HomeMy WebLinkAboutLee, Penny
Tsuneda, Kaci
From:Penny Lee <pennyleeloo@yahoo.com>
Sent:Monday, August 31, 2026 12:19 PM
To:Council Testimony
Subject:Testimony in opposition to Bill 147
I wanted to focus on just a couple of issues that contribute to the confusion and mistrust the public
has about these bills:
Statements have been made to the public multiple times and also under oath in front of the Planning
Commissions about this new regulation and how it will work, but these policies are not written down in
Bill 147 or ordinance 25-50. For example, Heather Kimball said in the Aug 11th webinar that existing
STVR NUCs "run with the property" and transfer on sale to the new owner. This is not written in the
bill. Current STVR regulation based on Bill 108 clearly states this.
Example 2: During the Planning Commission Hearings, Heather Kimball stated several times that
hosted vacation rentals in state land use agriculture would not need a Special Permit if the lot was
created before June 4th, 1976. This is also not written down in Bill 147, in fact Bill 147 doesn't even
mention 1976 anywhere. This is a very key distinction that will apply to many families, as we have
91,000 parcels located in state land use agricultural (45.8% of all lands on the Big Island).
This is extremely important that these fundamental policies be included in the bill and be implemented
in the regulations. Otherwise the proposed regulation was misrepresented to the public and the
Planning Commissions under oath. Future requirements and policies should be fully transparent to
the public and described clearly in writing in the code.
What does "deemed registered" mean? Bill 147 completely removes and replaces existing
regulations regarding existing STVRs and Bed & Breakfasts. Is the county trying to "gut and replace"
previous legal agreements that were made with grandfathered legally operating vacation rentals and
B&Bs?
Now in Bill 147, if there is any problem with the registration, the underlying NUC will automatically be
revoked. Considering that the county is not issuing any new NUCs, this will be an unrecoverable loss
to the owner of longstanding vested property rights and violates grandfathering rules.
Registration should not start on Sep 1st and should be delayed until all requirements and details are
fleshed out, carefully considered and clearly written in code.
This bill with its vagueness and overreaching policies has the potential to bring great harm to local
families and our local economy.
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