Which Kihei Condos Keep Vacation Rentals Past 2030 Is Being Decided This Fall

Picture two condo complexes on South Kihei Road, a short walk apart. Each was built under apartment zoning, and each has rented to visitors for years. In September, Kamaole Sands at the south end of the road drew a recommendation for denial from the Maui Planning Commission on a proposal to rezone it as a hotel district. Up the road, Kamaole One at 2230 South Kihei Road was put into a newer batch of rezoning candidates a week later, and no hearing has been set for it yet. Both complexes face the same Bill 9 deadline, but their paths to a decision are different.

So for a Kihei condo, the useful question isn't when vacation rentals end. It's which zoning label the complex ends up with, and that is being decided one complex at a time right now.

The deadline is fixed. Each complex's path is not.

Mayor Richard Bissen signed Bill 9 into law on December 15, 2025. It phases out transient vacation rentals in apartment-zoned districts. Maui Now reports that the ban takes effect Dec. 31, 2028, in West Maui and Dec. 31, 2030, everywhere else in the county, including Kihei.

That date already shows up on every summary page. The newer development is the exit route. The Council passed Bill 88, now Ordinance 6008, which took effect June 22, 2026. It created two new hotel districts, H-3 and H-4, for properties that have legally operated vacation rentals in apartment districts. Creating the districts didn't move any building into them. Each property still needs its own rezoning, and each rezoning goes through the Planning Commission before the Council takes a final vote.

That means a Kihei complex can sit in one of three places. It may have no rezoning proposal at all. It may be in the first batch of 48 properties, which already has a commission recommendation. Or it may be in the second batch of 32, which is waiting for a hearing.

What happened to the first batch

The first referral covered 3,402 units across 48 properties, including timeshares, leasehold buildings and complexes that operate like hotels. County planning staff sorted them into categories, and at its September 22 hearing the commission voted category by category.

Only two categories got a recommendation for approval. One was properties that already hold variances allowing vacation rental use, which covers Hale Kāʻanapali and Kūʻau Plaza in Pāʻia. The other was properties made up entirely of timeshares, which covers Maui Schooner in Kihei and Hono Koa in West Maui. Hana Kai Maui in Hāna was the only exception granted from the "operating like hotels" group. Council Chair Alice Lee said the commission approved only five of the 48 properties. Maui Now quoted her: "It's like all of our work was for nothing."

Here is how the Kihei properties in that batch came out, according to the commission's September 22 minutes:

The commission gave reasons for the denials, and the reasons tell you what any Kihei complex in the pipeline will be measured against. It turned down the mixed timeshare and rental properties, along with the leasehold buildings, because it saw housing potential in them. It turned down the single-owner properties for lack of information on parking, kitchens, laundry and unit counts. It turned down the hotel-style operations because, in its words, there were no objective standards for what counts as a front desk, an on-site manager or a hotel level of cleaning and maintenance.

Maui Hill pointed to its resort management contract with Aqua Aston and a staff of 40. Maui Now reported that this kind of evidence did not carry the vote. Commission Vice Chair Andrea Kealoha described what she was looking at: "My goal is trying to figure out what we can use for housing."

These are recommendations, not final decisions. The commission's 120-day review deadline on the first batch is November 24, 2026, and the Council makes the final call after that.

The second batch and the six-vote threshold

A week after the hearing, the Council voted 5-4 on Resolution 26-129, CD1. It sends two bills to the commission that would move 32 shoreline complexes in Māʻalaea, Kihei and West Maui from apartment to hotel zoning. Nineteen A-1 properties would go to H-3 and 13 A-2 properties would go to H-4. Council Member Nohelani Uʻu-Hodgins, who introduced the resolution, said these properties qualify because more than half of each building's footprint lies in the state's Sea Level Rise Exposure Area at 3.2 feet, a special flood hazard area or the shoreline setback area, and because none were originally intended as affordable or workforce housing.

According to the Council's September 25 agenda, 18 of the 32 properties are in Kihei: Waipuilani, Kihei Bay Surf, Leinaala, Koa Resort II, Kihei Resort, Kihei Bay Vista, Hale Mahialani, Kamaole One, Hale Ili Ili, Punahoa Beach Condominiums, Hale Kai O'Kihei, Leilani Kai, Kihei Garden Estates, Waiohuli Beach Hale, Kihei Villa, Shores of Maui, Kihei Parkshore and Kanoe Apartments. Makani A Kai and Maalaea Banyans are the two in Māʻalaea.

From here, the process for these properties runs in this order:

1. The Planning Commission holds hearings and makes a recommendation. As of its October 13 agenda, no hearing on 26-129 had been scheduled. The next regular meeting is listed for October 27.
2. The bills go back to the Council's Housing and Land Use Committee, where 26-129 is listed as item HLU-20b on the October 2 list of pending items.
3. The full Council takes final action. If the commission recommends denial, the bills need six of nine votes.

That third step is the math that matters for any of the 18 Kihei complexes. The referral passed with five votes from Lee, Vice Chair Yuki Lei Sugimura, Kauanoe Batangan, Tom Cook and Uʻu-Hodgins. Council Member Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, one of the four no votes, said she would not vote to override a negative commission recommendation. If the commission treats this batch the way it treated the first, these properties need one more vote than the referral got.

The commission's September motion also asked the Council to treat coastal properties in the first batch the same way it treats the 26-129 properties on coastal issues. So the two batches are tied together, and how the Council handles one is likely to shape the other.

What the countywide numbers can and can't show

The Realtors Association of Maui reports condo data for Maui County as a whole, with every condo type combined. In September 2026, closed condo sales rose 56.5% year over year, 72 against 46. The median price was $660,000, up 1.1%. Days on market rose 56.7% to 199. Listed inventory fell 5.6% to 822, and new listings were down 25.4%. One month earlier, the August 2026 median was $564,950, down 13.1% from August 2025. Through September, the year-to-date condo median was down 6.8%.

Put together, more condos are closing while sellers are listing fewer new ones, and units that do sell are taking much longer to find a buyer. These figures don't separate Minatoya-list units from condos with ongoing resort rental rights, and they don't break out Kihei. So there's no published head-to-head that prices a denied complex against one still in the pipeline.

Who is buying is just as unsettled. Speaking for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, McKenna Woodward cited county Finance Department data showing that, as of July, 101 properties affected by Bill 9 had sold since the law took effect, 25 of them to local buyers. Caitlin Miller of the Maui Vacation Rental Association counted 162 sales from Dec. 1, 2025, through Aug. 14, 2026. By her count, 12 of those, or 7.4%, are confirmed owner-occupied, and nine more are likely owner-occupied but haven't yet shown up in tax records. Maui Now reported both figures. They use different definitions and cover different periods, and Miller herself called the data early.

Questions to ask about a specific Kihei complex

Since the rezoning outcome is unknown, the useful due diligence is about where a building stands in the process:

• Is the complex zoned A-1 or A-2 apartment, and does it fall under Bill 9?
• Is it in the first batch, the second batch, or neither?
• If it's in the first batch, which staff category was it placed in, and what did the commission recommend for that category?
• If it's in the second batch, has a hearing date been set, and what has the association's board said about it?
• Does the building have leasehold units? The commission recommended denial for the leasehold category in the first batch.

Both lawsuits against Bill 9 are still open. Malter v. County of Maui was filed by Kāʻanapali Royal owners, and Lynam v. County of Maui seeks class-action status for Minatoya-list owners. A September status report from HOA Weekly found no injunction, dismissal or ruling on the merits through September 10, 2026.

Quick answers

Did the September 29 vote rezone the 18 Kihei complexes? No. Resolution 26-129 only sends the bills to the Planning Commission. Nothing is rezoned until the Council passes an ordinance.

Is Maui Schooner's approval final? No. It is a commission recommendation. The Council makes the final decision once the review period ends.

What's the next firm date? November 24, 2026, the commission's review deadline on the first batch. No date has been posted for the second batch.

If you're looking at a Kihei condo on either rezoning list, or one that isn't on any list, Maui & Co. can go through the complex's zoning status, its place in the process and the upcoming hearing dates with you before you write an offer. Schedule a private consultation and we'll go over the specific building you have in mind.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.