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Editor’s note: For Hawaii’s Nov. 5 General Election, Civil Beat asked candidates to answer some questions about where they stand on various issues and what their priorities will be if elected.

The following came from John Pele, candidate for Maui County Council Molokai District. The other candidate is Keani Rawlins-Fernandez.

Go to Civil Beat’s Election Guide for general information, and check out other candidates on the General Election Ballot.

1. Clearly, Maui County faces big issues related to the fires. What’s the primary thing Maui needs to do now to recover from the fires?

Primarily, my belief is the county needs to focus on keeping residents from leaving. High living costs, unreachable purchase prices of homes, unaffordable rent prices and the lack of inventory of housing have led to an exodus of our residents prior to the tragic wildfires. Post-fires, these issues have been magnified and a resolution is paramount for recovery.

Focusing efforts on expediting the rebuilding of homes and infrastructure in Lahaina needs to be prioritized and funded.  Furthermore, a plan on providing more housing inventory across Maui also must be prioritized. That plan must include keeping costs of living in homes manageable for residents. If homes and rents are not affordable, the goal of keeping our residents here will continue to fail.

Prioritize our people so that they can remain and raise families, build strong communities and perpetuate our cultures and customs that are unique to us. That is a key factor in preserving our identity leading to a strong recovery.

2.  What should Maui do to encourage people to stay? What can the county do to ensure that families aren’t priced out?

The county needs to figure out how to house our residents. When speaking to people during my campaign outreach, unaffordable housing is by far what people say impacts their livelihood the most. This is why people are considering leaving or have already left.

As a community, there needs to be a shift in our housing approach. Firstly, we need to establish a plan on where we want to build housing. Then commit to building. Our zoning laws create an extremely burdensome and costly process for developers to build houses. Infrastructure construction placed solely on developers also increases costs. Furthermore, at any point in the process, legal challenges can be made for any reason and can extend a project for years and even decades.

These factors make it impossible to build anything but luxury homes for developers to make a profit. There are developers that want to build affordable housing, but it never pencils out. Zoning reform, shared infrastructure costs, expedited permitting process for vetted projects could all help bring down the cost of housing.  Finding a clear path for residents to have housing they can afford will help ensure they aren’t priced out.

3. Do you support the new state law that allows counties to regulate and even shut down short-term rentals? Why or why not?

This is a complex issue, and legal challenges can be expected. Yes, I can support this law, if it provides housing for our residents. That’s its intended purpose. The proposed legislation brought forth in Maui County is suspending the grandfathered policy dealing with apartment zoned STR’s. Known as the Minatoya List, it would affect approximately 7,000 units in the county, with nearly all of them on Maui.

Critics will argue that the economic impacts will reduce the county’s budget. This is true. One could estimate that the lost property tax income could be from $30 million to $50 million dollars, roughly 2-4% to the budget, due to the tax classification changes. This does not include the economic losses to businesses directly serving this industry.

However, we must recognize that residents leaving the state also have an impact on our economy, although that number is difficult to quantify. Approximately 85% of these units are owned by non-residents.

We need to strategize how to incentivize owners to embrace converting to long-term rentals. They must agree. The worst-case scenario would be to have those units classified as second homes with no occupancy. That would result in much-needed housing and infrastructure sitting unused.

4. What’s your vision for Lahaina? How should it be rebuilt and who should decide?

We have to respect the Lahaina community to lead the conversation of how they envision the results of rebuilding. The County Council will make planning decisions to support rebuilding efforts.

Obviously, the current focus is on the cleanup efforts which could take years to complete. I would emphasize expediting the process for people to rebuild their homes. Residents need that for recovery.

We can’t lose sight of how people personalize their trauma. Potentially small opportunities to some could be huge to others, even being the deciding factor of whether they will leave or stay, and I want our residents to choose to stay.

As to how it should be rebuilt, efforts to improve infrastructure should be prioritized to ensure protection from future disasters.  Studying other municipalities that have experienced similar disasters could aid in planning. This is not only specific to wildfires. There is also an opportunity to address safety protocols for hurricanes, tsunamis, flooding, drainage and sea level rise. 

5. What should elected officials do to restore trust in county government?

As a candidate who is actively speaking to residents, lack of trust in government is a conversation that comes up a lot. There is a sentiment that officials only focus on concerns when seeking election.

Trust is earned. Earning trust requires accountability for your actions. It is simply not sufficient to tell someone they can trust you. People don’t find that response acceptable. When elected, you have to work toward your ideals with complete inclusion and transparency in the process.

From my responses above, one can easily discern that housing opportunities for our residents are a priority. Lack of housing options is the reason why my only child and my grandchildren do not reside in Hawaii. It is personal to me, and I have learned that it is personal to literally thousands of our residents. I hear them, and I promise them that I will work tirelessly to provide those opportunities.

Trust will only be built on what you do, not what you say.

6. Do you think Maui County should do more to manage water resources? Why or why not?

The county itself does not have the sole ability to establish new water sources. It has to go through the state regulatory process for approvals and allocations. However, Maui County’s Department of Water Supply services almost 47,000 customers.  It must continue to evolve when it comes to water resource management.

Part of this evolution should be to embrace the newest technologies available to continue to provide efficient water usage. Proven efficiency and best practices will lead to the ability to help expand their services to our residents for critical needs, such as housing.

For example, there are uses for R1 reclamation water for non-potable applications. Lanai is a great example of how R1 water is used to irrigate areas around their hotel developments. This has been a topic on Maui for a while and it should continue to be explored.

Emphasis should also be placed on the transmission infrastructure of our water systems. Aging systems must be upgraded, which will require funding and planning. For the most important resource we have, this has to remain a priority.

7. What is the first thing Maui County should do to get in front of climate change rather than just reacting to it?

In 2022, the county presented the Maui County Climate Action and Resiliency Plan spearheaded by the county’s CCRS office, so I do believe they have made efforts to get ahead of climate change.

As we know, climate change and its “existence” has been a topic of huge debate. Nonetheless, it is difficult to ignore many of the severe weather-related events that the county, and Hawaii as a whole, has witnessed in recent years. In 2022, the residents of Maui County voted in favor of creating a Department of Oiwi Resources through charter amendment. Overall, this department will ensure proper management of cultural resources. The county will now have a platform of experts, with centuries of knowledge regarding resource management, who can help lead topics related to climate change. Providing their understanding of Maui’s geographical history and how it relates to environmental events will be an important contribution to any climate change policies.

Now that there are pathways on the table, the discussion on climate change needs to continue. We have seen a move toward clean energy, which could prove to be helpful, but a one-and-done solution does not exist for such a diverse topic.

8. Homelessness is becoming more of an issue on Maui. What do you think needs to be changed to help people get into housing, and stay housed?

I have been fortunate enough in my current employment to be involved in homeless housing projects. In particular to Maui, I have assisted with the current HDOT site, Puuhonua O Nene, as it seeks to transition to a more permanent site under the governor’s Kauhale Initiative.

 One consideration to note is that this Kauhale development is able to be built in an expedited process due to the Governor’s emergency proclamation. This shows how effectively problems like homelessness can be addressed without burdensome governmental hurdles that add time to a project — time that we just don’t have.

Easing some governmental policies to expedite these types of developments can be a positive change. Housing must come first. Once housed, there can be a concentrated effort on providing not just shelter, but critical wrap-around services to deal with mental health, substance abuse and medical respite.

People need a safe place where they can start to address issues that they deal with and learn how to live on a healthy level.  Continuing to stay housed will only happen if the basic foundations can be laid to focus on people’s wellness, while creating housing opportunities simultaneously. 

9. Traffic is getting worse on Maui, and different regions face different challenges. What would be your approach to improve Maui’s transportation problems?

Working on Maui for the past year and a half, I have experienced the traffic challenges people face. Communities have been hard hit by the shortage of school bus drivers that has led to discontinued services. Efforts need to continue to find a resolution to this situation. School traffic contributes to the congestion during drop off and pick up times.

Consolidation of ridership by restoring bus service could greatly reduce the number of vehicles needing to be on the road during those peak times.

Extensive planning review of roads and infrastructure should be done to establish where improvements and expansions are needed to provide relief in high traffic areas. Future budget allocations must include funding for these projects.

Although Maui has made efforts to improve its bus service, I think it is underutilized. Bus schedules and accessibility are issues people face. Smaller buses with more intricate routes into communities could help persuade increased ridership.You have to present services in a manner that people want to use them, particularly if they have other options.