The following testimony was submitted by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii for consideration by the Maui County Council Disaster Recovery, International Affairs and Planning Committee on Feb. 19, 2025.
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Feb. 19, 2025, 1:30 p.m.
Council Chamber, Kalana O Maui Building
To: Maui County Council Disaster Recovery, International Affairs and Planning Committee
Tamara Paltin, Chair
Nohelani U‘u-Hodgins, Vice-Chair
From: Jonathan Helton, Policy Researcher
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
RE: Bill 104 (2024) — RELATING TO KITCHENETTES, KITCHENS, DWELLING UNITS AND WET BARS
Aloha Chair Paltin, Vice-Chair U‘u-Hodgins and other members of the Committee,
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii supports — and offers an amendment to — Bill 104 (2024), which would allow up to two “kitchenettes” in dwellings in the residential and rural zoning districts of Maui and Lanai.
A kitchenette is defined in the bill as an area “used for the small-scale preparation and serving of food and beverages that may contain a sink, a refrigerator … and small appliances for the preparation of hot food or beverages, such as counter-top appliances and/or a two-burner range.”[1]
In essence, this bill is responding to the reality that often an individual or family occupying only part of a house will want access to a sink, refrigerator and a countertop to prepare food. Current code allows only one kitchen per dwelling unit, thus discouraging multigenerational households and rooming.
Allowing homeowners in residential and rural zones to legally install small sinks, refrigerators and other appliances would increase the availability of housing by increasing the amount of space with normal amenities.
Since many Maui households displaced by the August 2023 wildfires have been and will be living together for some time, this bill is a smart, simple approach to a big problem.
Legalizing kitchenettes also appears to be in line with the 2012 Maui Island Plan, which states in “Chapter 5: Housing,” that “increasing the density of housing is a more efficient use of land. It also saves on linear miles of roads, water lines, and other utilities that need to be built and maintained. Increasing the density of housing also preserves more land for agriculture and open space.”[2]
Likewise, one of the policies outlined in that section mentioned the County should “use planning and regulatory approaches to provide higher housing densities.”[3]
Regarding the proposed amendment, Grassroot believes that the section of the bill that would require one parking space per kitchenette should be removed.
A 2020 study from the Ulupono Initiative found that a single on-grade, residential parking space on Maui could cost as much as $15,200.[4] This estimate was prepared prior to the advent of the COVID-19 crisis and the August 2023 wildfires, so the costs are likely much higher.
Requiring property owners to add an extra parking space as a condition of building a kitchenette would drive up costs, which could in turn encourage people to build kitchenettes without a permit. The result would either be less housing created or more unpermitted construction, both of which run counter to the bill’s intent.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Jonathan Helton
Policy Researcher
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
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[1] Kate Blystone, “A Bill For an Ordinance Amending Section 19.500.110, Maui County Code, Regarding Nonconformities,” Memo to the Maui, Molokai and Lanai Planning Commissions, Feb. 21, 2024, p. 3.
[2] “Maui Island Plan,” Maui County Planning Department, Dec. 28, 2012, pp. 5-4 and 5-5.
[3] Ibid, p. 5-6.
[4] “The Costs of Parking in Hawai‘i,” prepared by PBR & Associates for the Ulupono Initiative, August 2020, p. 3.
