The planning committee of the Maui County Council convened again on Tuesday to work on a new ordinance governing bed and breakfasts. The last few meetings have seen some pretty solid progress after what has been months of council review. The one area that the committee had raised previously, but not come to terms on was the issue of an island wide and community level caps on the number of bed and breakfasts allowed. Numbers had been floated at previous meeting, but no numbers could be agreed upon. The committee finally came up with some numbers that worked for all parties on Tuesday. The committee worked with county planning director Jeff Hunt to come with a cap of 302 B&B’s on Maui. The community caps are as follows:
- Hana 24
- Kihei, Makena 100
- Makawao, Pukalani, Kula 20
- Paia, Haiku 54
- Wailuku, Kahului 16
- West Maui 88
These numbers are lower than what had been discussed in previous council meetings. The biggest reduction was in the Paia, Haiku and Hana areas. The committee also decided that Molokai and Lanai residents will make their own determinations on how many B&B’s are allowed on those islands.
While it was encouraging that the committee came to an agreement on caps, the issue of bed and breakfasts on ag land was raised once again. The county looked like it was going to push against allowing bed and breakfasts on ag land back in June. They reversed positions in August by a narrow margin. The issue came up again Tuesday as Maui County Farm Bureau head Warren Watanabe pushed the council to reconsider their stance. There was additional debate with members of the committee taking opposing sides on the issue. There was no clear resolution on this issue.
The debate will continue in two weeks. Committee chair Gladys Baisa is pushing hard for a resolution to the issue so that they can move on to other issues including the discussion of TVRs or vacation rentals outside hotel/resort zones where the owner’s do not live on site. Once the planning committee makes its recommendation on the B&B bill, it will go before the full county council. From there, the bill will go in front of the mayor for review. We will continue to track progress of the bed and breakfast debate on THE Maui Real Estate Blog.
Check out today’s Maui News article for additional details.
