HRU committee adopts majority‑impact test to refer shoreline apartment rezonings to planning commission

The Maui County Housing & Land Use Committee voted narrowly to adopt objective criteria for referring community‑plan amendments and rezonings that would convert apartment districts to hotel zoning. Under the adopted test, the committee will refer only properties where a majority of a structure falls inside the 3.2‑foot sea‑level‑rise exposure area (or within the Planning Commission’s adopted shoreline regulatory area) or lies in the special flood hazard area — and only when the parcel was not originally intended or built for workforce housing.

Committee members debated whether to include partially impacted buildings and what threshold constitutes “majority” impact. After amendment and roll‑call, the motion passed 5–4. The vote sets a procedural filter for the dozens of parcels under consideration and sends the identified properties to the planning commission for case‑by‑case review rather than resolving the rezonings at the committee level.

Supporters of the criteria said it focuses scarce public review capacity on the parcels most affected by coastal hazard risk. Opponents said the test still risks locking shoreline properties into visitor use rather than preserving housing opportunities for residents. During testimony, Jordan Hawker, a resident, urged the committee to protect neighborhood housing, saying, “There is no shortage of short term rental accommodations on Maui. What we have a shortage of is housing for local families.”

The committee recessed with a plan to reconvene Sept. 9, 2027 to continue discussing conditions the planning commission could consider (for example, facility‑condition assessments, disclosure of sinkholes, insurance or bonding, and limits on shoreline armoring). The roll call and motion are recorded in the hearing transcript.