A 91直播 County committee voted 6-3 last week to refer a bill that would ban the opening of new paid parking lots in many places around the island to the planning director and dual planning commissions for review.
Bill 154 would ban commercial parking lots and garages from operating in a wide variety of land zoning categories, including general, village commercial, industrial-commercial mixed, limited industrial and general industrial, as well as in the Downtown Hilo Commercial District.
During the council’s Policy Committee on Planning, Land Use and Economic Development meeting, Hilo Councilman Dennis Onishi, Hilo Councilwoman Jenn Kagiwada and Ka‘u Councilwoman Michelle Galimba cast the three “no” votes.
According to the legislation’s text, paid parking lots “contribute to additional vehicle circulation, traffic congestion and land use patterns that are inconsistent with the county’s planning objectives, including the efficient use of land for housing, agriculture and community benefit.”
The bill distinguishes publicly owned paid parking facilities from private ones, stating the former are operated for public purposes, providing access to government services and supporting policy-based transportation goals, while being subject to public planning and oversight.
According to the bill, this new ordinance would not deprive property owners of “all economically beneficial use of their property, as other permitted uses remain available.”
It would only apply to new private paid parking facilities opened after the bill’s passage — currently operating commercial lots would be grandfathered in under the law and be allowed to continue operating and charging drivers.
The measure was born out of a similar paid parking battle currently being fought in Kailua Village in West 91直播, where a bill attempting to reign in fees at private lots has stalled several times in the past two months, with strong opposition from property managers and lot owners.
The most vocal supporter of the Kailua Village paid parking bill — called Bill 132 — has been Kona Councilwoman Rebecca Villegas, who co-introduced Bill 154 along with council Chair Holeka Inaba.
“This bill came out of the lengthy discussions between council Chair Inaba and I related to the parking issues with paid parking in the Kailua Village Business Improvement District,” Villegas said, “and the inundation of predatory pricing and there being little to no policy surrounding that holding owners of the shopping centers somewhat accountable for what they’re allowing the fees to be.”
She said that after wrangling over the language of Bill 132 for several months, she decided to try expanding the effort to encompass much more of the island.
“I’ve run back and forth, back and forth through many different options,” she said. “And when council Chair Inaba and I met to talk about the potential of creating a separate piece of legislation that would prohibit the creation of future paid parking lots in our county, it seemed like a proactive measure to protect community and people.”
For dramatic effect, she compared the practice of charging for parking to charging for other publicly available resources like fire safety infrastructure or lifesaving medical equipment.
“It’s like saying, this probably is silly, but if you have to put in a fire escape or you have to put in AEDs (automated external defibrillators), if it doesn’t say you can’t charge for using them, then you can,” she said. “That’s a requirement for health and safety for the effective functioning of a system. So this is our attempt to put forward policy to protect any future transitioning of lots that should be included in the service provided when you create a commercial building or facility. If you have to provide parking, no you can’t charge for that parking — that’s a part of your impact fees and what you provide.”
While no testifiers showed up in person to the committee meeting Monday, several groups did submit written testimony in opposition to the bill. This included a letter from the 91直播 Island Chamber of Commerce and its Executive Officer Carla Kuo arguing that the bill’s provisions would only make finding parking in downtown Hilo more difficult than it already is.
“While we understand and appreciate the council’s intent to support thoughtful land use planning and manage traffic impacts, we are concerned about the unintended consequences this bill may have on downtown Hilo,” Kuo wrote. “In our community, access to parking remains a very real and immediate challenge for small businesses, employees, residents and visitors. The ability for private property owners to develop and operate paid parking provides a flexible solution that helps meet this demand, particularly in areas like downtown Hilo where space is limited and walkability depends on accessible parking options.”
Banning new private paid lots, she reasoned, would “remove opportunities to create additional parking supply,” which could hamper the city’s economy.
“This could discourage customers from visiting local businesses, hinder efforts to revitalize our town center, and create real barriers for families simply trying to attend their children’s activities,” she wrote.
Mitchell Dodo, president of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 91直播, also submitted written testimony in opposition to the bill, worrying that members of the chamber could be financially burdened by the measure’s implementation.
“Respectfully, the case has not been made that Bill 154 would not harm the economic interests of our members and residents by limiting the availability of parking and prohibiting the free market from operating,” Dodo wrote.
He also expressed concern that what the legislation seeks to accomplish may not be legal.
“We wonder if this regulation possibly opens the county up to liability for being a regulatory taking without just compensation in violation of the 5th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” he wrote.
Before Monday’s vote to forward the bill to the planning director and commissions, Kagiwada explained her opposition by saying lot operators could respond by simply shuttering their facilities.
“If no paid parking is allowed, then people who have private lots can just say we are closing this to the public — we will not use it for parking to the public at all,” she said. “That reduces the number of parking spots in the area. So for Hilo, I’m very concerned.”
She suggested that while attempts to regulate paid parking in Kona may be justified, they may not be appropriate for other areas of the island.
“I fully understand the issues over in Kona and that this is addressing an issue there, and it’s really important to do that,” she said. “I think in my mind the big question is: Is this specific to Kona and not the rest of the island, or is this for the whole island and maybe not Hilo?”
Galimba echoed Kagiwada’s sentiments, saying although she felt something had to be done in Kona, the potential for unforeseen consequences should the bill pass isn’t worth it.
“I just want to say that I won’t be supporting this,” she said. “I understand the intentions of it and the problem that it is addressing. I fully recognize there was some bad acting going on in certain parking lots in Kona. However, I feel that this is probably going to cause more problems than it’s going to solve in the long run.”
Email Stefan Verbano at stefan.verbano@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
