The following testimony was submitted by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii for consideration by the Maui County Council on Nov. 7, 2025.
_____________
Nov. 7, 2025, 9 a.m.
Kalana O Maui Building
To: Maui County Council
Alice Lee, Chair
Yuki Lei Sugimura, Vice-Chair
From: Jonathan Helton, Policy Analyst
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
RE: RESOLUTION 25-203 — A PROPOSED BILL ON ACCESSORY DWELLINGS ON RESIDENTIALLY ZONED LOTS
Aloha Chair Lee, Vice-Chair Sugimura and other members of the Council,
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii supports Resolution 25-203, which would refer to the county’s three planning commissions a draft bill to allow two accessory dwelling units per lot in all of Maui’s County residential zoning districts.
This proposal would be a powerful tool for homeowners and homebuilders to help provide shelter to their friends and family and combat the broader housing crisis.
Currently on the island of Maui, lots smaller than 7,500 square feet are limited to a single ADU, while lots larger than 7,500 can have two ADUs.
Many Lanai and Molokai homeowners are prevented from building an ADU at all, unless they brave the costly and time-consuming process of obtaining a special-use permit. On Lanai and Molokai, a single ADU is allowed on lots 7,500 square feet or larger.[1] Many residential lots are smaller than this, greatly limiting the ability of local homeowners to build housing for their friends or families.
Grassroot pointed out in its 2023 report “How to facilitate more homebuilding in Hawaii” that allowing more homes on the same lot is a powerful approach that many states and cities across the county have used to increase housing supply.
Such places include Minneapolis, Minnesota; Houston, Texas; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Columbus, Ohio, as well as the entire states of California and Montana.[2] Auckland, New Zealand, is a good international example.[3]
All “upzoned” their residential areas to allow greater housing density on lands already zoned for housing — and the research indicates these changes have helped moderate or reduce housing prices.[4]
There are other advantages to promoting smaller homes. Focusing on “infill” development — building homes within existing residentially zoned areas — would also help solve two major concerns with new housing.
First, there typically is more water and wastewater infrastructure available in existing residential areas. And second, new housing built under this bill would not encroach on Maui’s rural and agricultural areas, which should please anyone who wants to “keep the country country.”
Legalizing more homes per lot also appears to be in line with the 2012 Maui Island Plan, which states in “Chapter 7: Land Use” that the County should “ensure higher-density compact urban communities, infill, and redevelopment of underutilized urban lots within Urban Growth Boundaries.”[5]
The chapter also notes that during events prior to the finalized plan, “Maui residents expressed a preference for focusing future growth in existing towns and increasing population densities in appropriate locations as the best way to accommodate growth.”[6]
The draft bill would also put the county into compliance with Act 46 (2024), which requires the counties to allow two ADUs per lot in residential zones by Dec. 31, 2026.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Jonathan Helton
Policy Analyst
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
_____________
[1] “Chapter 19.35 – ACCESSORY DWELLINGS,” Maui County Code, accessed Nov. 3, 2025.
[2] Laurel Wamsley, “The hottest trend in U.S. cities? Changing zoning rules to allow more housing,” NPR, Feb. 17, 2024.
[3] Ryan Greenaway-McGrevy, “Can Zoning Reform Reduce Housing Costs? Evidence from Rents in Auckland,” University of Auckland Business School, Economic Policy Centre Working Paper No. 016, June 2023.
[4] Christina Plerhoples Stacy, Christopher Davis, Yonah Freemark, et al., “Land-Use Reforms and Housing Costs,” Urban Institute, March 29, 2023; and Vicki Been, Ingrid Gould Ellen and Katherine M. O’Regan, “Supply Skepticism Revisited,” New York University Law and Economics Research Paper No. 24-12, Nov. 10, 2023.
[5] “Maui Island Plan,” Maui County Planning Department, Dec. 28, 2012, p. 7-24.
[6] Ibid, p. 7-21.
