County considers zip line permits
Most have been allowed as accessor y uses on ag land
Maui County is considering a bill that would require permits for canopy tour and zip line operations, which until now have mostly been allowed as guided tours on agricultural land.
The bill would create a new set of rules for zip lines and canopy tours and prohibit them as accessory or special uses in agricultural districts. Operations on fewer than 50 acres would need conditional permits, and the county would set a permit cap of 15, Administrative Planning Officer Jacky Takakura explained to the Maui Planning Commission on Tuesday.
The three planning commissions are reviewing the bill before the County Council makes the final decision.
Takakura said that the county has been allowing canopy tour and zip line operations as accessory uses, usually when proposed as guided tours on land that’s mainly used for agriculture. The Planning Department issued seven zip line approval letters from 2006 to 2019, while the Lanai Planning Commission approved one last year.
Ten zip lines are currently running in Maui County, though not all have approval letters, as some are operating on land that already received permission for other zip lines, Takakura said.
Requiring permits would allow the council to decide whether an operation is appropriate in certain districts, according to the bill. Existing zip lines that are operating as an accessory use would be allowed to continue, though operations on land under 50 acres would have to apply for a conditional permit. According to the Planning Department, four of the 10 existing zip lines are on parcels under 50 acres.
Operators of any size would have to follow the new rules, which require insurance and limit operating hours to 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. They would also have to keep records of insurance, inspection, maintenance and signed participant waivers that would be available to the county upon request.
Takakura said the Planning Department is also proposing to add rappelling, bungee jumping, zip lines and canopy tours to the list of
prohibited uses or structures as special uses in the agricultural district.
Danny Boren, founder and president of Skyline Eco Adventures said Tuesday that he supported the bill because “it does a great job” of requiring insurance, limiting hours and restricting operations “to appropriately sized parcels.” The company has zip lines on conservation and ag land in Kula (approved in 2002 and 2012) and Kaanapali (approved in 2006). Both parcels are well over 50 acres.
“Since 2002, things have changed a lot in the industry, and we’ve had a few operations come in that have caused a lot of problems,” Boren said. “The way that the council approved it with a 50-acre minimum for operations does a really clean job of isolating operations like Skyline, like Flying Hawaiian, like Maui Tropical Plantation, Kapalua, that have been in good standing with the community for over a decade in most cases.”
Gina Flammer, an executive assistant for Council Member Shane Sinenci who spoke on his behalf, said the council member supported the bill.
“I think if any government body knows about the problems with zip lines, it’d be the commission,” said Flammer, a former county planner. “It’s pretty obvious that regulations are needed. The bill’s a commonsense approach.”
Sinenci holds the residency seat for East Maui, where a handful of zip line companies have spurred neighbor complaints and been cited by the county in recent years. Flammer said Sinenci’s office supported the department’s suggestion to add rappelling and bungee jumping as prohibited special uses in ag districts.
“East Maui has had problems with rappelling on waterfalls,” she said. “So folding that into this bill makes sense rather than doing something separately.”
Planning Director Michele McLean said that bungee jumping would also fall under the permit cap, which would “still allow space for a few more permits to be issued.”
Commissioners expressed some concerns about safety, pointing to the deaths of zip line employees on Hawaii island in 2011 and Maui in 2014.
Boren said that two large insurance companies on the Mainland cover most zip lines across the country, including most on Maui. In order to be insured by these companies, operators have to get an independent third-party inspection every year that covers the structures, training, “the whole nine yards.”
He said it’s also standard across the industry to check the equipment and the course before the start of each day, which takes about an hour to an hour and a half. And, every quarter, they perform tactile inspections, in which employees “physically get on every line and roll hand over hand for 1,000 feet and check for wires with our eyes, which takes a couple of days to do.”
Boren said Skyline would be “happy to submit our copies” of inspections to the county if asked.
The commission’s recommendations to the council included: defining rappelling and bungee jumping, requiring third-party inspections and proof of insurance annually, prohibiting crossing or operating in a stream or waterway that provides drinking water, discussing building permits and whether the county would play a role in inspections and suggesting Boren as a resource.
■ Colleen Uechi can be reached at cuechi@mauinews.com.