Land Use Zones and Limitations on the Island of Kauai

Understanding the Island's Zoning Regulations and How They Impact Your Real Estate Investments

Aloha all! Kirkham here, writing the blog post today! Being as new as I am to real-estate, one of the many questions I find myself asking my mom, Dani, is what certain zoning codes mean. I’ve evidently asked her this question so many times she’s having me write a blog post about it so I am finally forced to do the research myself. I hope this will turn out to be a good learning experience for all of us!

Most of these zoning districts have their own subclasses as well, bringing the total number of zoning types up to 25. Because special treatment and constraint zoned districts are not often relevant for real estate purposes, and are usually used for government land use purposes, we won't be discussing them in this post.

Residential (R):

Residential zoning is the most common zoning you work with in residential real estate. Residential zoning is shown with an “R” followed by a number. This number represents how many dwelling units are permitted per acre of land. The table below shows each of the residential subtypes, dwellings allowed per acre, and what that would look like on a 1-acre lot.

It should be noted that a property that is less than an acre can still have dwellings, but only equal to the zoning designation divided by acreage; so a half-acre property that is zoned R-2 would be allowed 1 dwelling. Note: Additional Dwelling Units (ADU), Additional Rental Units (ARU), and guest houses are generally not counted towards these totals. (For more information on Residential Zoning, click here)

Resort (RR):

There are 2 types of resort zoning: RR-10 and RR-20. Similar to residential, the number succeeding the zoning designation establishes how many dwellings are allowed per acre. However, hotel and motel rooms are classified as being half a dwelling unit, which allows construction of double the amount of rooms as zoned dwelling units. (For more information on Resort Zoning, click here)

Commercial (C):

Commercial zoning is used to designate an area which is to be used for business purposes. In Kauai, there are 2 classifications of commercial zoning. The first classification is Commercial Neighborhood (CN). An example would be any business that supports the general public, like grocery stores, gas stations, corner stores, etc. The second classification is General Commercial (CG), which is any business that isn’t usually utilized by the general public, such as auto shops, warehouses, etc. (For more information on Commercial Zoning, click here)

Industrial (I):

Very similar to commercial, industrial zoning is for things which might be considered commercial, but don’t fit within all the standards of commercial properties. The 2 types of industrial zoning are General Industrial and Limited Industrial. Limited Industrial is to support land uses which are commercial but require additional uses not allowed within commercial districts. General Industrial is for business, storage, or processing uses which may be hazardous or irritating to the senses. Examples would be any kind of factory which uses or refines toxic or hazardous materials, or a warehouse which stores corrosive chemicals. (For more information on Industrial Zoning, click here)

Agriculture (A), Plantation Camps (PC), Open (O):

These next three zoning districts do not have their own subtypes, and are generally pretty similar. Agriculture zoned land’s purpose is to reserve space for potential and existing agriculture, in an effort to help Hawaii be more self-sustaining and allow opportunities for residents to participate in local agriculture. Plantation camp zoning is not common, but exists to protect historic plantation sites and allows them to use and maintain the facilities for what they were originally built for. Open zoning requires certain land to exist as natural space to preserve scenery and the natural beauty of the island. It can be built on, but it must adhere to certain standards. (For more information on these zoning designations, click one of the corresponding links: Agriculture (A), Plantation Camps (PC), Open (O))

To summarize, I’ve created this table to quickly explain what can be built on certain zonings and what developed zonings would look like:

If you have questions about the zoning of your property, or you’re curious what you’re allowed to do with it, please reach out! We’d love to help you out!