Mayor signs moratorium on ‘monster’ houses into law

Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell signed into law Tuesday a bill imposing a moratorium of up to two years on building permits for “monster” houses, giving the city Department of Planning and Permitting time to come up with permanent rules to deal with the growing phenomenon.

DPP will, for the most part, not approve building permit applications during the moratorium for houses that cover more than 70 percent of a lot under Bill 110 (2017). For example, a 5,000-square-foot lot could not have a living space that’s 3,500 square feet or larger.

The new ordinance does allow DPP to consider exceptions for larger dwellings if they meet a specific set of requirements. They include at least two off-street parking stalls for a dwelling up to 2,500 square feet in size and more stalls based on size; no more than 2-1/2 bathrooms for lots up to 4,000 square feet and more depending on lot size; greater side and rear setback requirements; and no more than two wet bars and one laundry room per dwelling.

The moratorium is for up to two years, but DPP Acting Director Kathy Soku­gawa said she expects a draft set of rules can be sent to the Council by the end of the year.

The bill, introduced by Council Planning Chairman Ikaika Anderson, was prompted by concerns by residents in older Oahu districts who say that their communities are being inundated by structures so large that they are out of character with their neighborhoods. They also argue that the houses overtax sewer and water lines, drainage ways, parking and other infrastructure.

There’s also concern t hat the homes are being used as illegal apartments, boardinghouses or vacation rentals, or for other nonper­mitted businesses.

Opponents of a moratorium argue that the restrictions are too onerous and could affect construction of less obtrusive houses at a time when Oahu is in the midst of a housing shortage, particularly affordable units.

Current law allows “homes to be built that, I call it oversized, super-­sized, that impact the nature of our neighborhoods, change the quality of life in our residential districts and put great burdens on our infrastructure in terms of parking and sewer and things like that,” Caldwell said from DPP’s permitting center on the ground floor of the Fasi Municipal Building.

Sparking the demand for larger houses, however, has been a pent-up demand for affordable housing, he said.

The provisos built into the moratorium strike a balance between the two, he said.

Supporters of a moratorium argued that there is an urgency to put a stoppage in place immediately to stem the tide while more permanent legislation can be developed. Officials, however, did not give numbers showing how many applications have been submitted since the Council began discussing a moratorium in the fall.

The ordinance, which must be filed with the city clerk’s office before taking effect, would apply only to new building permit applications, so any requests already in the hopper won’t be affected. Neither will existing homes be affected by the moratorium.

DPP has been criticized for not doing enough enforcement of large-scale houses. Anderson told Caldwell that developers and landowners who purposely break the law should be penalized in a swift and severe manner, “up to and including forcing demolition of some of these homes that are built.”

Sokugawa said that the department has issued violations for 44 properties since November. “So it’s a significant number, it’s an uptick.”

Sokugawa did not, however, provide details about how many of the violations resulted in fines or the physical removal of infractions. “The whole point of our enforcement program is to seek corrections, so we incentivize corrections,” she said. “So we give the developer or landowner a reasonable amount of time to make the correction, whether it’s revising their building permit application or making adjustments to what has already been built.”

Those who don’t comply with violation notices are subject to civil fines of up to $1,000 daily, Sokugawa said.

Anderson said the goal of the bill is to ensure that houses with large numbers of bedrooms and bathrooms “are relegated to apartment-zoned districts where they are appropriate.”

Council Zoning Chairwoman Kymberly Pine said she is working on additional legislation that would change regulations in apartment zones.

Expected to be unveiled in the coming weeks, the legislation “will be a true solution to the monster-­home issue by recognizing that there is a problem to developing in apartment zones right now,” she said.

City officials urged Oahu residents to report any possible violations to DPP at 768-8161.