A plan to transform three holes of a Kauai golf course into a luxury glamping resort lost momentum on Tuesday when county planning commissioners passed a bill to foil the project by restricting how open and agriculture-zoned properties can be developed.

Clusters of luxury camping accommodations take up primarily the first three holes of the course as it exists today. 

The proposal by hotel developer Starwood Capital Group, which purchased the former Princeville Resort and nearby golf courses, would put tents within 150 feet of residential homes.

Starwood has said it will build hundreds of new single-family homes on the courses if it doesn’t get its way with the glamping resort

Proposed by County Councilman Luke Evslin and Council Vice Chairman Mason Chock, the bill will next go before the County Council, most likely at one of its regularly scheduled meetings in October or November.

“Part of our rationale for the bill,” Evslin said, “is that developed campgrounds allow for almost unlimited transient accommodations on ag and open-zoned land in a way that was never intended, so our bill was an effort to close that loophole.”

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