KAHULUI, Maui — At least up until Jan. 1, about one-third of Mauians had had some direct contact with transient vacation rentals, The Maui News reported.

Most, though not all, said they were getting along, according to a survey by SMS Research commissioned by the Realtors Association of Maui.

The results generally mirrored an SMS survey in 2002, which was commissioned by the county.

Since then, much has changed, including an alleged explosion of transient rentals. Except for a handful with permits, unlicensed operations were supposed to shut down last month.

The recent SMS survey, taken in December and January, started out by asking whether the respondent lived in a neighborhood that had TVR operations.

Half the respondents on the west side said "yes," as did three in 10 in Kihei. One in four who lived on Moloka'i or Lana'i said they had a TVR neighbor.

Least likely to say there was a TVR around were respondents in Kula-Makawao and in Kahului-Wailuku, about one in 10.

In East Maui, which has been the center of the storm, the figure was 35.8 percent. East Maui respondents also returned by far the lowest percentage of "don't knows," just 2.5 percent.

In other parts of the county, one in 10 or 12 people said they didn't know whether there were any TVRs around or not.

The survey then asked how many TVRs there were in the neighborhood. Of those who knew or thought they knew what their neighbors were up to, four in 10 said there were five or fewer TVRs, but 37.5 percent said they thought there were six to 10.

That background set the table for the thrust of the survey: The Realtors Association wanted to know whether Mauians are opposed to transient rentals completely, or, if not, what sort of restrictions would be appropriate.

The Planning Department has a package of five bills before the County Council that would establish a permitting system specifically for vacation rentals.

The standard process now for getting permission is a conditional permit, which is required for any business operations not normally permitted in a residential, rural or agricultural zone. The operators say the conditional permit process is expensive and slow, and few decisions have ever been reached.

"Of course we must enforce our land use laws, but we also need to create laws that the community can support," said Sarah Sorenson, president of the Realtors Association. "That's why we hope this survey will help the Maui County Council draft a workable vacation rental ordinance that both the broader community and this cottage industry can support."

The Realtors Association has lobbied for a regularized permitting process. It had previously commissioned the Kauaian Institute to find out how many vacation rental businesses were operating, how they affected the market for long-term residential rentals and what the community thought about the whole thing.

The SMS survey found that "a clear majority" see vacation rentals as something positive, Sorenson said.

When asked if rentals were permitted under "strict enforcement," three in five said that would solve the issues around the business, but one in four said it would not.

The survey was conducted by random telephone queries, with 403 surveys completed. SMS calculated the error rate at 4.9 percentage points.

One respondent in 20, 5 percent, said vacation rentals should be banned completely.

One in 20 is a small proportion, considering the declarations that have dominated the letters to the editor for months. The Realtors said one goal of their survey was to determine whether "a small group of very vocal people are pushing for restricting vacation rentals, or is it the majority of Maui County's residents?"

The critic with the biggest vote is Mayor Charmaine Tavares, who abruptly changed the Planning Department's stance on enforcement a year ago.

She has received the survey. Through her secretary she said Tuesday she was busy preparing her budget and wouldn't have a chance to read the survey until after the budget is submitted in mid-March.

Of the one-third or so people who say they know there are short-term rentals in the neighborhood, 17.9 percent said they had personally experienced a "major problem." "Minor problems" vexed 13.1 percent, but 69 percent said there had been no problems.

Late-night noise accounted for more than half of problems.

Hunt's package of bills would, if passed, allow for expansion of short-term rentals in country towns and also allow them, under some conditions, in rural districts.

So SMS asked which areas TVRs should be allowed in.

Of the 95 percent who were not opposed to rentals at all, 84 percent said resort areas would be appropriate. Short-tem rentals were allowed in both hotel/resort and apartment districts 20 years ago, but a 1989 law barred short-term rentals in all districts except hotel zones — after council members faced complaints from residents about the disturbances caused by guests in the short-term, vacation-rental units.

In 1997, the county established a bed-and-breakfast law that permits up to six rental units in a residential zone, but the ordinance requires the operator to live on the premises and does not allow short-term rentals of accessory dwellings.

Dealing with nonhotel districts, the Realtors survey found just under half said business districts would be OK, and 42 percent said residential neighborhoods would also be OK.

For rural areas, 63 percent said OK, but the lowest approval rating was for TVRs in the agricultural district — 32 percent.

One of the objections made by Tavares, among others, against TVRs has been that they push local residents out of housing or degrade the neighborliness of neighborhoods.

SMS found that "a large number" of people were against short-term rentals even to residents. This, the surveyors said, "leads us to believe that there is a significant percentage of the population that is against any perceived outsiders or transients in their neighborhood, whether they are visitors or residents."

Three respondents in 10 objected even to short-term rentals to residents.

The survey says that more than 60 percent of residents have heard about "proposed ordinances to shut down vacation rentals."

Hunt says the bills he has drafted are intended to permit them, although since the council failed to pass an ordinance in 2006, the county has stepped up enforcement against unpermitted businesses — almost all of them.

Of respondents who said they do know about the Hunt package, 53 percent said they opposed the package, while 26 percent favored it.

When the pool was further reduced to people who had rentals in their neighborhoods, support for the package rose to 34.3 percent, although 46.9 percent opposed the changes.

When the pool was still further restricted to those who said they had had trouble with vacation rentals, support for the Hunt package rose to 44.4 percent, but still more than half said they opposed the administration package or had no opinion.

The Maui Vacation Rental Association has pushed an ordinance that would require owners (or operators with leases) to live on the property.

The theory is that onsite control would lead to tighter behavior.

This approach found only modest support in the SMS survey: 38 percent said having the operator around would help solve problems, but 40 percent said it would not.

The authors of the survey said 57 percent of Mauians think TVRs are good overall for the county, with only 14 percent thinking the reverse.

That finding "is contrary to perceived public opinion," the survey authors said.

"It appears that it's a very vocal minority who are for this proposed ordinance that will restrict vacation rentals."

One respondent in four said the outcome of the Hunt package would be good and bad: "a little bit of both."

For more Maui news, visit http://www.mauinews.com/default.aspx">The Maui News.