The Planning Department has adopted digital zoning maps for the island of Maui (Ordinance 5363), the island of Lana`i (Ordinance 5113), and the island of Moloka`i (Ordinance 5299). The digital map for the island of Maui represents the zoning as it exists today and overlays the 2019 Real Property Tax parcel layer. For Lana`i, the zoning overlays the 2020 Real Property Tax parcel layer. For Moloka`i, the zoning overlays the 2021 Real Property Tax layer.

The History of the Digital Zoning Map Update Project (DSSRT)

Since 2005, staff of the Maui County Planning Department worked on this project, affectionately known as “DSSRT”, an acronym for the Dead Sea Scroll Replacement Team, to replace the County’s official paper zoning maps with digital or electronic versions.  Along with the goal of replacing the County’s prized but very old, tattered and outdated “Dead Sea Scrolls” paper zoning maps with accurate, up-to-date GIS data layers, other goals include researching and verifying zoning for thousands of parcels; correcting inadvertent mapping errors, inconsistencies and alignment issues; updating parcel zoning with zoning districts that have standards and are consistent with their community plan designation and uses; and creating a single zoning map for each island.  All corrections and recommendations made to an adopted digital map require consistency with each parcel's Community Plan designation.

Maui, Lana`i and Moloka`i

Maui:  In 2017, the Department held four public informational meetings on Maui for the Maui Digital Zoning Map (1).  There was unanimous support for the map and Title 19 bills by the planning commissions and County Council’s Planning Committee. The bills were unanimously supported and adopted by the Maui County Council and became law on October 10, 2018 (Ordinance 4883).

Due to the complexity of using a number of old zoning maps, comprehensive zoning ordinances, individual changes in zoning, and the poor quality and lack of technical mapping and GIS tools in the past, the Planning Department expressed at the time of the digital zoning maps’ initial adoption that further errors and corrections would be discovered and maps would be continually refined.  Amended Maui Digital Map (2) (Ordinance 5006) was adopted by the Maui County Council and became law on  November 13, 2019, and amended Maui Digital Zoning Map (3) (Ordinance 5363) became law on March 22. 2022.  As mapping errors are discovered, the Department will continue to request Maui County Council's adoption of corrected/updated digital maps.

In 2021, the Department proposed amendments to Maui Digital Map (3) for approximately 12 public facility sites that are currently zoned P1, M1, PK, R2 and R3.  These properties would have been more appropriately zoned Public/Quasi Public P2 due to the public uses and structures existing on the properties and their community plan designation of Public/Quasi-Public. On Oct 21, 2021, the Maui Planning Commission unanimously voted to recommend approval of this draft Maui Digital Map (4) to the County Council. However, the Maui County Council’s PSLU Committee met on May 25, Aug 3 and Aug 18, 2022 to discuss the bill and concerns were raised about the permitted height of (new) structures on these parcels if P2 zoning were approved. The committee ultimately recommended that the bill be filed, and on September 2, 2022, the Maui County Council voted to file the bill. 

Lana`i:  On December 3, 2019, the Department held a public informational meeting on Lana`i for the Lana`i Digital Zoning Map (1).  Once again, there was unanimous support for the map and it was adopted by the Maui County Council and became law on August 31, 2020.

Moloka`i: On April 27, 2021, the Department held a public informational meeting via BlueJeans video conferencing for the Moloka`i Digital Zoning Map (1). The draft map was then presented to the Moloka`i Planning Commission on May 26, 2021 for their review and comments. The Commission supported the adoption of the Moloka`i Digital Zoning Map (1), with one exception to a correction proposed by the Department. On November 19, 2021, the map was adopted by the Maui County Council, as recommended by the Moloka`i Planning Commission to exclude one correction, and became law on November 26, 2021.