Builders of so-called monster homes on Oahu could face monster fines of $25,000 or greater under a proposed bill being floated by the city.
The Honolulu Planning Commission on Wednesday voted to recommend the City Council adopt a measure related to large dwellings, this one being advanced by the city Department of Planning and Permitting, which would amend the city’s Land Use Ordinance.
Officials say this bill —
focused solely on levying higher fines — will be easier to implement than similar anti-monster homes legislation that the Council is
considering.
Under DPP’s bill, builders who violate city laws
relating to “development standards” and permitted uses and structures — like maximum heights, height setbacks, floor-area ratios, or the number of bathrooms permitted inside a home based on the number of dwellings, units or lot size — would be subject to an initial fine of up to $25,000, plus up to $10,000 a day per violation.
“The Council finds that monster homes in residential districts continue to be a problem for our communities, and the current penalty of $250 per day up to a total of $2,000 is a negligible cost of doing business for monster homes developers,” the draft bill reads. “The Department of Planning and Permitting expends time and incurs costs towards additional audit, revocation and defending the Department’s revocation at the Building Board of Appeals on these monster homes, which in part justifies a higher fine.”
Furthermore, the draft ordinance states its purpose “is to provide a more effective deterrent and hefty
penalty to developers that violate the monster homes ordinance by supplying
incorrect information on plans or convert rooms for multi-family uses during or post construction.”
Those violations of the city’s development standards would occur if incorrect information is “supplied by the applicant, plan maker, architect, and/or engineer on plans submitted for a building permit application,” the bill reads.
At the meeting, DPP officials said they believe this proposal would make a difference against monster homes.
“This is a very simple, proposed bill,” DPP Land Use Permitting Division Chief Elizabeth Krueger told the panel before its vote. “It increases the initial fine and the daily fines for monster houses — we’re going to say ‘large detached dwellings’ — that are built either not in accordance with plan or perhaps without any building permit at all.”
She added that DPP’s proposed measure “is coming before you right now because the City Council is reviewing another bill that is looking at other ways to make sure that developers of large detached dwellings are facing sufficient consequences to prevent them from violating the code in the first place.
“I think what we’re finding is a lot of the time they think it’s worth the risk to put something on plans that make it look like they’re complying with the Land Use Ordinance, with the zoning code, with building codes,” she said. “And then in the field they’re
either not building according to plan or, once it’s up, we’re realizing that something in the plan was not (followed).”
In an Aug. 9 memorandum to the commission, DPP Director Dawn Takeuchi Apuna explained that despite existing laws — including three separate city ordinances adopted between 2018 and 2021 to address the construction of large dwellings — the issue of monster home developments persists.
In addition, she noted the Council continues to consider Bill 44, meant to prohibit giving false statements to city planners as a means of curbing monster homes, that may impose penalties including a $2,000 fine, a year in jail, or 80 hours of community service on
violators.
Some Council members also said the measure should require demolition of any monster homes that the city discovers.
But Takeuchi Apuna notes that Bill 44, as drafted, may be unworkable due to existing state law — in particular, Hawaii Revised Statutes 710-1063, which covers unsworn falsifications to authorities — that could preempt or eliminate the power of the proposed city measure with regard to lying to city officials, namely DPP inspectors.
“In contrast, the proposed (Land Use Ordinance) amendment to increase fines would simply require adding the higher fines to the Notice of Violation and Notice of Order,” the Aug. 9 memo reads.
It adds, “At City Council hearings, there is discussion of requiring complete demolition of monster homes, which could be considered a legal taking, and could create a prolonged
legal process. This proposed LUO amendment to increase monster home fines is a more feasible and tailored option than Bill 44 and complete demolition.”
At Wednesday’s meeting, Takeuchi Apuna told the panel that increasing fines under DPP’s proposed bill would likely deter monster home development.
“We looked at some of the short-term rental fines,” she said. “They’re pretty high, like $10,000 per day. And we feel that we couldn’t go too high, but we wanted to make a statement — that
it doesn’t pay to disregard the monster homes
requirements.”
To that, Commissioner Kai Nani Kraut asked how enforcement of the DPP’s measure would be
handled.
“So, it’s actually like another line on a Notice of Order or Notice of Violation,” Takeuchi Apuna replied. “That there’s this violation and that the lines would be in addition to any other fines or violations that are found on the property. So actually, administratively, it’s very simple.”
She added DPP’s bill — unlike Bill 44 — would not involve the gathering of evidence or make use of the city Department of the Prosecuting Attorney to bring about criminal penalties on monster homes builders.
“This proposed bill would just be an additional fine, based on finding that the applicant had violated any of the development standards of the monster homes ordinance,” she said.
Commissioner Ken Hayashida asked if the city had ever won any enforcement against monster homes violators.
“Well, as far as fines,
we collect 100% unless there’s some extenuating circumstances,” Takeuchi Apuna replied. “So we do collect and we place liens if fines aren’t paid back, so I think that it would be
effective.”
She added “the same thing for short-term rentals — once the $10,000 a day came into effect, they seemed to respond a lot better than before.”
Hayashida also asked whether DPP would go after the licenses of architects, engineers or contractors who violate monster homes laws.
In the past, DPP has filed complaints with the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, she said.
“But we haven’t had a lot of good feedback from them, I think their investigations take awhile,” she added. “So, if we can actually use fines like this, I think we can get a better response, or at least it’s within our realm of authority to police some of this activity.”
No members of the public spoke on DPP’s proposed bill.
Prior to the meeting, Takeuchi Apuna told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that her department “takes monster homes very seriously and is pursuing all fronts to eliminate these developments” on Oahu.
“Since January, the DPP has revoked 15 monster homes permits, and has taken the fight to the Building Board of Appeals to sustain these revocations,” she said via email. “And the DPP continues to closely monitor plans that come close to the floor area ratio thresholds for monster homes. This proposal to substantially increase fines puts monster homes’ developers on notice that there is a major price to be paid for disobeying the law that is meant to protect our residential neighborhoods.”
