WAILUKU - Saying it "reflects the wishes of our community through the correct process of legislation," Mayor Charmaine Tavares on Wednesday signed into law a bill establishing a new process for permitting bed- and-breakfasts in Maui County, The Maui News reported today.

The law expands the areas in which bed-and-breakfast permits will be allowed, but sets limits on the number of permits that can be issued in the different districts of Maui County. It is expected to ease the processing for operators applying for permits.

But it is only part of the controversy that has evolved in the expanding industry of vacation rentals in homes and condominiums.

While the Maui County Council approved the bed-and-breakfast permitting bill in December, the council still has not dealt with requests to allow vacation rentals outside resort-hotel districts.

Bed-and-breakfasts are short-term rentals allowed in a home or room in a home on property on which the owner-operator is living full time. Transient vacation rentals refer to short-term rentals in homes or condominium units in which the owner does not live on the property.

Critics of transient vacation rentals argue that visitors in vacation rentals are more disruptive to neighbors when the owner-proprietor is not on the site.

Tavares declined to take a position on whether vacation rentals should be allowed outside hotel districts, saying it is subject to legislative review.

"As with any law that the public wants changed, the council will deliberate its merits and seek input from the community," she said in a statement Wednesday. "Certainly regulation is needed, and I trust that the process will bring about a law that reflects what the community wants."

Tavares has been targeted by proponents of vacation rentals, with an attorney who formerly represented the Maui Vacation Rental Association issuing petitions seeking to recall the mayor and to impeach her. The petitions have not met legal requirements for action, while court rulings have upheld the Tavares administration's decision to enforce existing laws limiting vacation rentals.

The issue of unpermitted short-term rentals had been simmering for years, with some residents protesting vacation rentals in their neighborhoods and operators by saying they are small businesses that fill a need in the visitor market.

Maui County was allowing bed-and-breakfasts, but the permit requirements were similar to the standards for conditional permits - requiring a detailed application and public hearings - and restricted permits to residential zones. The county otherwise bars vacation rentals outside the hotel zones.

Previous mayors had declined to enforce the permitting requirements while the council was considering revisions to the laws. But the council in early 2007 was unable to reach agreement on a new process for permitting short-term rentals, and Tavares said her administration would begin to cite vacation rentals that did not have permits.

The new law specifies that bed-and-breakfasts can operate in residential, business, rural and agricultural zones, as well as in hotel zones, Tavares noted. It also requires that guest parking must be provided on site and that "quiet hours" will be maintained from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m. at any permitted facility.

It is "a great result of collaboration between the administration, the council and the community," Tavares said of the new law.

"This new law reflects the wishes of our community through the correct process of legislation. Council members, department staff and members of the public worked hard to find a way to help businesses, comply with community plans and remain mindful of concerns of neighborhoods that would be impacted by a bed-and-breakfast operation," she said.

Information on the permitting process is available online from the Planning Department site at www.mauicounty.gov.

* Edwin Tanji can be reached at citydesk@mauinews.com.