I am in favor of a moratorium on visitor accommodations development. I have lived in Kihei for 43 years. Kihei Road and Piilani Highway cannot handle more traffic. Parking at the Kam beaches is unavailable for residents. I am not opposed to tourism, but we have reached more than the limit already. This is so important it should be on the ballot. Thank you.
I support the proposed two year moratorium on hotel building except that two years is gone in a flash. It should be a ten year moratorium to give time for Maui society, economy and committees studying this issue to properly understand what is happening and to come to some sort of balance. Continued population growth and endless development are unsustainable and need to be seriously slowed down. Maui's identity is already seriously diluted by the number of visitors pouring in. Proper housing for workers; restoring our relationship with the environment; and working toward food and energy self sufficiency are our priorities. No more tourists-there are already too many.
Please stop . Every day is such a fight to live in my homeland been here for generations . Slipping into a depression because I am so unsure of my future and my children's future . Where are we going to go . Because of GREED WE GET BOUGHT OUT AND THROWN OUT !
My wife and I wish to add our support (as in: votes) to those coucncil members who support the the 2 moratoruim measures before the council.
As others have mentioned there is already suffient accomodation for the the 3 million (alredy too many) visitors who came here pre-pandemic. I will also remind those opposing the moratoriums the unemployment rate pre-pandemic was consistantly in the 2% range. Full empoyment (everyone who wants a job has one) is generally considered by economists to be an unemployment rate of 4-6%. So the need to create new hotel jobs is not a serious consideration at this time.
A significant contributor to the over-tourisim issue are the airlines - adding thousnads of seats at histoically low prices. That needs to be brought under control. One possibilty is adding a county arrival and / or departure tax. Enough of a tax to have an impact. Such a tax could be written to not ibe applied full time residents. Another possibility is to not expand Kahului airport. Do not lengthen the runway and do not add any gates. Make it hard to accomadate additional passengers. Make the airport a better experience for fewer people.
Perhaps the funds from the arrival / departure tax could be used to enhance the effort to find illegal vacation rentals. Find them, shut them down or get them to pay the proper amount of property tax. If a vaction rental is not properly registered you can be reasonably certain the owner is not paying the proper amount of property tax. So those visitors are in effect getting a "free ride" from a tax perspective.
So the two moratoriums are a good place to start. Please pass both.
I support this moratorium. I have tourists complaining that there are too many tourists on Maui! I have seen what happens to other islands when tourism goes unchecked. The reefs are trashed and the crowds are ridiculous. I have lived in South Kihei for 30 years.
We need to take a time out to figuire out the best way to manage tourisim. There are more than enough projects including second homes in the works already. This makes sense to no one unless they are heavily profiting from it, but at what cost?
Thank you.
I am a Lahaina resident and support a moratorium. But that needs to be the first step. Visitor accommodations need to be reduced to reduce the number of visitors on the island each day by about 25%.
Northface is a company that sells clothing for outdoor activities. They market themselves as an environmentally conscious company. Last year, when Innovex, an oil services company, placed an order for 400 Northface jackets with the Innovex logo to be printed on the jackets as Christmas presents for their employees, Northface refused the order. Saying that putting an the logo of a company associated with the oil industry was not consistent with their Company values.
Earlier this year, the Colorado Oil and Gas association presented a customer appreciation award to the Northface company. They pointed out that most of Northface’s products are produced from polyester fabrics that are petroleum produced materials.
The irony could not be missed of this dichotomy between Northface’s claimed “values” and the products they sell.
I see a similar dichotomy between the many testifiers who are among the 50,000 new residents of Maui that are saying the roads, the beaches, the parks have gotten more crowded of late.
I also see this dichotomy between this council’s actions in 2019 that created 1700 additional Short term rental vacation condos this year thru real property tax policy and now is proposing an action to limit visitor accommodations. 1700 new vacation rental condos, that is more than 5 times all the permitted short term rental homes. That is two Grand Waileas. Sure in generated an additional $10 million in tax revenues, but at what impact?
Finally, I am questioning the justification basis of this measure. The measure includes a definition of visitor accommodations, but second homes of part time Maui residents are not included in this definition. Yet the 1 visitor for every 3 resident statistic being used as justification includes the 20,000 part-time residents who live in these second homes. If the goal is to expand these part-time residents and limit actual tax paying visitors, This measure seems set to achieve that end.
This measure is being proposed as part of Chapter 20 environmental protection. I don’t believe any clear nexus has been established between a limit on visitor accommodations and environmental impacts.
I do believe that Maui County should do more to help manage its growth, environmental protection and compliance with laws. And no one has done more to help with law compliance and collection of proper tax revenues than I. But this measure will not address any of the concerns raised in its preamble.
I support this moratorium. We need to limit the number of visitors on Maui. I work with tourists almost every day. And even the tourists are complaining that there are too many tourists on Maui. Limiting visitor accommodations could drive up demand for accommodations and hotels will be able to put up their prices. So that means that there is more money for hotels and our economy, and hopefully, hotel employees can also get a pay raise, up to a livable wage. At the same time, rising visitor acommodation prices will discourage some visitors from coming here, and demand will be reduced, and daily visitor numbers will hopefully stabilize. Mahalo. Suzie Dorn, Kihei.
My name is Diego Rivera and I am a current law student at William S. Richardson School of Law. I have an undergraduate degree in Environmental Earth and Soil Science and a graduate degree in Environmental Science and Management. I have walked through the lengths of multiple stream channels throughout South Maui, and this moratorium is extremely important in maintaining the environment. Prior to any buildings being erected, it is obvious through the stream beds that they experience large and fast water flows as evidenced by the lack of soil and abundance of rock on the beds, carved out pools where water falls and rapids drop over steep slopes on their way to the ocean. As more structures are erected throughout South Maui, a permanent cap is placed on the land that prevents water from infiltrating the soil and rock underlying the soil, and diverting runoff into those stream channels that already experience large volumes of fast moving water. With this diversion, runoff not only increases in volume as it accumulates on streets and in storm drains, but it increases in speed and it accumulates pollutants at a higher level. With this increased volume, speed, and pollutant collection the water becomes dangerous not just to existing structures in the area, but it degrades the stream channels used for runoff, it destroys beaches where that runoff leads to the ocean, and those pollutants and sediment that are located in the runoff water kill coral, seaweed, seagrass, and fish, essentially destroying the ecosystem just off shore and ruining the integrity of the sides of those stream channels. As South Maui exists right now, there are intermittent open spaces among housing and hotel developments, meaning there is an unbroken chain of permanent caps on the land that runoff into stream channels and ultimately to the ocean. Should those unbroken chains be completed with further developments, those structures only serve to further accelerate runoff waters in both speed and volume. Additionally, these stream channels used to feed wetlands that bordered the ocean which are not only important habitat for species diversity, but act as a filter for pollutants before water can reach the ocean; those wetlands no longer exist as a result of overdevelopment in the area with most stream channels either being directed into the ocean, or into the ground where the water eventually reaches the ocean as a result of the porous geology underlying the surface. Ultimately this moratorium is important in preventing environmental degradation that will only accelerate as 100 year and 10 year storms grow in frequency and intensity. This moratorium on developments is necessary to maintain the integrity of South Maui's environment, as well as the health of the ocean.
This Moratorium should be passed. It is not prohibition; itʻs simply deferring further development for tourist accommodations for enough time to determine whether the benefits outweigh the costs. It gives the Maui leaders two years to plan the management of overtourism which has shown its head in the last few years, and particularly this year.
The lack of data is the precise reason this moratorium should be implemented; it is not a justification for continuing without a moratorium. Deferrals will not result in any long-term impact, but not having a moratorium will cause long-term impact.
Illegal Short Term Rentals should be investigated and shut down effectively, rather than become a reason to dismiss a moratorium. The only illegal STR I know of was shut down after a single rental, proving it is possible and reasonable to enforce.
Vehicles with beds, cartop tents or any sinks, toilets or showers should be treated as short term rentals. There are no facilities in most locations for them to dump waste, they impact the and rural roads and locations negatively and provide little economic benefit to Maui. Many of these are rented by mainland residents, not locals, taking their little economic benefit away.
There should be no exclusions to expand capacity at all for this moratorium. There should be no ability to start a project during the moratorium.
I support a moratorium our resources are getting raped and the food in our oceans are no more i cant even find limu (ogo) where it once was we can't afford anymore tourist beside food resources also we pay for all of them coming here using our facilities and not to mention our emergency services that we pay for we should have them pay for all of these things being they use it more than the residents...Mahalo for letting me voice my opinion
I support a moratorium on visitor development. As others have stated our resources and infrastructure are limited. There is already enough hotel rooms/condos available for tourists.
My name is Molly Jacobson, and I am a resident of Kihei. I strongly support this moratorium. Over tourism is like a cancer on Maui. I study and write about cancer for a living, and I see all six hallmarks at play in our situation. Not only do we need to STOP building, but we need to do so island-wide. Projects that are being built now should be slowed down, as well. We're at a crisis point, and we MUST get our minds and hearts wrapped around our future. My full testimony is posted here: https://mollyjacobson.medium.com/over-tourism-on-maui-behaves-exactly-like-cancer-in-the-body-242ca2ed30d4 and is entitled "Over Tourism on Maui Behaves Exactly Like Cancer in the Body. We Must Take It Seriously and Get Into Treatment Immediately." Our golden goose is dying. If we continue the mindless growth, we will lose our health permanently. Tourism must be managed.
My name is Joy Kaaz, and I am a resident of Kihei. I am writing in support of this moratorium on tourist accommodations, both in South Maui, and island wide. The fragile ecosystems of our island, and existing infrastructure is being destroyed by unregulated and uncapped tourism. An island with only 157,000 residents cannot support 70,000 to 100,000 tourists per day. I humbly and respectfully ask you, for the sake of our aina, our ocean, our quality of life to pass this important piece of legislation. Mahalo for your time and consideration.
Item: MORATORIUM ON VISITOR ACCOMMODATIONS DEVELOPMENT (CARE-50)
Testimony in support of a proposed bill entitled, “AMENDING THE BUILDING CODE TO ADD CHAPTER 40 RELATING TO A MORATORIUM ON BUILDING PERMITS FOR VISITOR ACCOMMODATIONS.”
Dear Councilpersons and committee members,
My name is David Dorn and I support this proposed moratorium.
A Moratorium on Hotel building is needed to maintain a sustainable level of tourism Maui. And this Moratorium needs to be made island-wide.
Maui has already exceeded its predetermined level of “sustainable” tourism.
There is now 1 tourist for every 2.4 locals on Maui. This is beyond the maximum 1:3 ratio that was set previously.
Tourism has already grown faster than our ability to manage and accommodate it.
Population growth: By 2045 there will be 300 thousand people on Maui includig tourists, almost double what we have today.
Overdependence on Tourism: We learned during the covid shutdown that we were far too over-dependent on tourism.
Amenities: Tourists use all of our same amenities
Water: Visitor accommodations use Huge amounts of freshwater
Carbon Footprint: Tourists have the largest Carbon footprint.
Money: Most money from tourists does not all stay on Maui.
Managed Tourism: Tourism has to be managed and limited to stop the further degradation of Maui.
Affordable housing: The building industry needs to focus on building affordable housing, we have a backlog of needed affordable housing that needs to be built.
Construction Jobs: The construction industry needs to focus on building affordable housing. And they can still maintain and renovate all of the existing visitor accommodations as well.
We do not need more hotels. Than we already have. We need to keep numbers the same, until the ratio with the local population is balanced.
Please Note: No one loses from a moratorium, the number of visitor industry jobs remains constant.
Quality of Life: We need to protect the quality of life for Maui’s residents. And not sell out our home to for the sake of building more hotels for off-island corporate profits.
Moratorium: There needs to be a moratorium on all building of tourism accommodation until our balance is restored. We need to stop the expansion of tourism accommodations. We need to reduce the number of tourists on the island to get back to a sustainable level.
Please support this bill for a moratorium, and help us restore the balance on our island. And please make it island-wide,
I support a Moratorium. Visitor numbers have continued to grow (beyond what the Maui Island Plan calls for) unchecked. Our infrastructure is inadequate...a drive from Kahului to West Side is often bumper to bumper traffic. Residents housing is disappearing with off shore sales. We need a major housing plan for the residents. Continued development of visitor accommodations is counter productive to the quality of life for residents.
Aloha Council and Committee members and mahalo for the opportunity to submit testimony.
My name is Amber Coontz. I’m a resident of Lahaina, a part-time teacher with HIDOE, and a part-time restaurant employee.
I support this BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING A NEW CHAPTER 20.41, TITLE 20, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, MAUI COUNTY CODE, DECLARING A MORATORIUM ON TOURIST ACCOMMODATIONS.
I support a moratorium on all visitor and tourist accommodation for the following reasons.
Maui’s current infrastructure is inadequate to support the pre-pandemic levels of tourism experienced prior to March 2020. Waste/sewage treatment facilities and cesspools, roads and parking, medical facilities, and electrical grid/supply are all in need of updates to support Maui’s current resident and tourist population.
Maui has severe droughts and water shortages that require residents to restrict water usage multiple times each year.
Maui’s near-shore roads are under excessive stress from coastal erosion and high-traffic volume from residents and tourists.
66% of Maui County residents agree “the island is being run for tourists at the expense of local people,” according to the HTA Resident Sentiment Survey 2020 Highlights. (The percentage is 73% for West Maui and 67% for Central/East Maui.)
Surveys from HTA and local media in the last year show that residents overwhelmingly agree pre-pandemic levels of tourism were too high. Despite claims from government officials about “regenerative/responsible tourism,” Maui is already back to pre-pandemic visitor numbers.
Maui already has an adequate supply of visitor accommodation for pre-pandemic levels of tourism. March, April, and May 2021 had visitor arrival numbers approximately the same or exceeding the numbers for the same time of year in 2018 and 2019.
According to HTA, April 2021 hotel occupancy was 62% and March 2021 was 49%. Why would Maui need additional visitor accommodation when hotels are not operating at full occupancy despite a return to pre-pandemic visitor numbers?
(DBEDT, Visitor Statistics)
May 2021: 189,767
May 2019: 192,997
May 2018: 179,452
April 2021: 164,036
April 2019: 179,077
April 2018: 165,356
March 2021: 155,748
March 2019: 191,003
March 2018: 179,829
Maui County and the State of Hawaii do not have adequate staff or the initiative to effectively enforce short-term accommodation regulations for legal and illegal vacation rental units/properties. Illegal rentals operate with impunity in residential and commercial areas. Also, many legal short-term rentals are not paying TAT/GET due to a lack of enforcement (source: Hawaii Department of Taxation).
Maui County and the State of Hawaii are not consistently regulating and enforcing County and DLNR environmental protection regulations. Commercial activity on beaches and near-shore waters continues on Sundays and holidays. Visitors and residents are crowding hiking trails, beaches, and ocean activities and often require expensive rescue services.
Maui has a shortage of affordable housing for residents. Maui’s median household income is approximately $75,000 per year. The median home price is approximately $800,000 and one-bedroom apartment rentals start at $1,800 per month.
The lack of enforcement on illegal vacation rentals decreases housing supply for residents. How will the County and State regulate additional visitor accommodation if they cannot enforce rules on the existing supply of visitor accommodation?
Employment in the tourism industry is primarily low-wage service jobs which is why the median household income for Maui is $75,000 per year.
Maui had a low unemployment rate before the pandemic because many residents have to work multiple jobs. Maui employers are struggling to fill current job vacancies since visitor arrivals returned to pre-pandemic levels as of March 2021. Maui residents don’t need more tourism jobs. Maui has a shortage of qualified teachers, nurses, doctors, and skilled trades workers. Residents should be trained and recruited to work in education, healthcare, and skilled trades sectors rather than low-wage service jobs.
The construction industry should retrain workers to update the island’s outdated and overburdened infrastructure (roads, sewage treatment, electric and sustainable energy supply, etc.) rather than continuing to build luxury homes and visitor accommodation for non-residents.
The status quo approach to mass tourism and overdevelopment has not been working for Maui residents. Adding more visitor accommodation here will not solve any of the issues listed above.
Testimonies Received from CARE Committee
I am in favor of a moratorium on visitor accommodations development. I have lived in Kihei for 43 years. Kihei Road and Piilani Highway cannot handle more traffic. Parking at the Kam beaches is unavailable for residents. I am not opposed to tourism, but we have reached more than the limit already. This is so important it should be on the ballot. Thank you.
The environment can't take more visitors. We support the moratorium on building. Mahalo.
I support the proposed two year moratorium on hotel building except that two years is gone in a flash. It should be a ten year moratorium to give time for Maui society, economy and committees studying this issue to properly understand what is happening and to come to some sort of balance. Continued population growth and endless development are unsustainable and need to be seriously slowed down. Maui's identity is already seriously diluted by the number of visitors pouring in. Proper housing for workers; restoring our relationship with the environment; and working toward food and energy self sufficiency are our priorities. No more tourists-there are already too many.
Please stop . Every day is such a fight to live in my homeland been here for generations . Slipping into a depression because I am so unsure of my future and my children's future . Where are we going to go . Because of GREED WE GET BOUGHT OUT AND THROWN OUT !
My wife and I wish to add our support (as in: votes) to those coucncil members who support the the 2 moratoruim measures before the council.
As others have mentioned there is already suffient accomodation for the the 3 million (alredy too many) visitors who came here pre-pandemic. I will also remind those opposing the moratoriums the unemployment rate pre-pandemic was consistantly in the 2% range. Full empoyment (everyone who wants a job has one) is generally considered by economists to be an unemployment rate of 4-6%. So the need to create new hotel jobs is not a serious consideration at this time.
A significant contributor to the over-tourisim issue are the airlines - adding thousnads of seats at histoically low prices. That needs to be brought under control. One possibilty is adding a county arrival and / or departure tax. Enough of a tax to have an impact. Such a tax could be written to not ibe applied full time residents. Another possibility is to not expand Kahului airport. Do not lengthen the runway and do not add any gates. Make it hard to accomadate additional passengers. Make the airport a better experience for fewer people.
Perhaps the funds from the arrival / departure tax could be used to enhance the effort to find illegal vacation rentals. Find them, shut them down or get them to pay the proper amount of property tax. If a vaction rental is not properly registered you can be reasonably certain the owner is not paying the proper amount of property tax. So those visitors are in effect getting a "free ride" from a tax perspective.
So the two moratoriums are a good place to start. Please pass both.
Mahalo
Robert and Harriet Lefton
Kihei
I support this moratorium. I have tourists complaining that there are too many tourists on Maui! I have seen what happens to other islands when tourism goes unchecked. The reefs are trashed and the crowds are ridiculous. I have lived in South Kihei for 30 years.
We need to take a time out to figuire out the best way to manage tourisim. There are more than enough projects including second homes in the works already. This makes sense to no one unless they are heavily profiting from it, but at what cost?
Thank you.
I am a Lahaina resident and support a moratorium. But that needs to be the first step. Visitor accommodations need to be reduced to reduce the number of visitors on the island each day by about 25%.
Northface is a company that sells clothing for outdoor activities. They market themselves as an environmentally conscious company. Last year, when Innovex, an oil services company, placed an order for 400 Northface jackets with the Innovex logo to be printed on the jackets as Christmas presents for their employees, Northface refused the order. Saying that putting an the logo of a company associated with the oil industry was not consistent with their Company values.
Earlier this year, the Colorado Oil and Gas association presented a customer appreciation award to the Northface company. They pointed out that most of Northface’s products are produced from polyester fabrics that are petroleum produced materials.
The irony could not be missed of this dichotomy between Northface’s claimed “values” and the products they sell.
I see a similar dichotomy between the many testifiers who are among the 50,000 new residents of Maui that are saying the roads, the beaches, the parks have gotten more crowded of late.
I also see this dichotomy between this council’s actions in 2019 that created 1700 additional Short term rental vacation condos this year thru real property tax policy and now is proposing an action to limit visitor accommodations. 1700 new vacation rental condos, that is more than 5 times all the permitted short term rental homes. That is two Grand Waileas. Sure in generated an additional $10 million in tax revenues, but at what impact?
Finally, I am questioning the justification basis of this measure. The measure includes a definition of visitor accommodations, but second homes of part time Maui residents are not included in this definition. Yet the 1 visitor for every 3 resident statistic being used as justification includes the 20,000 part-time residents who live in these second homes. If the goal is to expand these part-time residents and limit actual tax paying visitors, This measure seems set to achieve that end.
This measure is being proposed as part of Chapter 20 environmental protection. I don’t believe any clear nexus has been established between a limit on visitor accommodations and environmental impacts.
I do believe that Maui County should do more to help manage its growth, environmental protection and compliance with laws. And no one has done more to help with law compliance and collection of proper tax revenues than I. But this measure will not address any of the concerns raised in its preamble.
I support this moratorium. We need to limit the number of visitors on Maui. I work with tourists almost every day. And even the tourists are complaining that there are too many tourists on Maui. Limiting visitor accommodations could drive up demand for accommodations and hotels will be able to put up their prices. So that means that there is more money for hotels and our economy, and hopefully, hotel employees can also get a pay raise, up to a livable wage. At the same time, rising visitor acommodation prices will discourage some visitors from coming here, and demand will be reduced, and daily visitor numbers will hopefully stabilize. Mahalo. Suzie Dorn, Kihei.
My name is Diego Rivera and I am a current law student at William S. Richardson School of Law. I have an undergraduate degree in Environmental Earth and Soil Science and a graduate degree in Environmental Science and Management. I have walked through the lengths of multiple stream channels throughout South Maui, and this moratorium is extremely important in maintaining the environment. Prior to any buildings being erected, it is obvious through the stream beds that they experience large and fast water flows as evidenced by the lack of soil and abundance of rock on the beds, carved out pools where water falls and rapids drop over steep slopes on their way to the ocean. As more structures are erected throughout South Maui, a permanent cap is placed on the land that prevents water from infiltrating the soil and rock underlying the soil, and diverting runoff into those stream channels that already experience large volumes of fast moving water. With this diversion, runoff not only increases in volume as it accumulates on streets and in storm drains, but it increases in speed and it accumulates pollutants at a higher level. With this increased volume, speed, and pollutant collection the water becomes dangerous not just to existing structures in the area, but it degrades the stream channels used for runoff, it destroys beaches where that runoff leads to the ocean, and those pollutants and sediment that are located in the runoff water kill coral, seaweed, seagrass, and fish, essentially destroying the ecosystem just off shore and ruining the integrity of the sides of those stream channels. As South Maui exists right now, there are intermittent open spaces among housing and hotel developments, meaning there is an unbroken chain of permanent caps on the land that runoff into stream channels and ultimately to the ocean. Should those unbroken chains be completed with further developments, those structures only serve to further accelerate runoff waters in both speed and volume. Additionally, these stream channels used to feed wetlands that bordered the ocean which are not only important habitat for species diversity, but act as a filter for pollutants before water can reach the ocean; those wetlands no longer exist as a result of overdevelopment in the area with most stream channels either being directed into the ocean, or into the ground where the water eventually reaches the ocean as a result of the porous geology underlying the surface. Ultimately this moratorium is important in preventing environmental degradation that will only accelerate as 100 year and 10 year storms grow in frequency and intensity. This moratorium on developments is necessary to maintain the integrity of South Maui's environment, as well as the health of the ocean.
This Moratorium should be passed. It is not prohibition; itʻs simply deferring further development for tourist accommodations for enough time to determine whether the benefits outweigh the costs. It gives the Maui leaders two years to plan the management of overtourism which has shown its head in the last few years, and particularly this year.
The lack of data is the precise reason this moratorium should be implemented; it is not a justification for continuing without a moratorium. Deferrals will not result in any long-term impact, but not having a moratorium will cause long-term impact.
Illegal Short Term Rentals should be investigated and shut down effectively, rather than become a reason to dismiss a moratorium. The only illegal STR I know of was shut down after a single rental, proving it is possible and reasonable to enforce.
Vehicles with beds, cartop tents or any sinks, toilets or showers should be treated as short term rentals. There are no facilities in most locations for them to dump waste, they impact the and rural roads and locations negatively and provide little economic benefit to Maui. Many of these are rented by mainland residents, not locals, taking their little economic benefit away.
There should be no exclusions to expand capacity at all for this moratorium. There should be no ability to start a project during the moratorium.
Please see attached written testimony.
I support a moratorium our resources are getting raped and the food in our oceans are no more i cant even find limu (ogo) where it once was we can't afford anymore tourist beside food resources also we pay for all of them coming here using our facilities and not to mention our emergency services that we pay for we should have them pay for all of these things being they use it more than the residents...Mahalo for letting me voice my opinion
I support a moratorium on visitor development. As others have stated our resources and infrastructure are limited. There is already enough hotel rooms/condos available for tourists.
My name is Molly Jacobson, and I am a resident of Kihei. I strongly support this moratorium. Over tourism is like a cancer on Maui. I study and write about cancer for a living, and I see all six hallmarks at play in our situation. Not only do we need to STOP building, but we need to do so island-wide. Projects that are being built now should be slowed down, as well. We're at a crisis point, and we MUST get our minds and hearts wrapped around our future. My full testimony is posted here: https://mollyjacobson.medium.com/over-tourism-on-maui-behaves-exactly-like-cancer-in-the-body-242ca2ed30d4 and is entitled "Over Tourism on Maui Behaves Exactly Like Cancer in the Body. We Must Take It Seriously and Get Into Treatment Immediately." Our golden goose is dying. If we continue the mindless growth, we will lose our health permanently. Tourism must be managed.
My name is Joy Kaaz, and I am a resident of Kihei. I am writing in support of this moratorium on tourist accommodations, both in South Maui, and island wide. The fragile ecosystems of our island, and existing infrastructure is being destroyed by unregulated and uncapped tourism. An island with only 157,000 residents cannot support 70,000 to 100,000 tourists per day. I humbly and respectfully ask you, for the sake of our aina, our ocean, our quality of life to pass this important piece of legislation. Mahalo for your time and consideration.
Item: MORATORIUM ON VISITOR ACCOMMODATIONS DEVELOPMENT (CARE-50)
Testimony in support of a proposed bill entitled, “AMENDING THE BUILDING CODE TO ADD CHAPTER 40 RELATING TO A MORATORIUM ON BUILDING PERMITS FOR VISITOR ACCOMMODATIONS.”
Dear Councilpersons and committee members,
My name is David Dorn and I support this proposed moratorium.
A Moratorium on Hotel building is needed to maintain a sustainable level of tourism Maui. And this Moratorium needs to be made island-wide.
Maui has already exceeded its predetermined level of “sustainable” tourism.
There is now 1 tourist for every 2.4 locals on Maui. This is beyond the maximum 1:3 ratio that was set previously.
Tourism has already grown faster than our ability to manage and accommodate it.
Population growth: By 2045 there will be 300 thousand people on Maui includig tourists, almost double what we have today.
Overdependence on Tourism: We learned during the covid shutdown that we were far too over-dependent on tourism.
Amenities: Tourists use all of our same amenities
Water: Visitor accommodations use Huge amounts of freshwater
Carbon Footprint: Tourists have the largest Carbon footprint.
Money: Most money from tourists does not all stay on Maui.
Managed Tourism: Tourism has to be managed and limited to stop the further degradation of Maui.
Affordable housing: The building industry needs to focus on building affordable housing, we have a backlog of needed affordable housing that needs to be built.
Construction Jobs: The construction industry needs to focus on building affordable housing. And they can still maintain and renovate all of the existing visitor accommodations as well.
We do not need more hotels. Than we already have. We need to keep numbers the same, until the ratio with the local population is balanced.
Please Note: No one loses from a moratorium, the number of visitor industry jobs remains constant.
Quality of Life: We need to protect the quality of life for Maui’s residents. And not sell out our home to for the sake of building more hotels for off-island corporate profits.
Moratorium: There needs to be a moratorium on all building of tourism accommodation until our balance is restored. We need to stop the expansion of tourism accommodations. We need to reduce the number of tourists on the island to get back to a sustainable level.
Please support this bill for a moratorium, and help us restore the balance on our island. And please make it island-wide,
Aloha,
David Dorn
I support a Moratorium. Visitor numbers have continued to grow (beyond what the Maui Island Plan calls for) unchecked. Our infrastructure is inadequate...a drive from Kahului to West Side is often bumper to bumper traffic. Residents housing is disappearing with off shore sales. We need a major housing plan for the residents. Continued development of visitor accommodations is counter productive to the quality of life for residents.
Aloha Council and Committee members and mahalo for the opportunity to submit testimony.
My name is Amber Coontz. I’m a resident of Lahaina, a part-time teacher with HIDOE, and a part-time restaurant employee.
I support this BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING A NEW CHAPTER 20.41, TITLE 20, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, MAUI COUNTY CODE, DECLARING A MORATORIUM ON TOURIST ACCOMMODATIONS.
I support a moratorium on all visitor and tourist accommodation for the following reasons.
Maui’s current infrastructure is inadequate to support the pre-pandemic levels of tourism experienced prior to March 2020. Waste/sewage treatment facilities and cesspools, roads and parking, medical facilities, and electrical grid/supply are all in need of updates to support Maui’s current resident and tourist population.
Maui has severe droughts and water shortages that require residents to restrict water usage multiple times each year.
Maui’s near-shore roads are under excessive stress from coastal erosion and high-traffic volume from residents and tourists.
66% of Maui County residents agree “the island is being run for tourists at the expense of local people,” according to the HTA Resident Sentiment Survey 2020 Highlights. (The percentage is 73% for West Maui and 67% for Central/East Maui.)
Surveys from HTA and local media in the last year show that residents overwhelmingly agree pre-pandemic levels of tourism were too high. Despite claims from government officials about “regenerative/responsible tourism,” Maui is already back to pre-pandemic visitor numbers.
Maui already has an adequate supply of visitor accommodation for pre-pandemic levels of tourism. March, April, and May 2021 had visitor arrival numbers approximately the same or exceeding the numbers for the same time of year in 2018 and 2019.
According to HTA, April 2021 hotel occupancy was 62% and March 2021 was 49%. Why would Maui need additional visitor accommodation when hotels are not operating at full occupancy despite a return to pre-pandemic visitor numbers?
(DBEDT, Visitor Statistics)
May 2021: 189,767
May 2019: 192,997
May 2018: 179,452
April 2021: 164,036
April 2019: 179,077
April 2018: 165,356
March 2021: 155,748
March 2019: 191,003
March 2018: 179,829
Maui County and the State of Hawaii do not have adequate staff or the initiative to effectively enforce short-term accommodation regulations for legal and illegal vacation rental units/properties. Illegal rentals operate with impunity in residential and commercial areas. Also, many legal short-term rentals are not paying TAT/GET due to a lack of enforcement (source: Hawaii Department of Taxation).
Maui County and the State of Hawaii are not consistently regulating and enforcing County and DLNR environmental protection regulations. Commercial activity on beaches and near-shore waters continues on Sundays and holidays. Visitors and residents are crowding hiking trails, beaches, and ocean activities and often require expensive rescue services.
Maui has a shortage of affordable housing for residents. Maui’s median household income is approximately $75,000 per year. The median home price is approximately $800,000 and one-bedroom apartment rentals start at $1,800 per month.
The lack of enforcement on illegal vacation rentals decreases housing supply for residents. How will the County and State regulate additional visitor accommodation if they cannot enforce rules on the existing supply of visitor accommodation?
Employment in the tourism industry is primarily low-wage service jobs which is why the median household income for Maui is $75,000 per year.
Maui had a low unemployment rate before the pandemic because many residents have to work multiple jobs. Maui employers are struggling to fill current job vacancies since visitor arrivals returned to pre-pandemic levels as of March 2021. Maui residents don’t need more tourism jobs. Maui has a shortage of qualified teachers, nurses, doctors, and skilled trades workers. Residents should be trained and recruited to work in education, healthcare, and skilled trades sectors rather than low-wage service jobs.
The construction industry should retrain workers to update the island’s outdated and overburdened infrastructure (roads, sewage treatment, electric and sustainable energy supply, etc.) rather than continuing to build luxury homes and visitor accommodation for non-residents.
The status quo approach to mass tourism and overdevelopment has not been working for Maui residents. Adding more visitor accommodation here will not solve any of the issues listed above.
Mahalo for the opportunity to submit testimony.