auntiemaria

From today's Kaua`i Garden Island news:

"HA‘ENA — The state Department of Land and Natural Resources has issued notices to 16 property owners in Ha‘ena to halt alleged unauthorized use of multi-million-dollar homes as vacation rentals.

Most of the 16 homes are on makai, or on the ocean side, of Kuhio Highway, from the YMCA’s Camp Naue to Limahuli Stream. Most are clustered around Makua Beach, also known as Tunnels.

A condition in the state Conservation District Use Application, which a property owner secures before building in the state’s conservation area, stipulates a single-family home cannot be used for rental or any other commercial purposes, Peter Young, chairman of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, said in a March 23 letter to alleged violators."

For the full article:
http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2...ews/news01.txt

iamq

Very interesting. I wonder if this rule applies to Hanalei as well. That would be scary. Do you know auntie?

Bill

Kealalani

Mahalo for posting auntie.

A very heated turf war that has been going on for some time. I am sure it will continue for some time before it is resolved. Both sides have sincere arguments. iamq, I think if they do succeed in Ha'ena then the neighborhood association of Hanalei will be next.

The fallout for this is enormous. If forced to sell, half the homes will be boarded up for part time visitors who can afford the huge tariff.

Scary times. Wishing wisdom to all those involved.

Jolie

I know that I am in the minority on these boards, but I believe that vacation rentals should follow the law. There are other vacation rentals in Hawaii who do follow the law, and we should support them.

Some transient rentals are on agriculture or conservation land. The government makes a decision to zone land a certain way to protect and preserve what it values - the farming way of life, wilderness, the residential character of a neighborhood, or whatever. To turn these properties into commercial enterprises after the landowner agreed to the limitations in the first place (and probably got the land cheaper because of those limitations) is an insult to the people who manage to follow the law. I am now very careful about where I rent.

Ok, rant over. And, I do realize most people don't agree with me.

NeoPatrick

This sounds like Florida where realtors often tell prospective buyers not to worry about what it says. Here the big issue is often "no rentals" or "no less than three month rentals". But guests who have rented from an owner who tells them to pretend to be family guests wonder why they get rude treatment at the pool or public spaces.
Any one who buys or builds a house after getting a paper saying it can't be rented deserves to lose it in foreclosure if he can't afford to keep it without renting it.

While some may say "both sides have sincere arguments", I'd say any argument that starts with "I know I was told it couldn't be rented but. . ." isn't a very sound argument in my book, no matter what comes after that intro.

auntiemaria

Jolie, yours is not a rant -- it's the truth. The arrogance of these wealthy landowners, coupled with the greed of the realtors who perpetuate the rampant over-building of these islands, must be halted.

Hats off to all who are pushing for enforcement of our laws here on Kaua`i and throughout the state.

iamq -- vacation rental properties are currently legal only in those areas identified in the Kaua`i General Plan as "Visitor Destination Areas" (noted in the news article URL I posted). For our northshore, only Princeville is a VDA. But the Ha`ena shutdown is only aimed at those houses built on Conservation Land.

I did a quick google to find a map of Kaua`i -- in hopes it would detail conservation lands -- but no luck. These lands are scattered across the island. If someone finds this info online, please post it here, 'kay? 8=)

gigib

Gosh! We have a condo rented for this fall at Puako on the Big Island through Aloha Debbie Properties. After reading this and a recent thread about unlicensed B&Bs in Kailua, I also would like to be careful who I rent from.

How do we know?

Kealalani

Jolie, please rant away! It's a very important issue which you seem very informed and I appreciate that so much. I missed the part that for now they are only going after conservation land owners.

I hope the residents get their community back and not just a bunch of empty vacation homes used a few weeks out of the year by even richer landowners. But maybe that would still be better in their minds of the full time residents. They have fought an uphill battle for quite a long time.

One thing I find interesting is that the state appears to be guilty of turning a blind eye for so long as they collected taxes from these properties. At least any Ha'ena property I ever looked at charged the
%12.5 tax.

You and Auntie are much more informed than this part timer and all opinions are respected and appreciated.

Jolie

Kealalani - no, no, I am not an expert on this by any means. I didn't even realize it was such a big deal in Hawaii until very recently, when we rented a B&B in Kailua. The lady we rented from had a zoning variance but she cautioned that many places don't, and that was causing hard feelings among many locals. After that I was motivated (being a frequent tourist to HI) to do a little more research, and found a lot of stuff on the internet.

I might be a little more sensitive to this kind of thing than others because I lived on Oahu in the late 1980's (while attending U.H. Manoa for undergrad school) and the big issue at the time was the Japanese buying residential property for investments, and how that hurt (as in artificially inflated) the housing market. So land just became something that I feel strongly about.

I do like to stay in B&Bs, so I don't want them to disappear entirely. But I like to see people follow the law, too. So now that I was made aware of the problem, I made the choice to seek out the legal ones. Asking to see the zoning variance is a good way to start.

DesertBeachLover

Is there anywhere to get a list of these properties? I have booked Kimo's Yurt in Haena for 1 week in June and want to make sure I'm not going to have a problem. This rental is located near Kepuhi Beach and is on the property of another large house.

lcuy

Jolie- you may be in the minority, but as you've seen in this post there are still lots of us who feel the same as you.

I get so peeved when I hear people say " I don't want to stay in Waikiki; it's too commercial", then will book an illegal rental in Kailua- thereby commercializing that area for the neighboring home owners.

I don't care how much you pay for your home...when you live in a neighborhood that is residential zoned, you expect to have neighbors who occupy their own homes, not a nightly parade of strangers. (sometimes the neighbors are not all that good either, but thats a different issue ;-) )

I guess the state found Ha`ena easier to enforce due to the CDUA, but I'm hoping it gives them the courage to go after all the illegals!

And -personal rant here- I think it is the developers who perpetuate the overdevelopment of Hawaii. Realtors sell the stuff after it's built. And yes, some of them are motivated by greed, but many Realtors (and that includes me) feel very strongly that obeying land use and zoning laws is VERY important; not just to avoid getting caught, but to preserving the character of our neighborhoods.

Okay, now my rant is over too!

Jolie

To DesertBeachLover -

You might try contacting the DLNR ( http://www.hawaii.gov/dlnr/ ) to see if they would give you a list of the violators, or at least verify that the one you're renting is ok (there ARE vacation rentals in Hawaii that are perfectly legal, so hopefully you have one of those).

Or, maybe there's a way to contact the staff writer of the article autiemaria links to - the writer might have more info.

lcuy, Kealani, auntiemaria - thanks for the moral support. I'm sure I'll get flamed also, but it's nice to think at least one other person somewhere in the world agrees with me. Although I would still feel the same, even I were the onyl one - I'm just very opinionated!

Kealalani

DBL - I would contact the owners immediately to find out if they have been given notice of any violations and if your reservation is still recognized. Good Luck.

Kealalani

Still looking for a conservation map for auntie....frustrating search that I think just may not be available online.

Any news from the owners DBL? It would be so nice to at least post the list of homes immediately affected. Although I am sure this is going to get a lot bigger in the months to come. Going after conservation land properties was step 1 in my opinion, of a greater sweep in reform. I hope the legislatures use wisdom to contain a bad situation that was ignored while the county happily cashed tax checks from the hundreds and hundreds of illegals on the island. Shutting them all down and coralling all the tourists into Princeville, Poipu and Ka'apa is not the only way to address this grievous situation.

Anyone with other informative sites regarding this subject please post.

Mahalo for your thoughts and any insights.

hulajake

Patrick, we were in Ft Lauderdale last year and heard some of outragous prices people were paying for property on the waterway. Also some of the tricks to get around paying extra taxes and fees. Like they could tear down all but one wall and still call it a remodel.
Sounds like some already got special treatment from someone to get the permit to build in the first place. We have enjoyed our visits and hope that this is resolved soon which may help to heal some wounds.

Kealalani

Although this is a somewhat seperate issue, I found it profound.

http://honoluluweekly.com/cover/2006/12/over-the-hedge/

DesertBeachLover

The owner of the rental says that they are not in the affected area - they are in Wainiha, on the edge of Haena. I've contacted both the writer of the article and the DLNR just to confirm. The writer of the article has promised to send me a list of addresses when he gets time and I haven't yet heard from the DLNR.

Kealalani

Glad things worked out for you DBL. You are luckier than many who's travel plans are now in dissarray.

TTess

After hearing about the Ka Loko Reservoir being destroyed by developer, James Pflueger, the Oahu-based auto dealer, I'm glad to hear that Kauai is learning to protect their precious land a little better. They have a long way to go. This is a good start. This dam bursting not only destroyed precious land but destroyed lives.

iamq

I was wondering if there were any updates on this. Auntie?