Maui County Council Housing & Land Use Committee: Bill 9 Temporary Investigative Group Report

The Maui County Council's Housing and Land Use Committee formed a Temporary Investigative Group (TIG) to assess the feasibility and economic impacts of Bill 9. 

Bill 9 was proposed by Maui's Mayor in 2024 and aims to create affordable housing by phasing out Short Term Rentals in the Apartment Zones.  If implemented as written, the Bill would phase out short-term rentals in more than 7000 properties across Maui County.

It's important to understand that the TIG is not tasked with making recommendations to alter Bill 9, but rather proposes other legislation, policy and zoning changes that the County should implement. 

Maui, like many places across the world, is facing a housing crisis, which was exacerbated by the tragic Lahaina Fires.  The Mayor said the goal of the legislation was to create affordable housing, and the mechanism by which this would happen has been widely and passionately debated by community members. Read the history of Bill 9.

The TIG met with owners in the Apartment District, the Planning and Zoning Departments, and made site visits.  The TIG evaluated the economic impact to the County as it relates to not only property taxes, but also GET and TAT taxes, as well as impacts on tourism and jobs related to tourism.  Issues such as sea level rise and limited water resources were considered, as well as financial viability (for example, properties with pending ligitation would likely be limited to cash buyers only). Read the Maui County Council HLU TIG Report

Per the Report, the "TIG was requested to

• Identify Apartment District properties on which TVR uses should be allowed to continue and recommend the appropriate land-use-designation changes:
• Identify, and rank in order of importance, changes to Chapter 19.510, Maui County Code, to improve application and review processes;
• Identify which beneficial changes to policies and procedures require legislative proposals and action by the Council; and
• Identify which beneficial policies and procedures can be accomplished by Department of Planning administrative action.

The TIG recommends:

1.  The Department of Planning introduce legislation establishing H-3 and H-4 Hotel Districts. 
These Districts could be like-for-like with A-1 and A-2 Apartment Districts and those properties on which TVR uses should be allowed to continue could then be rezoned into the H-3 and H-4 Districts without changing the properties' allowable uses.

2.  Council-initiated land-use designation changes

The scope of this would be identifying Apartment District properties where continuing TVRs may be appropriate, suggest Council-initiated bills to approve a change in Zoning, Community Plan Amendment, or Conditional Permit for the identified properties.

The Report provided an attached Exhibit 2, which is sorted below Alphabetically by Districts/Areas.  This identified properties where there are existing rentals where continued TVR uses may be appropriate.  These are properties where the  market values that are not compatible with affordable housing, that are located entirely in the sea level rise area, and those that are comprised mostly of timeshare. 

Notably absent in the  are properties in designated resort areas per the community plan such as the Kapalua Golf Villas and Kapalua Ridge Villas, and also others where monthly maintenance fee, special assessment, and/or lease rent costs may exceed affordable housing guidelines

The report notes that "Owners of property not included in Exhibit “2” who are wishing to continue TVR uses may still individually apply for land-usedesignation changes." 

Further it notes: "Owners of properties that are listed in Exhibit “2” but prefer to apply for upzoning of their properties may be excluded from Council-initiated comprehensive zoning and individually apply for land-use-designation changes."

The Report notes that there is a barrier to implementation: "The length of time for land-use designation changes to be reviewed and approved will likely extend beyond the current Council term."

The report concludes that the recommendations further the General Plan objectives as they serve to “Increase the inventory of long-term housing units, whether owner-occupied or long-term rental, and whether single-family or multi-family.” (West Maui Community Plan, page 58)

“Limit the number of visitor-accommodation units and facilities in Community Plan Areas.” (Countywide Policy Plan, page 73)

“Maintain a sustainable balance between the resident, part-time resident, and visitor populations.” (Countywide Policy Plan, page 73)