Big Island County Bill Would Cap Private Parking Rates in Kailua Village

A bill introduced by Kona Council Member Rebecca Villegas would give the county authority to regulate what critics call unregulated and excessive parking fees at private lots in Kailua Village, but the measure hit a legal speed bump before advancing.

Bill 132, heard by the Hawaiʻi County Council's Policy Committee on Public Works and Mass Transit at the Hilo Council Chambers on March 3, would amend Chapter 6 of the Hawaiʻi County Code by adding a new article governing paid parking facilities in Kailua Village. The bill's stated purpose is to ensure parking rates "are not excessive nor create hardship for the public to access local businesses, community events, cultural gatherings, or recreational activities in Kailua Village and along its shoreline and surrounding bays." If passed, the measure would empower the county Public Works Director to set mandatory parking regulations for all parking spaces within Kailua Village.

Many testifiers spoke in favor of the bill at Tuesday's committee meeting. Noelle Lindenmann said that parking has become so expensive and unpredictable that people are simply choosing not to visit Kona at all. "This only impacts the community negatively," she told the committee. Chris Freed offered a starker account: he told the committee he has been forced to close a shop he operated with his wife within Kailua Village after customers slowed to a mere trickle.

Not all testimony ran in one direction. Leilani Akona submitted written testimony raising equity concerns, arguing that smaller locally owned parking lots could be severely impacted by the regulations while larger operators like ParkLinq could more easily absorb the costs. Akona also noted that hotels and resorts are explicitly excluded from the bill's regulations, meaning they would be entirely unaffected, a disparity she argued calls the bill's fairness into question.

Those concerns were enough to send the committee into a private executive session with county attorneys. After emerging, the committee moved to take no action on the measure, deferring it to a future meeting while the County Corporation Counsel continues to review its implications.

The bill will be heard again at the March 17 committee meeting in Kona. The full text of Bill 132 is available for download on the Hawaiʻi County website, and video of the committee's full discussion is available through the Hawaiʻi County Council livestream.