WAILUKU - This is the 50th anniversary of interim zoning in the county, and time may at least be running out on this stopgap method of land use control.
But until then, the County Council is ready to tweak the current zoning to at least give it some building standards, which it has never had; and to allow bed-and-breakfast operations in interim zoning.
The council's Planning Committee voted unanimously Monday to recommend passing the revisions on first reading.
Planning Director Jeff Hunt called the changes "slight revisions" and said he hoped that the next round of revisions to the community plans would extinguish the pesky zoning category.
By putting in some standards, a revised interim zone would, for example, limit the height of cell phone towers, which has been an issue in a few places.
Most of the committee's discussion concerned adding bed-and-breakfast operations to the list of permitted uses in the interim districts.
Council Member Wayne Nishiki was concerned that such businesses would not pay high enough property taxes.
Since there are no bed-and-breakfasts allowed in interim or rural zones yet, and only 13 in urban zoning, this would depend upon how the Department of Finance treats these uses.
In testimony, Dave DeLeon, the government affairs director of the Realtors Association of Maui, said that in an actual case last year, a bed-and-breakfast's property was assessed at hotel rates, resulting in payments of five times as much as when the property was considered a single-family home.
Council Member Gladys Baisa pointed out that by applying for a permit, the operator gives up the homeowner deduction, "a very significant" tax break.
The Realtors association supported the change, and there was no testimony against it.
Now that the new bed-and-breakfast ordinance allows this use in the rural and agricultural districts, the extension to interim - as long as not prohibited by language in a particular community plan - seems consistent.
Committee Chairman Sol Kaho'ohalahala said another council committee could weigh the tax consequences.
There was more potential to affect many acres in a second zoning measure, although this one is not nearly as far along in the legislative process.
In fact, the question was merely whether to submit proposals for changing the rural zoning ordinance to the three planning commissions for their advice.
Rural zoning allows for half-acre and 1-acre minimum lot sizes. The proposal would also allow for 2-, 5- and 10-acre rural lots.
This is a roundabout way of controlling 2-acre "gentlemen's estates" in the agriculture zone.
Changes in the agriculture zoning law have clamped down on the ability to create these lots, but there are many already existing.
Under the county's zoning law, these owners have to submit farm plans, although the opportunities to do genuine farming on small lots are few.
The Realtors association supported this revision, too. DeLeon said that these thousands of small lots "cannot, in the reality of our economy, ever function as actual farms. . . . most are owned with mortgages that make full-time farming of these properties impossible."
The Realtors advocate "ending this fiction" by creating zoning to match the "actual character" of the uses, he said, noting that the General Plan Advisory Committee called for this as well.
Hunt voiced qualified support for the change. He said that it would add "another tool in our toolbox" for managing growth.
In particular, the way the law reads now, if an agricultural lot is subdivided, each new lot gets a house.
The proposed rural change limits each lot to one single-family dwelling (and, in certain circumstances, an accessory dwelling).
This would help "keep country, country," which Hunt said was a strong message from public hearings.
On the other hand, he said, rural zoning "is the epitome of sprawl," whose "definition is low-density development, with all the impacts that come from it."
However, since the change in the zoning ordinance would not of itself rezone any property, Hunt did not say his department would oppose the revision.
"At this point, we're OK with sending it to the planning commissions," he said.
If the council gives county planners the tool, "we hope that it isn't used very much," Hunt said.
That would be up to the council, which has the authority to rezone.
The committee sent the draft to the commissions with little comment.
* Harry Eagar can be reached at heagar@mauinews.com.
