Here\u2019s a puzzle. A large house on a five-acre lot in the state Agricultural District is rented out to tourists for more than $700 a night, according to a recent listing on the VRBO website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Inside, near the kitchen door, a framed placard displays a non-conforming use certificate from Hawai\u02bbi County Planning Department, stating that the property is permitted to operate as a short-term vacation rental.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hawai\u02bbi County insists, and even went to court to get an affirmative ruling, that short-term vacation rentals are allowed only on lots that were existing as of June 4, 1976.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lot on which this house sits was carved out of land owned by the Mauna Kea Agribusiness Co. in the late 1990s. The house was built in 2004.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So how is it that this property qualifies for a non-conforming use certificate?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The question was posed to Planning Director Jeff Darrow, whose signature appears on the certificate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In response, Darrow forwarded two documents to explain the policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One, a letter to Richard Armstrong of Mauna Kea Agribusiness, dated June 30, 1997, addresses a request from the company in anticipation of subdividing its property following closure of the sugar plantation north of Hilo. The property affected consisted of just five discrete lots in property tax records. Yet, according to the letter signed by Deputy Planning Director Russell Kokubun, on behalf of Planning Director Virginia Goldstein, \u201cthe subject properties contain a total of twenty-two (22) separate legal lots of record.\u201d Instead of counting only the lots in real property tax records, the Planning Department included Land Court awards, grants, and portions of awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second document is an October 24, 2019, memo to Planning Department staff from then-Director Michael Yee, providing \u201cguidance on interpreting the meaning of \u2018existing before June 4, 1976.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLots that have been consolidated and resubdivided after June 4, 1976, may be considered as existing before June 4, 1976, and eligible for a non-conforming use certificate if: a) the consolidation and resubdivision did not increase the number of lots, or b) the consolidation and resubdivision was a result of a government action to widen roadways, create drainage, or a similar government-initiated project,\u201d Yee wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And so it is that a new house, on a lot whose boundaries were not established until a quarter-century ago, can qualify for a non-conforming permit allowing short-term vacation rentals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The house, by the way, is on the market for more than $2 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 Patricia Tummons<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here’s a puzzle. A large house on a five-acre lot in the state Agricultural District is rented out to tourists for more than $700 a night, according to a recent listing on the VRBO website. Inside, near the kitchen door, … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,338,543],"tags":[7],"class_list":["post-16796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","category-land-use","category-november-2025","tag-patricia-tummons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}