From: Amy Fonarow <afonarow@yahoo.com>
Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2021 8:24 PM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: I Support the Moratorium on Visitor Accommodations
Aloha, Climate Action, Resilience, and Environment Committee:
I support the moratorium on Visitor accommodation development, and I respectfully request that you do the same and extends its provisions to all of Maui County.
There are ways to make tourism simultaneously sustainable and profitable. In order to have the time to explore and discuss those ways, we must stop and examine our current accommodations and the numbers of visitors we have already made room for, and compare those numbers with the environmental, cultural, and societal carrying capacity of Maui County before considering adding more room for more visitors.
Please use this moment in time to stop and think about the future without considering money. What will be important to the Islands twenty years from now? One hundred?
Thank you for your thoughtful consideration.
Mahalo nui and mālama pono,
Amy Fonarow (former Maui resident)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy Fonarow
Science Communicator
Writing • Outreach • Social Media
From: Milena Kari <milenakari@yahoo.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 11:48 AM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: Support for moratorium on building permits island wide
Aloha Maui Care Committee,
I am writing to express my full support for the moratorium on building permits for visitor accommodations, island-wide and preferably for 5 years or more in order to give us adequate time to find alternative sustainable solutions.
The arguments made by tourist industry lobbyists in opposition of the moratorium do not make any sense. They are trying to masquerade their opposition by a concern for the citizens of Maui County, citing COVID unemployment data. The whole point is that the jobs loss was due to the hotels temporarily losing their business. How would having more hotels prevent this problem? Quite the opposite, the job loss opened our eyes to the fact how dependent we are on the tourist industry. Also, as shown in Maui News today, this summer tourism to Maui county is projected to be back at its pre-COVID level which was already unsustainable. Pre-covid Hawaii had no issues with unemployment, in fact had one of the lowest unemployment rates. Businesses were struggling to find workers, why? Because the tourist industry provides low paying jobs allowing only for bare survival. People working these jobs cannot pay their rents, let alone afford to buy residence.
It is obvious that all the push for building more visitor accommodations is not for the interest of the island residents, but rather for the profits or large off-island companies, CEOs and other entities.
Therefore it is urgent that we put a stop on this insanity and look into ways to reduce number of visitors to the island which has far outgrown any sustainable limits. Instead we should try to expand other industries such as agriculture, technology (the Tech Park in Kihei is dead), clean energy are just a few that come to mind.
With the dangers of climate change we also have an obligation, each one of us, to do whatever we can to stop and reverse this trend. The tourist industry has been shown to be carbon heavy and not climate-friendly as shown with facts in some testimonies. This stop action is really urgent!
Mahalo for your initiative and for reading this letter!
From: Ane Takaha <bhaktirocks@earthlink.net>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 12:09 PM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: tourists
Aloha
I support the moratorium on new hotel building and any other measure you can create to limit or control the number of tourists on Maui. It feels more like Oahu (without the infrastructure to support it) everyday.
From: Patricia Hoskin <pattylou9@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 12:21 PM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: Visitor accommodations
Yes, I want to support the moratorium on visitor accommodations. It is so bad now the cars hardly move on South Kihei Road and then the government is going to stop traffic on Piilani to do a foolish traffic circle. We can not just go to any beach as the hotels have taken up the beaches with their chairs. It makes me ill.
Patricia Hoskin
From: Thomas Mellin <tmellin@yahoo.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 12:35 PM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: Moratorium on building permits for visitor accommodations
Aloha kākou,
I don’t understand why there is even a discussion on this point. The law is clear.
Maui County Code 2.80B.030.B. All agencies shall comply with the general plan, and administrative actions by agencies shall conform to the general plan,…
MAUI ISLAND PLAN
Chapter 4: Economic Development
Page 4-14
Objective: 4.2.3 Maximize residents’ benefits from the visitor industry.
Policies: 4.2.3a Promote a desirable island population by striving to not exceed an island-wide visitor population of roughly 33 percent of the resident population.
What we had before the pandemic was not desirable. If it isn’t already, it will soon be undesirable again. I do not believe a few short-term construction jobs are worth degrading the quality of life for all residents and risking killing the goose that lays the golden egg. This matter should be a no-brainer. Please support the moratorium.
From: Tanya Kari <tanyakari@kiheicharter.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 1:03 PM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: Visitor Accomodations Moratorium
Hi, I am a high school student at Kihei Charter School. I wanted to let you know that I support the visitor accommodations moratorium, and I believe it should include all of Maui County.
Visitor arrivals have been breaking records lately. My mom works at the Kahului airport. She tells me that the airport is as crowded as it was before the pandemic began. Residents have to deal with packed beaches and roads. In 2019, Maui alone had over 3 million visitors and about half the number of residents. The number of visitors will only continue to increase as we build up land to accommodate them.
The visitor industry is already overbuilt. Hotels and timeshares disrupt the environment by taking up natural land space and hogging our water supply. Some of these areas hold cultural value to Native Hawaiians. The tourist industry also feeds into climate change and global warming. The average person on Maui has about six times the carbon footprint of the average American because they are involved in tourism - and the United States has the highest carbon footprint (per person) than any other nation.
While tourists are swarming into the airports every day, residents have to leave the island because they cannot afford to live here. Most of the jobs created by hotels pay too low for workers to pay their daily expenses. I think Maui should focus on creating more sustainable and high-paying jobs for our community instead of abusing the environment to serve the wants of rich corporations.
I believe that the visitor industry has passed the point where it served residents, and I am concerned about the future of this island. Maui is a beautiful place, and I want to preserve it.
"When the last tree is cut down, the last fish eaten and the last stream poisoned, you will realize that you cannot eat money"
From: Ane Takaha <bhaktirocks@earthlink.net>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 2:03 PM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: tourism
Aloha
I am supporting any bill or proposal or person who is looking into how to limit tourism, rental cars, and new hotel builds.
The paper today says we will be back to past numbers by this summer. Feels like we all ready are. No place to park. Traffic. Swimming (when you can get beach parking) is like navigating a busy freeway.
I did not move here many years ago for this.
Thank you
Ane Takaha
Maui Meadows.
(PS I own my house and pay taxes. I feel like I should be able to park at the beach)
From: Charle Brissette <cbrissette@sbcglobal.net>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 3:18 PM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: MORATORIUM ON BUILDING PERMITS FOR VISITOR ACCOMMODATIONS (IT-54
Maui County Council,
I am writing to you in support of the MORATORIUM ON BUILDING PERMITS FOR VISITOR ACCOMMODATIONS (IT-54) for West and South Maui. I am a full time resident of Kihei and have been for many years. Here is a list of some of the many reasons why I believe this bill must pass.
1. When I see all of the building that is sprouting up in Kihei, Wailea, Makena and other places in South and West Maui I ask myself, “who benefits from all of this?”. Is it the residents of those areas; NO! More building means more visitors and tourists, more traffic, crowded beaches, long lines at restaurants, a burden on our food and water supplies and more of our tax dollars being spent on things that do not benefit the tax payers of Maui County.
2. On one hand we have been told for many years that Kihei and the surrounding cities are in a drought. On the other we see buildings going up and many more in the planning and permit stages? If we are in a drought, how can we possibly have enough water to support these additional buildings? This does not make any sense.
3. As the bill points out, the visitor-resident ration far exceeds the Maui Island Plan. The Maui Island Plan was put into place to make sure that Maui stays a wonderful island for its residents who are here each and every day and that it does not become overrun by tourists who come and go. Isn’t it time that we get back to what that Plan is all about?
4. The job of our elected officials is to make sure that WE THE TAXPAYERS voice is heard above and beyond those with money who want to turn South and West Maui into their “tourist playground”. Do those who want to continue to overbuild and overdevelop Maui have a personal stake in our island? NO! Will they deal with the consequences of their actions that WE THE RESIDENTS will have to deal with on a daily basis? NO!
5. As I see the high school being built I cannot help but think that traffic jams in South Maui will soon be a daily grind. The third North/South road that was proposed many years ago has not been completed nor addressed. This means the Piilani Hwy and South Kihei Rd will be overflowing with traffic once the high school is ready for classes. These traffic jams will exist with the South Maui population as it is today! With the additional building that is planned and in some cases already in progress, this problem will surely become much worse. Does this benefit WE THE TAXPAYERS and WE THE RESIDENTS? NO!
6. Lastly, we have had issues in the past with the sewer systems and with the electric grid. The additional building can only increase the burden on those systems that are already heavily taxed. Do more sewers that can potentially cause issues with the ocean benefit the residents? NO! Do additional solar grids or electric substations benefit the residents? NO!
I strongly recommend that the Council pass the bill and create a moratorium on building and permits until South and West Maui can solve the issues that currently exist. Let’s build a third North/South road through Kihei to alleviate the traffic jams, address the water supply issue, address the sewer and electric grid issues and stick to the Maui Island Plan when it comes to the visitor-tourist ratio. Then and only then should we even consider additional planning/permitting and building on Maui.
Also please modify the proposed bill to include all of Maui County and not just South and West Maui and pass an ordinance to stop the 170 room hotel from being built in Kihei that has gone to the Maui Planning Commission.
From: peahijen@hawaii.rr.com <peahijen@hawaii.rr.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 4:48 PM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: Moratorium on New Visitor Accommodations
Aloha,
I have only lived on Maui for a little over 30 years but in that time I’ve seen the island change dramatically. We are overrun with tourists on any given day, fighting for a position in the traffic line up and treating the island like it was a trip to Disneyland. We need to limit the number of people and cars so we don’t lose what’s left of the limited natural resources of our island home.
From the moment I arrived, the newspapers reported that the Iao Aquifer was nearing dangerously low levels. But the development of the island has not stopped over the decades. During times of drought, residents are always told to conserve water, often with threats of losing their water meter, but hotel guests are never asked to do the same. How can this be sustained? Where will the water come from when the aquifer runs out?
With every new big box store, we’ve lost a smaller, family run business. We used to have everything we needed. Now it’s worrisome when the barges don’t bring more, more, more of everything. Certainly there are more people living on the island but everything returned to calm, manageable levels when the flights were stopped during the Covid shut down. Of course we wouldn’t be able to live totally without tourism but it reminded us of how easy it used to be to drive from place to place without spending half the trip waiting in traffic.
There are better ways to manage tourism. We have all the hotels we need. We cannot handle more cars on the road or more people on the reefs or on bicycles coming down the mountain. And if more rooms are needed, allow VRBOs so that residents, rather than corporations, can participate in this money-making opportunity. Maui used to be a community but mainland companies and opportunists have turned it into nothing more than a commodity. Please put a moratorium on new visitor accommodations so that we can catch our breath and deal with the already overwhelming volume of tourists and cars.
From: Keri McIntosh <kmcintosh@thecastlegrp.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 8:40 PM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: Testimony for moratorium for hotel/vacation buildings
To the Members of City Council and to whomever is involved. Please read my testimony.
I am a full time resident of Kihei. I am in favor of the moratorium for hotel/vacation buildings.
Our community has been growing way too fast with the focus of just tourism. The traffic is getting worse and worse. We have roads that can’t accommodate the vehicles already here and we have roads that are in need of repair including the street I live on! Please let’s focus on the local community first. There are more tourists than residents here. There is a crisis of affordable homes for locals to rent. We have an inadequate bus system. There are issues of water, sewer and the environment to think about. Adding more hotels and vacation units is simply not sustainable. Overcrowding the already congested area with more hotels and tourist units creates a less enjoyable experience for the tourists who do visit. We cannot afford to be shortsighted when it comes to planning for the future. Please pass this moratorium. We need to make a plan that will keep the community of residents safe, sustainable and economically sound. Thank you for all your hard work and listening to all opinions and hopefully doing what’s right for generations to come.
Kind regards,
Keri McIntosh
Resident of Mahie Place
From: Steve Forman <stevenmforman@yahoo.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 9:38 PM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: Vistor Accommodation Moratorium
The amount of tourists on Maui has gotten to be too much. The whole industry needs to be addressed. For now a good step would be to put a moratorium on building any more visitor accommodations. This should stand for the whole island.
From: Mary Groode <dechenmaui@hawaii.rr.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 10:36 PM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: Support the Moratorium on building permits for new visitor accommodations.
Aloha,
How much is enough? How much is TOO much?
This summer we are going to have as many tourists as we had before the pandemic.
If we keep building more and more accommodations for tourists, they will keep coming. And, our life style and the things we love about Maui will be gone.
Is it worth it to want more and more people on this one island?
I strongly support the moratorium on new building permits for visitor accommodations for two years. Let’s see how we can have a happy medium. Enough tourists to support the economy.
Enough space for residents to find a place to park at the beach on the weekend.
Limit the number of cars for rent to avoid gridlock traffic jams.
This moratorium should include all of Maui County.
Our future is in your hands.
Act wisely, please. Live Aloha.
From: Bobbie Best <bestb002@hawaii.rr.com>
Sent: Monday, May 24, 2021 6:53 AM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: Please support visitor building moratorium for all of Maui County
From: Amy Fonarow <afonarow@yahoo.com>
Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2021 8:24 PM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: I Support the Moratorium on Visitor Accommodations
Aloha, Climate Action, Resilience, and Environment Committee:
I support the moratorium on Visitor accommodation development, and I respectfully request that you do the same and extends its provisions to all of Maui County.
There are ways to make tourism simultaneously sustainable and profitable. In order to have the time to explore and discuss those ways, we must stop and examine our current accommodations and the numbers of visitors we have already made room for, and compare those numbers with the environmental, cultural, and societal carrying capacity of Maui County before considering adding more room for more visitors.
Please use this moment in time to stop and think about the future without considering money. What will be important to the Islands twenty years from now? One hundred?
Thank you for your thoughtful consideration.
Mahalo nui and mālama pono,
Amy Fonarow (former Maui resident)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy Fonarow
Science Communicator
Writing • Outreach • Social Media
From: Milena Kari <milenakari@yahoo.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 11:48 AM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: Support for moratorium on building permits island wide
Aloha Maui Care Committee,
I am writing to express my full support for the moratorium on building permits for visitor accommodations, island-wide and preferably for 5 years or more in order to give us adequate time to find alternative sustainable solutions.
The arguments made by tourist industry lobbyists in opposition of the moratorium do not make any sense. They are trying to masquerade their opposition by a concern for the citizens of Maui County, citing COVID unemployment data. The whole point is that the jobs loss was due to the hotels temporarily losing their business. How would having more hotels prevent this problem? Quite the opposite, the job loss opened our eyes to the fact how dependent we are on the tourist industry. Also, as shown in Maui News today, this summer tourism to Maui county is projected to be back at its pre-COVID level which was already unsustainable. Pre-covid Hawaii had no issues with unemployment, in fact had one of the lowest unemployment rates. Businesses were struggling to find workers, why? Because the tourist industry provides low paying jobs allowing only for bare survival. People working these jobs cannot pay their rents, let alone afford to buy residence.
It is obvious that all the push for building more visitor accommodations is not for the interest of the island residents, but rather for the profits or large off-island companies, CEOs and other entities.
Therefore it is urgent that we put a stop on this insanity and look into ways to reduce number of visitors to the island which has far outgrown any sustainable limits. Instead we should try to expand other industries such as agriculture, technology (the Tech Park in Kihei is dead), clean energy are just a few that come to mind.
With the dangers of climate change we also have an obligation, each one of us, to do whatever we can to stop and reverse this trend. The tourist industry has been shown to be carbon heavy and not climate-friendly as shown with facts in some testimonies. This stop action is really urgent!
Mahalo for your initiative and for reading this letter!
Milena Kari,
Kahului, HI
From: Ane Takaha <bhaktirocks@earthlink.net>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 12:09 PM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: tourists
Aloha
I support the moratorium on new hotel building and any other measure you can create to limit or control the number of tourists on Maui. It feels more like Oahu (without the infrastructure to support it) everyday.
Thank you
Ane Takaha
Maui Meadows
From: Patricia Hoskin <pattylou9@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 12:21 PM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: Visitor accommodations
Yes, I want to support the moratorium on visitor accommodations. It is so bad now the cars hardly move on South Kihei Road and then the government is going to stop traffic on Piilani to do a foolish traffic circle. We can not just go to any beach as the hotels have taken up the beaches with their chairs. It makes me ill.
Patricia Hoskin
From: Thomas Mellin <tmellin@yahoo.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 12:35 PM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: Moratorium on building permits for visitor accommodations
Aloha kākou,
I don’t understand why there is even a discussion on this point. The law is clear.
Maui County Code 2.80B.030.B. All agencies shall comply with the general plan, and administrative actions by agencies shall conform to the general plan,…
MAUI ISLAND PLAN
Chapter 4: Economic Development
Page 4-14
Objective: 4.2.3 Maximize residents’ benefits from the visitor industry.
Policies: 4.2.3a Promote a desirable island population by striving to not exceed an island-wide visitor population of roughly 33 percent of the resident population.
What we had before the pandemic was not desirable. If it isn’t already, it will soon be undesirable again. I do not believe a few short-term construction jobs are worth degrading the quality of life for all residents and risking killing the goose that lays the golden egg. This matter should be a no-brainer. Please support the moratorium.
Mahalo,
Tom Mellin
From: Tanya Kari <tanyakari@kiheicharter.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 1:03 PM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: Visitor Accomodations Moratorium
Hi, I am a high school student at Kihei Charter School. I wanted to let you know that I support the visitor accommodations moratorium, and I believe it should include all of Maui County.
Visitor arrivals have been breaking records lately. My mom works at the Kahului airport. She tells me that the airport is as crowded as it was before the pandemic began. Residents have to deal with packed beaches and roads. In 2019, Maui alone had over 3 million visitors and about half the number of residents. The number of visitors will only continue to increase as we build up land to accommodate them.
The visitor industry is already overbuilt. Hotels and timeshares disrupt the environment by taking up natural land space and hogging our water supply. Some of these areas hold cultural value to Native Hawaiians. The tourist industry also feeds into climate change and global warming. The average person on Maui has about six times the carbon footprint of the average American because they are involved in tourism - and the United States has the highest carbon footprint (per person) than any other nation.
While tourists are swarming into the airports every day, residents have to leave the island because they cannot afford to live here. Most of the jobs created by hotels pay too low for workers to pay their daily expenses. I think Maui should focus on creating more sustainable and high-paying jobs for our community instead of abusing the environment to serve the wants of rich corporations.
I believe that the visitor industry has passed the point where it served residents, and I am concerned about the future of this island. Maui is a beautiful place, and I want to preserve it.
"When the last tree is cut down, the last fish eaten and the last stream poisoned, you will realize that you cannot eat money"
From: Ane Takaha <bhaktirocks@earthlink.net>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 2:03 PM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: tourism
Aloha
I am supporting any bill or proposal or person who is looking into how to limit tourism, rental cars, and new hotel builds.
The paper today says we will be back to past numbers by this summer. Feels like we all ready are. No place to park. Traffic. Swimming (when you can get beach parking) is like navigating a busy freeway.
I did not move here many years ago for this.
Thank you
Ane Takaha
Maui Meadows.
(PS I own my house and pay taxes. I feel like I should be able to park at the beach)
From: Jeffrey Jeffrey <mygearth@yahoo.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 3:10 PM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: Moratorium
We only have one Maui
Smart growth or no growth!
Let’s not become a Oahu!!!M
Be smart
Jeffrey Alan
From: Charle Brissette <cbrissette@sbcglobal.net>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 3:18 PM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: MORATORIUM ON BUILDING PERMITS FOR VISITOR ACCOMMODATIONS (IT-54
Maui County Council,
I am writing to you in support of the MORATORIUM ON BUILDING PERMITS FOR VISITOR ACCOMMODATIONS (IT-54) for West and South Maui. I am a full time resident of Kihei and have been for many years. Here is a list of some of the many reasons why I believe this bill must pass.
1. When I see all of the building that is sprouting up in Kihei, Wailea, Makena and other places in South and West Maui I ask myself, “who benefits from all of this?”. Is it the residents of those areas; NO! More building means more visitors and tourists, more traffic, crowded beaches, long lines at restaurants, a burden on our food and water supplies and more of our tax dollars being spent on things that do not benefit the tax payers of Maui County.
2. On one hand we have been told for many years that Kihei and the surrounding cities are in a drought. On the other we see buildings going up and many more in the planning and permit stages? If we are in a drought, how can we possibly have enough water to support these additional buildings? This does not make any sense.
3. As the bill points out, the visitor-resident ration far exceeds the Maui Island Plan. The Maui Island Plan was put into place to make sure that Maui stays a wonderful island for its residents who are here each and every day and that it does not become overrun by tourists who come and go. Isn’t it time that we get back to what that Plan is all about?
4. The job of our elected officials is to make sure that WE THE TAXPAYERS voice is heard above and beyond those with money who want to turn South and West Maui into their “tourist playground”. Do those who want to continue to overbuild and overdevelop Maui have a personal stake in our island? NO! Will they deal with the consequences of their actions that WE THE RESIDENTS will have to deal with on a daily basis? NO!
5. As I see the high school being built I cannot help but think that traffic jams in South Maui will soon be a daily grind. The third North/South road that was proposed many years ago has not been completed nor addressed. This means the Piilani Hwy and South Kihei Rd will be overflowing with traffic once the high school is ready for classes. These traffic jams will exist with the South Maui population as it is today! With the additional building that is planned and in some cases already in progress, this problem will surely become much worse. Does this benefit WE THE TAXPAYERS and WE THE RESIDENTS? NO!
6. Lastly, we have had issues in the past with the sewer systems and with the electric grid. The additional building can only increase the burden on those systems that are already heavily taxed. Do more sewers that can potentially cause issues with the ocean benefit the residents? NO! Do additional solar grids or electric substations benefit the residents? NO!
I strongly recommend that the Council pass the bill and create a moratorium on building and permits until South and West Maui can solve the issues that currently exist. Let’s build a third North/South road through Kihei to alleviate the traffic jams, address the water supply issue, address the sewer and electric grid issues and stick to the Maui Island Plan when it comes to the visitor-tourist ratio. Then and only then should we even consider additional planning/permitting and building on Maui.
Also please modify the proposed bill to include all of Maui County and not just South and West Maui and pass an ordinance to stop the 170 room hotel from being built in Kihei that has gone to the Maui Planning Commission.
regards,
Charlie Brissette
From: peahijen@hawaii.rr.com <peahijen@hawaii.rr.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 4:48 PM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: Moratorium on New Visitor Accommodations
Aloha,
I have only lived on Maui for a little over 30 years but in that time I’ve seen the island change dramatically. We are overrun with tourists on any given day, fighting for a position in the traffic line up and treating the island like it was a trip to Disneyland. We need to limit the number of people and cars so we don’t lose what’s left of the limited natural resources of our island home.
From the moment I arrived, the newspapers reported that the Iao Aquifer was nearing dangerously low levels. But the development of the island has not stopped over the decades. During times of drought, residents are always told to conserve water, often with threats of losing their water meter, but hotel guests are never asked to do the same. How can this be sustained? Where will the water come from when the aquifer runs out?
With every new big box store, we’ve lost a smaller, family run business. We used to have everything we needed. Now it’s worrisome when the barges don’t bring more, more, more of everything. Certainly there are more people living on the island but everything returned to calm, manageable levels when the flights were stopped during the Covid shut down. Of course we wouldn’t be able to live totally without tourism but it reminded us of how easy it used to be to drive from place to place without spending half the trip waiting in traffic.
There are better ways to manage tourism. We have all the hotels we need. We cannot handle more cars on the road or more people on the reefs or on bicycles coming down the mountain. And if more rooms are needed, allow VRBOs so that residents, rather than corporations, can participate in this money-making opportunity. Maui used to be a community but mainland companies and opportunists have turned it into nothing more than a commodity. Please put a moratorium on new visitor accommodations so that we can catch our breath and deal with the already overwhelming volume of tourists and cars.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Shannon
From: Keri McIntosh <kmcintosh@thecastlegrp.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 8:40 PM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: Testimony for moratorium for hotel/vacation buildings
To the Members of City Council and to whomever is involved. Please read my testimony.
I am a full time resident of Kihei. I am in favor of the moratorium for hotel/vacation buildings.
Our community has been growing way too fast with the focus of just tourism. The traffic is getting worse and worse. We have roads that can’t accommodate the vehicles already here and we have roads that are in need of repair including the street I live on! Please let’s focus on the local community first. There are more tourists than residents here. There is a crisis of affordable homes for locals to rent. We have an inadequate bus system. There are issues of water, sewer and the environment to think about. Adding more hotels and vacation units is simply not sustainable. Overcrowding the already congested area with more hotels and tourist units creates a less enjoyable experience for the tourists who do visit. We cannot afford to be shortsighted when it comes to planning for the future. Please pass this moratorium. We need to make a plan that will keep the community of residents safe, sustainable and economically sound. Thank you for all your hard work and listening to all opinions and hopefully doing what’s right for generations to come.
Kind regards,
Keri McIntosh
Resident of Mahie Place
From: Steve Forman <stevenmforman@yahoo.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 9:38 PM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: Vistor Accommodation Moratorium
The amount of tourists on Maui has gotten to be too much. The whole industry needs to be addressed. For now a good step would be to put a moratorium on building any more visitor accommodations. This should stand for the whole island.
Thank you
Steven Forman
From: Mary Groode <dechenmaui@hawaii.rr.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 10:36 PM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: Support the Moratorium on building permits for new visitor accommodations.
Aloha,
How much is enough? How much is TOO much?
This summer we are going to have as many tourists as we had before the pandemic.
If we keep building more and more accommodations for tourists, they will keep coming. And, our life style and the things we love about Maui will be gone.
Is it worth it to want more and more people on this one island?
I strongly support the moratorium on new building permits for visitor accommodations for two years. Let’s see how we can have a happy medium. Enough tourists to support the economy.
Enough space for residents to find a place to park at the beach on the weekend.
Limit the number of cars for rent to avoid gridlock traffic jams.
This moratorium should include all of Maui County.
Our future is in your hands.
Act wisely, please. Live Aloha.
Sincerely,
Mary Groode
From: Bobbie Best <bestb002@hawaii.rr.com>
Sent: Monday, May 24, 2021 6:53 AM
To: CARE Committee <CARE.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: Please support visitor building moratorium for all of Maui County
Mahalo
Aloha,
Bobbie Best