HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0675.022 2022-2024 From: Justin Cleveland
Sent: Monday, January 22, 2024 8:27 AM
To: Council Testimony � c
Subject: Against Bill 121 =-- c ;,
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HelloCouncil Members, r.:.�
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wanted to express my concerns for Bill 121 and that I oppose this bill as it is presented for several5.Frl
reasons. Y' :
First of all, I want to mention that I an in favor of some sort of regulation of the STVR industry in the county
but this bill is not the answer.
This bill will have a negative impact on the island and is borderline communism.The county should not
have the power to take away property rights and dictate how an owner uses their property or where they
have to stay on their own property.
The county should not be able to force the VRBOs and AirBnBs of the world to submit guest information
which violates their freedoms. In some cases people do not want others to know if they are renting a
house or not. I have rented to CEOs and professional athletes before and none of them want others to
know of their whereabouts.This is a total violation of privacy for the guests and owners.
I am disappointed in the county for being persuaded by Hotel lobbyists to even propose this horrible bill.
There was no long term thought or study about the ramifications of this bill and what it means for the
local economy.This will put locals out of work as the STVR industry will be very limited in supply and this
will reduce tourism to the island because the trend is to not stay in a hotel but have your family stay at a
STVR so you can be together and have privacy, cook meals together, etc... Furthermore,this will have an
impact on the people that support the STVRs.The caretakers, gardeners, house cleaners, repair people
etc...These jobs will be reduced.
Not allowing property owners to even rent their properties for less than 180 days is absurd.This will have
a negative impact on the housing market and create a lot of legal litigation the county and state probably
do not need to fight given the budgets in place. This bill boils down to an illegal taking of some properties
without due compensation and directly harms the property owners. Recently a US District Court Judge
issues a summary judgement that granted owners the ability to maintain renting and advertising 30 day
rentals. (Hawaii
Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance v. City and County of Honolulu)
If the main goal is to have more affordable housing then this bill misses the mark.The housing that is
used for STVRs will not convert to long term housing. Most of these properties come with large price tags
and in order to make ends meet the owners need to rent them because the cost to buy land, build a
home are very high on the island.
The fines and fees are insane and should be reduced. The process for these fines by neighbor complaints
will lead to a lot of false complaints. Such as kids swimming in a pool in the middle of the day.Ther- is go,L,L
Comm. No.
1 Ref. To: / 11:C V t
Ref. Date JAN 2 3 2024
law for this,just the fact the neighbor does not like the noise. It will lead to numerous false claims by
neighbors just to spite the owners and give the complaining party a free mechanism to continuously
complain and tie up valuable county resources.
This bill punishes those that are trying to better the county.The taxes collected for this activity are
already amongst the highest in the US. Owners create local jobs, pay a lot of taxes, contribute to the
community, donate goods and create new businesses to help the local economy.This bill will impact the
growth to the communities.
Please do not pass this bill.Take time to get the bill right.
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