The Maui County Council's planning committee has approved a plan to cap the number of legal bed and breakfasts on the Valley Isle.

The proposal, approved Tuesday, would limit the number of Maui bed and breakfasts at 302. Moloka'i and Lana'i would be allowed to set their own caps, if any.

The measure will go to the full County Council before being forwarded to Mayor Charmaine Tavares.

"Again, I just want to say that I am anxious to wrap this up," said committee Chairwoman Gladys Baisa. "We have a lot of other issues on our plate that need this committee's attention."

The cap is part of a bill to revamp the county's B&B ordinance. That B&B measure is part of a broader package of bills — that remain mired in committee — addressing short-term rentals in general.

Among the unresolved issues are rules governing transient vacation rentals, or short-term house or apartment rentals in which the owner doesn't live on site.

Tavares and her administration have been cracking down on nonpermitted transient vacation rentals since taking office last year.

She said the explosion of illegal transient vacation rentals during the last administration had created a long-term rental housing crunch and damaged the quiet character of neighborhoods.

But many of the vacation rental operators and business owners have said the crackdown — which is in place until these new short-term rental laws can be hammered out — have cost people their homes, shops, restaurants and livelihoods.

County Planning Director Jeff Hunt said only 12 bed-and-breakfasts currently have permits to operate legally countywide.

Under the current law, bed-and-breakfast operators must live in the home in which the rentals are being provided. Under the bill approved by the committee, a bed-and-breakfast rental can be in a separate unit on the homeowner's property.

Bed-and-breakfast caps approved by the Maui County Council Planning Committee include 24 in Hana, 100 in Kihei-Makena, 20 in Makawao-Pukalani-Kula, 54 in Pa'ia-Ha'iku, 16 in Wailuku-Kahului and 88 in West Maui

The Maui News contributed to this report.