Lihue

Operating rules

Primary residence

No

Min stay (nights)

—

Max nights / year

—

Max occupancy

No occupancy cap for VDA TVRs or NCU TVRs in the CZO. Homestays are capped at 3 guest rooms and require 1 additional paved off-street parking stall per bedroom used for homestay purposes.

Zoning-restricted

Yes

Cap on licenses

No fixed numeric cap on VDA TVR registrations. However the NCU pool outside VDAs is permanently closed and finite — no new NCUs may issue (Sec. 8-17.10(g): applications more than one year after August 16, 2010 'shall not be accepted'). A prior homestay cap of 10 new applications per calendar year for 2015 and 2016 expired December 31, 2016 (bracketed/repealed by Ord. 1002). The County's March 4, 2026 registry lists ~425 active approved homestays and nonconforming TVRs countywide, none in Lihue.

Grandfathering: Yes — Nonconforming Use Certificates preserve single-family TVRs outside VDAs that operated lawfully prior to March 7, 2008 (Sec. 8-17.10(b)). Burden of proof is on the owner via GET/TAT filings, income tax returns, reservation lists and receipts (Sec. 8-17.10(e)). NCUs survive only through unbroken annual renewal; the Planning Department may re-inspect and withhold renewal until violations are resolved. Ord. 904 preserved previously issued NCUs but kept holders subject to the renewal process. Separately, time shares/multi-family TVRs existing on or before September 22, 1982 outside VDAs may continue as allowed uses but may be lost by abandonment exceeding two years.

Zoning: Geography is the controlling restriction. Sec. 8-17.1: TVRs prohibited except as provided. Sec. 8-17.8(a): single-family TVRs prohibited in ALL areas not designated Visitor Destination Areas. Lihue is one of four named VDAs (Sec. 8-17.2(b): Po'ipu, Lihu'e, Wailua-Kapa'a, Princeville), mapped to Ordinance No. 436 and transferred onto the official County zoning maps — in practice the Kalapakī Bay resort area, NOT general Lihue residential town. VDA boundaries are defined by the County zoning maps ('Visitor Destination Area or VDA' are those areas designated as Visitor Destination Areas on County of Kaua'i zoning maps), so parcel-level VDA status must be confirmed on the official zoning map / with the Planning Department (808-241-4050). Multi-family TVRs allowed in Hotels in Resort or Commercial Districts and in Resort/Residential Districts within VDAs (Sec. 8-17.3). Time share prohibited in R-1, R-2, R-4 and R-6 Residential Districts (Sec. 8-17.2(c)). Homestays permitted only in the VDA (Ord. 1002). Amendments to VDA boundaries proceed under Sec. 8-3.4 with the burden of proof on the applicant.

• Lihue/Līhuʻe is an unincorporated Census Designated Place, NOT an incorporated city. Hawaii has no incorporated municipalities other than the consolidated City & County of Honolulu. Lihue therefore has zero independent STR ordinance-making power; every requirement here is County of Kauaʻi (or State of Hawaii) law. Lihue is the county seat — the Planning Department sits at 4444 Rice Street, Suite A473, Lihuʻe, HI 96766.
• A 'transient vacation rental' on Kauaʻi is defined by duration of occupancy of 180 days or less (Ord. 904); a 'transient' for State TAT purposes is a guest renting for less than 180 consecutive days. Homestays are separately limited to stays of 29 days or less.
• There is no minimum-night stay and no annual night cap for a legally permitted TVR — the regulation is binary and locational (VDA vs. non-VDA), not volumetric.
• Primary residence is NOT required for a VDA TVR or an NCU TVR, but IS required for a homestay: the owner must reside at the homestay site, be physically within the County of Kauaʻi and available to guests, must hold the Sec. 5A-11 homeowner's exemption, and no designated representative may substitute for the owner.
• Interior lockouts were prohibited under Ord. 904's version of Sec. 8-17.8(b)(6); the republished Ord. 935 text of that subsection reads only 'A site and floor plan shall be filed with the application.' Treat the lockout prohibition as uncertain.
• The renewal fee codified in the Ord. 935 text ($150) is superseded — the operative fee is $750/year per the County's official 2026 renewal form and the Council bill amending Sec. 8-17.10(h)(3) from $500 to $750. Kauaʻi's TVR renewal is widely reported to have no grace period; that strictness claim is NOT quote-anchored to a primary source and is excluded from the record.
• Kauaʻi's ~425 active NCU/homestay permits concentrate in Hanalei, Wainiha, Kekaha, Anahola and Kapaʻa. The March 2026 registry contains no Lihue, Kalapakī, Nāwiliwili or Hanamāʻulu entries — legal STR supply in Lihue runs through VDA registration (Kalapakī resort area) rather than grandfathered nonconforming use.

Enforcement

Active enforcement

yes

Fines

CZO Sec. 8-17.6: not less than $500 nor more than $10,000 per offense as a civil fine, which may be in addition to any criminal fines. If a person fails to cease the violation within one month, each day the violation continues is a NEW AND SEPARATE violation — i.e., up to $10,000/day exposure after the one-month cure period. The County Attorney may file a civil action to enjoin violations and collect penalties; all fines are paid to the Director of Finance and credited to the Development Fund. Separately, the Planning Director (or a member of the public with standing) may initiate proceedings to revoke or modify an NCU under the Planning Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure; violating conditions of approval or providing false or misleading information on the application is grounds for revocation or cease-and-desist orders. A $1,500 administrative late application processing fee applied to late NCU filings. Kauaʻi's official 2026 forms warn the County 'can pursue civil and/or criminal penalties for any unlawful short-term rentals.'

Notes

Enforcement posture is active and evidentiary-friendly to the County: under Sec. 8-17.11(b) ADVERTISING ALONE is prima facie evidence of TVR operation and shifts the burden of proof onto the owner/operator/lessee to prove the property is not a TVR or is legally used as one — this is why Sec. 8-17.8(b)(4) forces the permit number into every listing (a listing without a valid TVNC number is effectively self-incriminating). The Planning Department may physically inspect a TVR before an NCU issues and may re-inspect at renewal, withholding approval and issuing cease-and-desist notices until violations are resolved. Renewal is hard-gated on currently valid State GET and TAT licenses — failure is automatic denial — which links tax compliance directly to land-use survival. The Planning Director must publish, at the counter and on the County website, a public list of all completed NCU applications including applicant names and TMKs (subject to HRS Ch. 92F, the Uniform Information Practices Act). Ongoing administration is demonstrable: the County maintains and updates a public 'List of Approved Homestays & Non-Conforming TVR's by TMK' (10-page PDF regenerated March 4, 2026, ~425 rows marked Active with per-permit renewal dates and tsunami-zone flags), and it publishes dated annual renewal/recertification forms (the 2026 TVR renewal form is revision-dated 09/03/2025). The Planning Department solicits public complaints about unpermitted STRs and directs complainants to provide owner name, TMK, street address, website ad copies and a description of activity.