Anybody who's tried to rebuild near the water in Lahaina knows the permit side can take as long as the building side. Maui County is trying to shorten that for some property owners.
The County Office of Recovery has set up a temporary process that lets certain Special Management Area Major Use Permit applications for properties makai, or seaward, of Front Street be handled by the planning director instead of going through the usual public hearing before the Maui Planning Commission. The change is laid out in the Office of Recovery's 10th Recovery Coordination Directive, known as RCD No. 10, which took effect Oct. 7, according to the county's announcement.
Who qualifies
This isn't a blanket pass for everything makai of Front Street. The county is clear that being located there doesn't automatically qualify a property. To use the faster path, a project has to rebuild a structure damaged or destroyed in the 2023 Maui wildfires and meet these tests:
- Location: The rebuilt structure must sit entirely outside the shoreline setback, or the rebuild must be on a parcel that doesn't touch the shoreline.
- Size for homes: A rebuilt single-family home must have less than 3,500 square feet of floor area.
- Like-for-like for everything else: Other structures and uses must be substantially like-for-like in footprint, scale, intensity and use.
Projects that don't meet the criteria still go through the standard SMA permit process.
The county also stressed what the directive leaves alone. It doesn't eliminate SMA requirements, shoreline setbacks, environmental regulations, historic preservation requirements or coastal resource protections.
The planning director can still require more studies, conditions or agency review based on coastal hazards, cultural resources, drainage, infrastructure capacity, environmental conditions or other site-specific concerns. The director can also send an application to the Maui Planning Commission when site conditions, public concerns or possible impacts call for a closer look. And administrative decisions under RCD No. 10 can be appealed to the Planning Commission.
The directive stays in effect until the county rescinds, replaces or changes it.
"Every step we can take to help our Lahaina families and businesses move forward with rebuilding is an important step in our recovery," Mayor Richard Bissen said. "This directive creates a more streamlined path for qualifying reconstruction projects while maintaining the protections that are important to Lahaina's shoreline, cultural and historic resources, and community."
"The goal is to provide a clear pathway for qualifying property owners to move forward with rebuilding while maintaining the safeguards that apply to Lahaina's shoreline," said Jacky Takakura, director of the county Department of Planning.
What it means on the ground
For contractors working with Lahaina owners on the ocean side of Front Street, this could mean less time waiting on a hearing date before work can begin. A Planning Commission hearing involves scheduling, public notice and a meeting calendar, and skipping that step for a qualifying project can take real time off the front end.
But the details matter. Before promising a client a faster schedule, it's worth sitting down with the plans and checking them against the criteria. Is the house under 3,500 square feet of floor area? Is the structure fully outside the shoreline setback, or is the parcel off the shoreline entirely? For a commercial building or anything other than a single-family home, is the rebuild substantially like-for-like?
A client who wants to rebuild bigger or change the use of a building may find the project lands back in the standard process. And even a qualifying project can still be asked for extra studies or be sent to the commission.
The county has more on the process at mauirecovers.org/shorelinepermitting.
Why it matters for Contractors
Permit time is money, and for rebuilds along Lahaina's shoreline, a faster path could get crews on site sooner. Contractors helping owners rebuild makai of Front Street should learn the RCD No. 10 criteria well enough to tell a client early whether a project is likely to qualify, and to design within the 3,500-square-foot limit for homes if a faster permit matters to them. Remember that shoreline, historic preservation and cultural resource rules still apply, so plan for them from the start. Builders, designers and permit expediters who understand both the shortcut and its limits will be a big help to Lahaina families trying to get home.