HomeMy WebLinkAboutFoley, Michael
Tsuneda, Kaci
From:Michael Foley <meehawl96719@gmail.com>
Sent:Saturday, August 29, 2026 5:13 PM
To:Council Testimony
Cc:info@himast.org
Subject:Written Testimony-Bill 147 Comments-Michael Foley
To the Members of the Policy Committee on Planning, Land Use, and Economic Development
(PCPLUED)
CC: Hawaiʻi Mid and Short-Term Rental Alliance (HIMAST)
Re: Bill 147 — Short-Term Vacation Rental and B&B Regulations
Aloha Policy Committee Members,
My name is Michael Foley, and I've lived on a five-acre property in Kohala for nearly 25 years. I'm
a member of HIMAST, though I'm rarely able to attend meetings or testify in person—this letter is
my way of participating anyway, ahead of Bill 147's committee and council hearings, and in
response to the Alliance's request that members share their own circumstances directly with you.
I want to speak specifically to the hosted rental category Bill 147 formally establishes for the first
time. I live on the same parcel as my rental, and I think that distinction matters more than it might
appear on paper. When a guest arrives at my place—especially late in the evening—they find
eggs, Kona coffee, milk, bread, and fresh fruit waiting for them, so they're not stuck hunting for
groceries after a long journey to get here. It's a small thing, but it's the plainest way I know to
describe what "hosted" actually means in practice: I provide a small makana for my guests in a
way that I'd appreciate myself. That's a different relationship to a rental than an absentee,
unhosted unit will ever have, and I hope the Policy Committee will continue to recognize that
difference as the bill moves forward, in the operational standards it sets, and in how it treats
hosted rentals relative to unhosted ones.
I started doing this after my wife passed away in 2016. It was my son's idea. He suggested turning
our ʻohana into a rental, with the understanding that I'd block out dates whenever any of our
three children wanted to bring their families home. The rental income was never really the point.
What mattered was that it gave me a reason to stay engaged with this land, the garden, the yard,
the flowering plants my wife loved so much, rather than letting five acres get away from a
widower with too much time and too little structure. Nearly a decade later, that's still exactly
what it does for me.
I understand the Policy Committee's task with Bill 147 is to regulate a market, not individual
circumstances, and I don't expect this letter to change that. But as you weigh operational
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standards—occupancy limits, quiet hours, event restrictions—I'd ask that you preserve a real
distinction between owner-occupied, hosted rentals on rural and agricultural land and the
unhosted, investor-owned units the bill seems primarily aimed at. They are not the same activity,
and treating them identically risks pushing out exactly the kind of small-scale, resident hosts who
have the least in common with the practices the bill is trying to correct. I am current on
my Transient Accommodations Tax (TAT), General Excise Tax (GET), and property tax. I operate
three small studio spaces: you are welcome to read reviews at these three links: (downstairs
barn) airbnb.com/h/lalo-naniokohala; (upstairs barn) airbnb.com/h/luna-naniokohala; (studio
off on its own) airbnb.com/h/lamua-naniokohala. My family has always thought of the studio off
on its own as the best option for long-term rental. That way they could rely on the two studios
upstairs and downstairs in the small barn when they visit. But every candidate for long term rental
I've considered finds 480sq ft too small. I'm glad to offer a resident's perspective further if it
would be useful, even if I can't always do that in person.
Mahalo for your time and for the work you're putting into a genuinely difficult balance.
Michael Foley
Postal: PO Box 426 Hawi, HI 96719
Residential: 55-784A Hawi Rd, Hawi, HI 96719
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