Maui County Council members voted 7-2 Friday to give final approval to Bill 88, a measure creating two new hotel zoning districts intended to provide a path forward for thousands of vacation rentals being phased out of apartment-zoned districts. Council Members Keani Rawlins-Fernandez and Gabe Johnson dissented.

The bill establishes the H-3 and H-4 hotel zoning districts, modeled on the existing A-1 and A-2 apartment standards, for properties that have operated with transient vacation rentals as a grandfathered permitted use. The measure follows the passage of Bill 9, the vacation rental phase-out measure that Mayor Richard Bissen proposed in May 2024 and then signed into law shortly after council members passed it on second and final reading on Dec. 15.

Housing and Land Use Committee Chair Nohelani Uʻu-Hodgins, who introduced the motion to pass Bill 88, stressed that the measure does not rezone any properties on its own.

“This bill only establishes the district and it does not rezone any properties,” Uʻu-Hodgins said. “Rezoning will have to happen separately.”

The bill cleared Uʻu-Hodgins’ committee on a 6-1 vote on May 26, with Rawlins-Fernandez as the lone dissenting vote, despite unanimous opposition from all three county planning commissions — Maui, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi. The legislation is designed to create a path for roughly 4,500 grandfathered vacation rentals at 104 properties on the so-called Minatoya List to eventually seek hotel zoning.

Rawlins-Fernandez maintains opposition

Rawlins-Fernandez again voted “no” on final reading, thanking the Office of Hawaiian Affairs for testimony submitted that day opposing the bill. She said OHA’s testimony was aimed at the next phase of the process — the streamline permitting of which properties could move into the new zones.

She noted that community members who fought for returning apartment-zoned units to residential housing did not turn out for the final vote, contrasting their absence with the presence of industry representatives and condo owners.

“It’s an election year, and candidates are receiving questionnaires asking … how you plan to build trust again,” she said, adding that community members’ absence reflected skepticism that testimony would change the outcome.

“I will continue to vote no,” Rawlins-Fernandez said. “And we’ll continue to fight alongside our residents that are fighting for housing, to provide shelter for our residents, and making this place our home and not just somewhere to exploit and make business profits off of.”

Rawlins-Fernandez is one of two council members unopposed this election cycle. Johnson is the other.

Paltin raises shoreline concerns

Council Member Tamara Paltin, who supported Bill 88, said her thinking on shoreline-related zoning has shifted since Bill 9 passed, citing recent ocean swells and king tides that pushed debris onto Honoapiʻilani Highway and forced officials to evacuate a stage during a recent canoe regatta at Hanakaoʻo Beach Park.

“There are changes to the shoreline, and it’s happening in real time, like right before our eyes,” Paltin said, adding she intends to revisit whether shoreline-adjacent properties should be eligible for the new hotel zones.

Testimony split along familiar lines

Testimony on final reading echoed the committee debate. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs, represented by McKenna Woodward, urged the Council to defer the bill.

She argued it created new hotel zoning districts before the County made parcel-specific findings on housing suitability, sea-level-rise exposure and infrastructure capacity. Woodward cited a University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization finding that 85% of affected apartment-zone vacation rental owners have out-of-state mailing addresses, with direct impact falling on an estimated 450 Maui resident owners, and noted all three planning commissions recommended denial.

Supporters included representatives of the Maui Vacation Rental Association and the Realtors Association of Maui. They urged passage of Bill 88 as a tool for modernizing the zoning code without creating additional short-term-rental inventory.

Property owner TJ Victorine, who said his 26-unit condominium association unanimously supports the bill, urged the Council to streamline the rezoning application process, saying land-use planners have quoted him $200,000 to $500,000 per property to prepare the studies currently required.

“This is prohibitively expensive for most properties, including our own, and effectively nullifies the intent of Bill 88,” he said.

Bill 88 now heads to the desk of Mayor Bissen for final action. During a Housing and Land Use Committee meeting last month, he testified in favor of the bill, calling it “an intentional next step in implementing Bill 9.”