Last week, Maui County’s Mayor signed Bill 9 into law, after the county council approved the measure, intended to phase out thousands of vacation rentals. The bill is part of an effort to free up long term housing for residents, especially for survivors of the devastating Lahaina wildfires in August 2023.
“This took a lot of courage for a lot of people to come forward, and again, those who spoke on either side of this issue. But we got to air it out. Everybody got to hear what was said, a decision was made, and now we’re going to do the best we can to implement it,” the mayor said.
The plan would phase out 6,100 vacation rentals, which would increase housing stock by roughly 13 percent.
But some residents and hospitality companies have pushed back.
Now the Maui Council is discussing Resolution 25-230, which would allow most of these vacation rentals to operate under new zoning
“The administration agreeing to this, creating the additional zoning categories, working with [corporation] counsel and the planning department, is showing good faith to all of the people who are experiencing this transition,” said Tom Cook, Maui County Council member, South Maui.
“As written, the proposed ordinance would reserve the H-3 and H-4 districts for properties that were previously in A-1 and A-2 zoning and where transient vacation rentals were legally prior to the passing and phase out of Bill 9,” said Maui Vacation Rental Association executive director Caitlin Miller.
If this new resolution is approved, that means that only 1,500 vacation rentals would be phased out instead of all 6,100 units currently planned.
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