WAILUKU — The Maui County Council Planning Committee yesterday may have resolved three nagging issues that have swirled around the transient vacation rental and bed-and-breakfast controversy for some time, The Maui News reported.

The committee found common ground on a provision from Mayor Charmaine Tavares' administration that will broaden the definition of B&Bs to allow a property owner with two homes on a single lot to live in one house and rent out the other to vacationers. The committee also approved B&Bs in rural districts, but dismissed a proposal to allow them in agricultural districts.

Half of the proposed TVR and B&B bills and amendments have been discussed by the five-member Planning Committee, so far, committee Chairwoman Gladys Baisa said. The bills and amendments will need final approval from the nine-member County Council.

Maui County Planning Department Director Jeff Hunt and Tavares have met again and again to find a way to address the lingering controversy over TVRs and B&Bs.

So has the County Council Planning Committee now, including all day yesterday. And it looks like it will continue to meet, despite some significant progress and the best hopes of Baisa, she said.

"We have to get through this," Baisa told committee members. "We cannot continue to put this on the back burner . ... This committee has a whopping agenda, and this is just one item. We should also note that the community affected by this is also very anxious for a decision from us."

This spring, Hunt produced a package of bills meant to streamline the B&B permitting process and for the first time allow B&Bs in rural and agricultural districts. The discussions in committee continued to focus on where B&Bs would be permitted.

A third — and perhaps most controversial — bill would allow TVRs only in a business zone or the resort districts of Kapalua, Ka'anapali, Wailea and Makena. The proposal would eliminate the existing conditional-use permit process for TVRs outside a resort district. It was not addressed Tuesday.

TVRs are short-term vacation rentals where the owner is not present on the property. With a bed and breakfast, the owner lives in the house used for a short-term rental.

The committee has not taken a position on a Maui Vacation Rental Association proposal to essentially include TVRs in the definition of B&Bs, as long as they have a manager who lives or works on-site.

Still, association board member Tom Croly said this is the most progress the council has made on TVRs in six years.

County Council candidate and vacation rental proponent Susan "Netra" Halperin said she is very pleased that the committee is making decisions to alleviate the industry's crisis. But council members have not addressed the on-site manager idea yet, she noted.

"It's the elephant in the living room," Halperin said.

In a letter to the committee dated June 27, Hunt suggested a few new amendments meant to appease some of the continuing criticism by vacation rental owners, Realtors and their supporters.

After the final decisions have been made, county officials said they expect that an unknown number of existing TVRs will be converted to B&Bs. Hunt noted to the committee that B&Bs have more community support than TVRs, since the owner is available on the property in case of parking, noise or other problems.

It was estimated last year that Maui County had 1,100 illegal TVRs and a few hundred legal short-term rentals. Many of the unpermitted properties have already been turned into long-term rentals, said Council Member Michelle Anderson, who said she's noticed a recent increase in available rentals in the newspaper classifieds.

The committee yesterday approved a new amendment from Hunt meant to legalize more TVRs. The rule would allow an unattached, single-family unit for short-term rental on the same lot as the detached home of the B&B proprietors.

The committee then tightened the reins on B&Bs when it voted to require that only the B&B owners can hold their permit, and they must live on-site full time, said Hunt and planner Joe Alueta.

The committee also voted to delete language that would have allowed a lessee to hold a B&B permit. That means a lessee cannot operate a B&B, Hunt said.

The decision is the tradeoff for allowing owners to live on-site, but in a separate home from guests, Alueta said.

It remained unclear Tuesday if the Planning Committee would deviate much from the Planning Department's other bills.

"We need to deal with some of the overarching issues so we know where things are going,'' Baisa said. "Philosophically, we need to let the public know where we stand. Then we can proceed with all the details."

In Hunt's letter, he suggested capping the number of B&Bs in order to minimize their negative impacts to the communities of Hana, Kihei-Makena, Upcountry, Paia-Haiku, Wailuku-Kahului, West Maui, Moloka'i and Lana'i. Hunt proposed that his department spread 400 B&B permits among the communities, at a percentage determined by the estimated number of TVRs that already exist in these areas.

Despite Baisa's cajoling, committee members decided against voting on the cap issue Tuesday.

Anderson said that Maui is 4,000 housing units short today. So before they set a B&B cap, Anderson said she also wants to know what the housing inventory is for each community.

Council Member Michael Molina also said he wanted more time to consider a cap.

Molina did sponsor another amendment, which passed unanimously, to allow B&Bs in rural districts. But then committee members voted 3-1 - on an amendment pressed by Council Member Jo Anne Johnson - against allowing B&Bs in agricultural zones, unless they are homes on the state or federal historic registers. Farmers have opposed allowing vacation rentals in the ag zone, saying B&B operators could come in and push them out of business. Baisa voted yes.

Tavares' administration began cracking down on unpermitted TVRs last year at the County Council's request, saying it is necessary in order to preserve the character of neighborhoods and open up more affordable housing on Maui. Tavares supporters say that the number of illegal TVRs has grown exponentially in recent years in residential and agricultural areas at the expense of long-term rentals and home sales to Maui residents.

In a letter given to committee members prior to the meeting, Dave DeLeon of the Realtors Association of Maui criticized the political process to this point, saying there hasn't been any debate on new ideas to make the B&B legislation work.

In committee discussions, Johnson responded that Realtors continue to sell properties with claims they can be used as TVRs.

DeLeon said only a minority of members have done that and mostly because there remains confusion about where TVRs can be located and which ones are legal. "What we need are good clear rules and rules that make sense," DeLeon said at the meeting.

Chris Hamilton can be reached at chamilton@mauinews.com. Additional Maui News stories are posted online at www.mauinews.com