HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0675.111 2022-2024 From: Kristin OFriel
Sent: Monday, January 22, 2024 11:45 AM
To: Council Testimony
Subject: Public Comment Regarding Bill No. 121 Relating to Transient Accommodation Rentals
and Hosting Platforms
Written Testimony re: Bill No. 121 —Relating to Transient Accommodation Rentals and Hosting
Platforms
Dear Hawai`i County Council Members,
E .a
I oppose Bill 121 for the following reasons:
Changing the definition of a transient accommodation rental from "thirty consecutive dys oless"
to "less than one hundred eighty consecutive days" renders legally operating rentals illegal. 47
Owners who rent their homes legally for 31 days or more have a vested right to continue this existing use.
Changing the definition to 180 days would require revising the bill to include an avenue for existing
rentals to apply for nonconforming use certification. Instead of creating additional administration for an
already complex and cumbersome set of provisions I support upholding the present definition of short-
term/transient to be a rental period of thirty consecutive days or less.
A punitive fine schedule won't make up for standards of operations that are difficult to follow.
Challenging standards of operations as written in this bill will act as a barrier to compliance. I encourage
the County to simplify the registration requirements and create a pathway to compliance that is
attainable for the mom-and-pop owner-hosts this bill regulates.
Prohibiting owner-hosts from living in a subordinate dwelling and renting out their main home
interferes with a property owner's ability to make the best use of their property.
Owner-hosts rely on rental income for their livelihood—they use it to pay their mortgage, medical bills,
an empty nester may have college tuition to cover—any number of financial hardships could give a
homeowner cause to move into a secondary dwelling in order to rent out their primary home. Regulating
which permissible residential dwelling an owner can occupy does not further the bill's stated purpose of
ensuring legal, safe, non-disruptive TAR operations.
Mahalo for the opportunity to provide testimony.
Kristin OFriel
Comm. No. ff li•nnt
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