Posted on: Saturday, May 14, 2005
Vacation rentals under gun
By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Staff Writer
Honolulu would crack down on illegal vacation rentals under new rules proposed by two City Council members this week.
Honolulu City Council Chairman Donovan Dela Cruz and Councilwoman Barbara Mar-shall on Thursday introduced resolutions that would make it easier for city officials to fine illegal vacation rentals while allowing more legal bed and breakfast units in neighborhoods that accept them.
The issue is a touchy one, especially in Windward O'ahu and coastal areas. Vacation homes, where an entire house is rented, have generated some conflict between owners who see it as supplemental income and neighbors who want to control the number of tourists in their community. Bed-and-breakfast units, where a portion of a house is rented to tourists while the owner lives in the rest, have been less controversial.
Residents have complained that vacation homes in their neighborhood have disrupted the community to the point where they have become a nuisance, said Dela Cruz, 2nd District (Wahiawa, North Shore).
"We have to do a better job at cracking down on the illegal (vacation homes)," Dela Cruz said. "And I think this is the first step to come to some sort of solution."
The first of the two resolutions introduced would make any advertising of vacation homes or bed-and-breakfasts without a permit number a violation. Owners would be fined up to $1,000 for the first violation and up to $5,000 for the third violation within one year.
A second proposal would make it possible for home owners to get a permit for operating as a bed-and-breakfast. The city would issue permits for operating up to two bedrooms in a residence.
The permit would only be issued after holding a public hearing for neighbors within 500 feet of the property. The permit would be denied if 75 percent of the neighbors oppose the lodgings operation.
Owners of existing legal bed-and-breakfast units would be grandfathered in.
The city banned new vacation home and bed-and-breakfast permits in 1989 in residential areas to prevent the proliferation of the units, but that hasn't stopped many home owners from operating them illegally.
Marshall, 3rd District (Kane'ohe, Kailua, Waimanalo), said she and others have wrestled with how to address the issue, but she believes the city should come up with a law that can be enforced.
"Our Department of Planning and Permitting absolutely had their hands tied in terms of trying to administer the law that exists," Marshall said. "It just was not enforceable."
The resolutions face a lengthy process. They must win preliminary City Council approval, then go through a review by city planning officials. That would be followed by committee hearings before a final vote by the City Council.
The City Council's Zoning Committee, headed by Marshall, will hold public informational briefings:
• June 1 at 4 p.m. in the Honolulu Hale City Council Chamber. • June 9 at 6 p.m. in Hale Akoakoa, Room 105, Windward Community College. • June 13 at 7 p.m. in the Old Waialua Courthouse, 66-207 Kamehameha Highway. Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 535-2470.
