The Maui County Council voted 7-1 twice Friday to send the Maui Planning Commission a pair of resolutions that could permanently move roughly 2,056 apartment-district transient vacation rental units into new hotel zoning, over the objection of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and Council Member Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, who cast the lone “no” votes. Council Member Gabe Johnson was absent for the votes.

The properties are currently subject to Ordinance 5909, known as Bill 9, which will phase out short-term rentals in A1 and A2 apartment districts and return those units to the local housing stock. Resolutions 26-110 and 26-111 would refer specific categories of those properties — timeshares, leaseholds, single-ownership units, properties with variances, and units the County says operate like hotels — to the Planning Commission for reclassification into the county’s new H3 and H4 hotel districts, where vacation rental use would be permitted outright.

Among the complexes impacted by the proposed change of zoning from apartment to hotel is the Kāʻanapali Royal, located at 2560 Kekaʻa Drive, Kāʻanapali. Owners of the complex were among the first to file a lawsuit challenging implementation of Bill 9.

Housing advocates raise alarm

McKenna Woodward, testifying in opposition on behalf of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, told council members the resolutions would strip nearly 30% of the Bill 9 vacation rental units out of the pipeline for local housing.

“These two resolutions would remove about 2,056 units from that path,” Woodward said. “That is not a small adjustment or technical referral. It is a permanent land use decision affecting thousands of potential homes.”

The legislation raises a basic question, she said.

“What is the urgency to rezone these properties now?” she asked. “Bill 9 has been in effect for less than eight months. The county’s own data, according to the Department of Finance, shows Bill 9 is already creating local housing opportunities. Of 101 affected properties sold after Bill 9 took effect, 25% have been purchased by local buyers. If 25% of these over 2,000 units in these two resolutions return to local ownership, that would mean 514 potential homes for local families. Building 514 new homes would require enormous public and private investment.”

“The County should not permanently remove potential homes from residential use without the strongest possible public interest justification,” Woodward said, adding that 85% of the affected apartment-zone owners have out-of-state mailing addresses.

Woodward said the issue matters deeply to OHA because housing determines whether Native Hawaiian ʻohana can remain in Hawaiʻi.

“More Native Hawaiians now live on the continent than in Hawaiʻi,” she said. “Hawaiʻi cannot remain Hawaiʻi if Native Hawaiian families are priced out of the places that hold their ʻāina, ʻohana, and cultural connection.”

Rawlins-Fernandez, the only member to vote against both resolutions, said the debate comes down to whether the County protects housing for residents or allows what she called “off-island folks” to keep profiting from units that could otherwise shelter local families. “Are we going to use our housing units for our residents to be able to live in and have shelter, or are we going to let off-island folks exploit our housing units to profit off of?” she said.

What the Council changed

Committee Report 26-56, presented by Council Member Nohelani Uʻu-Hodgins on behalf of the Housing and Land Use Committee, recommended Resolution 26-110 CD1, covering apartment-zone properties with timeshare, leasehold, single-ownership or variance status. Members adopted three amendments before final passage: removing Māʻalaea Kai at 70 Hauʻoli St. because the property is no longer leasehold; adding language clarifying that H3/H4 rezoning is not barred for variance properties outside Bill 9’s phase-out, aimed at Kūʻau Plaza; and, on a motion from Council Member Tom Cook, adding Kauhale Makai at 938 S. Kīhei Road, a 3.11-acre, 13-unit timeshare property, to both bills.

Resolution 26-111 CD1, covering properties the County says function like hotels — with 24-hour front desks, property-wide housekeeping and multiple, often unionized, staff — also passed 7-1. An amendment from Rawlins-Fernandez, seconded by Council Member Tamara Paltin, to strip Luana Kai and Mahina Surf out of that resolution failed 2-6. Cook said he had personally visited Luana Kai and reviewed its operating records before concluding it belonged in the hotel-like category.

Testifier Greg Rylsky, who said he lives in a vacation-rental-converted community outside the A1/A2 districts, asked the Council to give the Planning Commission room to evaluate the roughly three dozen properties individually rather than as a single up-or-down package. “I hope that the Council does listen to whatever the Planning Commission says,” he said, adding that commissioners have previously spent a full day reviewing a single property. Paltin, a former ocean lifeguard, separately echoed the concern that the commission needs adequate time.

Ocean safety officers get raises, reluctantly

The Council voted unanimously to approve Resolutions 26-119 and 26-120, accepting arbitration-mandated raises for Bargaining Unit 15 ocean safety and water safety officers. The increases — 2.61% in fiscal year 2025, 2.49% in fiscal year 2026, 2.47% in fiscal year 2027 and 3.12% in fiscal year 2028, compounding to 11.12% — carry an estimated combined cost of about $2.94 million.

Several members said the raises still fall short.

“It is becoming more and more difficult to retain ocean safety officers because it’s difficult to live on this kind of salary,” said Paltin, who spent time in ocean safety and Unit 3 before being elected as a council member. Vice Chair Yuki Lei Sugimura and Council Member Uʻu-Hodgins voiced similar frustration, with Sugimura also flagging pay concerns for County firefighters.

Charter amendments headed to the ballot

The Council adopted seven charter amendment resolutions on second and final reading, sending them to voters at the next general election. Among the changes: standardizing petition deadlines for voter initiative, recall and charter amendments; streamlining claims by having them filed with the Department of Finance instead of the Maui County clerk; removing the English translation of the Hawaiian state motto from the charter’s preamble; granting the mayor emergency line-of-credit appropriation authority and clarifying that a 1% limit for an emergency appropriation refers to 1% of the total operating budget and does not apply to funds that have already been allocated; dissolving the Independent Nomination Board; and allowing Board of Ethics members to serve one additional consecutive term.

Other business

The Council gave first reading, 8-0, to Bill 95-2026, which expands Maui’s fare-free bus pass program to County employees, students of all ages and residents earning up to 300% of the federal poverty threshold, and lets the transportation director suspend fare enforcement for up to 14 days during special events or emergencies.

Council Member Shane Sinenci said the measure also supports the county’s Climate Action and Resiliency Plan goal of reducing dependence on single-passenger vehicles.

With Johnson excused, members also:

• Adopted Resolution 26-99, 8-0, directing special counsel in the Leo Caires v. County of Maui lawsuit to route all settlement offers directly to the Council and submit invoices to the Office of Council Services for review before payment. Corporation Counsel recused itself from reviewing the resolution over a conflict of interest, but Office of Council Services attorneys advised it was lawful.
• Accepted, 8-0, a donation of 40 BMX bicycles worth about $16,000 from the Maui Bicycling League for youth bike education and recreation programs, with members noting the league’s stated intent to prioritize rural communities including Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi and Hāna.
• Advanced resolutions seeking state legislation on a pet-inclusive affordable rental housing framework and a 60- to 90-day “first look” window giving owner-occupants, community land trusts and nonprofits priority to buy single-family homes before they go to outside buyers.
• Passed Bill 68 CD1 on final reading, updating paid and permit parking zones in West Maui and revising the South Maui Beach Park paid parking map under the Park Maui program.