×

Home spurs concern over size, potential use as vacation rental

Developer says it is complying with rules, working with county on size

A 45-foot-tall, eight-bedroom single-family Napili home is spurring concerns among residents who say it doesn’t conform with the Napili Bay Civic Improvement District conditions and worry it will become a short-term rental. This photo was taken in March. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos

A 45-foot-tall Napili home under construction with eight bedrooms, an elevator, two pools and a rooftop deck is frustrating neighbors who worry that the “single-family” structure will turn into a largescale short-term rental.

“You look at um, going look like one four- to five-story house,” said Napili resident Junya Nakoa. “You know it’s not a two-floor house.”

Developed by Napili Beach House LLC, the home is listed at 7,483 square feet and received a special management area exemption from the Maui County Planning Department in 2019. The exemption was granted as the home is not on the shoreline and is less than the 7,500-square-foot threshold, according to county documents.

But nearby residents have expressed complaints over the size of the home at the corner of Lower Honoapiilani Road and Hui Drive, which falls under the Napili Bay Civic Improvement zoning district where buildings are limited to two stories. The district also allows for the same uses as hotel districts, spurring community concerns.

“What I doing is just being a voice of the community and saying ‘enough,’ “ Nakoa said last week. “Our county administration is just doing things that hurts us locals in getting us homes.”

Attorneys for Napili Beach House LLC, which is developing the 7,483-square-foot home at the corner of Lower Honoapiilani Road and Hui Drive, said that the home is being built in accordance with approved building permits and is working on the issue of height with the county. They also said that “the owner would like to have the option to use the property as transient vacation rental,” though the Planning Department said this would not be allowed.

The Napili Bay Civic Improvement zoning district was created in the 1960s as a way to keep up an “orderly and harmonious appearance” of the land and structures in the area, according to county documents. Rules for the district in the Maui County Code include requiring building heights to stay within two stories — though no specific number of feet is listed — limiting total floor area of structures to 50 percent of the lot area, conforming construction and architectural style of buildings with current Napili developments and permitting uses in line with hotel districts.

“The purpose of that ordinance was and is, to keep Napili from having high rise developments around the beach and bay,” the Napili Bay and Beach Foundation said in a March 4 letter to the Planning Department. “This building seems to ignore that district ordinance completely.”

The foundation asked the county to rescind the exemption in a March 24 letter, saying that the Napili Civic Improvement District conditions on height and style “were not complied with in the permitting process.” It also pointed to the “increased environmental impacts of a large structure and hard surfaces on runoff to Napili Bay.”

Planning Department Director Michele McLean said last week that the department has been “working to address community concerns,” including worries over it becoming a short-term rental and the home’s height, as well as the height and construction of a makai retaining wall and an “unidentified space” in the home.

McLean and Deputy Planning Director Jordan Hart also went out to the construction site in May and met with concerned residents. The county is also in talks with Napili Beach House LLC, whose agent is listed as Greg Brown in Hawaii state business records.

Brown was the developer behind a proposed project of 25 workforce housing units and 24 market-rate agricultural lots in Launiupoko that was initially approved by the Maui County Council in June 2017. However, the Makila Kai project came to a halt after the council’s Land Use Committee voted against allowing a district boundary amendment from agricultural to rural for the site.

Brown came back to the council with a 34-unit, scaled-down version of the project that was approved in October 2019.

Napili Beach House’s attorneys said in a statement that the Napili home is being built in accordance with approved building permits and that, “while large,” it did qualify for the SMA exemption. The structure is a single-family home that has two stories with plans for a rooftop deck, attorneys said.

“The owner understands that the height issue is the major concern of the community and that the Planning Department now also desires the building height to be lower, so he is beginning dialogue with the county to see how this can be accomplished,” they added.

They also noted that the developer worked with the county for more than two years to receive the necessary permits and approvals for the home.

“The county was very professional and diligent in its review of the plans and the owner believes the permits were properly issued,” attorneys stated, adding that there are many properties in the Napili Bay Civic Improvement District that are used as transient vacation rentals, which the zoning allows, and “the owner would like to have the option to use the property as transient vacation rental.”

However, the county “specifically informed the owner that short-term rental is not currently allowed,” McLean said in an email to The Maui News.

The SMA exemption and building permit were issued for a single-family home, not for a short-term rental, even though the use is allowed by the zoning.

“Had STR (short-term rental) use been indicated on any of the plans, we would have required a SMA major permit,” McLean said. “Its real property tax classification is currently short-term rental, but that will change on July 1 with their bi-annual adjustments.”

As for the home’s size, McLean said the county is confirming the square footage on paper and will check to see that it is being built in compliance. She said its roof does reach 35 feet, or about the height of two stories, but noted the elevator shaft and stairwells put the overall height of the structure at 45 feet. The Napili Bay Civic Improvement District allows two stories but doesn’t specify number of feet.

“As we have identified needed updates to various zoning districts over time, we have changed ‘stories’ to ‘feet’ because ‘stories’ is imprecise and raises questions with lofts, mezzanines, etc.,” McLean said.

Some districts allow additional height for things such as elevator shafts, roof-mounted air conditioning equipment and stairwells, including the hotel district, she added.

Another issue has come up regarding an “unidentified space” between stairwells and the elevator shaft that could have added to the square footage of the home, McLean said. The department has since confirmed that the space will be electrical equipment storage and will otherwise be walled off.

A staff planner worked with the applicant on the house plans to make changes to what was submitted, McLean said. The approved plans are “a notable improvement in terms of appearance, impacts, etc. and include the provision of four public beach parking spaces on-site.”

McLean, who was last at the site on May 10, said that the home appeared to have most but not all of the exterior framing on the first and second floors completed.

Concerns over the home have also been referred to the Maui County Council’s Government Relations, Ethics and Transparency Committee, since council members have been receiving questions, McLean said.

The matter has yet to be scheduled before the committee, Council Services staff said on May 28.

* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper?
     
Support Local Journalism on Maui

Only $99/year

Subscribe Today