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State and Maui County officials have waived some of the regulations slowing down Lahaina’s wildfire recovery, but there are still hurdles that need to be addressed.
One is the county’s Urban Design Review Board. That board, staffed by nine volunteers who are either engineers or architects, is required under the county code to advise Maui's three planning commissions regarding the design of certain proposed projects.
In a recent report on streamlining county boards and commissions, the Maui Cost of Government Commission identified the UDRB as ripe for repeal. According to the report, the county Planning Department's own staff already support the planning commissions by performing reviews similar to those conducted by the board.
The commission noted that the Planning Department itself believes "eliminating the UDRB could free up existing staff capacity, potentially allowing the department to catch up on the backlog of support efforts for its remaining boards and commissions." The report also found that no other county has a similar board, committee or commission.
As it stands now, the Maui Planning Department reviews and approves some land-use permits. The county's three planning commissions -- one for each populated island -- hold hearings on and approve others.
One type of permit the planning commissions must vote to approve is the Special Management Area use permit, which applies to properties near the shoreline. The UDRB must provide input to the commissions on these and some other permits, and that mandate has resulted in a duplicative process that delays all kinds of projects.
The Cost of Government Commission's report did not specifically discuss how the UDRB has affected Lahaina's recovery, but there is little doubt it has served as a significant hurdle.
For example, the board heard two SMA use permits for rebuilding homes along Front Street at its Jan. 6, 2026, meeting. The Maui Planning Commission signed off on one of the permits in April but has yet to hear the other.
Another SMA use permit to reconstruct a single-family residence makai of Front Street in Lahaina was reviewed by the board on Feb. 3, 2026. But the Maui Planning Commission didn't hold a hearing on the permit until its June 23 meeting -- and then deferred it until Aug. 11, at which point it was finally approved.
While these delays also speak to the Maui Planning Commission’s role in holding up permits, the UDRB's involvement worsens that bottleneck. Moreover, the board's feedback is entirely advisory, so the three island planning commissions sometimes reject its suggestions.
Another issue is that the volunteer nature of the board means it often has to cancel its meetings for failing to meet quorum, which is the same issue the planning commissions often run into.
And when that happens -- as it did in nine of the 12 months of 2024 -- applicants must wait even longer for their hearings, which bogs down other parts of the permitting process. So far in 2026, the UDRB has canceled three of its 10 monthly meetings.
In addition to causing permitting delays that can increase expenses for materials and labor, the board's required review adds to project costs because applicants often have to pay attorneys, consultants or their own architects to represent them at its meetings.
For these reasons, Maui County lawmakers should relieve permit applicants from having to present their projects to the UDRB. Doing so would allow them to go straight to their island's planning commission, which might have more staff support if the board were out of the picture.
This would not compromise project aesthetics because there are ways the County Council could ensure projects maintain correct form in historic areas.
For starters, the County already administers historic reviews through its planning department and yet another volunteer commission.
Additionally, as the Maui Cost of Government Commission pointed out in its report, the County’s three planning commissions could simply adopt the board's design review checklist into their own rules. After all, the other counties seem to be getting along fine without such a board.
Repealing the UDRB would save permit applicants time, money and the many headaches associated with navigating county hearings -- welcome relief especially for anyone trying to rebuild in Lahaina.
Jonathan Helton is a senior policy analyst at the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.