WAILUKU - The Maui Council Planning Committee made some progress Tuesday on the Planning Department's set of bills intended to remake short-term vacation rental legislation.
The committee met for about four hours Tuesday, but much of that time was consumed by public testimony and a break. When the nine-member Planning Committee reconvened, it adopted two amendments to the package of bed-and-breakfast bills before them.
The committee approved the recommendations of the Molokai and Lanai planning commissions and the Hana Advisory Committee as well as a proposal by Planning Director Jeff Hunt to establish "house rules" for B&Bs intended to smooth out relationships with neighbors.
The committee also began discussions on setting a cap of 400 for the total number of B&Bs that can be located in certain districts, but tabled the discussion until its next meeting Aug. 19.
"I promise you that we are moving as quickly as possible," said committee Chairwoman Gladys Baisa.
At the committee's last meeting in July, members agreed to a significant compromise with TVR operators that broadens the definition of B&Bs to allow a property owner with two homes on a single lot to live in one house and rent out the other as a vacation rental. The committee also approved B&Bs in rural districts, but dismissed a proposal to allow them in agricultural districts.
During the public comment period of Tuesday's meeting, members of the Maui Vacation Rental Association and Maui Farm Bureau continued to disagree over the effects of allowing B&Bs in rural and agricultural zones.
The farmers said that the short-term rentals unfairly raise the value of their property and make farmland unaffordable.
But MVRA Secretary Sharyn Stone said most TVR operators own small lots, typically less than two acres, that are really only good for gardening and are no competition for farmers.
Maui Realtors Association spokesman Dave DeLeon said that the policy of shutting down unpermitted TVRs is devastating a $300 million annual industry that produces 3,000 jobs for the island. This is happening at a time when the downtrodden tourism industry needs all the help it can get, he said.
"Making our economy more dependent on tourism is not diversification," said East Maui resident Elaine Wender.
Hunt's house rules included quiet hours, no overnight on-street parting and no loud stereos.
Other recommendations approved by the committee on Tuesday include:
= In Hana - Require one-square-foot permit identification sign; for a B&B with more than three bedrooms, require a public hearing.
= On Lanai - Require parking stalls; require one-square-foot permit identification sign.
= On Molokai - Allow no more than three bedrooms to be used as B&B rentals; Molokai Planning Commission may grant one-year permit; planning director may approve one-year extensions; require parking stalls; require one-square-foot permit identification sign.
Still on the Planning Committee agenda are several measures such as streamlining the B&B permitting process, and - perhaps the most controversial - eliminating conditional use permits for "transient vacation rental" so no vacation rental other than permitted B&Bs can be located outside of designated hotel/resort areas.
A transient vacation rental is a short-term rental in which a manager or owner does not live on site. In contrast, a bed-and-breakfast is defined as short-term rental that has a manager or owner on site.
TVR proponents have been involved in discussions over the proposed caps on B&Bs in certain areas and have also called for on-site managers for B&Bs to keep their TVRs operating.
The cap discussion will likely kick off the next Planning Committee meeting. Council Member Michael Molina said he had some concerns that an uneven proportion of the permits would be in his north shore district. He holds the Makawao-Haiku-Paia residency seat, which would have 108 B&B permits under the current proposal, or 27 percent of the total in the nine council-residency districts.
"It is a really high number in my opinion," Molina said.
* Chris Hamilton can be reached at chamilton @mauinews.com.
