Maui rental operators
upset over new rule
KAANAPALI >> A hotel and condominium group in West Maui is pleased with a state move to regulate commercial use of cabanas, lounge chairs and umbrellas on Kaanapali Beach.
But independent rental operators said the department has not issued the same kind of permits to them and has been favoring the hotels and condominiums at Kaanapali.
"That's totally biased," said Scotty Martin, who has operated beach rentals in the past.
Martin said his girlfriend has been told she cannot rent umbrellas and lounge chairs to visitors at Kaanapali without a beach permit, but the department has not issued any permits to independent rental operators.
Land department deputy director Dan Davidson said the state officials have been focusing on processing the beach permits for the hotels and condominiums and will eventually look at other requests.
Barry Lewin, chairman of the Kaanapali Operators Association, said state Land Department officials have been "very fair" and have involved the association in the discussions of the new beach permit rules.
"I think we've found a very happy medium that everybody is going to benefit from because the beach is going to be better maintained," said Lewin, also general manager of the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa.
He said department officials have suggested holding a meeting with their enforcement officers and association officials to review the permit rules.
Under the rules, which are tentatively scheduled to be enforced by mid-January, no cabanas, umbrellas or lounge chairs will be allowed on the state beach fronting the Kaanapali Resort from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Land Department Deputy Director Dan Davidson said the state has also imposed a limit on the number of cabanas, lounge chairs and umbrellas that may be on the beach.
He said the department has also placed a restriction on the number of items that may be left unattended on the beach.
For example, no more than four cabanas, four lounge chairs and two umbrellas may be put on the beach and left unattended by a hotel or condominium, he said.
Davidson said resort properties vary in the number of cabanas based on the size of their beach frontage and range from six to 30 cabanas.