Grassroot Institute outlines 4 more ways to speed up Lahaina’s recovery

As the second anniversary approaches of the wildfires that destroyed much of Maui’s beloved Lahaina town, the Grassroot Institute of Hawaiʻi is calling for more action from state and county leaders to improve what it describes as a sluggish rebuilding process.

In a new policy brief released this month, titled “Four more ways to speed up Lahaina’s wildfire recovery,” the Honolulu-based policy think tank outlines additional strategies to ease regulatory barriers and provide economic relief for residents and businesses still struggling to recover.

“Sadly, two years later, few structures have been rebuilt and many residents remain stuck in agonizing limbo, if they haven’t already given up and moved away,” wrote Grassroot policy analyst Jonathan Helton, author of the report. “As the clock continues to tick on how long Lahaina residents can hang on, not having permanent homes or businesses to which they can return, lawmakers need to act expeditiously to remove the legal barriers and craft a predictable, streamlined rebuilding process.”

In particular, Grassroot’s new brief encourages policymakers to “combine regulatory flexibility with tax relief to help residents rebuild their homes and businesses.”

The four suggestions presented in the report are:

• Reform the county’s review process for historic properties;
  
• Waive or defer the county’s infrastructure-improvement assessments;
  
• Waive by executive order state rules that apply to the rebuilding of destroyed or damaged structures in Lahaina’s shoreline setback area, or use already-legal county workarounds to those rules wherever possible;
  
• Provide short-term tax relief for all Maui businesses and long-term tax relief for properties in the burn area.

The brief also recaps earlier recommendations by Grassroot, some of which have been implemented.

Grassroot President and CEO Keli’i Akina writes in the report: “It is my sincere hope that state and county officials take all our recommendations, past and present, into consideration. Lahaina residents still struggling to rebuild deserve our best efforts to help them heal.”

Grassroot released its initial slate of recommendations aimed at speeding up the rebuilding of Lahaina in a memo from Akina to federal, state and Maui County government officials back in January 2024. Then in July 2024, it published a policy brief detailing six more ways Lahaina’s rebuilding and recovery process could be quickened.

Heeding some Grassroot suggestions, state lawmakers have relaxed certain rules that apply to the rebuilding of structures destroyed or significantly damaged in the state’s Special Management Area. Additionally, Maui County has contracted with a private company to establish an emergency permitting office and waived its zoning regulations concerning so-called nonconforming structures and uses.

“State and Maui County lawmakers have acted to speed up the rebuilding of Lahaina following the devastating August 2023 wildfires, but much more needs to be done,” Helton said. “If policymakers do not move faster to remove the legal barriers that have been blocking the rebuilding of Lahaina, the town will lose its sense of community and historic charm, and its residents will continue to move away or go homeless while its economy sputters into oblivion.”

View the full policy brief here.