I am writing in suppor of the moratorium on visitor accommodations and development. Maui does not need more accommodations for visitors. We already see the effects of too many visitors on Maui, specifically the impact on the health of the ocean, our wildlife and corals which are essential to maintain the Maui’s shoreline integrity. Our roads are congested with traffic, Sewage ejection wells are pouring sewage into the ocean. We are facing a crossroads here on Maui. Do we want our island to become another Waikiki with the resulting loss of our quality of life, or do we want to limit the number of tourists, putting our money and resources into preserving and creating a diverse economy that is good for tourists and residents, and maintains and preserves the stunning natural beauty of our island, it’s people and our unique flora and fauna. Please vote in favor of this moratorium. Sincerely, Joy Kaaz, Kihei resident.
I support the moratorium. Please stop building visitor accommodations. Our island's resources are already overwhelmed by large numbers of tourists. Continuing to build hotels won’t serve our community's needs, it will only serve the big hotel chains' bottom line. Please do the right thing and stop building visitor accommodations for the foreseeable future. Mahalo.
I support the moratorium proposal on visitor accommodations. Let's decide how to keep Maui in balance instead of being ruined by excess tourism. This is a challenging and important issue to deal with.
Hawaii is a very special place. We need to keep it that way. Take care of the people of the island that have lived here all tbeir lives that are in need of homes. Take care of the infrastructure of this island and stop putting more people on the island. Take care of our keiki and build them decent schools. Take care of the ocean and think about the constant and critical climate change. More construction means more in our land fills, more cars, more people, more destruction to this beautiful island.
Dorothy Jakubek, Lahaina
County needs to control the numbers coming in. This is out if control. Hundreds of thousand of outsiders flocking here. While our keikis , small businesses n people suffer. Fk the money!!!! Take care of our resources first n foremost.
A moratorium is needed for Maui County on visitor accommodation building. CARE 50 Genesis Young MD testimony.
This urgent and critical problem is damaging our county environment because of excessive number of tourists.
For all the reasons the Council passed the sustainable tourism quality over quantity resolution we need to have this moratorium to stop building more visitor accommodations where we already have too much and give us time to figure out how to get our environmental disaster from over tourism under control.
We have too many tourists and that is damaging the tourist industry let alone the environment and our own enjoyment of where we live.
This is an urgent and critical problem and we must make this moratorium county wide and as important as it is. Otherwise it loses its effectiveness due to no control on the whole County.
This moratorium must be countywide and that is defined and limited.
This moratorium must be as long as possible as 2 Years Goes Way to quickly and many projects such as the Maui Coast Hotel are only slated to begin building in about 2 years which means we will end the moratorium just in time to allow more hotels before we’ve even caught up to the existing permitted hotels that shouldn’t be built. 5 years is more appropriate to really have an impact and decrease new building while we reevaluate.
The conditions for lifting this moratorium are very important. The lawyers would likely have us water this down and create just a single easy trigger to end the moratorium but that is just not the way the world works. This problem has many aspects and so there should be multiple triggers for ending this moratorium that all must be satisfied. That all must be satisfied. This is still limited in scope due to the fact that all of these issues deal with over tourism and its effects.
1st condition is that all visitor accommodation legal and illegal be accurately counted and a mechanism be in place to monitor that monthly
the 2nd condition as per Maui island plan there needs to be a effective mechanism for keeping our relative number of visitors to less than 25% of the humans on the island at any given time as per the 3 to 1 ratio in the Maui island
plan.
The 3rd condition must be that resident sentiment which has been declining since 1988 return to at least 10% above the 1988 decline as measured by the HTA. If we don’t have this as a condition then why are we doing this. Poor resident sentiment equals a poor tourist experience and reflects the experience of environmental degradation
The 4th condition we need to have a full quality of life measuring and monitoring system in place before the moratorium is lifted otherwise we really don’t know where we are and currently the Quality of life measurement is mandated but it is not being fully done and the current indicators are not good in general and not wide enough in scope and please note there is already work being done on this.
5th condition would be that infrastructure be present before new development and be more than sufficient for existing needs not after the fact as a matter of law.
6 condition would be that affordable housing relative to the visitor industry room numbers be adequate to accommodate 20 staff per room of visitor accommodation present have enough affordable housing for the visitor industry staff and an absolute numbers that would seem to be at least 5000 more units. This moratorium should be tied to affordable housing because the need for affordable housing helps the tourist industry to house their staff and have staff therefore.
The 7th condition would be that at least a plan for reef and ecosystem regeneration and maintenance be in place and appropriately funded by the visitor industry that is dependent on this resource and uses this resource and causes the major Degradation of this resource and so for their best interest and ours. They must support this and pay for through a special improvement district if needed and that should be in place before the moratorium is lifted
the 8th condition would be that a county approved sustainable and regenerative visitor industry policy and procedure be in place for the county and all the visitor industry..
In summary this moratorium must be countywide and it is urgent that we adopt this and it must be for at least 5 years and it must have many important conditions to trigger the end of it as that would make this moratorium meaningful by having in place the needed environmental and visitor industry policies and procedures that will make for sustainable tourism quality over quantity and regenerate and maintain our beautiful Maui County into the future.
I wish the construction and hotel industry could see how this will be in their best long-term interest. They also live here don’t think? The visitor industry is destroying the environment that they need.
Mahalo,
Genesis Young MD,
CAAC sustainable tourism subcommittee chair
I support a moratorium on building any more visitor accommodations . Our island is way over crowded with visitors as it is and our environment is suffering because of it . I see people trashing our island and disrespecting the reefs by standing on them and harassing the wildlife . The very thing that brings people here is being destroyed . The west side especially has too much traffic . Traveling to and from work means contending with rental vehicles whose drivers speed and drive aggressively . We are not the mainland !
I don’t go out any more except to go to work and back . I don’t drive around the island anymore not wanting to endanger myself from tourists not paying attention to the road . NO MORE HOTELS PLEASE ! There should also be a moratorium on how many people can travel here . It’s a nightmare being a resident here right now with way too many tourists ! No more development please !!!
Aloha Chair King and Committee Members:
I felt compelled to write because the traffic problems on the Hana road is generating a lot of angst among the Hana community, especially towards the County and State Gov't entities. Tourist are parking anywhere they please, partially due to the apps & websites that are telling them to. It doesn't seem to matter if there are "no parking" signs. Many residents cannot testify because they're at work during County Council meetings. Please consider that most Hana residents would most likely be for this moratorium, especially being a source for "too many cars on the road." Mahalo, Mavis
Aloha, I am writing in support of the Visitor Accommodations Moratorium Bill and request that the committee recommend an IMMEDIATE moratorium on all new visitor accommodations. Maui is at risk of becoming like Oahu and we need to find a balance of the needs or residents and a tourist economy. Please stop building! Mahalo!
brett gobar and ohana, support moratorium , COUNTY WIDE...construction jobs are TEMPORARY, hotels only benefit off island investors, little of profits remain on maui. HOTEL INDUSTRY LOBBYISTS have presented unsubstantiated claims of economic benefits to transient visitor accomadations
I support the moratorium. We need to focus on sustainability and the last thing we need is more hotel development at this time. The focus should be quality over quantity and let's not add more rooms. Reseorts can focus on improving their existing footprint, increasing the quality and enhancing the guest experience. We need to look at balancing our fragile ecosystem on Maui so let's pause where we are. The moratorium accomplishes there in a smart and prudent way.
Testimonies from CARE Committee
I am writing in suppor of the moratorium on visitor accommodations and development. Maui does not need more accommodations for visitors. We already see the effects of too many visitors on Maui, specifically the impact on the health of the ocean, our wildlife and corals which are essential to maintain the Maui’s shoreline integrity. Our roads are congested with traffic, Sewage ejection wells are pouring sewage into the ocean. We are facing a crossroads here on Maui. Do we want our island to become another Waikiki with the resulting loss of our quality of life, or do we want to limit the number of tourists, putting our money and resources into preserving and creating a diverse economy that is good for tourists and residents, and maintains and preserves the stunning natural beauty of our island, it’s people and our unique flora and fauna. Please vote in favor of this moratorium. Sincerely, Joy Kaaz, Kihei resident.
I support the moratorium. Please stop building visitor accommodations. Our island's resources are already overwhelmed by large numbers of tourists. Continuing to build hotels won’t serve our community's needs, it will only serve the big hotel chains' bottom line. Please do the right thing and stop building visitor accommodations for the foreseeable future. Mahalo.
Paula Satterthwaite from Hāna. We are already overwhelmed! Please enact this moratorium!
I support moratorium to stop building more hotels. Should also include all of Maui County.
Building has become the new thing. Year after year. What about affordable homes, what about the impact it is causing to our beach and oceans
No more hotels! The impact is not worth the jobs/profits
I support the Moratorium! We don’t need more visitor accommodations!!!
I support the moratorium proposal on visitor accommodations. Let's decide how to keep Maui in balance instead of being ruined by excess tourism. This is a challenging and important issue to deal with.
Hawaii is a very special place. We need to keep it that way. Take care of the people of the island that have lived here all tbeir lives that are in need of homes. Take care of the infrastructure of this island and stop putting more people on the island. Take care of our keiki and build them decent schools. Take care of the ocean and think about the constant and critical climate change. More construction means more in our land fills, more cars, more people, more destruction to this beautiful island.
Dorothy Jakubek, Lahaina
County needs to control the numbers coming in. This is out if control. Hundreds of thousand of outsiders flocking here. While our keikis , small businesses n people suffer. Fk the money!!!! Take care of our resources first n foremost.
A moratorium is needed for Maui County on visitor accommodation building. CARE 50 Genesis Young MD testimony.
This urgent and critical problem is damaging our county environment because of excessive number of tourists.
For all the reasons the Council passed the sustainable tourism quality over quantity resolution we need to have this moratorium to stop building more visitor accommodations where we already have too much and give us time to figure out how to get our environmental disaster from over tourism under control.
We have too many tourists and that is damaging the tourist industry let alone the environment and our own enjoyment of where we live.
This is an urgent and critical problem and we must make this moratorium county wide and as important as it is. Otherwise it loses its effectiveness due to no control on the whole County.
This moratorium must be countywide and that is defined and limited.
This moratorium must be as long as possible as 2 Years Goes Way to quickly and many projects such as the Maui Coast Hotel are only slated to begin building in about 2 years which means we will end the moratorium just in time to allow more hotels before we’ve even caught up to the existing permitted hotels that shouldn’t be built. 5 years is more appropriate to really have an impact and decrease new building while we reevaluate.
The conditions for lifting this moratorium are very important. The lawyers would likely have us water this down and create just a single easy trigger to end the moratorium but that is just not the way the world works. This problem has many aspects and so there should be multiple triggers for ending this moratorium that all must be satisfied. That all must be satisfied. This is still limited in scope due to the fact that all of these issues deal with over tourism and its effects.
1st condition is that all visitor accommodation legal and illegal be accurately counted and a mechanism be in place to monitor that monthly
the 2nd condition as per Maui island plan there needs to be a effective mechanism for keeping our relative number of visitors to less than 25% of the humans on the island at any given time as per the 3 to 1 ratio in the Maui island
plan.
The 3rd condition must be that resident sentiment which has been declining since 1988 return to at least 10% above the 1988 decline as measured by the HTA. If we don’t have this as a condition then why are we doing this. Poor resident sentiment equals a poor tourist experience and reflects the experience of environmental degradation
The 4th condition we need to have a full quality of life measuring and monitoring system in place before the moratorium is lifted otherwise we really don’t know where we are and currently the Quality of life measurement is mandated but it is not being fully done and the current indicators are not good in general and not wide enough in scope and please note there is already work being done on this.
5th condition would be that infrastructure be present before new development and be more than sufficient for existing needs not after the fact as a matter of law.
6 condition would be that affordable housing relative to the visitor industry room numbers be adequate to accommodate 20 staff per room of visitor accommodation present have enough affordable housing for the visitor industry staff and an absolute numbers that would seem to be at least 5000 more units. This moratorium should be tied to affordable housing because the need for affordable housing helps the tourist industry to house their staff and have staff therefore.
The 7th condition would be that at least a plan for reef and ecosystem regeneration and maintenance be in place and appropriately funded by the visitor industry that is dependent on this resource and uses this resource and causes the major Degradation of this resource and so for their best interest and ours. They must support this and pay for through a special improvement district if needed and that should be in place before the moratorium is lifted
the 8th condition would be that a county approved sustainable and regenerative visitor industry policy and procedure be in place for the county and all the visitor industry..
In summary this moratorium must be countywide and it is urgent that we adopt this and it must be for at least 5 years and it must have many important conditions to trigger the end of it as that would make this moratorium meaningful by having in place the needed environmental and visitor industry policies and procedures that will make for sustainable tourism quality over quantity and regenerate and maintain our beautiful Maui County into the future.
I wish the construction and hotel industry could see how this will be in their best long-term interest. They also live here don’t think? The visitor industry is destroying the environment that they need.
Mahalo,
Genesis Young MD,
CAAC sustainable tourism subcommittee chair
I support a moratorium on building any more visitor accommodations . Our island is way over crowded with visitors as it is and our environment is suffering because of it . I see people trashing our island and disrespecting the reefs by standing on them and harassing the wildlife . The very thing that brings people here is being destroyed . The west side especially has too much traffic . Traveling to and from work means contending with rental vehicles whose drivers speed and drive aggressively . We are not the mainland !
I don’t go out any more except to go to work and back . I don’t drive around the island anymore not wanting to endanger myself from tourists not paying attention to the road . NO MORE HOTELS PLEASE ! There should also be a moratorium on how many people can travel here . It’s a nightmare being a resident here right now with way too many tourists ! No more development please !!!
Good Morning Chair King. Please see the following attachment regarding my testimony.
Aloha Chair King and Committee Members:
I felt compelled to write because the traffic problems on the Hana road is generating a lot of angst among the Hana community, especially towards the County and State Gov't entities. Tourist are parking anywhere they please, partially due to the apps & websites that are telling them to. It doesn't seem to matter if there are "no parking" signs. Many residents cannot testify because they're at work during County Council meetings. Please consider that most Hana residents would most likely be for this moratorium, especially being a source for "too many cars on the road." Mahalo, Mavis
so many reasons to support & you've probably heard them
tnx for allowing input
Aloha, I am writing in support of the Visitor Accommodations Moratorium Bill and request that the committee recommend an IMMEDIATE moratorium on all new visitor accommodations. Maui is at risk of becoming like Oahu and we need to find a balance of the needs or residents and a tourist economy. Please stop building! Mahalo!
brett gobar and ohana, support moratorium , COUNTY WIDE...construction jobs are TEMPORARY, hotels only benefit off island investors, little of profits remain on maui. HOTEL INDUSTRY LOBBYISTS have presented unsubstantiated claims of economic benefits to transient visitor accomadations
my testimony is attached in a file called Resident visitor ratios
I support the moratorium. We need to focus on sustainability and the last thing we need is more hotel development at this time. The focus should be quality over quantity and let's not add more rooms. Reseorts can focus on improving their existing footprint, increasing the quality and enhancing the guest experience. We need to look at balancing our fragile ecosystem on Maui so let's pause where we are. The moratorium accomplishes there in a smart and prudent way.