Maui committee weighs rezoning dozens of apartment parcels in sea‑level exposure area to preserve visitor uses

The Maui County Housing & Land Use Committee began a lengthy review of two council‑initiated rezoning measures — Resolution 26‑129 and Resolution 26‑130 — that would reclassify selected apartment‑district parcels in the county’s sea level rise exposure area (SLRXA) into H3/H4 hotel districts, allowing existing visitor accommodations and short‑term rentals to continue.

Chair Nohelani'u'u Hagen opened the meeting saying the measures would send the council’s proposed Planning Commission bills to change community plans and zoning for named Kihei and Lahaina parcels. Planning staff cautioned members that the SLRXA product used in the resolutions combines three separate hazard layers — passive (high‑tide) flood, annual high‑wave flooding, and coastal erosion — and that the footprint can apply to an entire parcel, to a building, or to parts of a site; Deputy Planning Director Anna Lillis urged the council to clarify whether the SLRXA test should be applied to parcel boundaries or to building footprints before final action.

Supporters, including multiple condo boards and owners, said the mapping and repeated flooding, erosion and corrosion problems make long‑term residential use impractical. "We've lost eight motor vehicles in the last 13 years," Peg Kelly testified about Kihei Bay Vista, and other speakers described rising HOA and private flood‑insurance costs and large special assessments tied to mitigation and seawall maintenance. Owner representatives also presented historical records and tax classifications they said document long‑standing transient‑use patterns for several complexes.

Opponents urged caution. McKenna Woodward of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs said the set of related measures and prior council actions could place thousands of apartment‑district units on a path toward permanent hotel rezoning and that the county has not shown the "strongest possible public interest justification" required to permanently remove potential homes. OHA noted that the two resolutions discussed together would affect roughly 498 apartment‑district units (their submitted tally) and that, taken with other measures, the total number of units being treated this way has been described in testimony as much larger.

Members asked clarifying questions on three recurring points: (1) whether the council will use the 3.2‑foot SLRXA projection and the state viewer as the sole objective criterion or will broaden criteria to include flood‑hazard maps and other local measures; (2) whether short‑term mitigation (seawalls, localized flood controls) is technically feasible, permitted and financially viable for owners; and (3) what the effect of rezoning would be on housing supply and on local ownership. Several testifiers provided board votes and owner mandates (one AOAO cited a 93.4% owner vote to pursue rezoning) to support inclusion requests.

No final votes were taken. Because Chair Hagen needed to adjourn early, the committee recessed and will reconvene Aug. 19, 2026, at 9 a.m. to continue public testimony and deliberations.

What happens next: the committee is expected to resume testimony and then decide whether to amend the resolutions (for example, to add or remove individual parcels), vote to transmit the council‑initiated bills to the Maui Planning Commission, or defer action pending clearer objective criteria and additional technical analysis.