After three hours of testimony both in favor and against making more residential vacation rentals legal, the City Council Zoning and Planning Committee voted Thursday to defer the issue yet again.

Zoning Chairman Ikaika Anderson said with the community divided on the issue, the Council needs to get a better fix on the number of transient vacation units on Oahu before deciding how to proceed.

“The folks opposed to short-term rentals in residential communities don’t want any more,” Anderson told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser after the meeting. “And the folks who want short-term rentals in residential communities want much more than what Council Chair (Ernie) Martin and I are proposing. I could not see us going forward with that kind of divide.”

Supporters of bed-and-breakfast establishments and transient vacation units maintain that the operations provide a visitor experience that’s different from traditional hotels and resorts while at the same time allowing property owners to gain extra income. Opponents contend that such operations have ruined the character of their residential neighborhoods by bringing in extra noise, vehicles and additional strains to area infrastructure.

The Council has tried unsuccessfully several times in the past two decades to find a way of appeasing both sides of the B&B debate.

The committee may be ready to look at this issue further when Council members can get a more accurate gauge of how many illegal bed-and-breakfasts and other types of transient vacation units there are on Oahu.

“We are trying to get a handle on that to see what it is we can handle,” Anderson said. No new vacation unit permits have been issued in three decades.

Martin, in an email response to a request for comment, agreed with Anderson. “At this juncture we need to determine what is a reasonable number of units that should be permitted without destroying the character of our neighborhoods,” Martin said.

The committee considered one measure written by Anderson and another by Martin, whose Windward and North Shore communities, respectively, are home to the most B&Bs and TVUs on Oahu.

Resolution 15-72, by Anderson, allows a total of 1,325 bed-and-breakfast permits to be issued, based on the number of properties classified as residential, in each of the nine City Council districts. The measure also would establish a $2,000 fee for a two-year permit, revocation of the permit after three violations, and require that a property’s owner reside there at all times that the property is being used as a bed-and-breakfast. Advertising would require the permit’s number.

Resolution 15-86, Martin’s plan, allows a yet-unspecified number of transient vacation units (versus bed-and-breakfasts) in each Council district, sets a $2,000 fee for a two-year permit, requires a permit holder to obtain a homeowner’s exemption — in essence, limiting the permits to those who occupy their properties — but does not require an owner to be on-site or on island while it is operating as a bed-and-breakfast.

Kailua resident Caroline Hiatt, a retired schoolteacher, said she pays excise, transient accommodations and income taxes and has no problems with her neighbors.

“I keep my property up, the neighbors are happy, there are no cars on the road … they are in the garage where they belong,” Hiatt said.

Like other supporters, Hiatt said the current limits proposed by Anderson are unreasonable.

“We should start with the current number (of nonconforming B&Bs) we have now that’s filling the tourists’ needs.”

But Larry Bartley of the group Save Oahu’s Neighborhoods said no new permits should be allowed until the city begins enforcement against illegal rentals in earnest.

“The industry is ruining our neighborhoods,” he said.

Other opponents of vacation units said they take away potential housing units when the community is clamoring about the need for housing units.

The Zoning Committee is holding onto a third piece of legislation, Bill 22, which sets up an enforcement system against law violators.

Martin, after Anderson called for deferral of the resolutions, said, “I implore you not to put this off too much longer. … Let’s get something done sooner rather than later.”