Maui County, HI Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing chapter
- Chapter 19.30A Agricultural District
- Deed restrictions on farming
- Void under §19.30A.040(G)
- Rural district version
- Voidable under §19.29.045
- Accepted farm impacts named
- Noise, odors, dust, smoke, aircraft, manure
- Cutoff for old covenants
- Pre-ordinance deeds still apply
Summary
Maui County's agricultural district ordinance both warns neighbors that farm noise, dust, and machinery are normal and expected, and voids any deed covenant that tries to block agricultural activity on land zoned agricultural.
Notify the public that lands within the agricultural district are used for agricultural purposes. Owners, residents, and other users of such property or neighboring properties may be subjected to inconvenience, discomfort, and the possibility of injury to property and health arising from normal and accepted agricultural practices and operations. Such normal and accepted agricultural practices and operations include but are not limited to noise, odors, dust, smoke, the operation of machinery of any kind, including aircraft, and the storage and disposal of manure. Owners, occupants, and users of such property or neighboring properties shall be prepared to accept such inconveniences, discomfort, and possibility of injury from normal agricultural operations. ... No deed, lease, agreement of sale, mortgage, or other instrument of conveyance shall contain any covenant or clause which restricts, directly or indirectly, the operation of agricultural activities on lands within the agricultural district.
Full Breakdown
010 spells out the county's intent in creating it: putting the public on notice that land in the district is used for agriculture and that neighboring owners must accept the inconvenience, discomfort, and even possibility of injury that comes with normal farming, expressly naming noise, odors, dust, smoke, machinery operation including aircraft, and manure storage and disposal as accepted agricultural impacts. 040(G) makes it unlawful for any deed, lease, agreement of sale, mortgage, or other conveyance instrument to contain a covenant or clause that restricts, directly or indirectly, the operation of agricultural activities on agricultural district land, though the restriction does not reach covenants that predate the ordinance.
045, goes further and makes any private deed restriction limiting small-scale agriculture or animal-keeping in a rural district voidable, again exempting conveyances recorded before the section took effect. Together these sections function as the county's right-to-farm framework: they don't grant an unqualified defense against every neighbor complaint, but they establish, as a matter of zoning law, that ordinary agricultural operations and impacts are the expected baseline in the agricultural and rural districts and that private contracts cannot be used to override that baseline.
Violations & Fines
The code does not set a criminal or civil penalty tied specifically to violating sections 19.30A.010, 19.30A.040, or 19.29.045; instead, a covenant restricting farm operations in the agricultural district is simply unenforceable, and in the rural districts the restriction is voidable at the affected party's election under section 19.29.045.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a Maui County deed restriction stop a neighbor from farming?
Does the code warn buyers about farm noise and dust before they move in?
Does the same protection exist in Maui's rural districts?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Maui County
Compare Maui County to another location·View the Hawaii right to farm overview
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