LIHU‘E — Oftentimes, subdivisions may limit what is allowable within its neighborhood parameters. In some respects, that’s hindering the county’s housing market.
Lucy Ben Avraham and her husband wanted to rent out the upstairs unit of their condo to both help with their mortgage and provide an affordable option for a local, but wasn’t allowed to according to her board and management company.
“With homes and condos mostly being vacation rentals, it’s been making long-term renting unavailable and very expensive,” Ben-Avraham said in written testimony to the Kaua‘i County Council.
This issue is to be addressed with new legislation.
Introduced in August by councilmembers Bernard Carvalho and Luke Evslin, Draft Bill No. 2834 would not allow future covenants, conditions and restrictions or other agreements running with lands to prohibit or limit the ability to set up additional dwelling units, long-term rentals or guest houses.
Existing agreements would not be affected.
The proposed bill stems from action items in the county’s General Plan, which seeks to prohibit future subdivisions and developments from restricting the construction of ADUs in deeds or association.
“The County of Kaua’i, as well as the rest of the state, are in the midst of a housing crisis,” Planner Shelea Blackstad said in a Director’s Report during Tuesday’s county Planning Commission meeting. “The department has observed that increases in housing demand do not correspond to a matching increase in supply, ultimately resulting in high housing costs, which inevitably prices many local families out of the housing market.”
Lihu‘e Business Association President Pat Griffin wrote in support of the bill to the commission.
“Considerable attention has been given to the need for and complexities of providing more affordable housing on Kauai,” Griffin wrote. “Bill 2834 offers a tool to address this need.”
Griffin said the bill is in line with “Smart Growth,” an urban planning and transportation theory and general plan.
“They emphasize the value of increased density as a way to mitigate sprawl and increase opportunities for people to live close to where they work, shop and play,” Griffin said. “Current covenants, conditions and restrictions, however, often work against this concept but limiting the ability of property owners in a community to create an additional dwelling unit or additional rental unit on their property.”
The bill would not change any zoning on the lands, but, if passed, would allow homeowners the opportunity for independent action to take against restrictive rules.
With the commission support on Tuesday, the bill will now head back to the council.
