After reading through previous testimonies, I felt compelled to submit something.
Let’s quickly look back at all of the lies and half truths told by the administration, his supporting organizations and his acolytes.
These don’t fall into some grey area, these are demonstrable lies, told over and over, which put them into the zeitgeist with the intention of becoming part of the narrative that supported Bill 9.
- most owners have 20+ properties. Most owners have one STR on Maui, yet Green, Bissen and Lahaina Strong all recycled this lie. RPT data doesn’t support it.
-STRs use more water than residences. This was fabricated by Lahaina Strong, where they compared a largely vacant complex with properties occupied only on a part-time basis with one of South Maui’s busiest vacation rental complexes. Of course an empty condo will use less water than one that has an occupant. The reality was, in other conversations Paele Kiakona argued that the use levels he criticized at the STR “fall within average acceptable daily use”. So STR water use was higher than a vacant condo, but the STR water use was within the normal range.
-this bill will put 7100 condos back into the long term housing inventory. Well we can all read conveyancing documents, speak with realtors, and read real estate data. People who are able to escape this debacle are selling to a wealthier cohort of second home buyers who don’t need rental income to afford the condo. Locals are not buying these Minatoya condos, when at 40-50% discounts from a year ago.
-we need housing at every price point, so we need Bill 9. Housing has existed at every price point for decades. Phasing out STRs on a high priced condo doesn’t help a local looking for a high end property. These buyers have had every opportunity at every price point for decades.
-“Bill 9 will impact mostly mainland investors”. Let’s leave aside the dehumanizations of people who are losing life savings because this, but also remind the admin that when an STR closes its doors, every economic study has shown the impacts this will have on county revenue, employment, tourism, etc.
-These properties used to be workforce housing. The term “workforce housing” didn’t exist until around 2006. There has been no evidence that local families were the majority owners of condos in Wailea - a master planned resort community with no schools, no churches, no outdoor fields, no baseball diamonds, no grocery stores, and no gas stations. Maybe SOME lower road condos are majority local owned or occupied, but it’s a stretch to argue that a few dozen units in a specific area represents all of Maui.
-Minatoya was an “exception”. No. MCC codified STR use years ago. MCC happily accepted their RPT tax revenue, their GET, TAT, MCTAT. This was a legal and accepted use, enshrined in county law, not some exception.
-airbnb is responsible for the housing centre shortage. Spend 5 minutes looking at real estate data from every state in the country and you’ll see similar “up and to the right” trend lines. They are the same for Hawaii as they are for any other “armpit” state in the country…places where Airbnb has virtually no presence.
- STR owners don’t care about the community. STR owners aren’t out stealing cars, flipping them and burning them in tinder boxes in central Maui, they aren’t abandoning them on the Hana highway, or stealing the wheels off broken down vehicles on the side of the road. STR owners aren’t dumping old tires and household waste off the side of any highway. They aren’t littering up the beaches. They aren’t dumping appliances on the side of the road, and they aren’t shooting Monk seals in the face. They aren’t driving around in gas guzzling trucks and they aren’t physically assaulting one another. A kanaka said on a podcast recently that these people who bought these condos to retire in are some of the people most involved in community efforts BECAUSE of their love for the island and the community.
I could go on, but you get the point.
I only mention this because Bill 88 is a chance to recognize and acknowledge that a lot was said to get Bill 9 across the finish line. And from our convenient place in history, we can see how much of that narrative wasn’t true at the time, and still remains patently, and demonstrably untrue now.
Passing Bill 88 can right some of those wrongs without taking away the few truths about Bill 9. It will allow the obviously unsuitable properties to continue to STR, continue to flood the country with revenue streams that support local initiatives, and continue to bring in visitors who spend hundreds of dollars per person per day - people who have stayed will not come if they are forced into hotels.
Bill 88 needs to be passed clean, followed by swift council initiated changes that grant all of Kaanapali, Wailea and Kapalua, as well as properties like Papakea and Kamaole Sands the ability to short term rent indefinitely.
Supporting local and affordable housing doesn’t come from stripping property rights from another property owner. STRs provide millions of dollars in affordable housing revenue that phasing them out amounts to a complete “self own”, where council tries to advance affordable projects, but have 7100 fewer revenue streams to fund them.
Good morning county council, my name is Stevie Kathryn Chung and I'm going to keep this simple. When debacles like the passing and repealing of bill nine surface, it shows the deeper cracks in our government framework and what the limitations of our administration are. Bill nine was one of those bills that had two faces. It was presented to the public as a solution to the housing crisis post lahaina fires by requiring some apartment owners to turn their transient vacation rentals into long term rentals. I don't know exactly why this discussion for repeal came about, whether it's the lawsuits, bill nine impeding on the planning departments intentions to put hotels in Paia or coming to the conclusion that turning short term apartment rentals into long term units wasn't going to restore housing in a way that is significant and equitable to the form of housing that was in Lahaina before the fires. Whatever the move was, there's some factors that the community would like you to keep in mind. Repealing bill nine does not mean that 50 foot buildings in Paia are the way to go. Continuing to build houses where they once stood should pull more planning focus than a hotel on Pulehu where no building has ever stood. Now is not the time to factor in new ways to capitalise on the hotel industries.. Your constituents have been very vocal about this. The community is at the mercy of whatever the county plans to do after this bill is either removed or kept, and we beg you to put your intentions into making impactful choices for the health, safety, and overall protection of the residents displaced to disasters in the recent years, and to the native Hawaiians displaced throughout history. Gone should be the days where the needs of any industry are regarded more so than the cries of your community. And really it should be noted that if these sentiments don't resonate with members in the council, maybe your political career isn't bringing enough balance to the table in order to sustain the community. No matter the choice you make or what you plan to implement after the fact, voters will remember the consequences your actions will have today.
Welina mai kakou! Ke kako’o nei makou i ke kukulu I ke kahi H3/H4. Hana makou i kela hale no na mea kipa (he la’ana i ke ho’onohonoho ana i na mea like’ole) a e like me kahi hokele i kela mau hale.
Mahalo nui i kou maliu ana!
Welina mai kakou! Ke kako’o nei makou i ke kukulu I ke kahi H3/H4. Hana makou i kela hale no na mea kipa (he la’ana i ke ho’onohonoho ana i na mea like’ole) a e like me kahi hokele i kela mau hale.
Mahalo nui i kou maliu ana!
Aloha council,
I am writing in opposition of Bill 88.
It’s all been said before, yet here we are again.
I get to hear non residents at the tax office talk about their 20, 15, 10, 5 units… that is the issue. Too long this has gone on with NO regulations! All the buyers knew it was a risky investment but they gambled.
Now we have too many vacation rentals and little housing.
Owners don’t care about community they care about their investments and the money they collect an ocean away.
I respectfully oppose Bill 88 because this proposal undermines years of public debate, planning review, and legislative action surrounding Bill 9 before implementation has even fully occurred. Bill 88 creates a pathway to preserve transient vacation rental use inside apartment-zoned districts through future rezonings and carve-outs, despite recommendations for denial from all three Planning Commissions. This issue is no longer simply about short-term rentals. It is about zoning integrity, long-term housing policy, planning consistency, infrastructure sustainability, fiscal responsibility, and whether apartment-zoned residential properties should continue functioning primarily as commercial visitor accommodation operations indefinitely. The County should allow the courts to address the existing legal challenges, focus on implementation and transition planning, reduce long-term overdependence on transient tourism revenue, and restore public confidence in the stability of Maui County’s land-use process. Please refer to my attached written testimony for detailed analysis and supporting discussion.
Chair Uʻu-Hodgins, Vice Chair Batangan, and Members of the Housing and Land Use Committee,
Please accept this testimony in opposition to Bill 88 unless amended by proposed SECTION 7 establishing the Hānai Kākou Housing Continuity and Stabilization Framework.
As currently structured, Bill 88 risks creating a pathway for substantial speculative acquisition pressure affecting former apartment-zoned housing inventory while providing insufficient long-term stabilization infrastructure to preserve local residency continuity during future economic disruption.
The concern is not merely tourism, zoning consistency, or short-term rental legality. The larger concern is systemic vulnerability.
In a severe inflationary, liquidity, insurance, or broader economic disruption scenario, Maui housing inventory may become increasingly attractive to globally liquid investors and institutional asset holders capable of rapidly acquiring substantial portions of Maui residential inventory at scales inaccessible to ordinary local families. Without lawful stabilization authority, Bill 88 could unintentionally accelerate long-term consolidation of Maui housing into externally controlled asset portfolios fundamentally inconsistent with the original spirit underlying Bill 9.
Proposed SECTION 7 materially improves Bill 88 by creating a voluntary, donation-funded, fiscally insulated continuity framework capable of supporting ethical philanthropic intervention, community land trust participation, occupancy protection, master leasing, resident continuity agreements, anti-vacancy protections, and related stabilization measures before irreversible consolidation dynamics emerge.
Importantly, the amendment does not independently rezone any property, authorize eminent domain, create County debt, require taxpayer funding, or impair lawful ownership rights. Instead, it provides prudent contingency infrastructure allowing Maui County to preserve community continuity and local residency stability if extraordinary market conditions arise.
In plain terms: if Bill 88 moves forward, SECTION 7 helps ensure Maui retains lawful tools capable of preventing a future scenario in which effectively unlimited outside capital acquires large portions of Maui housing inventory in a single destabilizing wave while local residents are permanently priced out of return.
For these reasons, I respectfully urge the Committee to either:
1. Adopt proposed SECTION 7 together with Bill 88; or
2. Defer Bill 88 pending establishment of meaningful continuity and stabilization safeguards.
Mahalo for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Travis Liggett, M.S.
+1 (808) 291-9934
travis.liggett@gmail.com
We have been a resident of Maui since 1979, 47 yrs. We purchased our condo at The Palms at Wailea in 1990. We were never made aware of the Minatoya list but that it was grandfathered in so no issues. We purchased this unit for our retirement and if my daughter wanted to move back to Maui she would have a place. WE could have sold it over the years and made a fortune but it was never about the money. It was an investment for our future. Please do not take this away from us. We've worked hard all this years, as our daughter was born and raised here. Our heart and soul is here. Since this has become an issue, tourism has been down and as a result we have not pd. into the taxes as bookings are down. With the rise in taxes we might have to sell if we are not allowed to short term. As it is the taxes we charge visitors are so high that it pushes up the nightly rate which becomes too high as well. Being in Wailea this is a resort where families visiting cannot afford the high cost of hotel rooms. This is not a neighborhood and not equipped for long term. With the HOA's so high, short term rentals is the only way to pay these fees along with the mortgage payment. Maui has changed a great deal, people are going elsewhere. Something needs to be done now. I feel the damage is done with all the negative social media remarks from locals telling people not to come. We need a full marketing blitz to bring back tourism, our only real economy. Shops cannot do business here without the tourists. We will be a ghost town, with no cute boutiques. It's bad enough that we have so many homeless. It's hurting everyone. Please pass Bill 88 to help get our economy going again.
Dear Chair and Members of the Housing & Land Use Committee,
Aloha.
I am a property owner on Maui. Thank you for the opportunity to share my testimony in strong, respectful support of Resolution 25-230, now formally known as Bill 88.
I want to extend my deepest appreciation to the Committee and County staff for your hard work and collaborative approach to our island's land-use challenges.
As an owner of a long-established visitor accommodation, I see Bill 88 as a vital, proactive step toward bringing much-needed clarity, fairness, and predictability to our zoning laws. For decades, properties like mine have operated transparently and responsibly, contributing directly to the local economy by supporting small businesses and generating essential tax revenue that funds critical community infrastructure.
Bill 88 honors this history by creating a clear, modern framework for properties that have been a legal part of Maui's hospitality fabric for generations. It replaces regulatory ambiguity with a predictable, harmonious path forward, allowing responsible housing providers to align seamlessly with the County’s long-term planning goals.
I kindly and respectfully urge the Committee to vote in favor of Bill 88. Let us move forward together with mutual respect and the spirit of aloha for the long-term health of the entire Maui community.
Mahalo nui loa for your time, leadership, and public service.
I am writing in strong support of the proposed H-3 and H-4 zoning districts and urge you to pass Bill 88.
Short-term rentals are a direct lifeline for Maui's local economy. Visitors staying in vacation rentals support local restaurants, housekeepers, contractors, and countless working families. At a time when Maui is already facing declining tourism, further restricting these properties would deepen the economic harm to the very community this Council serves.
The H-3 and H-4 zoning framework is a responsible path forward, keeping properties legal, protecting local jobs, and generating tax revenue that can be directed toward Maui's housing needs.
Please pass Bill 88. Maui's working families are counting on it.
Mahalo.
Aloha
I am a resident of 35 years on the island. I have one vacation rental at Napili Ridge. I support H3H4 because there have been no locals that have bought short-term vacation rentals on the west side on the water. They cannot afford it! I cannot afford it! If the island had another industry, besides tourism, then I would support cutting out vacation rentals, but we have no other income stream! The county is going to be short funds, people are leaving the island as there are no jobs. I am so confused as to why the county council does not see this! Please! Unless you come up with another business for us to do besides tourism, please continue H3 and H4. Teresa Nelle
Aloha Honorable Council, I am in favor of creating the H3/H4 zones. My name is John Chaisson and I am a 20 year owner of Maui Sands .I I am here today to support Bill 88 and the creation of H3/H4 zoning. This will provide jobs to local economy and the creation of this new zoning will allow certain appropriate A1/A2 properties with current TVR status to transition to H3/H4/ to continue short term rentals.
The TIG Report identifies the conditions by which an A1/A2 property can transition to H3/H4. These conditions identify whether a property is appropriate and attainable as affordable housing. The possible H3/H4 properties listed on TIG/Exhibit 2 list are identified as not attainable for affordable housing because of the issues they present. These issues are identified by the TIG report include whether it is a lease hold, are the monthlies are affordable, whether or not the property lies within the Sea-Rise Impact zone, whether there are legal issues with the property are some areas of concern the TIG addressed. Please pass Bill 88.This would not only create jobs but create balance of TVR condos and Hotels within the short term rental market. A win/win for everyone.
As such Maui Sands I meets all the TIG criteria to be included on Exhibit 2 and then some being a lease hold property, a land lease so short it does not qualify for a mortgage, $3000 monthlies, located in the middle of the sea rise impact zone, and missing land lease payments My presentation I emailed for this hearing has the receipts that support Maui Sands is not an attainable affordable property with all the issues exist with Maui Sands 1. I am asking the Housing Land Use Committee and Maui County Council, when appropriate, to please include us on the Exhibit 2 for the council initiated zoning change. Mahalo for your time.
As a Maui resident whose livelihood is tied to the vacation rental industry, I am writing to urge the approval of the new H-3 and H-4 zoning districts. When I purchased my property, I intentionally chose a location with legal short-term rental entitlements, paying a significant premium to ensure I was operating correctly and in full compliance with the law.
Approving this new zoning is a critical step in protecting residents like myself who have invested in Maui’s economy in good faith. Vacation rentals are a vital support system for countless local small businesses. Rather than creating uncertainty for law-abiding owners, the County should embrace these clear zoning pathways. Furthermore, the substantial tax revenue generated by these properties must be managed effectively and directed specifically toward affordable housing. If these funds are handled with better oversight, we can support our housing needs while maintaining the economic engine that sustains so many Maui families.
I am a Maui resident and vacation rentals are an integral part of my livelihood. I specifically purchased a property that was legal for short term rentals even though it cost more to do so than a similar property without this entitlement. Vacation rentals support a lot of small business on Maui and there should be a way for them to continue. I believe the taxes from vacation rentals should be properly used to provide affordable housing for Maui- I do not feel that this has been managed well.
Please protect owners who purchased property for the purpose of short-term rentals in complexes built for and advertised as short-term rental property. We contribute millions to Maui County and Hawaii through property taxes, excise & transient taxes, employment of Maui residents and the purchases made by our guests. Thank you.
RE: Bill 88- Amending Comprehensive Zoning to Establish H-3 And H-4 Hotel Districts
We would like to urge the passage of Bill 88.
Updating the zoning to allow the continued use of short-term rental (STR) permits in units that have historically been allowed is a just decision.
We hope that the committee can start looking at long-time visitor accommodations (STRs) as an asset to the community; to think of STRs as partners with their collection of GET, TA, and Maui taxes to fund first-time buyers, new workforce housing, and new senior housing, and to build a reserve for future housing needs.
We believe there should be a distinction between residential housing (in residential areas) being purchased and turned into STRs, as opposed to small condos that are away from any neighborhood services.
Condos like ours were originally purchased in the 80s, with the specific terms in our contracts allowing for use as full-time residences, long-term rentals, or short-term rentals.
The zoning was different in those days, so updating the zoning to allow the continued use of their multiple intended purposes would be a correct decision.
Owning these older (50+yo) units in an area where the shoreline is eroding is a labor of love, with all our proceeds going towards regular maintenance, plus unexpected expenses due to storms – never for making a personal profit. Long-term STR owners use the funds on upkeep and to pay taxes, with the hope of visiting with friends and other owners in the complex as often as possible.
Pass this bill and ensure that condos away from neighborhood services can do what their original contracts stated: use their own homes or share them with others as they wish. Maui County will keep reaping the financial reward that it always has.
I've have lived full time on Maui for over 25 years and I believe that re-zoning is a fair compromise. The zoning should have been done correctly before the developers were given the permits to build these rentals. So now the county wants to punish the owners for the counties not zoning properly at the time of the build, that is not right. These owners bought the property with the right to vacation rent it when they are not using the condo. Take the condos that were built for work force housing and make sure they stay long term rentals. The zoning is really odd. It skips one building to the next, not a entire section or development area like normal. All of Kihei Rd. should be allowed to have Vacation rentals. Go up the hill several blocks and that is residential. There is no way that Kamaole Sands and Maui Vista were built for anything but Vacation rentals, the zoning just was not corrected at the time of the build. There is no way that they build work force housing with 3 swimming pools and 3 tennis courts. Let's be fair and correct these zoning mistakes that they county let slide. Also, I believe the county needs the taxes from these vacation rentals. Mahalo for letting me testify on this matter. Marilyn Steinmetz, S. Kihei resident.
To the Members of the Housing and Land Use Committee,
Aloha Chair and Committee Members,
My name is Karen Hoffman, and I am an owner of a short-term rental property on Maui. I respectfully ask that you consider the impacts that Bill 88 may have on owners like myself, as well as on Maui’s visitor industry and economy and ask that you pass this bill,
My unit was designed and built primarily for short-term visitor accommodations, not long-term residential living and was considered at hotel/condo with an individual at the property to check you into your unit The unit has only one parking space, limited closet and storage space, and a layout that is not practical or adequate for full-time family occupancy. These types of units were intended for transient vacation use and do not realistically meet the needs of many long-term residents who realistically can't afford them and HOA fees associated with them.
Short-term rentals provide an important balance for Maui. They allow visitors to come and experience our island while supporting local businesses, restaurants, housekeeping companies, maintenance workers, landscapers, contractors, and many other jobs connected to tourism. Visitors staying in short-term rentals contribute directly to our local economy. Eliminating or severely restricting these properties may not create the long-term housing solutions many hope for, especially when certain units are not suitable for permanent residential use to begin with. It definitely would place financial hardship on property owners while also impacting tourism-related employment and county tax revenues.
I understand and support the need for more affordable housing for Maui residents. However, I don't feel that placing families in these small units long term is the answer. These short term rentals have unique characteristics that make them uninhabitable for long term housing. I ask the Committee to carefully consider solutions that protect both local housing needs and the economic realities of Maui’s tourism-based community. Tourism is such a vital component for the survival of the Hawaiian economy,
Mahalo for your time, consideration, and service to our county.
After reading through previous testimonies, I felt compelled to submit something.
Let’s quickly look back at all of the lies and half truths told by the administration, his supporting organizations and his acolytes.
These don’t fall into some grey area, these are demonstrable lies, told over and over, which put them into the zeitgeist with the intention of becoming part of the narrative that supported Bill 9.
- most owners have 20+ properties. Most owners have one STR on Maui, yet Green, Bissen and Lahaina Strong all recycled this lie. RPT data doesn’t support it.
-STRs use more water than residences. This was fabricated by Lahaina Strong, where they compared a largely vacant complex with properties occupied only on a part-time basis with one of South Maui’s busiest vacation rental complexes. Of course an empty condo will use less water than one that has an occupant. The reality was, in other conversations Paele Kiakona argued that the use levels he criticized at the STR “fall within average acceptable daily use”. So STR water use was higher than a vacant condo, but the STR water use was within the normal range.
-this bill will put 7100 condos back into the long term housing inventory. Well we can all read conveyancing documents, speak with realtors, and read real estate data. People who are able to escape this debacle are selling to a wealthier cohort of second home buyers who don’t need rental income to afford the condo. Locals are not buying these Minatoya condos, when at 40-50% discounts from a year ago.
-we need housing at every price point, so we need Bill 9. Housing has existed at every price point for decades. Phasing out STRs on a high priced condo doesn’t help a local looking for a high end property. These buyers have had every opportunity at every price point for decades.
-“Bill 9 will impact mostly mainland investors”. Let’s leave aside the dehumanizations of people who are losing life savings because this, but also remind the admin that when an STR closes its doors, every economic study has shown the impacts this will have on county revenue, employment, tourism, etc.
-These properties used to be workforce housing. The term “workforce housing” didn’t exist until around 2006. There has been no evidence that local families were the majority owners of condos in Wailea - a master planned resort community with no schools, no churches, no outdoor fields, no baseball diamonds, no grocery stores, and no gas stations. Maybe SOME lower road condos are majority local owned or occupied, but it’s a stretch to argue that a few dozen units in a specific area represents all of Maui.
-Minatoya was an “exception”. No. MCC codified STR use years ago. MCC happily accepted their RPT tax revenue, their GET, TAT, MCTAT. This was a legal and accepted use, enshrined in county law, not some exception.
-airbnb is responsible for the housing centre shortage. Spend 5 minutes looking at real estate data from every state in the country and you’ll see similar “up and to the right” trend lines. They are the same for Hawaii as they are for any other “armpit” state in the country…places where Airbnb has virtually no presence.
- STR owners don’t care about the community. STR owners aren’t out stealing cars, flipping them and burning them in tinder boxes in central Maui, they aren’t abandoning them on the Hana highway, or stealing the wheels off broken down vehicles on the side of the road. STR owners aren’t dumping old tires and household waste off the side of any highway. They aren’t littering up the beaches. They aren’t dumping appliances on the side of the road, and they aren’t shooting Monk seals in the face. They aren’t driving around in gas guzzling trucks and they aren’t physically assaulting one another. A kanaka said on a podcast recently that these people who bought these condos to retire in are some of the people most involved in community efforts BECAUSE of their love for the island and the community.
I could go on, but you get the point.
I only mention this because Bill 88 is a chance to recognize and acknowledge that a lot was said to get Bill 9 across the finish line. And from our convenient place in history, we can see how much of that narrative wasn’t true at the time, and still remains patently, and demonstrably untrue now.
Passing Bill 88 can right some of those wrongs without taking away the few truths about Bill 9. It will allow the obviously unsuitable properties to continue to STR, continue to flood the country with revenue streams that support local initiatives, and continue to bring in visitors who spend hundreds of dollars per person per day - people who have stayed will not come if they are forced into hotels.
Bill 88 needs to be passed clean, followed by swift council initiated changes that grant all of Kaanapali, Wailea and Kapalua, as well as properties like Papakea and Kamaole Sands the ability to short term rent indefinitely.
Supporting local and affordable housing doesn’t come from stripping property rights from another property owner. STRs provide millions of dollars in affordable housing revenue that phasing them out amounts to a complete “self own”, where council tries to advance affordable projects, but have 7100 fewer revenue streams to fund them.
Much mahalos
Good morning county council, my name is Stevie Kathryn Chung and I'm going to keep this simple. When debacles like the passing and repealing of bill nine surface, it shows the deeper cracks in our government framework and what the limitations of our administration are. Bill nine was one of those bills that had two faces. It was presented to the public as a solution to the housing crisis post lahaina fires by requiring some apartment owners to turn their transient vacation rentals into long term rentals. I don't know exactly why this discussion for repeal came about, whether it's the lawsuits, bill nine impeding on the planning departments intentions to put hotels in Paia or coming to the conclusion that turning short term apartment rentals into long term units wasn't going to restore housing in a way that is significant and equitable to the form of housing that was in Lahaina before the fires. Whatever the move was, there's some factors that the community would like you to keep in mind. Repealing bill nine does not mean that 50 foot buildings in Paia are the way to go. Continuing to build houses where they once stood should pull more planning focus than a hotel on Pulehu where no building has ever stood. Now is not the time to factor in new ways to capitalise on the hotel industries.. Your constituents have been very vocal about this. The community is at the mercy of whatever the county plans to do after this bill is either removed or kept, and we beg you to put your intentions into making impactful choices for the health, safety, and overall protection of the residents displaced to disasters in the recent years, and to the native Hawaiians displaced throughout history. Gone should be the days where the needs of any industry are regarded more so than the cries of your community. And really it should be noted that if these sentiments don't resonate with members in the council, maybe your political career isn't bringing enough balance to the table in order to sustain the community. No matter the choice you make or what you plan to implement after the fact, voters will remember the consequences your actions will have today.
Welina mai kakou! Ke kako’o nei makou i ke kukulu I ke kahi H3/H4. Hana makou i kela hale no na mea kipa (he la’ana i ke ho’onohonoho ana i na mea like’ole) a e like me kahi hokele i kela mau hale.
Mahalo nui i kou maliu ana!
Welina mai kakou! Ke kako’o nei makou i ke kukulu I ke kahi H3/H4. Hana makou i kela hale no na mea kipa (he la’ana i ke ho’onohonoho ana i na mea like’ole) a e like me kahi hokele i kela mau hale.
Mahalo nui i kou maliu ana!
Aloha council,
I am writing in opposition of Bill 88.
It’s all been said before, yet here we are again.
I get to hear non residents at the tax office talk about their 20, 15, 10, 5 units… that is the issue. Too long this has gone on with NO regulations! All the buyers knew it was a risky investment but they gambled.
Now we have too many vacation rentals and little housing.
Owners don’t care about community they care about their investments and the money they collect an ocean away.
Enough already.
I respectfully oppose Bill 88 because this proposal undermines years of public debate, planning review, and legislative action surrounding Bill 9 before implementation has even fully occurred. Bill 88 creates a pathway to preserve transient vacation rental use inside apartment-zoned districts through future rezonings and carve-outs, despite recommendations for denial from all three Planning Commissions. This issue is no longer simply about short-term rentals. It is about zoning integrity, long-term housing policy, planning consistency, infrastructure sustainability, fiscal responsibility, and whether apartment-zoned residential properties should continue functioning primarily as commercial visitor accommodation operations indefinitely. The County should allow the courts to address the existing legal challenges, focus on implementation and transition planning, reduce long-term overdependence on transient tourism revenue, and restore public confidence in the stability of Maui County’s land-use process. Please refer to my attached written testimony for detailed analysis and supporting discussion.
Chair Uʻu-Hodgins, Vice Chair Batangan, and Members of the Housing and Land Use Committee,
Please accept this testimony in opposition to Bill 88 unless amended by proposed SECTION 7 establishing the Hānai Kākou Housing Continuity and Stabilization Framework.
As currently structured, Bill 88 risks creating a pathway for substantial speculative acquisition pressure affecting former apartment-zoned housing inventory while providing insufficient long-term stabilization infrastructure to preserve local residency continuity during future economic disruption.
The concern is not merely tourism, zoning consistency, or short-term rental legality. The larger concern is systemic vulnerability.
In a severe inflationary, liquidity, insurance, or broader economic disruption scenario, Maui housing inventory may become increasingly attractive to globally liquid investors and institutional asset holders capable of rapidly acquiring substantial portions of Maui residential inventory at scales inaccessible to ordinary local families. Without lawful stabilization authority, Bill 88 could unintentionally accelerate long-term consolidation of Maui housing into externally controlled asset portfolios fundamentally inconsistent with the original spirit underlying Bill 9.
Proposed SECTION 7 materially improves Bill 88 by creating a voluntary, donation-funded, fiscally insulated continuity framework capable of supporting ethical philanthropic intervention, community land trust participation, occupancy protection, master leasing, resident continuity agreements, anti-vacancy protections, and related stabilization measures before irreversible consolidation dynamics emerge.
Importantly, the amendment does not independently rezone any property, authorize eminent domain, create County debt, require taxpayer funding, or impair lawful ownership rights. Instead, it provides prudent contingency infrastructure allowing Maui County to preserve community continuity and local residency stability if extraordinary market conditions arise.
In plain terms: if Bill 88 moves forward, SECTION 7 helps ensure Maui retains lawful tools capable of preventing a future scenario in which effectively unlimited outside capital acquires large portions of Maui housing inventory in a single destabilizing wave while local residents are permanently priced out of return.
For these reasons, I respectfully urge the Committee to either:
1. Adopt proposed SECTION 7 together with Bill 88; or
2. Defer Bill 88 pending establishment of meaningful continuity and stabilization safeguards.
Mahalo for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Travis Liggett, M.S.
+1 (808) 291-9934
travis.liggett@gmail.com
We have been a resident of Maui since 1979, 47 yrs. We purchased our condo at The Palms at Wailea in 1990. We were never made aware of the Minatoya list but that it was grandfathered in so no issues. We purchased this unit for our retirement and if my daughter wanted to move back to Maui she would have a place. WE could have sold it over the years and made a fortune but it was never about the money. It was an investment for our future. Please do not take this away from us. We've worked hard all this years, as our daughter was born and raised here. Our heart and soul is here. Since this has become an issue, tourism has been down and as a result we have not pd. into the taxes as bookings are down. With the rise in taxes we might have to sell if we are not allowed to short term. As it is the taxes we charge visitors are so high that it pushes up the nightly rate which becomes too high as well. Being in Wailea this is a resort where families visiting cannot afford the high cost of hotel rooms. This is not a neighborhood and not equipped for long term. With the HOA's so high, short term rentals is the only way to pay these fees along with the mortgage payment. Maui has changed a great deal, people are going elsewhere. Something needs to be done now. I feel the damage is done with all the negative social media remarks from locals telling people not to come. We need a full marketing blitz to bring back tourism, our only real economy. Shops cannot do business here without the tourists. We will be a ghost town, with no cute boutiques. It's bad enough that we have so many homeless. It's hurting everyone. Please pass Bill 88 to help get our economy going again.
Dear Chair and Members of the Housing & Land Use Committee,
Aloha.
I am a property owner on Maui. Thank you for the opportunity to share my testimony in strong, respectful support of Resolution 25-230, now formally known as Bill 88.
I want to extend my deepest appreciation to the Committee and County staff for your hard work and collaborative approach to our island's land-use challenges.
As an owner of a long-established visitor accommodation, I see Bill 88 as a vital, proactive step toward bringing much-needed clarity, fairness, and predictability to our zoning laws. For decades, properties like mine have operated transparently and responsibly, contributing directly to the local economy by supporting small businesses and generating essential tax revenue that funds critical community infrastructure.
Bill 88 honors this history by creating a clear, modern framework for properties that have been a legal part of Maui's hospitality fabric for generations. It replaces regulatory ambiguity with a predictable, harmonious path forward, allowing responsible housing providers to align seamlessly with the County’s long-term planning goals.
I kindly and respectfully urge the Committee to vote in favor of Bill 88. Let us move forward together with mutual respect and the spirit of aloha for the long-term health of the entire Maui community.
Mahalo nui loa for your time, leadership, and public service.
I am writing in strong support of the proposed H-3 and H-4 zoning districts and urge you to pass Bill 88.
Short-term rentals are a direct lifeline for Maui's local economy. Visitors staying in vacation rentals support local restaurants, housekeepers, contractors, and countless working families. At a time when Maui is already facing declining tourism, further restricting these properties would deepen the economic harm to the very community this Council serves.
The H-3 and H-4 zoning framework is a responsible path forward, keeping properties legal, protecting local jobs, and generating tax revenue that can be directed toward Maui's housing needs.
Please pass Bill 88. Maui's working families are counting on it.
Mahalo.
Aloha
I am a resident of 35 years on the island. I have one vacation rental at Napili Ridge. I support H3H4 because there have been no locals that have bought short-term vacation rentals on the west side on the water. They cannot afford it! I cannot afford it! If the island had another industry, besides tourism, then I would support cutting out vacation rentals, but we have no other income stream! The county is going to be short funds, people are leaving the island as there are no jobs. I am so confused as to why the county council does not see this! Please! Unless you come up with another business for us to do besides tourism, please continue H3 and H4. Teresa Nelle
Aloha Honorable Council, I am in favor of creating the H3/H4 zones. My name is John Chaisson and I am a 20 year owner of Maui Sands .I I am here today to support Bill 88 and the creation of H3/H4 zoning. This will provide jobs to local economy and the creation of this new zoning will allow certain appropriate A1/A2 properties with current TVR status to transition to H3/H4/ to continue short term rentals.
The TIG Report identifies the conditions by which an A1/A2 property can transition to H3/H4. These conditions identify whether a property is appropriate and attainable as affordable housing. The possible H3/H4 properties listed on TIG/Exhibit 2 list are identified as not attainable for affordable housing because of the issues they present. These issues are identified by the TIG report include whether it is a lease hold, are the monthlies are affordable, whether or not the property lies within the Sea-Rise Impact zone, whether there are legal issues with the property are some areas of concern the TIG addressed. Please pass Bill 88.This would not only create jobs but create balance of TVR condos and Hotels within the short term rental market. A win/win for everyone.
As such Maui Sands I meets all the TIG criteria to be included on Exhibit 2 and then some being a lease hold property, a land lease so short it does not qualify for a mortgage, $3000 monthlies, located in the middle of the sea rise impact zone, and missing land lease payments My presentation I emailed for this hearing has the receipts that support Maui Sands is not an attainable affordable property with all the issues exist with Maui Sands 1. I am asking the Housing Land Use Committee and Maui County Council, when appropriate, to please include us on the Exhibit 2 for the council initiated zoning change. Mahalo for your time.
As a Maui resident whose livelihood is tied to the vacation rental industry, I am writing to urge the approval of the new H-3 and H-4 zoning districts. When I purchased my property, I intentionally chose a location with legal short-term rental entitlements, paying a significant premium to ensure I was operating correctly and in full compliance with the law.
Approving this new zoning is a critical step in protecting residents like myself who have invested in Maui’s economy in good faith. Vacation rentals are a vital support system for countless local small businesses. Rather than creating uncertainty for law-abiding owners, the County should embrace these clear zoning pathways. Furthermore, the substantial tax revenue generated by these properties must be managed effectively and directed specifically toward affordable housing. If these funds are handled with better oversight, we can support our housing needs while maintaining the economic engine that sustains so many Maui families.
Bill 88 would benefit residents, property owners, local jobs, and the county as a whole.
I am a Maui resident and vacation rentals are an integral part of my livelihood. I specifically purchased a property that was legal for short term rentals even though it cost more to do so than a similar property without this entitlement. Vacation rentals support a lot of small business on Maui and there should be a way for them to continue. I believe the taxes from vacation rentals should be properly used to provide affordable housing for Maui- I do not feel that this has been managed well.
Please protect owners who purchased property for the purpose of short-term rentals in complexes built for and advertised as short-term rental property. We contribute millions to Maui County and Hawaii through property taxes, excise & transient taxes, employment of Maui residents and the purchases made by our guests. Thank you.
RE: Bill 88- Amending Comprehensive Zoning to Establish H-3 And H-4 Hotel Districts
We would like to urge the passage of Bill 88.
Updating the zoning to allow the continued use of short-term rental (STR) permits in units that have historically been allowed is a just decision.
We hope that the committee can start looking at long-time visitor accommodations (STRs) as an asset to the community; to think of STRs as partners with their collection of GET, TA, and Maui taxes to fund first-time buyers, new workforce housing, and new senior housing, and to build a reserve for future housing needs.
We believe there should be a distinction between residential housing (in residential areas) being purchased and turned into STRs, as opposed to small condos that are away from any neighborhood services.
Condos like ours were originally purchased in the 80s, with the specific terms in our contracts allowing for use as full-time residences, long-term rentals, or short-term rentals.
The zoning was different in those days, so updating the zoning to allow the continued use of their multiple intended purposes would be a correct decision.
Owning these older (50+yo) units in an area where the shoreline is eroding is a labor of love, with all our proceeds going towards regular maintenance, plus unexpected expenses due to storms – never for making a personal profit. Long-term STR owners use the funds on upkeep and to pay taxes, with the hope of visiting with friends and other owners in the complex as often as possible.
Pass this bill and ensure that condos away from neighborhood services can do what their original contracts stated: use their own homes or share them with others as they wish. Maui County will keep reaping the financial reward that it always has.
I've have lived full time on Maui for over 25 years and I believe that re-zoning is a fair compromise. The zoning should have been done correctly before the developers were given the permits to build these rentals. So now the county wants to punish the owners for the counties not zoning properly at the time of the build, that is not right. These owners bought the property with the right to vacation rent it when they are not using the condo. Take the condos that were built for work force housing and make sure they stay long term rentals. The zoning is really odd. It skips one building to the next, not a entire section or development area like normal. All of Kihei Rd. should be allowed to have Vacation rentals. Go up the hill several blocks and that is residential. There is no way that Kamaole Sands and Maui Vista were built for anything but Vacation rentals, the zoning just was not corrected at the time of the build. There is no way that they build work force housing with 3 swimming pools and 3 tennis courts. Let's be fair and correct these zoning mistakes that they county let slide. Also, I believe the county needs the taxes from these vacation rentals. Mahalo for letting me testify on this matter. Marilyn Steinmetz, S. Kihei resident.
To the Members of the Housing and Land Use Committee,
Aloha Chair and Committee Members,
My name is Karen Hoffman, and I am an owner of a short-term rental property on Maui. I respectfully ask that you consider the impacts that Bill 88 may have on owners like myself, as well as on Maui’s visitor industry and economy and ask that you pass this bill,
My unit was designed and built primarily for short-term visitor accommodations, not long-term residential living and was considered at hotel/condo with an individual at the property to check you into your unit The unit has only one parking space, limited closet and storage space, and a layout that is not practical or adequate for full-time family occupancy. These types of units were intended for transient vacation use and do not realistically meet the needs of many long-term residents who realistically can't afford them and HOA fees associated with them.
Short-term rentals provide an important balance for Maui. They allow visitors to come and experience our island while supporting local businesses, restaurants, housekeeping companies, maintenance workers, landscapers, contractors, and many other jobs connected to tourism. Visitors staying in short-term rentals contribute directly to our local economy. Eliminating or severely restricting these properties may not create the long-term housing solutions many hope for, especially when certain units are not suitable for permanent residential use to begin with. It definitely would place financial hardship on property owners while also impacting tourism-related employment and county tax revenues.
I understand and support the need for more affordable housing for Maui residents. However, I don't feel that placing families in these small units long term is the answer. These short term rentals have unique characteristics that make them uninhabitable for long term housing. I ask the Committee to carefully consider solutions that protect both local housing needs and the economic realities of Maui’s tourism-based community. Tourism is such a vital component for the survival of the Hawaiian economy,
Mahalo for your time, consideration, and service to our county.
Sincerely,
Karen Hoffman
Noelani Owner unit 108
To all involved in decision making on this Bill.
Respectfully, we support this bill . We purchased our property legally in 2015
Following all laws .
Thank you
Warren and Jayne Grinnell
Please disregard the previous testimony, we hit oppose in error . Thank You