Posted on Wed Aug 01 2007
“I don’t have too much sympathy for these folks,” Tavares said, referring to the operators without permits.
And the MVRA response to the Maui News story -
To: Claudine San Nicolas
Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 8:03 AM
Subject: Maui News Article
Good Morning Claudine:
I have read this morning's lead article in the Maui News, and I am concerned about erroneous impressions which it is likely to have left with the public. I hope you and your editors will respond to the following questions.
The article quotes the Planning Director and Mayor as saying that "many" operators having complied with County requirements for vacation rental permits. "Many" permitted operators have thanked the County for enforcing the law. How can this be? The County has only issued ten Conditional permits for TVRs in its entire history. Of those, only eight remain active. Why was the word "many" used by these officials, instead of the word "few"?
There is reference to "224 businesses that have proper permits." How can the number 224 be reconciled with the fact that only eight active permits exist?
The Planning Director is quoted as saying that twenty "complaint driven" contacts with TVR operators occurred in July. I have provided you with a signed document from the Planning Department, stating that a citizen reporting a vacation rental merely because it is found to be advertising on the internet is not a complaint.
The Planning Director denies that current enforcement amounts to a crackdown. But to our knowledge, at least fifteen of the contacts were generated by lists printed off the internet, and reported by individuals who don't even live in the same neighborhood as the rental being reported. Why were these facts not acknowledged in the article?
Since 2001, around seventy operators have applied for permits, relying on the County's written and signed promise that they could remain in operation until review of their application was complete. Eight applications have been through complete review, and all of them were approved. The County has kept the other sixty-plus applicants "on hold" for up to six years. Instead of completing their permit review as promised, the County is now telling them to shut down by Jan. 1.
The Maui News needs to publish a carefully-researched, factually-accurate story exposing the County's broken promises to permit applicants, the six year delay in processing permits (which are processed on the Big Island within ninety days), and repeated postponement of adopting reasonable regulations.
Please let us know when you are ready to write this story.
Mahalo,
David
