Title 18 — Subdivisions Plain-Language Service Free · no account

A plain-language navigator to Maui County Code Title 18 (Subdivisions): a live parcel lookup, the preliminary & final plat process, the fees and who pays, how subdivision ties to your zoning district, and enforcement. Administered by the Subdivision Section, Public Works (DSA); the official application and review happen in MAPPS — this service explains the law and hands you off to MAPPS, it does not replace the County's record. Sections marked expanding are being filled in from the ingestion corpus; nothing here is legal advice.

★ Parcel lookup live data

Before you subdivide, check the parcel. Your zoning district sets the minimum lot size and standards a subdivision must meet (e.g. the Agricultural district's 2-acre minimum, Ch. 19.30A), and a Special Management Area (SMA) or Important Ag Land designation adds review. Enter a Maui County TMK to see all of these, pulled live from the Hawaiʻi Statewide GIS. For this parcel's actual subdivision/permit history (not in GIS), the result links you to MAPPS.

Tip: type the digits of your TMK (zone-section-plat-parcel). Don't know it? Open the State Land Use Viewer ↗ to find it on a map.

Live designations: Hawaiʻi Statewide GIS — Parcels & Zoning. Subdivision filings via Maui County MAPPS (DSA Subdivision). No parcel data is stored or fabricated — every field is fetched live. lot-standard overlay per district

1 · How a subdivision works sourced

The path a subdivision takes under Title 18, administered by the Subdivision Section, Public Works (DSA). Applications are online through MAPPS.

Create a MAPPS account & apply
You must have a MAPPS Customer Self-Service (CSS) account to apply online; complete every step and upload the required documents and plans.
Expense: free to register · paid by: you (time)
Submit the preliminary plat
Required: a preliminary plat stamped by a Hawaiʻi-licensed land surveyor, a current title report, and an Approved Land Use Designation Form (applied through MAPPS).
Expense: surveyor + title report + filing fee · paid by: subdivider
County review — 45 calendar days
From the date the preliminary plat is deemed complete, the County has 45 calendar days to review and issue preliminary approval; the application is routed to all reviewing agencies.
Expense: County staff review · paid by: County (+ applicant fees)
Preliminary approval
Issued as a stamped plat (with any revisions noted) plus a letter listing the conditions to be met for final approval.
Expense: meeting conditions · paid by: subdivider
Prepare & submit the final plat
The subdivider shows all information required by Title 18 and addresses every comment on the approved preliminary letter and plat; the final plat is distributed to applicable agencies for their final recommendation.
Expense: revisions + any required improvements · paid by: subdivider
Final subdivision approval
Granted upon completion of all requirements — the subdivision may then be recorded.
Expense: recording · paid by: subdivider

⚖️ Position — James Langford (analysis, not law; a stance beside the rule)Where preliminary approval imposes a required improvement (an off-site road, drainage, or utility upgrade as a condition of subdividing), the County should bear the cost of the requirement it imposes — not download public-infrastructure cost onto the subdivider, who then prices it into housing.

County of Maui Subdivision Processing Guidelines (2022) + Subdivision Section; apply via MAPPS — DSA Subdivision ↗. Process summarized in plain language; exact requirements are in MCC Title 18 + the Guidelines. per-district lot-standard cross-reference

2 · Subdivision fees — who pays sourced

Filing fees from the County's Subdivision Processing Guidelines. The subdivider pays; confirm current amounts with the Subdivision Section before relying on them.

Item	Fee	Basis
Filing fee — 5 lots or fewer	$250 + $50 per development lot	per application
Filing fee — 6 lots or more	$400 + $100 per development lot	per application
Construction Plan review (where improvements required)	$200 per lot	per lot
Surveyor, title report, required improvements	varies	paid by subdivider

Maui County Subdivision Processing Guidelines (DSA). Amounts are as published; verify the current schedule with the Subdivision Section, (808) 270-7253. full fee schedule incl. time-extension & amendment fees

3 · What the Subdivision Section handles sourced

Beyond subdivisions, the same section administers related land matters.

Matter	What it is	Where
Subdivision approval	Splitting / consolidating lots under Title 18	MAPPS ↗
Private easements over County ROW	Easement requests across County right-of-way	Subdivision Section ↗
Roadway dedication	Dedicating a roadway to the County	Subdivision Section ↗
Separate-lot determination	Confirming legally separate lots of record	Subdivision Section ↗

County of Maui Subdivision Section — administers MCC Title 18 + private easements, roadway dedication, and separate-lot determinations.

4 · How subdivision ties to zoning (Title 19) sourced

Subdivision and zoning are twin layers — Title 18 is the process, Title 19 is the standard it must meet.

A subdivision must conform to the lot standards of the parcel's zoning district under Title 19. For example, the Agricultural district (Ch. 19.30A) sets a 2-acre minimum lot area, a 200-ft minimum lot width, and caps the number of lots per parcel by acreage (§19.30A.030(G)), with resubdivision limits at §19.30A.040 — so a Title 18 subdivision of ag land is bounded by those Title 19 numbers. Check your district's standards in the Title 19 service before filing.

Maui County Code Ch. 19.30A (ag lot standards, sourced in the Title 19 service) + MCC Title 18. lot-standard table for all districts

5 · Enforcement sourced

Subdivision violations are reachable through the same County enforcement engine as zoning and building. Not legal advice.

Title 19's enforcement chapter, §19.530.030, expressly reaches violations of Maui County Code titles 8, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19 and 20 plus related rules and permits — so a Title 18 subdivision violation (e.g. selling lots from an unapproved subdivision) can be pursued by a director through a notice of violation and order (cease-and-desist, correction by a date, and/or civil fines), final after 30 days unless appealed to the Board of Variances and Appeals.

The assessment schedule is Rule §15-2 (Title MC-15, eff. 9/3/1993) — the one cross-title rule for Buildings (16), Subdivisions (18) & Zoning (19). Subdivision-relevant civil fines (initial / per-day): a development standard (lot size/width, frontage, etc.) $1,000 / $100; permit conditions $1,000 / $100; misrepresentation on an application/plan $1,000 / $100. Continuing violation: the daily fine doubles each 30-day period (max $1,000/day); appeals to the Board of Variances and Appeals or Board of Code Appeals. Full cross-title schedule in the Title 19 service §4B ↗.

Maui County Code Ch. 19.530 (Enforcement) — §19.530.030 reach + the implementing Rule §15-2 (MC-15, mauicounty.gov ↗) covering Titles 16/18/19; full table in the Title 19 service §4B. Title 18-specific procedural provisions

6 · Who pays — the charter lens analysis

Labeled analysis — the same process read through two charters. Not adopted law; an interpretive lens beside the Code.

Maui County Charter — lensUnder the Maui County Charter, Public Works (DSA) administers subdivision approval and may condition approval on required improvements (roads, drainage, utilities) to serve the new lots; filing and review fees are set by ordinance / the Guidelines. The Charter frames subdivision as a delegated administrative approval funded by applicant fees plus subdivider-built infrastructure.

Sovereign Charter (12 Stones) — lensUnder the Sovereign Charter (12 Stones) lens, subdividing is the owner exercising a right in their own land. Where the County conditions approval on public infrastructure it would otherwise build, that cost should be County-borne or shared — exacting it from the subdivider quietly raises the price of every resulting home and works against local housing.

⚖️ Position — analysis, not lawFees that recover the cost of review are fair. Required off-site improvements — public infrastructure the County would otherwise fund — are where cost should shift back to the County, so subdivision doesn't become a hidden housing tax. Same process, read two ways.

7 · Rules → Code: candidates for codification analysis

⚖️ Analysis / position — not lawProvisions that live in the subdivision guidelines / practice that, in our assessment, should be codified into Title 18 — so the binding standard is council-adopted and publicly noticed. Citations are verbatim-checked; the recommendation is a stance beside the rule.

The 45-day review clock. The preliminary-review timeline lives in the Processing Guidelines. → Codify a review SLA in Title 18 so applicants have an enforceable expectation, not a practice that can drift.
Required-improvement cost allocation. Whether a subdivider must build (and pay for) off-site public infrastructure is decided case-by-case as a condition. → Codify a cost-allocation rule (what the County funds vs. the subdivider) so the housing-cost impact is transparent. expanding
Separate-lot determination criteria. The standard for confirming a legally separate lot of record is administrative. → Codify the criteria so determinations are consistent and appealable.

Analysis grounded in MCC Title 18 + the Subdivision Processing Guidelines; guideline contents expanding pending verbatim ingest.

Free now (no account): this page, the live parcel lookup, the process navigator, and the fee table are all Tier 1 — free. Coming — Tier 3 (verified tools): a saved subdivision-readiness checklist, a document-package helper, and an AI subdivision assistant for Title 18 will be verification-gated (identity-verified). Identity is verified through the payment processor — only verified-status is stored here, never the raw ID. No live billing is enabled (Stripe keys are environment references only).