A group of Kailua-Kona homeowners says a loophole in the county vacation rental law is allowing illegal short-term rentals to flourish in what once were quiet neighborhoods.
Worse, they said, the county is helping the rental owners get around the law.
Four residents of Ka Aina Pono, a gated upscale community of one-acre lots overlooking Kailua-Kona contend houses at the top of the hill are violating the county law and agricultural zoning by being rented for less than 30 days, the minimum to be registered as a short-term rental.
They say the county is enabling the illegal stays by encouraging the mainland owners to list their property on Airbnb, VRBO and other rental platforms for 31 days.
Renters then cancel their booking after the desired stay of a few days or weeks, short of the minimum required by law.
Cynthia Milani recently complained about Palekaiko Estate, the $3 million property at 75-522 Nani Kailua Drive. The 3,209-square-foot house, advertised on Airbnb for up to $1,200 a night, is owned by the San Jose, California, Cleveland Family Trust. A representative could not be reached by press-time Saturday.
Milani filed a complaint with the county, one of several complaints filed in her neighborhood alone.
“There shouldn’t be any rentals in ag land,” she said. “Why do they even get permits? … We bought here to retire and raise our families in peace and quiet.”
Lorre Burt, another neighbor, said once they reported the property to the county Planning Department, the county told the owners to advertise for 31 days, since the property wasn’t a registered short-term rental.
“The county was explaining to them how to get around the issue,” Burt said.
Milani said she’s heard the same thing.
“I have heard this same story from several other parties suffering the impacts of illegal/unpermitted STVRs relative to staff providing this work around scenario,” she said Wednesday in a letter to Mayor Mitch Roth. “The fact that the County would be informing individuals how to circumvent the law is unconscionable.”
Planning Director Zendo Kern doesn’t think it’s happening quite that way.
“I’m not aware of that particular situation,” Kern said Friday. “However, I will say that one of the Planning Department’s objectives is to provide accurate and timely information to customers and the public at large, which does not include methods to circumvent laws.”
The county sent a warning letter to the trust, Kern said, and was told in a phone call from the owners that they were renting it out for 31 days. A follow up by department investigators found they could rent it for eight days, he said.
“The Planning Department is going to issue a violation notice with corrective action stating that they need to change the website to not allow a booking for less than 31 days, which is how it is normally done for long term rentals,” Kern said.
He said property owners that aren’t registered as short-term vacation rentals are not allowed to let renters cancel before the full 31 days are up and then rent to someone else for the shorter period.
Kern said his office is currently beginning a review of this section of the zoning code to make appropriate changes.
The County Council is also looking at the current short-term vacation rental laws, but so far, progress has been slow.
Planning Committee Chairwoman Ashley Kierkiewicz, who said this time last year she was in the data-gathering stage to look at amendments to the code, said Friday the council has been awaiting a ruling from the court about vacation rentals on agriculture lands following appeal from landowners.
“We anticipate socializing a proposed draft with community stakeholders in the next couple of months and then refining for introduction,” Kierkiewicz said.
It can’t happen soon enough for the Ka Aina Pono residents interviewed Friday.
But most of them see the problem not as a function of how the law is written as much as a function of how the current laws are not being enforced. They worry that the county’s desire to bring in more revenue from general excise taxes and transient accommodations taxes is making enforcement less of a priority that it should be.
The administration has long said it doesn’t have sufficient staffing to do thorough reviews. Instead the county relies on reports from neighbors in what is called a complaint-driven process.
“It is time we as a community come together to protect ourselves from the greed and corruption that is plaguing our islands,” Milani said. “While tourism is critical to our economy, balance is needed to ensure a healthy future for all of Hawaii not just tourists.”
“If we can’t trust our local officials to enforce laws we might as well be in New York or LA,” added Tom Karey. “We’re allowing exploitation by people that have no personal interest in our neighborhood, just the almighty dollar.”
“We’re not giving up,” he said.
(This article has been clarified to indicate the specific property that was the subject of complaints to the Planning Department in the article is the smaller of the two rentals and does not host 40 people.)
