Meeting Time: November 03, 2021 at 9:00am HST
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Agenda Item

PSLU-28 CC 21-280 MORATORIUM ON NEW TRANSIENT ACCOMMODATIONS ON MAUI (PSLU-28)

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    Guest User almost 3 years ago

    We need to rethink how to make affordable housing a reality without losing money through TAT

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    Guest User almost 3 years ago

    Aloha Planning and Sustainable Land Use Commission,
    If there's one thing the tsunami of visitors that has arrived in 2021 has shown us is that there is such a thing as too much: too many people, too many cars, not enough residents to care for all of the visitors and fill all of the job openings necessary to keep the tourist machine running.
    Median prices on homes has skyrocketed due to mainland real estate speculators being able to work remotely pricing local families and residents out of ever being able to own a home. Rents have skyrocketed in step with the cost of home purchase. Properties that were always workforce housing are being purchased and converted to vacation rentals. On West Maui to name a few, Napili Ridge and Kahana Manor always were workforce housing, a starter place for young people that fill so many jobs in tourism. My first place out of my parents house when I was 22 was the Kahana Manor. Recently a real estate speculator purchased 30+ apartments at Kahana Manor, so many friends losing their long time homes, and turned into vacation rentals. A home in Mahinahina that had 5 separate unit recently was given a STR permit taking away housing for 15 more people. Our housing is not a commodity to be sold to greedy real estate speculators that don't live here and don't give back to our community. Enough is enough! Vacation rentals should not be allowed in workforce housing. Our community needs places for young people and working families to live and live in dignity, not 5 people in a studio because that's all they can afford. Our elected officials need to represent the people of Maui not mainland investors that only seek to exploit a system that doesn't work for our residents. Please NO MORE VACATION RENTALS IN APARTMENT DISTRICTS. Please Council members, do what's right for our community and protect what housing we still have left for our community.
    Please support a moratorium on new hotels. There are plenty of vacation rentals lining the west and south shores of this island, some in desperate need of repair and coastal retreat. As stated above we cannot even house enough workers to fully staff the hotels we already have.
    Please do the right thing. Protect workforce housing by denying and revoking STR permits in apartment districts and please no more hotels!
    Mahalo for your time,
    Amy Stephens
    Napili

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    Guest User almost 3 years ago

    Dear Maui County Councilmembers,

    On behalf of Maui PRMA, the Vacation Rental Trade Council under the Maui Chamber of Commerce, we would like to express our opposition to PSLU-28 and PSLU-34. PRMA, the Professional Rental Management Association, is a coalition of professional property management companies representing over 1600 legally zoned condominium vacation rental units throughout Maui. Our members are licensed in the State of Hawaii, engaged in the management of legal vacation rental properties, primarily condominiums, and comply with real estate license law and code of ethics. Our companies represent 216 years in business, employing nearly 200 employees and over 300 independent contractors and vendors and nearly all of our members have properties listed on the Minatoya list, some with a majority of their inventory on the list.

    Since 2018, Maui’s vacation rentals have contributed $18.9 million towards affordable housing, more than all the hotels, all the homeowners and all other businesses combined. This year the legal short-term rentals generated $8.5M for the affordable housing fund.

    PLSU-34 could potentially defund affordable housing for Maui County at a time when we need it most. The intent of this proposed phase out bill is to create affordable housing; however, most of these properties would not be affordable to rent. Many of these properties do not have storage, parking or ample space for children to play that would be appropriate for affordable housing.

    This bill could result in a potential loss of $74M in Real Property Tax revenue for the county of Maui, and a loss of $69M in TAT Revenue for the State. The result will be an increase in taxes for Maui residents.

    We are in agreement with RAM’s below proposed reasons for opposing these two bills:

    1. Economic Benefit: The County of Maui has identified approximately 7,302 condominium units that have the ability to conduct TVR use under the comprehensive zoning ordinance's permitted uses for the A-1 and A-2 districts. Based on recent changes to our real property tax laws, these properties are generally placed in the short-term rental tax classification by default. These 7,302 condominiums represent approximately $74.7 million in annual RPT revenue overall. It makes no financial sense to eliminate such a reliable and substantial source of revenue for the county, especially at the risk of jeopardizing our bond rating.

    2. Funding the Comprehensive Affordable Housing Plan: The Comprehensive Affordable Housing Plan calls for the County of Maui to "increase funding into the Affordable Housing Fund to $58 million annually." Similarly, the plan calls for the County of Maui to use its excellent bond rating to borrow against the Affordable Housing Fund in order to fund other components of the plan. Eliminating TVR use from these subject condominiums would result in a possible loss of $74 million in annual revenue lost overall. Such a loss in revenue and reduction in our tax base would make it impossible to fully fund the Comprehensive Affordable Housing Plan.

    3. Eliminating TVR Use May Actually Jeopardize Long-Term Affordable Housing Opportunities for Residents: TVR use in the subject condominiums is an incentive for investment purchasers to seek out and purchase these aging condominiums instead of other residential properties on the island.

    4. Empowering the Hotels and Maximizing Advertising Dollars: Eliminating TVR use in the subject condominiums only benefits the hotel industry, as it will be eliminating their only real competition while negatively impacting county revenue and affordable housing development.

    5. Legal Challenges: Many property owners have already contacted RAM and expressed their intent to take legal action against the County of Maui if their property rights are abridged.

    On behalf of PRMA, our members, employees and vendors, we ask that you please focus your attention on providing the housing we need, instead of looking for ways to punish property owners for doing what the County of Maui expressly allows them to do.

    We welcome any discussion with you or a member of your administration and can be contacted at Mauiprma@gmail.com.

    Mahalo,

    John Kevan
    Angela Leone
    Co-Founders of Maui Professional Rental Management Association (Maui PRMA)

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    Guest User almost 3 years ago

    This is short sided thinking. There are so many possibilities of ways to serve all needs of the community. This isn’t one of them. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

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    Guest User almost 3 years ago

    As a VRBO member, I oppose PSLU-34. Small businesses always take the fallout.

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    Guest User almost 3 years ago

    I am in support of this bill.

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    Guest User almost 3 years ago

    Strongly oppose!

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    Guest User almost 3 years ago

    There is a shortage of affordable housing, but reducing or eliminating short term vacation rentals will not fix the problem. The County makes much more money from taxing these units by far than residential units. The housing crisis would be much better off with the County reinvesting tax dollars to create affordable housing. A properly established program of medium term loans for building affordable rental housing would do far more to create housing than reducing or eliminating short term rentals. Loan conditions would require builders to keep the units affordable for 15 years.
    Please consider this alternative before you make your decision.
    Mahalo,
    David

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    Amy Fonarow almost 3 years ago

    Aloha,

    I support the moratorium on transient 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)

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    Guest User almost 3 years ago

    We need to respect the locals who contribute to OUR community everyday and every year (via work, taxes, community service) now we have basically let the mainland turn us into Honolulu and anyone can come buy anything anywhere and charge 4-7x the rent should be or turn it into a vacay rental. (I am a housekeeper and have been cleaning condos for 12yrs, never have I endured the rudest “new” owners and guests). No aloha. And now no one here can afford anything to rent. You’re more likely to get a slumlord than a normal/fair landlord. And the market is insane from all these mainland people coming here and using us and the rest of the mainland to pay their mortgage here and their mortgage at their own home on the mainland. Again, no aloha or respect to the people who do all of the work here. It’s disgusting. It breaks my heart. Where did the good humans go?

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    Guest User almost 3 years ago

    I highly support putting a pause on new visitor accommodations. We already have more room nights than our roads and infrastructure can handle. Thank you Council Members for bringing this to a vote. I have noticed that every opposing comment is from someone who is either making money from vacation rentals, or who clearly does not understand the bill, or both. I hope the council is able to take that fact into consideration. The people who live here and work in the community are supportive of this bill. Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication to the needs of the community.

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    Guest User almost 3 years ago

    This impacts my livelihood and will immediately decrease the value of my home. In addition, this will result in the loss of generated property tax for Maui as well. I am not okay removing the ability to sell my property as a vacation rental. I bought the property as a vacation rental property and it is the reason I bought it where I didu. I will lose home value because of this. It should not be whether someone who owns the property can vacation rent but the property itself that is a vacation rental that should be grandfathered. You are also creating a bias towards higher income tourist because vacation rentals are a more affordable alternative to hotels for families.

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    Evan Oue almost 3 years ago

    Aloha,

    Please find attached ARDA Hawaii's testimony Opposing PSLU 28. Please let me know if any councilmembers need additional information.

    Mahalo

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    Guest User almost 3 years ago

    I support the building of affordable housing for residents, however, the use of these condominiums will not solve the problem, as land value, which drives market rent will preclude many residents. The County must step in and designate/buy property for the express purpose of building affordable housing.

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    Guest User almost 3 years ago

    Dear Maui County Councilmembers,

    On behalf of Maui PRMA, the Vacation Rental Trade Council under the Maui Chamber of Commerce, we would like to express our opposition to PSLU-28 and PSLU-34. PRMA, the Professional Rental Management Association, is a coalition of professional property management companies representing over 1600 legally zoned condominium vacation rental units throughout Maui. Our members are licensed in the State of Hawaii, engaged in the management of legal vacation rental properties, primarily condominiums, and comply with real estate license law and code of ethics. Our companies represent 216 years in business, employing nearly 200 employees and over 300 independent contractors and vendors and nearly all of our members have properties listed on the Minatoya list, some with a majority of their inventory on the list.

    Since 2018, Maui’s vacation rentals have contributed $18.9 million towards affordable housing, more than all the hotels, all the homeowners and all other businesses combined. This year the legal short-term rentals generated $8.5M for the affordable housing fund.

    PLSU-34 could potentially defund affordable housing for Maui County at a time when we need it most. The intent of this proposed phase out bill is to create affordable housing; however, most of these properties would not be affordable to rent. Many of these properties do not have storage, parking or ample space for children to play that would be appropriate for affordable housing.

    This bill could result in a potential loss of $74M in Real Property Tax revenue for the county of Maui, and a loss of $69M in TAT Revenue for the State. The result will be an increase in taxes for Maui residents.

    We are in agreement with RAM’s below proposed reasons for opposing these two bills:

    1. Economic Benefit: The County of Maui has identified approximately 7,302 condominium units that have the ability to conduct TVR use under the comprehensive zoning ordinance's permitted uses for the A-1 and A-2 districts. Based on recent changes to our real property tax laws, these properties are generally placed in the short-term rental tax classification by default. These 7,302 condominiums represent approximately $74.7 million in annual RPT revenue overall. It makes no financial sense to eliminate such a reliable and substantial source of revenue for the county, especially at the risk of jeopardizing our bond rating.

    2. Funding the Comprehensive Affordable Housing Plan: The Comprehensive Affordable Housing Plan calls for the County of Maui to "increase funding into the Affordable Housing Fund to $58 million annually." Similarly, the plan calls for the County of Maui to use its excellent bond rating to borrow against the Affordable Housing Fund in order to fund other components of the plan. Eliminating TVR use from these subject condominiums would result in a possible loss of $74 million in annual revenue lost overall. Such a loss in revenue and reduction in our tax base would make it impossible to fully fund the Comprehensive Affordable Housing Plan.

    3. Eliminating TVR Use May Actually Jeopardize Long-Term Affordable Housing Opportunities for Residents: TVR use in the subject condominiums is an incentive for investment purchasers to seek out and purchase these aging condominiums instead of other residential properties on the island.

    4. Empowering the Hotels and Maximizing Advertising Dollars: Eliminating TVR use in the subject condominiums only benefits the hotel industry, as it will be eliminating their only real competition while negatively impacting county revenue and affordable housing development.

    5. Legal Challenges: Many property owners have already contacted RAM and expressed their intent to take legal action against the County of Maui if their property rights are abridged.

    On behalf of PRMA, our members, employees and vendors, we ask that you please focus your attention on providing the housing we need, instead of looking for ways to punish property owners for doing what the County of Maui expressly allows them to do.

    We welcome any discussion with you or a member of your administration and can be contacted at Mauiprma@gmail.com.

    Mahalo,

    John Kevan
    Angela Leone
    Co-Founders of Maui Professional Rental Management Association (Maui PRMA)

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    Guest User almost 3 years ago

    Aloha PSLU Committee,

    Please oppose PSLU-28 CC 21-280 MORATORIUM ON NEW TRANSIENT ACCOMMODATIONS ON MAUI (PSLU-28).

    This law is not the right solution to affordable housing on Maui. It is just an unfair tactic to take away rights of one group to benefit another. The 7,300 units that will be impacted were never intended to house families based on the Minatoya Act. Our vested property rights were codified.

    My husband and I purchased our vacation home at the Maui Vista 18 years ago with the knowledge that it was zoned as a “condotel” in 1980. We purchased it knowing it was never built with the intention of housing families on a long term basis. The units are small, getting old, have very little storage and even more limited parking. The infrastructure of the properties cannot support needs of families on a long-term basis.

    Owners like us will suffer loss of revenue and property values if this bill passes. The County will experience a loss of TAT taxes. This bill could result in a potential loss of $74M in Real Property Tax revenue for the county of Maui, and a loss of $69M in TAT Revenue for the State. Families needing affordable housing will not be able to afford the rent, utilities and amenity fees that we would need to pass on to cover costs.

    And not only will the value of our property go down, but the small businesses that we support will also suffer such as housekeepers, property managers, the nearby restaurants who enjoy the business of our guests, the tour operators and so many more.

    The solution to affordable housing needs to focus on “adding” and not “taking away”. Let’s focus on building the infrastructure to construct appropriate REAL affordable housing, but not on the backs of those who are already helping you raise the revenue to support this cause.

    Mahalo,

    Kimberly & Keith Lee
    2191 S. Kihei Rd, Unit 2115
    Kihei, HI 96753

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    Guest User almost 3 years ago

    I support this bill

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    Guest User almost 3 years ago

    11/02/21

    I do support the moratorium on short term vacation rentals on Maui, especially in neighborhoods where the permanent residents of Maui live. I have now lived in two different condo areas on the West side where the units are supposed to be for long term occupancy. At both places, people rent out their units to “vacationers” that are on vacation in vacation mode. Loud, rude, and very uncaring of their surroundings or the people that live and work here. When you ask the short- term guests if they are owners or relatives of the owners, they lie or say that it’s a friend that owns the place. I have had to move due to the owner selling the unit I lived in and had to find a new place to live. The rental costs are naturally higher, and it now costs me $700.00 more a month. If the prices continue to go up, I would not be able to afford to live here. What about all the other homes and apartments that have been sold. How many other people have had the same thing happen or that they could not afford to even move into another place. How dare people that oppose this act as if this is not affecting the permanent residents of Maui. How many have become homeless because of the increase of home sales this past year and a half? Everyone has their own agenda; they only care about how much income they can make on their piece of Maui. The Realtors should be ashamed of themselves for selling this beautiful island to greed, both theirs and the people that won’t even live here full time. The people of Maui are losing a chance of ever being able to own their own home. We keep hearing about affordable housing, please explain what you consider affordable and where are you putting these homes? I have been to some of the places that were built as affordable housing, it is nonexistent. A few homes in the neighborhood are and then the rest sell for above average pricing and then the owners rent them out at ridiculous prices. Please think about what is happening to this beautiful island. Maui does not need to have more short-term rentals. Please stop the greed. Do not ruin this beautiful island.

    Dorothy Jakubek
    Lahaina, 96761

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    Guest User almost 3 years ago

    As a housing advocate for the residents of our islands, I strongly support these moratorium. Our Islands are seeing an extreme shortage of housing for our local residents. The priority of available housing units must go to local residents not to providing hotel rooms to tourists. Thank you.

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    Guest User almost 3 years ago

    I am strongly in support of PSLU-28 and PSLU-34. These measures are necessary to halt, or at least slow, the degradation of Maui's natural resources and quality of life and are entirely consistent with preserving Maui's attractiveness as a tourist destination. Long overdue, in my opinion. Mahalo, Andy (Makawao)