Vacation rentals bill shelved: Council decides contentious measure too complicated in current state

A proposal by the Hawaii County Council to revamp how the county regulates short-term vacation rentals could start again from scratch.

At Friday’s meeting of the council’s Committee on Planning, Land Use and Development, council members once again discussed Bill 121, a controversial measure that would establish new conditions and standards for how short-term vacation rentals — redefined within the bill as “transient accommodation rentals,” or TARs — are operated.

The bill has been under discussion for the better part of a year, and has been amended four times. But while the committee on Friday once again moved to postpone decision-making on the measure, members this time considered whether the bill has become too unwieldy.

After lengthy discussions about five new proposed amendments to Bill 121, Hamakua Councilwoman Heather Kimball, introducer of the bill, asked her colleagues whether the council should continue to tweak the existing bill, or if it should be scrapped and replaced with a new bill that streamlines the now 30-page-long proposal.

Kimball said she would be comfortable with either decision, and acknowledged that the measure has become perhaps too confusing after so many revisions, something other council members echoed.

“I think it’s really hard for people to wrap their heads around all these changes,” said outgoing Kohala Councilwoman Cindy Evans. “There’s confusion with our constituents about what we’re trying to do.”

Puna Councilman Matt Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder agreed, noting that two new members will join the council within a month — James Hustace, replacing Evans, and Dennis “Fresh” Onishi, replacing Hilo Councilwoman Sue Lee Loy — and be faced with a very complicated and contentious measure to untangle.

“The first bill I dealt with after I took office was Bill 108,” Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder said, referring to another vacation rental bill from 2018 that also established regulations for how STVRs are operated. “It had already had two revisions and … just pissed people off.”

Should the measure be replaced with a new version, Kimball acknowledged that the new draft will have to go through discussion at the Windward and Leeward Planning Commissions just as Bill 121 already has, which will likely take months.

As currently written, Bill 121 would categorize STVRs as “owner-hosted,” “operator-hosted” and “unhosted,” with each category subject to various requirements and fee schedules. Some categories would not be permitted in certain zoning districts, but all would be required to meet certain standards such as having a manager available on-site within three hours of a complaint, a maximum gathering size of no more than twice the total renter limit, quiet hours, parking requirements and more.

The potential death and rebirth of Bill 121 will not likely comfort its critics, who once again testified en masse against the bill Friday, warning that its proposed changes will spell the end for operators of short-term vacation rentals islandwide.

Josh Montgomery, president of the Ohana Aina Association, an organization advocating for the island’s transient rental operators, said the measure is “squarely targeted at families like mine,” who he warned would be forced out of the rental market and could potentially leave the island as a result.

Jennifer Wilkinson, board chair of the Hawaii Island Rental Property Alliance, submitted a list of potential minor infractions or technicalities that would put current STVR operators out of compliance with the new regulations in Bill 121, such as renting two separate rooms in a four-bedroom house with only two on-site parking spaces or hosting a small backyard lunch for four people. She noted that, after only two violations, operators will be charged $10,000 for every infraction ever after.

“What is the problem we are trying to solve?” Wilkinson wrote. “What evidence is there that the application of this bill will do more to solve those problems?”

Wilkinson and many others urged the committee to, if not kill the bill outright, at least wait for the results of an economic impact study that the council commissioned in July. Puna Councilwoman Ashley Kierkiewicz made the same recommendation.

The committee ultimately voted once again to postpone any action on the measure until a future date.

Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.