Following more than two hours of passionate public testimony, the Maui Planning Commission on Tuesday stood firm, shooting down a bill to significantly weaken the impact of the anticipated phase-out of thousands of vacation rentals over the next five years.

The Maui County Council sent the legislation to the county’s three planning commissions for feedback in January after passing an amended version of the controversial Bill 9, Maui Mayor Richard Bissen’s plan to end the exemptions that have long allowed more than 7,000 apartment-zoned units across the county to operate as short-term rentals.

The more recent bill, which was based on recommendations from the council’s Temporary Investigative Group for Bill 9 and had Bissen’s support, would create two new hotel zoning districts so up to 4,500 affected units could continue operating as vacation rentals.

Now that the commission recommended the council oppose the bill, it could only become law if a two-thirds supermajority of the nine-member council approve it.

Brian Ward, the only member who went against the commission’s recommendation, said creating the new hotel zones would protect the county from lawsuits. Other commissioners said the community has for years clearly stated its desire for fewer transient vacation rentals and more long-term housing.

“This commission voted and the County Council voted in favor of Bill 9. We decided we wanted to phase those uses out,” Planning Commissioner Mark Deakos said, adding that this separate bill serves as “a way to undermine Bill 9.”

As passed, Bill 9 is set to take effect beginning Jan. 1, 2029 in West Maui and Jan. 1, 2031 in the rest of the county. The vast majority of affected properties are in Kīhei and West Maui.

A Community Divided

Many people and groups such as Lahaina Strong and the Maui chapter of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union celebrated when Bill 9 was finally signed into law this past December, more than a year and a half after Bissen introduced the legislation in response to the deadly 2023 wildfires that displaced more than 12,000 people, exacerbating the island’s longstanding housing crisis. They hailed it as a way to create much needed housing for fire survivors and local residents who have long struggled to find a place to live. 

Many people who opposed Bill 9, including some business and property owners, said the council needed to find ways to prevent the economic fallout from such a drastic change in housing policy.

Council member Tom Cook of South Maui, who served on the investigative group, introduced the bill in December. He said it was intended in part to protect the county from lawsuits filed by affected property owners, some of whom have already filed lawsuits saying Bill 9 violates individual property rights.

The two new hotel zoning districts established by the rezoning bill would encompass thousands of units that the investigative group identified as being unsuitable for most long-term residents, including because they are too expensive for locals or threatened by sea level rise.

During Tuesday’s meeting, dozens of people testified both in favor of and against establishing the new hotel zones where property owners could continue operating as short-term rentals. 

Property owner Linda Mitchell urged commissioners to recommend the rezoning and said it wouldn’t be fair to punish those who had legally operated vacation rentals for years and contributed thousands of property tax dollars.

“It will be wonderful if that is done and we can count on it and not have to go through the somewhat agony that we have been through wondering if our business of over 30 years would be taken away from us,” Mitchell said. 

Several others, including Paele Kiakona, a lead organizer with Lahaina Strong, said the rezoning effort seemed to be an attempt to undermine locals’ efforts to advocate for Bill 9 and allow property owners to continue setting aside residential units for tourists.

“It’s ridiculous that our community has to fight so hard to get something pushed through, and then there’s an effort to go and circumnavigate this,” he said.

The Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi Planning Commissions are scheduled to take up the rezoning bill on March 11 and March 18, respectively.