This means your guests must remain inside their accommodations for 14 days before they are allowed venture out and about on Maui. The Governors second supplemental emergency proclamation (https://bit.ly/39azZ8O) orders all individuals, both residents and visitors, arriving or returning to the State of Hawaiʻi to a mandatory 14-day self-quarantine beginning on March 26, 2020. The mandate -- the first such action in the nation -- applies to all arrivals at Hawaii state airports from the continental U.S. and international destinations and extends to other private and commercial aircrafts. Watch the VIDEO NEWS CONFERENCE: https://bit.ly/2Unw82O "With the majority of Hawaiʻi’s COVID-19 cases linked to travel, it is critical that we further mitigate the spread of the virus by both residents and visitors who are coming from out-of-state. This plan was developed in collaboration with our county mayors and Hawaiʻi’s business, community and visitor industry leaders. All visitors and residents arriving through Hawaiʻi’s airports will be required to complete a Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture form that will be distributed onboard their flight. They will retain the form when disembarking the aircraft. Upon arrival, they will go through a checkpoint and present the completed form with a valid identification. Checkpoint staff will validate the form and issue documentation that certifies they cleared the checkpoint. The form also includes information on the mandatory requirements for the 14-day quarantine along with penalties. Failure to follow this order is a misdemeanor and punishable by a maximum fine of $5,000, or imprisonment of not more than one year, or both. Enforcement will be handled by each of Hawaiʻi’s four counties." The mandate will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, March 26, 2020. These actions are extreme, but they will help flatten the curve and lay the groundwork for a quicker recovery. They are asking that everyone to comply with these quarantine orders to help protect Hawaiʻi’s residents and visitors.

Read the full news release at: https://bit.ly/2xcvtJE

Tamara Paltin referenced this new proposal that she will introduce at next Friday’s Council meeting to reduce the STRH caps to match the number of existing permits. This proposal as written does not account for applications in process.

NO. 20-194 - COUNCILMEMBER PALTIN. transmitting a proposed resolution entitled "REFERRING TO THE MAUl AND LANAI PLANNING COMMISSIONS A

PROPOSED BILL TO AMEND THE COMPREHENSIVE ZONING ORDINANCE RELATING TO SHORT-TERM RENTAL HOME PERMITS ON MAUl AND LANAI".

https://mauicounty.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=8185303&GUID=03307D60-8199-4209-A290-7BB0E4C7E7D0

This item on the council agenda on Friday proposes to set the cap for all STRH permits at the current number of permits. This proposal would need to be sent to Planning Commissions for comments and then back to County council before any changes could be made to the current caps. 

A better study of all the current short term rental uses taking place sould be completed, including what the right number of short term rental homes in each area of the island should be.

Such a study should include analysis of current travel trends, current legal and illegal short term uses taking place and the benefits to Maui of each. Limiting further legal short term rentals could lead to meeting the market demand by illegal operations.

It may seem that reducing the caps is not that concerning. However, it is important to note that it was a communication item to set the cap for Molokai to 40 permits that ultimately morphed into a cap of zero and non-renewal of the existing 17 permits.

This item from Councilmember Paltin could possibly have the same effect as the phase-out proposal that we heard about at Friday’s community meeting. 

On Friday, March 6 at 3 pm at the Kalana Pakui Conference Room at 250 S. High Street, the County of Planning Department hosted a community meeting regarding the potential phase out of Short Term Rental Home #STRH Permits. Their presentation was made to a standing room only packed meeting room. They did one presentation and then cleared the room and did the presentation a second time so that everyone would get a chance to hear it. Both times to a standing room only crowd.

While the supporters outnumbered opponents 50 to 1, and made some very good arguments during the Q & A, we do not yet know what Director Michele McLean and Planner Jacky Takakura will put out in their report.

The major concern of the planning department was that they hear the complaint, “We do not know our neighbors” at some of the planning commission meetings when people are applying for permits. Enforcement of illegal operations was another concern.

However, they did not know exactly how many of these complaints they have actually encountered. In addition, the Planning Department said they were working on enforcement, and their current enforcement report touts success in bringing the number of illegal rentals down. Finally, very few complaints are heard on actual permitted properties.

You can view the meeting presentation and subsequent Q and A session (3 videos) on the Maui Vacation Rental Association Facebook page: at https://www.facebook.com/MauiVacationRentalAssociation

or on our youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClxP9lsTRy682JG_CF5Q7Ew?view_as=subscriber

At the beginning of Video 2 Councilmember Tamara Paltin explains some of her plans regarding the Minatoya List condos.

Please take a moment to like our facebook page too!

We would also like to invite you to our private facebook group forum at https://www.facebook.com/groups/460872007784925/

If there is something to learn here, its that we have to be engaged as a group, and continue to keep informing the public and the planning department that the short term rental industry is a positive influence in our community. That there is value in the network of small businesses that surround the rentals. That there are very little complaints on permitted homes in the community. Short term rentals are not increasing home prices. Short Term Rental Homes are not diminishing affordable housing. In fact, Short Term Rentals are the single biggest contributor to the county’s Affordable Housing Fund with over $2 million for the fiscal year 2019-2020. See the chart below for the breakdowns in all categories.

Source: Real Property Tax County of Maui

Please sign up for our newsletter https://mauivacationrentalassociation.org/newsletter

You can also read the Maui News article on Friday’s meeting at https://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news/2020/03/short-term-rental-talk-draws-crowd-owners-ban-of-vacation-rentals-would-punish-the-legal-operators/