Gov. Josh Green vowed Monday not to let out-of-state buyers exploit land in devastated Lahaina for development at the expense of the local community.
The comments addressed local fears that speculators will swoop in to build hotels or other buildings in the historic, coastal town that was left an ashen wasteland by wildfires a week ago.
“I’ve actually reached out to our attorney general to explore options to do a moratorium on any sales of properties that have been damaged or destroyed,” Green said at a press conference in response to a question about the concerns.
“We’ll also invest state resources to preserve and protect this land for our people, not for any development — for our people locally,” he said.
Green, who has made housing a priority for his administration, said the disaster would impact how we view “all of the development in our state.”
He acknowledged potential legal challenges. Green recently took the bold step of
issuing an emergency housing proclamation that suspends several state and county laws in a bid to expedite the development process so more units could be built.
“Much of what we do is challenged by other laws, federal and otherwise, that don’t let us restrict who can buy in our state,” he said. “But we can do it deliberately during a crisis, and that’s what we’re doing.”
“And so for my part I will try to allow no one from outside our state to buy any land until we get through this crisis and decide what Lahaina should be in the future.”
