Temporary safe parking site wins unanimous Maui Council approval, but potential severe weather delays opening

The Maui County Council voted 9-0 on Friday to approve a bill that lets the county open a temporary site for people living in their vehicles along Pūlehu Road, even as advocates for houseless residents called the location a “dust bowl,” and some council members warned that the project needs a clearer framework and more site improvements.

On Tuesday, Mayor Richard Bissen signed the ordinance and sent it back to the Council, the county administration said.

The Department of Human Concerns had planned to open the site this week for people living along Pūlehu and Hansen roads, but the department reported that it delayed the opening until next week “out of an abundance of caution” because of the forecast for potentially severe weather. The department said it expects to begin welcoming people to the site by the end of next week, weather permitting.

Bill 133 (2026) expands a 2022 pilot that allowed people experiencing houselessness to sleep in their vehicles in designated county parking lots. The bill extends the pilot to other county-owned or managed parcels and lets the county set the hours.

It also drops the requirement that participants comply with all county, state and federal laws as a condition of using the site, so people whose vehicles are unregistered or who lack a driver’s license can enter. However, those laws still apply, First Deputy Corporation Counsel Mimi Desjardins has said, and participants must agree not to drive those vehicles off the site until they comply. The bill requires monitoring during all hours of operation and Council review within 12 months of the pilot’s start.

The county has said it plans to move 50 to 60 people to the site, which would operate for about six months. About 45 to 50 people now live along Pūlehu Road. As Maui Now reported Oct. 22, the county has not disclosed the site’s exact location.

Cooking exception added

Council Member Gabe Johnson, vice chair of the Water Authority, Social Services and Parks Committee, won unanimous approval for an amendment to the bill’s ban on cooking, which previously included grills and hibachis.

The ban now applies “unless approved by the county.” Johnson said the change would let the department work with vendors such as food trucks. He said he had spoken with Human Concerns Director Margaret Willis, who supports it.

Several testifiers had asked for flexibility.

Terilee Kawaakoa said many Pūlehu Road residents cook over open flame because they cannot afford alternatives. She suggested a supervised cooking station with induction or hot plates, and said she would support a nonprofit-run food truck.

“We also need to take into consideration [that] we cannot be looking at this as an encampment,” she said. “We need to move forward as a safe space . . . We are in support of the community member on where they decide to go, but a lot of them are not wanting to go because of the hard rules that are in place. They’re expected to go and cook someplace else when they cannot even afford basic needs.”

Managing Director Josiah Nishita told the Council earlier in the meeting that the administration weighed fire risk but would “be happy to see what kind of accommodations” it could make.

Council amendments

The Council also unanimously approved a housekeeping amendment, offered by Committee Chair Shane Sinenci, that replaced the bill with a version making what he described as non-substantive formatting and other changes.

Council Member Kauanoe Batangan said he wished the amendments had been posted before the meeting so the public could see them, and objected to wording that changed the bill’s findings from the county’s to the Council’s.

Council Vice Chair Yuki Lei Sugimura asked whether the bill could exclude county parks and require unregistered vehicles to stay on the site until properly registered. Sinenci said the focus of the pilot is not on parks. First Deputy Corporation Counsel Mimi Desjardins advised against adding the registration language at final reading, saying it could create Sunshine Law problems.

Desjardins said the intent is that people can bring unregistered vehicles or arrive without a driver’s license but cannot move the vehicles off the site until they comply. She said Human Concerns, the Office of the Managing Director and the Maui Police Department agreed to that standard, and that the rules may already have been given to people on Pūlehu Road. Sugimura asked for a copy.

Concerns over services and process

Nicole Huguenin, who testified for Maui Rapid Response, said her grassroots group had sought the registration change since the program was funded in 2022, because many people on Pūlehu and Hansen roads cannot afford registration. But she said “a parking lot alone will not meet” their needs for food, shade, water, safe space for animals and consistent care from trusted people.

She said her group had made progress with Human Concerns on wraparound services and would support the pilot once those are agreed to. She cautioned against letting a “political push during election season” drive the schedule.

Lisa Darcy, founder of Share Your Mana, urged the Council to pause action on the bill for two weeks to allow community input, saying the process is “inverted” because it comes from the county down rather than from the community up.

She called the county’s preferred temporary site “horrendous.”

“No one’s gonna feel good being there,” Darcy said. “They’re just gonna feel fortunate that they’re not gonna get criminalized.”

Faith Chase, a longtime advocate for houseless residents, opposed the bill. She said the site lacks shade, water and adequate restrooms, and that a fenced site with limited access “sounds like a prison.”

Others urged passage of the bill.

Lori Jay, who said she has done ride-alongs with people who’ve brought food to residents on Pūlehu Road, called the bill “the first step.”

Lehua, who identified herself as longtime Maui resident and a houseless single mother, supported lifting the vehicle registration barrier. She said she submitted a safe parking proposal to the Department of Human Concerns in 2025 and never heard back. She received an apology during the meeting and was asked to resend the proposal.

Council members’ reasons

Council Member Tom Cook said he would ask the administration to add landscaping, a pavilion and solar lights, saying people need “a nice space” to heal.

Batangan said he does not “love” the bill but voted for it because of the urgency on Pūlehu Road and the commitment to review it in a year.

“I really want to ensure the safety of the people who are utilizing this property,” he said. “The legislation itself kind of strips out all of the terms and conditions, and I did not hear a framework for decision making on how that would be made, but I really do want to urge the administration to consider the safety and the dignity of those who will be utilizing the site.”

He added that he wants a “more comprehensive plan” before the pilot is renewed.

Council Chair Alice Lee recalled that about four years ago she helped find a site next to the Cameron Center in Wailuku for the original pilot, but the idea “fell apart.” She said the lesson is to solve a few problems at a time and “get this off the ground” before adding features.

The Council set aside $200,000 for a safe zone in 2022. The county’s separate permanent site on Maui Economic Opportunity land in Kahului is still in development after flooding from the March Kona Low storms.