Vacation rentals back on agenda
Advertiser Staff
Bills that would further regulate the bed-and-breakfast industry on O'ahu, as well as possibly allow their expansion, will be the focus of testimony expected before the Honolulu City Council today.
It's been a controversial topic, with bed-and-breakfast proponents saying the rentals are good for the tourism industry and help to subsidize high housing costs. Opponents say they create transient communities in areas far removed from the bustle of O'ahu's visitor hubs.
"We've had a longstanding position of increasing enforcement and that hasn't changed," said Katherine M. Bryant-Hunter, chairwoman of the Kailua Neighborhood Board. "We support the bill that increases the city's enforcement activity and oppose those that expand bed and breakfasts."
Among bills being considered today are:
The Honolulu planning commission has weighed in on the proposals. For example, on Jan. 30, commission members voted 7-0 against repealing a 1989 ban on bed-and-breakfast homes.
The measure would have allowed bed-and-breakfast operations, while also setting up ways for neighbors to block them.
A second proposal, on which the commission voted 7-0 to support, requires transient vacation units, including bed-and-breakfasts, to include the permit number and addresses for units in advertisements.
It also establishes a fee schedule for noncompliance.
Fewer than 100 legal bed-and-breakfasts, all of which were in business before the 1989 ban, operate under nonconforming use permits from the city, permit officials have said. Bed-and-breakfast operations can take in renters for less than 30 days. Many other vacation rentals are operating without permits.
The council will meet at 10 a.m. today in its chambers at Honolulu Hale.
