We need this moratorium urgently. Already the situation has gone too far with road congestion’s, environmental pollution and no parking at beaches for local residents.
I support a building permit moratorium for visitor accommodations for ALL of Maui. Our quality of life has been destroyed and the island can not take anymore visitors.
I support a moratorium on ALL VISITOR Accommodations (CARE-50) permits for ALL OF MAUI COUNTY. We must be good stewards - where all can thrive - including nature, residents and tourists.
I support the ban on building any more buildings to accommodate more tourists. The number of tourists currently visiting Maui is unsustainable and putting enormous pressure on our natural resources, traffic and lessons the quality of life for the people of Maui. Until we are able to implement a sustainable tourism model (example: Palau), we need a moratorium on further tourism growth. We should also have a moratorium on rental cars as dealerships try to bring back all the rental cars that left the island during COVID. Traffic is starting to reach its breaking point again.
I support this moratorium to cease new building for visitors. Personally, my business and my husbands both depend on visitors, and I will say that at the moment the tourism industry is thriving, and we need more tourist management for our residents. Specifically for North Kihei, there is no place for the visitors to walk within the community there. It is a residential neighborhood. Also, while we depend on tourism now, we do not need that to be our main source of income. There are several islands, cities, that are not dependent on tourism. Being completely dependent on outside money leaves us beholden to whatever happens with the industry. We need to continue investment in our own economy here. The North Kihei location has two areas one directly on the beach, this location is simply bad for the environment. I support this moratorium and for it to be expanded to the whole island. I am not against tourism, just that it should be better managed.
Testimony from Nick Drance, The Maui Miracle
RE: CARE – 50, Committee Hearing May 19, 2021
I support this moratorium with the following provisions:
A. If Item 4000.6 indicates automatic repeal two years from the effective date of the ordinance, I do not support that. I do support 4000.5 which extends the moratorium until the approval of the West and South Maui Community Plan Updates, by Ordinance.
I do not support an automatic repeal date.
B. I request that Corporation Council use its due diligence in ensuring that there are no loopholes that would allow circumvention of this Ordinance as requested by the Chair of the CARE Committee and ask also that independent Counsel also review it, in anticipation of challenges to its validity from local and mainland business interests. I would expect those challenges to be formidable.
C. Should this become an Ordinance, I wish it to be made clear upon that occasion, that this is the will of the majority of constituents represented by each Council Member, based on the following:
1. Every widely accepted government and academic study related to tourism indicates that we are well outside the resident/tourist metric limits they establish, to the extreme. It’s hard to argue with the volume and quality of those studies.
2. CARE-47 CC 21-190 indicates that the Lana’i, Maui and Moloka’I recommends that the Countywide Plan…which we are supposed to be following, include the following:. “MITIGATE CLIMATE CHANGE AND WORK TOWARD RESILIENCE' AS A GOAL OF THE COUNTYWIDE POLICY PLAN”
3. The Maui Island Plan, effective through 2030 and Countywide Plan call for balance between necessary development and maintaining the character of the island. It’s based on the Focus Maui Nui study, funded by A&B, State of Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. It affirms this with greater specificity. As the highest quality, most professional survey, it’s not fair to ignore it. Because it was established by Ordinance, it should be a binding document. Its primary vision refers to “livable communities and small towns that will protect and perpetuate a pono lifestyle for the future, applying sound natural resource management, retaining our unique identity and preservation of our rural and ag lands (often converted to an urban designation)
Full text appears below. There is no mention of business interests beyond the establishment of a diversified economy, which hotels have not encouraged.
4. It’s obvious that tourist accommodations, retail and commercial development provide only the most minimal benefit to residents. Why on earth would residents want to maintain this sad status quo. It changes our unique identity and reduces our quality of life with traffic and mainland values like endless shopping, instead of an appreciation of the abundant characteristics of “nature”…which everyone would agree, has been diminishing for years.
5. We need a breather. We need to take stock of where we are going and how we are getting there. We appear to be on a self-destruct course. A surprising amount of prior testimony in the Water, Infrastructure and Transportation Committee Hearing called out issues with the Planning Department and Planning Commission. That assumes the need to re-evaluate those entities with regard to the subject at hand.
Condensed summary of the Core Values
The first is to apply sound natural resource management. Ostensibly, that puts our natural resources as a priority of other things..like development for example. It encompasses our watersheds, streams and wastewater treatment.
The fourth requirement is to retain our unique identity and sense of place (which does not include seemingly endless hotel construction and more).
The fifth requirement is to preserve our rural and agricultural lands and encourage sustainable agriculture.
The remaining requirements include efforts to diversify our economy, create a political climate that is responds to citizen input, and respect the dignity of residents.
VISION STATEMENT AND CORE VALUES
Ua mau ke ea o ka `āina i ka pono
Maui Island will be environmentally, economically, and culturally sustainable with clean, safe, and livable communities and small towns that will protect and perpetuate a pono lifestyle for the future.
Core Values
To achieve our island’s vision, we will be guided by the following values:
A. Adopt responsible stewardship principles by applying sound natural resource management practices.
B. Respect and protect our heritage, traditions, and multi-cultural resources.
C. Plan and build communities that include a diversity of housing.
D. Retain and enhance the unique identity and sense of place;
E. Preserve rural and agricultural lands and encourage sustainable agriculture.
F. Secure necessary infrastructure concurrently with future development.
G. Support efforts that contribute to a sustainable and diverse economy for Maui.
H. Create a political climate that seeks and responds to citizen input.
I. Respect and acknowledge the dignity of those who live on Maui.
J. Establish a sustainable transportation system that includes multiple modes, including walking, biking, and mass transit, as well as automobile-based modes; and
K. Recognize and be sensitive to land ownership issues and work towards resolution.
Please find attached the testimony of JP Oliver, Managing Director, Grand Wailea, a Waldorf Astoria Resort in opposition to CARE-50. Please let us know if the committee needs any additional information.
Aloha Esteemed Chair and Committee,
I submit this testimony in support of the proposed Moratorium on Building Permits for Visitor Accommodations. It is now fully recognized that the pre-pandemic level of tourism is not sustainable. The degradation and damage being done to the islands in terms of the ecology, health and lifestyle became glaringly clear. Priorities must shift to maintain and improve the natural beauty and health of our environment not only so tourists will come but so residents will want to stay and can enjoy the peaceful lifestyle that the islands offer. Quality over quantity is a reasonable slogan but there needs to be a plan of action in place to achieve this goal. If we can’t regulate the number of flights that come to the islands, we have to do it by limiting accommodations. The proposed visitor accommodations moratorium will pause further development of new hotel, resort, timeshare, short-term rental homes, bed and breakfast homes, and transient vacation rental units until a permanent solution is vetted and enacted. Another consideration to the problem of over tourism is the reality of food scarcity for our islands. Until and unless we develop a thriving agricultural economy that provides food to feed the population, we will be without sufficient food to feed the local population let alone the added thousands of tourists that will be here when a catastrophic event or shipping strike or some other likely disruption occurs. We have no stockpiles of food or water to depend on. It will be survival of the fittest. It’s time to take the blinders off and get our priorities straight in order to survive.
Thank you for your consideration.
Patricia Stillwell
Kihei
Council of the County of Maui
The Committee on Climate Action, Resilience, and Environment
RE: MORATORIUM ON BUILDING PERMITS FOR VISITOR ACCOMMODATIONS (CARE-50)
Hearing date and time: Wednesday, May 19, 2021 at 9:00 a.m.
Aloha Chair King and members of the Climate Action, Resilience, and Environment Committee,
I am Co-Founder of the Hawaii chapter of 350.org, the largest international organization dedicated to fighting climate change. 350Hawaii.org supports the proposed moratorium on building permits for visitor accommodations. This proposed bill would amend the building code to place a moratorium on visitor accommodations development in West and South Maui, an action which would help ensure the County stays on track to implement critical plan action items relating to the visitor-industry impact on the County's environment. By doing so, this bill would help preserve the County's environment and efforts towards climate change mitigation and resilience-building.
Just last month the State Legislature followed Maui County’s lead and officially declared a Climate Emergency for Hawaii. But it is not enough to acknowledge the crisis we face, meaningful actions to address the climate crisis must be taken. This moratorium would do just that by providing the County with clear policy direction to mitigate climate change and work toward resilience.
Mahalo for the opportunity to testify in support of the proposed moratorium on building permits for visitor accommodations.
Council of the County of Maui
The Committee on Climate Action, Resilience,
And Environment
Councilmember Kelly T. King, Committee Chair
Councilmember Shane Sinenci, Committee Vice-Chair
RE: MORATORIUM ON VISITOR ACCOMMODATIONS DEVELOPMENT (CARE-50)
Hearing date and time: Monday, May 19, 2021 at 9:00 a.m.
Aloha Chair King, Vice-Chair Sinenci and Honorable members of Climate Action, Resilience, and Environment Committee,
Mahalo for the opportunity to provide comments on behalf of Hawaii Hotel Alliance ("HHA") regarding the County’s consideration of a moratorium on building permits for visitor accommodations.
Like so many industries, the pandemic was a game-changer for tourism. The COVID-19 economic recession left Hawaii’s hotels the hardest hit market in the country. For a year, most hotels throughout the county were shut down and/or at occupancy levels that have left many properties operating at a significant loss. Despite the devastating impact that COVID-19 has had on Maui’s hotels, the industry doubled down on our commitment to our island home and to the most valuable assets we have: the men and women of Hawaii who work in and around our hotels.
Throughout the pandemic, our hotels extended the health and welfare benefits for our furloughed employees and developed life-saving ‘Safe Stay’ protocols to protect our workers, our guests, and the communities we serve. Our hotels invested directly in community food drives, supported kupuna care, and engaged in countless acts of support for churches, schools, and relief programs. The legitimate visitor industry has worked tirelessly to keep kama‘aina safe and healthy while working towards the safe reopening of our hotels. Simply put: our hotel industry will continue its generational commitment to being an integral part of the health of thriving communities across Maui County and across our State because the legitimate visitor industry believes that tourism is additive to support the well-being of those of us who call Hawaii home. The same cannot be said of illegal short-term rentals.
At the heart of this matter of a moratorium on building permits for visitor accommodations appears to be a desire to control the negative impacts of tourism across Maui County. At HHA and throughout the legitimate visitor industry, we share this concern. We believe the conversation should focus on the causes of the negative impacts of tourism and not the parts of the visitor industry that are crucial to our health, our culture, and our way of life here in the islands.
In 2009, Hawaii had 43,000 hotel rooms which ran at high occupancy with seven million visitors to our shores. In 2019, we had the same number of hotel rooms but more than 10.2 million visitors. In the last 20 years, our total hotel room count on Maui has actually fallen, while at the same time legal and illegal short-term rentals have exploded, effectively permitting a 6,000 room hotel and a 10,000 room illegal, unhosted B&B directly into the heart of some of our most coveted neighborhoods and fragile ecosystems across the county. The vast majority of these short-term rental operators do not live in Maui County. While we have made progress in putting tougher laws on the books to deter this criminal activity of operating illegal hotels in our neighborhoods, our hardworking partners at the county have admitted that we still lack the resources and tools to rollout effective and critical enforcement.
In contrast to these illegal short-term rentals, our hotels consist of entire ecosystems that consider the needs of our guests and our guests’ impact on the communities in which our hotels are situated. Hotels are self-contained environments that, with tremendous input from our community members, permitting authorities, employees, and cultural advisors, are designed to minimize the cost and footprint of our visitors while maximizing visitor spend and contribution to our economy. From maintenance of the beaches our visitors use to the promotion of volun-tourism and ecotourism opportunities for our guests, hotels are actively engineering positive visitor impact for the benefit of Hawaii.
If it is the intent of the Council to align the interests of kama‘aina and the visitor industry, then a moratorium on ‘permits for visitor accommodations’ (which reads as no more hotel rooms) is, in my belief, a misinformed approach. Rather than single out hotels, which contribute to our communities in countless ways, we should focus our ire on enforcement against the literal thousands of illegal short-term rentals that are taking housing away from local families, clogging our streets, breaking the law, not contributing to our tax base, skirting environmental compliance, non-compliant with basic health and safety regulations, lacking in community contributions, and destroying neighborhoods across Maui County and throughout Hawaii.
Yes, it is time to revisit our relationship with our visitors. And on behalf of HHA and our membership, we welcome every opportunity to continue our work with the Council and our communities in developing projects that put locals to work, invest in environmental stewardship, and promote local business, schools, and non-profits while honoring our host culture. Thank you for your time and consideration of these comments.
With Aloha,
Jerry Gibson, President
Hawaii Hotel Alliance
Jerry@hawaiihotelalliance.com
Mahalo for the opportunity to submit testimony on behalf of the Maui Hotel & Lodging Association.
The Maui Hotel & Lodging Association (MHLA) is the legislative arm of the visitor industry. Our membership includes 195 property and allied business members in Maui County – all of whom have an interest in the visitor industry. Collectively, MHLA’s membership employs over 25,000 residents and represents over 19,000 rooms. The visitor industry is the economic driver for Maui County. We are the largest employer of residents on the Island - directly employing approximately 40% of all residents (indirectly, the percentage increases to 75%).
It should be noted that the findings of this proposed measure cite tourism statistics from 2019 that do not take into account the pandemic. The industry will continue to face challenges to recover after a year-long depression in visitor arrival numbers.
Restricting construction, expansion, or renovation would only harm other sectors of our economy like construction and other trades that have survived the pandemic. Building permits of all types ultimately mean more projects and, by extension, more jobs for Maui residents. It would seem self-destructive to enact such limiting constraints on both the travel industry and the trades in Maui which is historically the county most reliant upon tourism for its economic well-being. This fact was made especially clear during and throughout a pandemic that has left Hawai‘i with the highest unemployment rate in the nation.
The moratorium as proposed will stifle our industry’s ability to continue efforts towards the development of more sustainable infrastructure. Most importantly to note, pausing visitor accommodation development will not stop visitors from traveling. It is our position that visitors should be encouraged to stay in Maui's purposely constructed and zoned resort areas. If development is paused in these resort areas, the already extensive proliferation of illegal short-term rentals in our residential communities will likely increase to fill the void. This must not be allowed to continue.
For all these reasons, MHLA strongly opposes this bill and its proposed measures.
Mahalo again for the opportunity to offer this testimony.
-----Original Message-----
From: Maria Scafidi <fntsees@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, May 17, 2021 9:05 AM
To: County Clerk <County.Clerk@mauicounty.us>
Subject: T-54...
Proposed tourist accommodations moratorium….
I wholeheartedly support the moratorium and ask that the planning commission of the Maui County Council not only “Pause” but “Stop” all building permits for ALL OF MAUI COUNTY.
We are writing in strong opposition to the proposed bill to “amend the building code to add Chapter 40 relating to a moratorium on building permits for visitor accommodations.”
The bill is overreaching and unnecessary given that the County, through the existing process, can already decide which proposed developments are good for the community without imposing a moratorium.
Implementing a moratorium on building permits for new hotel, resort, timeshare, short-term rental homes, bed and breakfast homes, and transient vacation rental units for an undefined period of time will have far-reaching and long-term negative impacts on real estate, construction, tourism and the whole island economy.
While the intent is to place a pause on the development of visitor accommodations and any increase in visitors, it also will have a negative impact on much-needed employment opportunities for our Maui residents who work in construction, tourism and in other related fields such as transportation and retail. Other unintended consequences include the negative impact on other areas of our economy that rely on the trickle-down effects of employment and tourism, such as suppliers of products that support such accommodations.
Our timeshare industry cares about the environment, and we recognize the need for responsible tourism and better management of our precious resources. Due consideration should be given to the broader impacts of the proposed measure, however. We as a community need to look to some sort of resolution that provides our local residents with the ability to continue to work to provide for their families while at the same time addressing the impacts of the influx of visitors until Maui can transition to a more diversified economic base.
We respectfully request that you defer this measure and instead convene a task force with representatives from all stakeholders to address these concerns in a deeper and more meaningful way.
-----Original Message-----
From: David Mulinix <ourrevolutionhawaii@yahoo.com>
Sent: Monday, May 17, 2021 12:17 AM
To: County Clerk <County.Clerk@mauicounty.us>
Subject: TESTIMONY: MORATORIUM ON BUILDING PERMITS FOR VISITOR ACCOMMODATIONS (IT-54)
Aloha Chair and Committee Members,
On behalf of Our Revolution Hawaii's 7,000 members and supporters statewide we stand in strong support of the proposed moratorium on building permits for visitor accommodations. This bill will help the County implement an action plan relating to the visitor-industry impact on Maui County's environment.
As the Chair and Committee are well aware we are already in a climate emergency. Due to the growing Climate Crisis it's time to take meaningful steps to address it. This moratorium will provide the County with an opportunity to take action and develop clear policy direction to mitigate climate breakdown and work toward resilience.
Mahalo Nui Loa for your kind attention.
Dave Mulinix, Cofounder & Hawaii State Community Organizer Our Revolution Hawaii
We need schools, housing, and infrastructure before anymore vistor accommodations!
We need this moratorium urgently. Already the situation has gone too far with road congestion’s, environmental pollution and no parking at beaches for local residents.
I support a building permit moratorium for visitor accommodations for ALL of Maui. Our quality of life has been destroyed and the island can not take anymore visitors.
I support a moratorium on ALL VISITOR Accommodations (CARE-50) permits for ALL OF MAUI COUNTY. We must be good stewards - where all can thrive - including nature, residents and tourists.
I support the ban on building any more buildings to accommodate more tourists. The number of tourists currently visiting Maui is unsustainable and putting enormous pressure on our natural resources, traffic and lessons the quality of life for the people of Maui. Until we are able to implement a sustainable tourism model (example: Palau), we need a moratorium on further tourism growth. We should also have a moratorium on rental cars as dealerships try to bring back all the rental cars that left the island during COVID. Traffic is starting to reach its breaking point again.
I SUPPORT a moratorium on all development and permitting of visitor accommodations for the entire island of Maui.
I support this moratorium to cease new building for visitors. Personally, my business and my husbands both depend on visitors, and I will say that at the moment the tourism industry is thriving, and we need more tourist management for our residents. Specifically for North Kihei, there is no place for the visitors to walk within the community there. It is a residential neighborhood. Also, while we depend on tourism now, we do not need that to be our main source of income. There are several islands, cities, that are not dependent on tourism. Being completely dependent on outside money leaves us beholden to whatever happens with the industry. We need to continue investment in our own economy here. The North Kihei location has two areas one directly on the beach, this location is simply bad for the environment. I support this moratorium and for it to be expanded to the whole island. I am not against tourism, just that it should be better managed.
I support a building permit moratorium on visitor accommodations for ALL of Maui.
Testimony from Nick Drance, The Maui Miracle
RE: CARE – 50, Committee Hearing May 19, 2021
I support this moratorium with the following provisions:
A. If Item 4000.6 indicates automatic repeal two years from the effective date of the ordinance, I do not support that. I do support 4000.5 which extends the moratorium until the approval of the West and South Maui Community Plan Updates, by Ordinance.
I do not support an automatic repeal date.
B. I request that Corporation Council use its due diligence in ensuring that there are no loopholes that would allow circumvention of this Ordinance as requested by the Chair of the CARE Committee and ask also that independent Counsel also review it, in anticipation of challenges to its validity from local and mainland business interests. I would expect those challenges to be formidable.
C. Should this become an Ordinance, I wish it to be made clear upon that occasion, that this is the will of the majority of constituents represented by each Council Member, based on the following:
1. Every widely accepted government and academic study related to tourism indicates that we are well outside the resident/tourist metric limits they establish, to the extreme. It’s hard to argue with the volume and quality of those studies.
2. CARE-47 CC 21-190 indicates that the Lana’i, Maui and Moloka’I recommends that the Countywide Plan…which we are supposed to be following, include the following:. “MITIGATE CLIMATE CHANGE AND WORK TOWARD RESILIENCE' AS A GOAL OF THE COUNTYWIDE POLICY PLAN”
3. The Maui Island Plan, effective through 2030 and Countywide Plan call for balance between necessary development and maintaining the character of the island. It’s based on the Focus Maui Nui study, funded by A&B, State of Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. It affirms this with greater specificity. As the highest quality, most professional survey, it’s not fair to ignore it. Because it was established by Ordinance, it should be a binding document. Its primary vision refers to “livable communities and small towns that will protect and perpetuate a pono lifestyle for the future, applying sound natural resource management, retaining our unique identity and preservation of our rural and ag lands (often converted to an urban designation)
Full text appears below. There is no mention of business interests beyond the establishment of a diversified economy, which hotels have not encouraged.
4. It’s obvious that tourist accommodations, retail and commercial development provide only the most minimal benefit to residents. Why on earth would residents want to maintain this sad status quo. It changes our unique identity and reduces our quality of life with traffic and mainland values like endless shopping, instead of an appreciation of the abundant characteristics of “nature”…which everyone would agree, has been diminishing for years.
5. We need a breather. We need to take stock of where we are going and how we are getting there. We appear to be on a self-destruct course. A surprising amount of prior testimony in the Water, Infrastructure and Transportation Committee Hearing called out issues with the Planning Department and Planning Commission. That assumes the need to re-evaluate those entities with regard to the subject at hand.
Condensed summary of the Core Values
The first is to apply sound natural resource management. Ostensibly, that puts our natural resources as a priority of other things..like development for example. It encompasses our watersheds, streams and wastewater treatment.
The fourth requirement is to retain our unique identity and sense of place (which does not include seemingly endless hotel construction and more).
The fifth requirement is to preserve our rural and agricultural lands and encourage sustainable agriculture.
The remaining requirements include efforts to diversify our economy, create a political climate that is responds to citizen input, and respect the dignity of residents.
VISION STATEMENT AND CORE VALUES
Ua mau ke ea o ka `āina i ka pono
Maui Island will be environmentally, economically, and culturally sustainable with clean, safe, and livable communities and small towns that will protect and perpetuate a pono lifestyle for the future.
Core Values
To achieve our island’s vision, we will be guided by the following values:
A. Adopt responsible stewardship principles by applying sound natural resource management practices.
B. Respect and protect our heritage, traditions, and multi-cultural resources.
C. Plan and build communities that include a diversity of housing.
D. Retain and enhance the unique identity and sense of place;
E. Preserve rural and agricultural lands and encourage sustainable agriculture.
F. Secure necessary infrastructure concurrently with future development.
G. Support efforts that contribute to a sustainable and diverse economy for Maui.
H. Create a political climate that seeks and responds to citizen input.
I. Respect and acknowledge the dignity of those who live on Maui.
J. Establish a sustainable transportation system that includes multiple modes, including walking, biking, and mass transit, as well as automobile-based modes; and
K. Recognize and be sensitive to land ownership issues and work towards resolution.
Please find attached the testimony of JP Oliver, Managing Director, Grand Wailea, a Waldorf Astoria Resort in opposition to CARE-50. Please let us know if the committee needs any additional information.
Aloha Esteemed Chair and Committee,
I submit this testimony in support of the proposed Moratorium on Building Permits for Visitor Accommodations. It is now fully recognized that the pre-pandemic level of tourism is not sustainable. The degradation and damage being done to the islands in terms of the ecology, health and lifestyle became glaringly clear. Priorities must shift to maintain and improve the natural beauty and health of our environment not only so tourists will come but so residents will want to stay and can enjoy the peaceful lifestyle that the islands offer. Quality over quantity is a reasonable slogan but there needs to be a plan of action in place to achieve this goal. If we can’t regulate the number of flights that come to the islands, we have to do it by limiting accommodations. The proposed visitor accommodations moratorium will pause further development of new hotel, resort, timeshare, short-term rental homes, bed and breakfast homes, and transient vacation rental units until a permanent solution is vetted and enacted. Another consideration to the problem of over tourism is the reality of food scarcity for our islands. Until and unless we develop a thriving agricultural economy that provides food to feed the population, we will be without sufficient food to feed the local population let alone the added thousands of tourists that will be here when a catastrophic event or shipping strike or some other likely disruption occurs. We have no stockpiles of food or water to depend on. It will be survival of the fittest. It’s time to take the blinders off and get our priorities straight in order to survive.
Thank you for your consideration.
Patricia Stillwell
Kihei
Virus-free. www.avast.com
Please find attached ARDA Hawaii Letter and Memorandum. Thank you.
Council of the County of Maui
The Committee on Climate Action, Resilience, and Environment
RE: MORATORIUM ON BUILDING PERMITS FOR VISITOR ACCOMMODATIONS (CARE-50)
Hearing date and time: Wednesday, May 19, 2021 at 9:00 a.m.
Aloha Chair King and members of the Climate Action, Resilience, and Environment Committee,
I am Co-Founder of the Hawaii chapter of 350.org, the largest international organization dedicated to fighting climate change. 350Hawaii.org supports the proposed moratorium on building permits for visitor accommodations. This proposed bill would amend the building code to place a moratorium on visitor accommodations development in West and South Maui, an action which would help ensure the County stays on track to implement critical plan action items relating to the visitor-industry impact on the County's environment. By doing so, this bill would help preserve the County's environment and efforts towards climate change mitigation and resilience-building.
Just last month the State Legislature followed Maui County’s lead and officially declared a Climate Emergency for Hawaii. But it is not enough to acknowledge the crisis we face, meaningful actions to address the climate crisis must be taken. This moratorium would do just that by providing the County with clear policy direction to mitigate climate change and work toward resilience.
Mahalo for the opportunity to testify in support of the proposed moratorium on building permits for visitor accommodations.
Sherry Pollack, Co-Founder, 350Hawaii.org
May 17, 2021
Council of the County of Maui
The Committee on Climate Action, Resilience,
And Environment
Councilmember Kelly T. King, Committee Chair
Councilmember Shane Sinenci, Committee Vice-Chair
RE: MORATORIUM ON VISITOR ACCOMMODATIONS DEVELOPMENT (CARE-50)
Hearing date and time: Monday, May 19, 2021 at 9:00 a.m.
Aloha Chair King, Vice-Chair Sinenci and Honorable members of Climate Action, Resilience, and Environment Committee,
Mahalo for the opportunity to provide comments on behalf of Hawaii Hotel Alliance ("HHA") regarding the County’s consideration of a moratorium on building permits for visitor accommodations.
Like so many industries, the pandemic was a game-changer for tourism. The COVID-19 economic recession left Hawaii’s hotels the hardest hit market in the country. For a year, most hotels throughout the county were shut down and/or at occupancy levels that have left many properties operating at a significant loss. Despite the devastating impact that COVID-19 has had on Maui’s hotels, the industry doubled down on our commitment to our island home and to the most valuable assets we have: the men and women of Hawaii who work in and around our hotels.
Throughout the pandemic, our hotels extended the health and welfare benefits for our furloughed employees and developed life-saving ‘Safe Stay’ protocols to protect our workers, our guests, and the communities we serve. Our hotels invested directly in community food drives, supported kupuna care, and engaged in countless acts of support for churches, schools, and relief programs. The legitimate visitor industry has worked tirelessly to keep kama‘aina safe and healthy while working towards the safe reopening of our hotels. Simply put: our hotel industry will continue its generational commitment to being an integral part of the health of thriving communities across Maui County and across our State because the legitimate visitor industry believes that tourism is additive to support the well-being of those of us who call Hawaii home. The same cannot be said of illegal short-term rentals.
At the heart of this matter of a moratorium on building permits for visitor accommodations appears to be a desire to control the negative impacts of tourism across Maui County. At HHA and throughout the legitimate visitor industry, we share this concern. We believe the conversation should focus on the causes of the negative impacts of tourism and not the parts of the visitor industry that are crucial to our health, our culture, and our way of life here in the islands.
In 2009, Hawaii had 43,000 hotel rooms which ran at high occupancy with seven million visitors to our shores. In 2019, we had the same number of hotel rooms but more than 10.2 million visitors. In the last 20 years, our total hotel room count on Maui has actually fallen, while at the same time legal and illegal short-term rentals have exploded, effectively permitting a 6,000 room hotel and a 10,000 room illegal, unhosted B&B directly into the heart of some of our most coveted neighborhoods and fragile ecosystems across the county. The vast majority of these short-term rental operators do not live in Maui County. While we have made progress in putting tougher laws on the books to deter this criminal activity of operating illegal hotels in our neighborhoods, our hardworking partners at the county have admitted that we still lack the resources and tools to rollout effective and critical enforcement.
In contrast to these illegal short-term rentals, our hotels consist of entire ecosystems that consider the needs of our guests and our guests’ impact on the communities in which our hotels are situated. Hotels are self-contained environments that, with tremendous input from our community members, permitting authorities, employees, and cultural advisors, are designed to minimize the cost and footprint of our visitors while maximizing visitor spend and contribution to our economy. From maintenance of the beaches our visitors use to the promotion of volun-tourism and ecotourism opportunities for our guests, hotels are actively engineering positive visitor impact for the benefit of Hawaii.
If it is the intent of the Council to align the interests of kama‘aina and the visitor industry, then a moratorium on ‘permits for visitor accommodations’ (which reads as no more hotel rooms) is, in my belief, a misinformed approach. Rather than single out hotels, which contribute to our communities in countless ways, we should focus our ire on enforcement against the literal thousands of illegal short-term rentals that are taking housing away from local families, clogging our streets, breaking the law, not contributing to our tax base, skirting environmental compliance, non-compliant with basic health and safety regulations, lacking in community contributions, and destroying neighborhoods across Maui County and throughout Hawaii.
Yes, it is time to revisit our relationship with our visitors. And on behalf of HHA and our membership, we welcome every opportunity to continue our work with the Council and our communities in developing projects that put locals to work, invest in environmental stewardship, and promote local business, schools, and non-profits while honoring our host culture. Thank you for your time and consideration of these comments.
With Aloha,
Jerry Gibson, President
Hawaii Hotel Alliance
Jerry@hawaiihotelalliance.com
Dear Chair King and members of the Committee,
Mahalo for the opportunity to submit testimony on behalf of the Maui Hotel & Lodging Association.
The Maui Hotel & Lodging Association (MHLA) is the legislative arm of the visitor industry. Our membership includes 195 property and allied business members in Maui County – all of whom have an interest in the visitor industry. Collectively, MHLA’s membership employs over 25,000 residents and represents over 19,000 rooms. The visitor industry is the economic driver for Maui County. We are the largest employer of residents on the Island - directly employing approximately 40% of all residents (indirectly, the percentage increases to 75%).
It should be noted that the findings of this proposed measure cite tourism statistics from 2019 that do not take into account the pandemic. The industry will continue to face challenges to recover after a year-long depression in visitor arrival numbers.
Restricting construction, expansion, or renovation would only harm other sectors of our economy like construction and other trades that have survived the pandemic. Building permits of all types ultimately mean more projects and, by extension, more jobs for Maui residents. It would seem self-destructive to enact such limiting constraints on both the travel industry and the trades in Maui which is historically the county most reliant upon tourism for its economic well-being. This fact was made especially clear during and throughout a pandemic that has left Hawai‘i with the highest unemployment rate in the nation.
The moratorium as proposed will stifle our industry’s ability to continue efforts towards the development of more sustainable infrastructure. Most importantly to note, pausing visitor accommodation development will not stop visitors from traveling. It is our position that visitors should be encouraged to stay in Maui's purposely constructed and zoned resort areas. If development is paused in these resort areas, the already extensive proliferation of illegal short-term rentals in our residential communities will likely increase to fill the void. This must not be allowed to continue.
For all these reasons, MHLA strongly opposes this bill and its proposed measures.
Mahalo again for the opportunity to offer this testimony.
-----Original Message-----
From: Maria Scafidi <fntsees@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, May 17, 2021 9:05 AM
To: County Clerk <County.Clerk@mauicounty.us>
Subject: T-54...
Proposed tourist accommodations moratorium….
I wholeheartedly support the moratorium and ask that the planning commission of the Maui County Council not only “Pause” but “Stop” all building permits for ALL OF MAUI COUNTY.
MAHALO NUI…
Maria Scafidi
I
Chair King and members of the CARES Committee,
We are writing in strong opposition to the proposed bill to “amend the building code to add Chapter 40 relating to a moratorium on building permits for visitor accommodations.”
The bill is overreaching and unnecessary given that the County, through the existing process, can already decide which proposed developments are good for the community without imposing a moratorium.
Implementing a moratorium on building permits for new hotel, resort, timeshare, short-term rental homes, bed and breakfast homes, and transient vacation rental units for an undefined period of time will have far-reaching and long-term negative impacts on real estate, construction, tourism and the whole island economy.
While the intent is to place a pause on the development of visitor accommodations and any increase in visitors, it also will have a negative impact on much-needed employment opportunities for our Maui residents who work in construction, tourism and in other related fields such as transportation and retail. Other unintended consequences include the negative impact on other areas of our economy that rely on the trickle-down effects of employment and tourism, such as suppliers of products that support such accommodations.
Our timeshare industry cares about the environment, and we recognize the need for responsible tourism and better management of our precious resources. Due consideration should be given to the broader impacts of the proposed measure, however. We as a community need to look to some sort of resolution that provides our local residents with the ability to continue to work to provide for their families while at the same time addressing the impacts of the influx of visitors until Maui can transition to a more diversified economic base.
We respectfully request that you defer this measure and instead convene a task force with representatives from all stakeholders to address these concerns in a deeper and more meaningful way.
Thank you for your consideration.
Respectfully submitted,
Ryan Nobriga
ARDA Hawaii
Maui Task Force Chair
-----Original Message-----
From: David Mulinix <ourrevolutionhawaii@yahoo.com>
Sent: Monday, May 17, 2021 12:17 AM
To: County Clerk <County.Clerk@mauicounty.us>
Subject: TESTIMONY: MORATORIUM ON BUILDING PERMITS FOR VISITOR ACCOMMODATIONS (IT-54)
Aloha Chair and Committee Members,
On behalf of Our Revolution Hawaii's 7,000 members and supporters statewide we stand in strong support of the proposed moratorium on building permits for visitor accommodations. This bill will help the County implement an action plan relating to the visitor-industry impact on Maui County's environment.
As the Chair and Committee are well aware we are already in a climate emergency. Due to the growing Climate Crisis it's time to take meaningful steps to address it. This moratorium will provide the County with an opportunity to take action and develop clear policy direction to mitigate climate breakdown and work toward resilience.
Mahalo Nui Loa for your kind attention.
Dave Mulinix, Cofounder & Hawaii State Community Organizer Our Revolution Hawaii