SR 176: Urging the County of Maui to adopt ordinances that establish wildland-urban interface safety standards for plantation towns and other high-risk communities, taking into ACCOUNT THE County of Kauai's OrDINANCE NO. PM-2025-425, relating to the plantation camp district wildfire and wildland urban interface, and other state and national wildland-urban interface best practices.

SENATE RESOLUTION

Urging the County of Maui to adopt ordinances that establish wildland-urban interface safety standards for plantation towns and other high-risk communities, taking into ACCOUNT THE County of Kauai's OrDINANCE NO. PM-2025-425, relating to the plantation camp district wildfire and wildland urban interface, and other state and national wildland-urban interface best practices.

     WHEREAS, national research has shown that the wildland‑urban interface has expanded substantially over time, increasing the number of homes and communities exposed to wildfires, ember intrusion, and structure-to-structure fire spread; and

     WHEREAS, states across the country have increasingly responded to that expansion by adopting and amending codes and ordinances to integrate home hardening, defensible space, vegetation management, and wildfire risk mapping into local land use and permitting decisions; and

     WHEREAS, for example, California applies ignition-resistant construction standards in designated fire hazard severity zones and wildland-urban interface areas, Colorado has required jurisdictions in wildland-urban interface areas to adopt codes meeting or exceeding statewide minimum wildfire resiliency standards, Utah jurisdictions have adopted wildland-urban interface codes governing home hardening and vegetation management, and Arizona law expressly authorizes municipalities to adopt current wildland-urban interface codes; and

     WHEREAS, in response to increasing wildfire risks, the County of Kauai adopted Ordinance No. PM-2025-425 on September 8, 2025, to advance wildfire mitigation in West Kauai's Plantation Camp District; and

     WHEREAS, the County of Kauai ordinance requires new and substantially remodeled buildings within the Plantation Camp District wildland-urban interface area to incorporate wildfire risk reduction measures, including home hardening standards intended to reduce ember intrusion, a noncombustible zone immediately surrounding structures, defensible space around structures, and vegetation maintenance extending farther from structures; and

     WHEREAS, the County of Kauai ordinance is significant because it formally integrates wildfire safety into zoning, permitting, and community design in a historic plantation town setting, thereby offering a state-specific model for balancing cultural preservation with modern fire safety; and

     WHEREAS, the County of Maui likewise contains historic country towns and plantation-era communities where the built environment, road pattern, lot configuration, vegetation, topography, and exposure to wind-driven fire can create dangerous plantation town wildland-urban interface conditions; and

     WHEREAS, the County of Maui officially recognizes these towns within its Country Town Business District framework, and these communities provide useful examples of plantation town and historic town conditions in which wildfire risk reduction measures should be tailored to protect life, property, and community character; and

     WHEREAS, like Lahaina, many historic plantation towns, such as Paia and Makawao, retain elements of the plantation past while continuing to function as living town centers, making these communities especially relevant examples when considering wildfire safety standards for the County of Maui's plantation town wildland‑urban interface areas; and

     WHEREAS, the 2023 Maui wildfires demonstrated with tragic clarity that the County of Maui faces not only a wildland fire threat, but also the threat of wildfire-driven urban conflagration, as fire moved from surrounding wildland fuels into Lahaina's neighborhoods and rapidly transformed into a destructive urban firestorm; and

     WHEREAS, the 2023 Maui wildfires resulted in catastrophic loss of life, homes, businesses, and irreplaceable cultural and historic resources, and awakened the State and the County of Maui to the urgent need to modernize ordinances, codes, and land use practices to reflect the reality that wildfire and urban firestorm development can occur together in Hawaii communities; and

     WHEREAS, the County of Maui's continued wildfire planning efforts would be strengthened by the adoption and enforcement of county ordinances that expressly address plantation town wildland-urban interface conditions through locally tailored standards for ember-resistant construction, noncombustible zones near structures, defensible space, vegetation management, access and water supply considerations, and integration of wildfire risk into planning, permitting, and redevelopment decisions; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2026, that the County of Maui is urged to adopt ordinances that establish wildland-urban interface safety standards for plantation towns and other high‑risk communities, taking into account the County of Kauai's Ordinance No. PM-2025-425, relating to the Plantation Camp District Wildfire and Wildland Urban Interface, and other state and national wildland-urban interface best practices; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that in developing the requested ordinances, the County of Maui is urged to consider standards and procedures relating to ember-resistant and ignition‑resistant construction, noncombustible areas immediately adjacent to structures, defensible space and vegetation management requirements, wildfire risk mapping and applicability thresholds, and the integration of wildfire mitigation into zoning, permitting, redevelopment, and community design review for historic and country town areas; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the County of Maui is encouraged to evaluate plantation town wildland-urban interface conditions in its communities, and apply the lessons of the 2023 Maui wildfires to other communities in the County facing similar wildfire and urban firestorm risks; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Mayor of the County of Maui, Chair of the Maui County Council, Fire Chief of the Department of Fire and Public Safety of the County of Maui, Administrator of the Emergency Management Agency of the County of Maui, and Director of the Department of Planning of the County of Maui.

Report Title: 

County of Maui; County of Kauai; Ordinances; Wildfire Hazards; Wildland-Urban Interface