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kcerizo@mauinews.com
The Marriott Maui Ocean Club in Kaanapali is pictured in August. A bill that proposes placing a moratorium on hotel building permits garnered early support from residents at a Maui County Council meeting on Friday, though others said it was the last thing Maui needed with the local economy reeling from the pandemic. The Maui News / COLLEEN UECHI photo
A proposal to place a moratorium on hotel building permits is garnering early support from residents who say it will help balance an unfettered industry that reached record numbers before the pandemic.
Others, however, say the moratorium is the last thing Maui needs right now since it would limit job growth and business during a time when the local economy is reeling from the pandemic.
The end of the session is looming and lawmakers have failed to deal with the ADC. They need to figure it out during the interim and return in January prepared to act.
kcerizo@mauinews.com
The Westin Maui Resort & Spa, Kaanapali, is pictured in early October, shortly before the reopening of tourism in Hawaii. As tensions over tourism continue to rise, the bill before the Maui County Council is proposing a moratorium on building permits for hotels in West and South Maui until community plan updates for both areas are finished.
The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo
A Maui County Council bill is proposing to halt building permits for West and South Maui hotel development until community plans for both areas are updated.
Introduced by Council Member Kelly King, who holds the South Maui residency seat, the proposed bill would add a new chapter to the Maui County Code, placing a moratorium on building permits for hotel development applications in the West Maui and Kihei-Makena community plan areas.
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Steven Bond-Smith, senior research fellow at the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre in Western Australia and incoming assistant professor at U-HERO
In a brief comparing these economies from the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, Steven Bond-Smith says the economies are relatively small scale, but still integrated as part of a globalized trade system. These economies, in order to compete, in order to be highly productive, they need to have a large-scale industry, Bond-Smith said. In Hawaii, the primary industry is tourism; in New Zealand, it s food and agriculture; and in Western Australia, it s iron ore.
However, external shocks - such as a drop in the price of iron ore and dairy, and fewer visitor arrivals - have led to recessions.