HomeMy WebLinkAboutHerberger, Jeni
Tsuneda, Kaci
From:Jeni Herberger <puumahana@gmail.com>
Sent:Monday, August 31, 2026 11:32 AM
To:Council Testimony
Subject:Written testimony Bill 147
Aloha Chair and Members of the Hawai ʻ i County Council,
My name is Jeni Herberger, and I am a Hawai ʻ i Island resident, farmer, and long-time hosted vacation
rental operator on agricultural land. Mahalo for the opportunity to again provide testimony regarding Bill
147. I live on and actively farm my property. My farm produces approximately 6,000 pounds of avocados
annually, supplies culinary herbs to the local market, and supports livestock. I also operate a hosted
vacation rental on the property. For me, the central issue with Bill 147 is clarity and the ability to
comply.
If agricultural landowners will be required to obtain a Special Use Permit or meet other new
requirements, the County needs to establish a clear, affordable, and attainable pathway to
compliance before those requirements take effect. Existing operators need straightforward answers.
What permits will be required? What will they cost? What documents or professional services will be
necessary? How long will approval take? And will existing operators be allowed to continue operating
while applications are pending?
These questions are especially important for working agricultural properties. Hosted accommodation
income is not simply incidental income for many small farms. It can be a critical part of what allows a
resident farmer to maintain the land, pay rising operating costs, and continue agricultural production.
Policies intended to regulate vacation rentals should not unintentionally make actively farming
agricultural properties financially unsustainable.
The scale of the Agricultural District also matters. Nearly 46% of Hawai ʻ i Island — approximately 1.18
million acres — is classified within the State Agricultural District. Hawai ʻ i County has acknowledged
that when these classifications were originally established, essentially all working and open lands not
placed in Conservation were designated Agricultural, including lands with limited agricultural resource
value. “Agricultural District” is therefore an extraordinarily broad land-use designation on Hawai ʻ i Island.
It should not automatically be treated as synonymous with active commercial farmland when regulating
hosted vacation rentals. A policy that restricts hosted accommodations simply because a resident’s
home lies within the Agricultural District could potentially affect properties across nearly half of the
island.
Bill 147 should clearly distinguish between absentee-investor vacation rentals and owner-occupied
properties where residents actually live, farm, maintain the land, and use limited visitor
accommodations to help sustain their agricultural operations. The same clarity is needed across Bill
147, Ordinance 25-50, and related legislation. Registration, permitting, taxation, and enforcement
requirements need to work together. Residents should not be expected to comply with rules when the
process for doing so remains unclear, incomplete, prohibitively expensive, or unreasonably difficult.
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Hosts are not asking to avoid regulation. We are asking for regulations that are understandable and a
compliance pathway that ordinary residents and farmers can realistically use. I respectfully ask the
Council to provide a clear, affordable, and attainable pathway to compliance for existing operators
before imposing new requirements, and to recognize the important distinction between absentee
investment properties and resident-operated accommodations that help sustain working agricultural
land.
Mahalo for your time, consideration, and service to our island community.
Jeni Herberger
Owner Pu'u Mahana Plantation I 425-576-1408
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