HILO, Hawai‘i — A Hawai‘i County Council proposal to issue permits to vendors allowing them to sell on county roads generated debate, but wasn’t resolved on Tuesday.
Bill 184 is a measure that would introduce a county permitting system establishing standards for roadside vendors so they can continue to sell their wares safely. By submitting certain documentation — including a valid business license, a waste management plan and more — applicants could receive a year-long permit authorizing them to operate at a specified point on a county roadway.
The council Policy Committee on Infrastructure and Assets heard discussion on the measure Tuesday but ultimately decided to postpone any decision on the matter until a future meeting.
Holeka Inaba, Kona Councilman and co-introducer of Bill 184, told the committee that the measure creates an avenue for people dependent on selling their products can continue to do so in the wake of a state crackdown on vendors unlawfully using state roads for commercial activity last year.
“This type of activity is not allowed at all in the county right-of-way,” Inaba said. “Together … we are going to put together a framework to allow it for the first time in a long time.”
Department of Public Works Deputy Director Malia Kekai said the department’s top consideration when deciding whether to approve a permit will be safety and line-of-sight. If a county road does not have a wide shoulder, she said, the department will likely not grant a permit.
“Eventually … I would like to create a map for people to just pull up on our website and see that these are the places that won’t be allowed because they’re not safe,” Kekai said.
Kekai added that some sort of permitting process is necessary for consistency’s sake. She said the KWXX Ho‘olaule‘a, which is held in Downtown Hilo along Kamehameha Avenue, could be argued to be in violation of the county code.
“We were kind of just allowing things without having a good mechanism for it,” Kekai said.
While council members were supportive of the intention of the measure — Hamakua Councilwoman Heather Kimball name-dropped some food trucks she hopes will benefit from it — but the committee ultimately postponed decision-making after about an hour of conversation raised several questions about logistics.
Those questions included concerns about shoulder widths, permitted hours of operation, application fees, police feedback, and more. Inaba said he would consult with various groups about these questions and and tweak the measure in a future committee meeting.
