Proposed Maui County Resort Boundary Overlays for TVRs; Like Zoning, but Not Really

While the county is being sued by the MVRA to stop it from enforcing its existing zoning laws that regulate TVRs, the County is busy crafting new legislation.

As I discussed previously, the proposed TVR bill would allow TVRs in certain business districts and within new resort boundaries, in addition to its already allowed operation in the hotel district. Why create a resort boundary overlay instead of rezoning? I suspect it is because creating a boundary overlay is more expedient than it is to rezone property to the hotel district. Rezoning property would allow all kinds of other uses and increase density. The boundary overlay map, on the other hand, operates like zoning but for just one type of use: TVR operations. Here are the County’s proposed resort area maps:

• Kapalua Resort Area Map
• Kaanapali Resort Area Map
• Makena Resort Area Map
• Wailea Resort Area Map

The maps appear to draw the resort boundaries in close proximity to the existing hotel districts. Expect a lot of haggling over where these resort boundaries are drawn. It appears that the MVRA wants the boundaries to extend into residential districts but the County wants the boundaries to remain in and around the hotel district.