10 reasons Lahaina rebuilding has been so depressingly slow
from Grassroot Institute of Hawaii,
Why has the rebuilding of Lahaina, Maui, been taking so long?
It’s nearing two years since the historic port town was engulfed by wildfires that killed more than a hundred people and destroyed more than 2,200 structures — mostly homes but also the town’s main business center and some important landmarks.
But despite the best intentions of many lawmakers and other public officials, only 341 permits to rebuild have been issued as of the end of March 2025, and only eight homes have been completed.
During a March 30 interview with host Johnny Miro on the H. Hawaii Media radio network, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii policy analyst Jonathan Helton said there are at least 10 reasons for the delays, all rooted in Hawaii’s land-use, zoning, permitting and other building-related regulations.
To put the list in context, Helton explained:
“I’m gonna use the words of one of the people who works in construction and planning for the Maui County government. This person said that Lahaina is one of the most regulated places, one of the hardest places to deal with all of the permits and all of the zoning, you know, in the whole county of Maui.
“And if you think about it, that makes sense. Lahaina was a very old town. There was a lot of charm because it was old, but older areas often come with higher regulations. [So] I made a list. I wanna sort of go through each one, not in-depth, but just to list it.”
>> No. 1 — “So normally, if you’re looking to build something on Maui, you’re gonna have to deal with, you know, making sure you have the right zoning for what you wanna build.”
>> No. 2 — “You might have to get a flood permit, depending on if you’re close to the coast or if you’re close to a stream.”
>> No. 3 — “You are going to need to make sure that what you’re building complies with the community plan.”
>> No. 4 — “You’re going to need monitoring from the State Historic Preservation Division, if you’re gonna be doing any sort of disturbance to the ground.”
>> No. 5 — “You’re gonna need your building permit.”
Helton said those five reasons apply to “pretty much anywhere in Maui.” But if you want to build or rebuild in Lahaina specifically, “you have all of those, and then you add to that”:
>> No. 6 — “Dealing with the Special Management Area, which covers most of the town core.”
>> No. 7 — “The shoreline rules, which apply to properties that are directly on the shoreline. So there’s a handful of those.”
>> No. 8 — “Parts of Lahaina are in the county historic zoning district, and those districts require a lot more review because they want the buildings there to have a certain look and a certain aesthetic.”
>> No. 9 — “Lahaina is also subject to some national rules. Most of the town is in the National Historic Landmark District. And again, that’s going to mean if you’re building something in the town core, you have to have some sort of aesthetic.
>> No. 10 — “And then, if you’re trying to build a business [or] an apartment building, you’re going to have to pay street improvement fees or do street improvements as well.
“So, you know,” Helton continued, “it’s a list of 10 things, and really I don’t think I covered all of them. But depending on where your parcel is at, you know, where your home or your business was, you might have to deal with all of these, [or] maybe five or six of them.”
Helton told Miro he composed and shared his list simply “to illustrate how complex navigating the county, state, federal permitting process is. And that’s part of the reason things have been so slow.”
Six-layers of housing regulation, circa 2022
Helton’s comments recalled a presentation in 2022 by Grassroot Executive Vice President Joe Kent, who talked about the “six layers of housing regulation in Hawaii” during a “Hawaii Matters” video titled “Why Hawaii housing is so expensive.”
“It’s like a six-layer cake,” Kent explained. “There’s the state Land Use Commission, the island plans, the community plans, the county zoning, the historic district and the special management area. That’s a lot of layers to get through for someone to build a house.”
To read more about the six layers of housing regulations in Hawaii, go here.
To learn more about Helton’s 10 reasons for the slow rebuilding on Maui — and in Lahaina specifically — go here.
Full transcripts of both discussions are provided.