HomeMy WebLinkAboutLepisto, Nicholas
Tsuneda, Kaci
From:Nicholas Lepisto <nlepisto@gmail.com>
Sent:Tuesday, October 20, 2026 7:57 AM
To:Council Testimony
Subject:Testimony on Bill 147, Draft 2 (Council meeting October 21, 2026)
Aloha Chair and Members of the Hawai ʻ i County Council,
My name is Nicholas Lepisto. I am a vacation rental owner in Kailua-Kona. I am submitting written
testimony on Bill 147, Draft 2, in support of its hosted-rental path, with amendments.
I want to follow the rules, and I believe most owners do. I support Draft 2's decision to allow hosted TVRs
in residential districts without a use permit; it gives small, owner-managed rentals a clear legal path. My
concern is that the path is narrower than it needs to be, and that the rules are still moving while the
deadlines and penalties are already set. I respectfully ask the Council to consider five things.
1. Extend the registration and enforcement deadlines until the rules are final. Owners are being asked to
register, and in some cases change how they operate, before it is settled what Bill 147 will require.
Section 23 already lets the planning director, if deemed necessary, delay enforcement against certain
TVRs until as late as December 31, 2027, to give people adequate time to come into compliance; I ask
that registration deadlines follow the same logic, so owners can make one set of decisions under one set
of rules.
2. State plainly how furnished rentals of 31 to 179 days are treated. Bill 147 defines a TVR as a dwelling
furnished and rented to a transient for less than 180 consecutive days, but its new use-regulation
division does not apply to rentals subject to the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code (HRS chapter 521),
and it deletes chapter 25's "short term vacation rental" definition, while its new use-permit section (§25-
4-C(b)(2)) still turns on use "as an STVR". Owners who rent furnished units for more than thirty and fewer
than 180 days under a written rental agreement cannot tell which rules apply. I ask the Council to say
plainly whether those rentals fall under chapter 521 and the exemption, and to define the term the use-
permit section relies on.
3. Make penalties proportionate and give owners a chance to cure. The new fines can reach $5,500 for a
first violation, plus up to twice the highest advertised daily rate in the past twelve months, for each day a
violation continues, and the burden of proof is placed on the owner. I ask for a written notice and a
reasonable cure period before per-day fines begin, so that owners acting in good faith can correct a
problem before it becomes a penalty.
4. Confirm who can be a host. Draft 2 defines a host as a reachable person who resides in a principal
home on the same building site. I ask the Council to state plainly that the host does not have to be the
owner, so that a long-term resident of the main dwelling who meets the reachable-person duties can
serve as host for an accessory unit on the same site.
5. Give accessory units a path. In the RS district outside the resort areas and the shoreline areas next to
them, Draft 2 allows an un-hosted TVR only with a nonconforming use certificate or with a use permit.
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That use permit is open only to sites that, at some time between April 1, 2019 and the bill's effective date,
were in use as rentals available exclusively for more than thirty and fewer than 180 days, and it bars stays
of thirty days or less. I ask the Council to add a use-permit path, with conditions the Planning
Department sets, for accessory dwelling units registered under the County's TVR registration law, so that
registered owners have a clear way to operate them legally.
Mahalo for your time and for your work on this bill.
Nicholas Lepisto
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