The City Council Zoning Committee on Thursday advanced two bills that target unscrupulous builders and property owners, but postponed a decision on a third bill.

The bills were a reaction to continuing concerns about the proliferation of large-scale or “monster” houses that are out of character with the older Honolulu neighborhoods, and address a growing public perception that the Department of Planning and Permitting isn’t capable of cracking down on violators of building and zoning laws.

Receiving the committee’s support were:

>> Bill 53, introduced by Zoning Chairwoman Kymberly Pine, which dramatically hikes fines against those who build without the necessary permits. Currently, a party slapped with a Notice of Order for violating any part of the code pays a flat $2,000, plus $2,000 a day for each day the violation exists. Under this bill, those who build without a permit and are ordered to suspend work would pay an initial civil fine that is 10 times the amount of a building permit fee or $10,000, whichever is greater, and then an additional 10 times the amount of a building permit fee or $10,000, whichever is greater, for each day the violation persists. Violators also would be required to demolish the building, or the portion of the building, in violation, and the civil fines could not be reduced or waived by city officials.

>> Bill 60, introduced by Council Chairman Ernie Martin, makes it a misdemeanor — a criminal offense — to violate a stop-work order, subject to a fine of up to $2,000 and/or a maximum of a year in jail.

Council members, as well as those testifying in support of the bills, cited the case of a house on Date Street that was built even after builders received a stop-work order, which they received after being hit with a Notice of Violation for working without an approved building permit.

Benny Lee, the contractor, told the Honolulu Star- Advertiser that he continued the job because the property owner was losing money waiting for the building permit to be approved.

The permit application, as of Thursday, was still pending, and the property owner and contractor have racked up fines of $156,000 for working without a building permit, and $18,600 for an illegally constructed wall.

Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi said it’s baffling that the nearly completed Date Street house is still standing. “The only way to correct a stop-work order (violation) is to tear down anything that was built after the stop-work order,” she said.

Councilman Trevor Ozawa said many of his East Honolulu constituents are so troubled about the proliferation of monster houses that “they’re apprehensive about any type of new structure going up in their neighborhood.”

Some even worry when a property is up for sale in their neighborhood, he said. “We need … to provide some peace of mind to neighbors,” he said.

The committee chose to postpone a vote on Bill 50, which sought to bring additional penalties on those not in compliance with Council Bill 110 (2017), the temporary moratorium the Council placed on new large-scale houses in residential zones. That bill was designed to give DPP time to come up with permanent rules pertaining to large-scale houses.

The bill also would have applied the regulations set down in the moratorium retroactively to building permits issued after Jan. 1, 2016. The proposal, introduced by Martin, was deferred for a month to evaluate concerns raised by DPP officials about the retroactive clause, and to provide time for DPP to estimate how many permits would be affected retroactively if the bill were to pass.

Christine Otto Zaa of the citizens group HIGood Neighbor supported the bill. If a building permit can be issued after the fact, rules should be allowed to apply retroactively, she said.