The Maui Planning Commission failed to have enough commissioners available this morning for an anticipated continuation of a public hearing on a proposed phase-out of approximately 7,000 transient vacation rentals in Maui County’s apartment-zoned districts.
Department of Planning Director Kate Blystone announced that the meeting could not be held because there was no quorum for the commission to conduct business.
“I apologize for this,” she said. “I wish we had more notice.”
Blystone said she was not aware that there would be no quorum for today’s meeting until the end of the day on Monday.
Today’s meeting was expected to take about an hour because it was already known that there would be problems maintaining a quorum, or a minimum number of commissioners to conduct official business. The commission needs five members for a quorum. It currently has only six members and three vacancies.
Today’s meeting agenda will be postponed until 9 a.m. July 23, also at the Planning Department Conference Room in the Kalana Pakui Building in Wailuku. The room has capacity for 62 people, and members of the public and others are encouraged to attend virtually via Webex Videoconferencing.
On July 23, the commission will continue testimony from those who signed up but did not testify at the commission’s June 25 public hearing on the vacation rental phase-out bill. The testifier sign-up log is here. People who have not signed up to testify may do so at the July 23 meeting. People can also submit written testimony via email at planning@mauicounty.gov, or by mailing the Department of Planning at One Main Plaza, 2200 Main St., Suite 315, Wailuku 96793.
The commission is the first of Maui County’s three planning commissions to take up the measure. The bill also has been referred to the Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi planning commissions.
Under the phase-out bill, housing units still used as vacation rentals in apartment-zoned districts will no longer be permitted as short-term visitor accommodations — as of July 1, 2025, for West Maui, and Jan. 1, 2026, for the rest of Maui County.
The bill, introduced by Mayor Richard Bissen, comes in the wake of a new state law that clarifies transient vacation rentals are not considered residential uses and may be phased out. Currently, apartments that have been used as vacation rentals since before April 20, 1989, have been grandfathered to continue as transient accommodations even though a Maui County ordinance in 1989 removed transient vacation rentals as permitted uses in apartment-zoned areas.
Maui County has approximately 13,700 transient vacation rentals in Maui County, and the proposed bill may impact 7,100 units in apartment-zoned districts, mostly in West and South Maui.
After public testimony before the commission is completed, the panel will deliberate and determine its recommendation for action on the bill to the Maui County Council.
