2024-04-15 Bill 121 Penny Lee - Laserfiche WebLink

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Testimony with concerns about TAR Bill 121 Aloha Chair DeFranco and Members of the Leeward Planning Commission, 1.The Hotel Industry as represented by the Kohala Coast Resort Association is trying to portray vacation rentals as unsafe, proliferating in local neighborhoods, don't pay taxes, do bait-and-switch scams. Of course they mean the "other" vacation rentals, not the vacation rentals inside the Resorts.The Hotel/Resort industry has embraced the vacation rental concept very much for their own growth.These condos, villas and Residences tend to be owned by wealthy off-island owners, with the majority of the profits going offshore and to large corporations. On the other hand, many local families rely on the income and jobs from their vacation rentals to make a living on this island and to afford their own home. There are large areas of the Big Island that have no jobs or resorts.The island is big enough that we can not commute to jobs, we have to create our own. When somebody is older,they need options they can handle without driving a car or standing 8 hrs on their feet. Vacation rentals allow Kupuna to age in their own home and supplement their social security or a stay-at-home mom to have an income at home or work for vacation rentals in her neighborhood. 2. About 46%of the Big Island is state land use"Agricultural", 52% unavailable "Conservation" and currently only about 2.2%"Urban". The TAR bill allows unlimited new vacation rentals in resort and commercial zoning (all urban) and "Project Districts". On the rest of the island, nobody can operate a vacation rental unless they receive a NUC (Nonconforming Use Certificate). Nonconforming vacation rentals also have to renew this NUC every year with many requirements,fees and threat of greater than $10,000 fines wielded at the discretion of the Planning Department. No other NUC needs to be renewed annually. Heather Kimball, during the introduction of Bill 121 at the county council, repeatedly stressed that the NUC is NOT A PERMIT, and the TAR process just a "registration".The sworn affidavit requirement is a trap for many. Now with state bills HB1838 or SB2919 in the legislature that very nonconforming"grandfathered" status becomes worthless.The bills give the counties the power to eliminate nonconforming uses at any time, specifically just for vacation rentals only. Why would anybody sign up for a NUC under the TAR bill under these circumstances? For our families our vacation rentals are usually our biggest investment. How can we count on our vacation rental income when it can be taken away from us at any time? Hawaii County offers no assurance for continued operation of legal vacation rentals in the future. By the way-we are relying on the grandfathering clause for many things, like our non-conforming single-family homes on AG land and the non-conforming subdivisions with small lots on AG land,for example. Grandfathering is central to protecting property rights. It's a slippery slope if the county were now to selectively remove the grandfathering of vacation rentals.The state legislature has said that they would leave the evaluation of legalities to the County,this could potentially be a large legal liability for the County. 3.The TAR bill has elaborate rules about where the owner/host of a hosted vacation rental can stay and not stay on their property. On AG land there are further rules and restrictions. One of the results/goals of all this is to try to ensure that hosted vacation rentals can not offer a legal cooking facility to their guests. Vacation rentals usually include cooking facilities, that's what our guests (often families)expect. Considering the many rural and remote areas on the Big Island, this does not make sense to leave guests stranded to eat crackers and sandwiches? Guests also choose vacation rentals for privacy. Forcing the owner to be "hovering" around on the same building site is intrusive and the opposite of what guests want.These rules are strangling the operation of vacation rentals and making them undesirable (on purpose).