Posted at 12:23 p.m., Friday, June 16, 2006
Business briefs: Illegal vacation rental owners fined
Associated Press
Fines for illegal vacation rentals on Oahu have soared 143 percent this year after the city hiked its daily fine and received more complaints about the noise and traffic from tourists vacationing in their neighborhoods.The city has fined 19 property owners a total of $429,000 so far this year for renting properties for less than 30 days without the proper permits.
Last year, only five people were fined a total of $3,000, according to the city's Department of Planning and Permitting.
Many owners of illegal vacation rentals outside Hawaii and advertise their homes on the Internet to mainland visitors, said Michael Friedel, code compliance chief for the city.
Part of Big Island wind farm up and running
Hawaii Electric Light Co. announced that a third wind farm has been brought online to help provide power for the Big Island.
The new Hawi Renewable Development wind farm in North Kohala is capable of generating up to 10.56 megawatts of electricity for the island's power grid, enough to meet the needs of more than 1,200 homes, HELCO said.
The $16 million wind farm at Upolu Point consists of 16 turbines standing 200 feet tall.
HELCO already operates the Lalamilo wind farm and buys electricity from a private wind farm at South Point.
The Big Island is getting more than 22 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources, the company said.
