Real Estate & Property Law

Mansionism Discouraged On Maui ..."Mansionism?"

By Robert Thomas (inversecondemnation.com)

I learned a new -ism word today thanks to an article in the Maui News forwarded by my Damon Key colleague Mark Murakami.  Currently, Maui's "Hotel" zoning allows the property owner to build an apartment or a single-family residence as well as a hotel, but in Mansionism discouraged on land with hotel zoning, Harry Eagar writes:

The Maui Planning Department would like to take a stand against creeping mansionism in the hotel district, but Planning Director Jeff Hunt says the best way to approach the problem remains under discussion.

...

The draft hotel bill would delete apartments and single-family houses as permitted uses in hotel zones.

Generally, a less-intensive use within a district is seen as a good thing, and the article points out that "the community was pleased when that lot was 'saved' from dense hotel development."  Yet, building a large house is now characterized as some sort of malevolent act, apparently because of concerns that ownership of this type of property isn't egalitarian enough (much of this is beachfront property), and according to the article, the planners are "worried." 

The article also exposes two other points about how government planners view private property: (1) as a source of revenue, and (2) not really yours, but theirs:

However, the desire, and ability, of some people to afford hotel-zoned real estate for private homes worries the planners. Kaanapali isn't likely to be torn down to make room for McMegamansions, but there are other hotel-zoned lots, especially in South Maui, that are yet unbuilt.

The planners have two concerns. One is getting the best return on the expense of building infrastructure for these lots. The more units, the more tax revenue per acre.

The other is indirect. If low-density housing sops up resort lots, then unless the total number of tourists is reduced, the tourists will have to be put somewhere else.

"We want an efficient use of our hotel-zoned lands," said Hunt. "If we put low-density housing within them, we will have to extend our resorts. They'll consume more land."

"Our" lands?  "We put?"  "Our resorts?"  I guess it is their world...you just live in it.  As to the concern that Maui tourists will have nowhere to go, remember that this is the same planning department engaged in a widely-publicized crackdown on vacation rentals (which, by the way, are permitted in the Hotel zone) because it wanted to force tourists to stay in hotels.

Full post as published by inversecondemnation on May 27, 2009 (boomark / email).