Maui County is drafting changes to how it plans to spend federal disaster recovery money tied to the 2023 Lahaina wildfire, including a proposed program for voluntary buyouts of some oceanfront properties, Mayor Richard Bissen said. The updates would be folded into the county’s revised action plan for a federal grant that totals $1.6 billion, which officials are submitting for federal approval after collecting public comment.
Under the county’s proposal, the strategic voluntary mitigation buyout program would use $50 million in federal funds. County officials would fund it by reallocating money from other hazard mitigation projects, Bissen said, describing it as a way to gain control over how acquired shoreline land is used after disaster damage.
Bissen told Civil Beat, “I guess you could call it managed retreat.” He said, “If they’re not gonna live there, they’re gonna sell it. If we buy it, we control what happens to it.” He added that the county can then clear the property and use the land as open space, a greenway, a park, or for stormwater and natural-buffer features, according to the revised plan.
The county’s revised action plan would limit the buyout offer to direct shoreline properties makai of Front Street that are fully within specific Lahaina historic districts. Officials said the buyout amounts would be based on post-disaster fair market value, and the goal would be to provide an option for property owners while also reducing long-term risk for the community, Bissen said.
The buyout proposal would be open for public input after the county posts the updated plan. Maui residents have until March 3 to submit feedback, and county officials will consolidate public comments and questions and then submit them along with the updated action plan to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for approval.
Bissen said the county views the buyouts as mitigation as well as recovery, describing the intent to reduce future disaster-related damage and costs. “We can use that to mitigate future damage,” he said. “So there is a benefit to the public.” He said the county has already sent letters of interest to some property owners, adding that he did not share specifics but that some have expressed openness to participating while others were not interested or were unsure.
The proposal comes alongside other proposed amendments to the disaster block grant action plan. County officials said the changes would update programs for fire survivors building single-family homes and reallocate $5.44 million from administration funds to establish a planning program to support coordination of future disaster recovery and mitigation efforts. Bissen emphasized that none of the reallocated funds would be drawn from the $900 million currently allocated to housing programs.
County officials said the buyout amendment would shift the amount set aside for other mitigation efforts from $213.83 million to $163.83 million, while noting the federal rules that restrict certain funding uses. Bissen said the reallocated money would have to be used for mitigation and cannot be used for housing at this point, and he said the county does not plan to seek enough funding to purchase all identified high-risk properties.
In the background, the county described the erosion hazard line running through the footprints of many homes destroyed during the Lahaina fire, contributing to uncertainty for some coastal property owners about whether they can rebuild. County officials said they have implemented more stringent restrictions on shoreline development and that coastal property owners are not exempt from special management area permit requirements, including new regulations that prohibit construction outside the erosion hazard line. Bissen said he wants residents to help determine how acquired properties would be used, saying, “You don’t want a guy from Kahului telling you how Lahaina should be.”