Now that I've gone back and read the article, to me it makes perfect sense.

Transient rentals have a much bigger impact on the environment and this is protected land.

pspercy
That was the Maui town council meeting. It was postponed because they only had a couple hours to dedicate to the issue at hand and they realized it was going to take much longer.

I understand the property owners adjacent to these rentals being upset. The place I LOVE staying at does not rent to large parties. I cannot afford the "resorts" but more importantly, I enjoy staying off the beaten path. I will admit I do not "feel" the Aloha spirit from the residents in the area but I think that is common for residents of ALL tourist areas.

"If the problem is that a few residents are following expensive and (in most regards) pointless TVR laws, while most residents aren't following these laws, the obvious solution IMO is to get rid of the laws and level the playing field.

Do you want to read what you wrote there and rethink that comment? It doesn't matter whether you think that a law is pointless or not--it is a law and everyone should follow it whether they agree to it or not. "Most" people do follow the law and don't operate B&B's out of their homes or have a TVR. On My SIL's street there are 2 illegal TVRs and about 25 other homes whose residents follow the law and do not rent short term. Following your logic the law should be ignored or abolished to allow the two absentee owners to operate a business that upset most of the other long-time residents on the street? How that does make sense?

I was just informed that the judge denied the case being heard in a federal court so it's not looking good.

what does that mean?

Are we talking about Maui now?

HONOLULU ADVERTISER Posted on: Thursday, December 20, 2007

MAUI
Vacation rental group loses suit against county

Advertiser Staff


Federal Judge J. Michael Seabright on Monday dismissed a complaint brought against Maui County by the Maui Vacation Rental Association.

The complaint, which named the County of Maui and Planning Director Jeff Hunt as defendants, sought a preliminary injunction to prevent the county from enforcing its zoning laws against transient vacation rentals that were operating without the proper permits.

The association's complaint claimed that the county had entered into a legally binding contract with its members not to enforce the laws against vacation rentals while their permit applications were being processed.

The motion to dismiss was filed by the County of Maui on Oct. 28 and argued on Dec. 3. The judge, ruling in Honolulu, found that the three claims based on contract theories (breach of express and implied contract, breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and equitable estoppel) had no legal basis. Therefore, those claims were dismissed outright and cannot be refiled.

Just want to stand with GoTravel's comment that "Transient rentals have a much bigger impact on the environment." I work in a tourism-oriented beach town in Florida, and in my experience, GoTravel is right on the money when she talks about the impact of these transient rentals. As she says, these are often condos/houses that are filled to the max with people (who have come there in 2 or 3 or more cars). They impact the number of people on the roads, the number of people on the beaches, & the amount of litter on the beaches (not all of course, but many seem to feel that the beach is the proper place to discard cigarette butts, cans and GLASS bottles). They account for a proportionatly higher drain on police and fire/rescue resources (for police, noise complaints; for fire/rescue, everything from heart attacks to very minor things - they don't know a doc in town or where the ER is, so they call 911 for medical services). Most of the tourists who come here are great - they love the beach and appreciate the town. But even great tourists can be a problem if their numbers overwhelm the neighborhood residential areas.

I would tend to disagree with your argument, at least when it applies to my experience on Maui. We have rented homes on a handful of occasions in the Haiku, Huelo area. These homes are rather spread out and the majority of them rent only to couples. I personally drove myself to the hospital in Maui when I had an emergency.

I have read the experiences of many vacationers and have had conversations with the owners and they share a common thread....most of the renters rarely leave the properties because they are so beautiful and have everything to offer right there on property.

One particular property takes a $1000 credit card deposit for damages from every renter but has NEVER had to use it in over 10 years of rental history because the renters that stay in these homes appreciate them and treat them like they belong to them.

I'm not arguing the fact that they should be paying all taxes due, I'm just throwing my two cents in regarding the issue that these properties are a "drain" on the local services or have a negative environmental impact.

I sure hope this issue can be settled because in my opinion, the Haiku, Huelo, Hana areas are some of the most beautiful places on the island.

Someone earlier mentioned the Key West short-term rental ordinances. We have a similar law in New Orleans. Apartments/condos cannot be leased for less than 30 days anywhere in the city, 60 days in the French Quarter. The law has been effective: most of the illegal B&Bs and condos have closed or gone away.

So, it's not just Hawaii.

dantheman, it may indeed be different in Hawaii; in the Florida city I'm discussing the facts are as I presented.

I still think it's basic common sense that the most effective way to limit population densities, environmental impacts etc is to deny building permits in the first place, rather than place draconian use restrictions, licensing and taxation requirements on existing property owners.

I also still believe it defies logic to claim short-term vacation renters have more of a negative impact than owners on properties, population densities or the environment. It's a simple fact of human nature that most people behave much more responsibly when they're in someone else's house, compared to when they're in their own homes.

We can look forward to a drastic increase in popularity of the dozen different ways property owners are currently circumventing (legally) these restrictions on TVRs.