Since July 15, 2026, the paved parking lots at Kamaʻole Beach Park I and Kamaʻole Beach Park III have been reserved for Hawaiʻi residents before 10 a.m. on weekends and County-observed holidays. Residents park free there all day, every day, by scanning the barcode on the back of a Hawaiʻi driver's license at a pay station or in the Park Maui app. The program covers two lots of very different sizes, though, so in practice the protected weekend morning sits mostly at Kamaʻole III. The rest of the beach strip is still waiting on a change the County tied to a road repair that finished in August.
Two lots, uneven halves
The County of Maui's launch announcement limited the July rollout to the paved lots at Kamaʻole I and III. It said the beach parks themselves stay open to everyone, so the rule controls who parks in the lots, not who uses the sand. The program's beach page lists the facilities at each lot, and the stall counts set how much the resident-only hours can actually hold.
| Kamaʻole I | Kamaʻole III | |
|---|---|---|
| Address | 2400 South Kīhei Road | 2800 South Kīhei Road |
| Lot hours | 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. | 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. |
| Parking | 18 spaces, plus 4 ADA and 4 reserved lifeguard spaces | 84 spaces |
| Park size | 3 acres | 10 acres |
| Listed busy times | 8 a.m., 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. | 8 a.m., 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. |
| Picnic setup | 4 picnic tables, 3 grills | 22 picnic tables, 8 grills |
Counting the general spaces only, Kamaʻole III has 84 of the 102, which is more than four out of every five. At Kamaʻole I, 18 spaces fill quickly. Park Maui lists 8 a.m. as a busy time at both parks, and that is also the middle of the resident-only window. A weekend arrival at Kamaʻole I during that window still competes with other residents for very few spaces. At Kamaʻole III, the same protection applies to a lot more than four times as large, with 22 picnic tables, 8 grills and a playground swing set.
How the system recognizes you
Park Maui is ticketless. Each parking session is tied to the vehicle's license plate, so there is no paper ticket on the dashboard. The County said Parking Ambassadors would be on site to help drivers with the app and the pay stations, and that the Kamaʻole areas are in Zone 797.
Nonresidents pay through the app or a pay station:
- $10 for daily parking
- $50 for a weekly pass, good for seven consecutive days
- $150 for a monthly pass, good for 30 consecutive days
Weekly and monthly passes are also sold through the ParkMobile website. That matters for anyone hosting family from the mainland for a week, because one pass covers the whole visit. The launch materials say resident status comes from a Hawaiʻi driver's license scan. They don't describe a process for other forms of identification.
The money goes into the County's parking revenue fund to pay for parking operations. Any surplus can go to parks, transportation, business districts, and cultural and environmental sites. When the program launched, County Department of Transportation Director Marc Takamori described its purpose this way:
"At the Kamaʻole beaches, we are especially focused on supporting kamaʻāina through free parking and preferred resident recreation hours, while also providing convenient ticketless parking options for visitors."
The road reopened, but the lot changes haven't been announced
Two pieces of the Kamaʻole strip were left out of the July launch, and the County gave a condition for each one.
- Kamaʻole II was held out "while road repairs continue as a result of the March Kona low storms."
- The dirt lot across from Kamaʻole I, next to the ABC Store, was kept out of the launch. The County said it "will be added to Park Maui after the South Kīhei Road sinkhole repair is complete and the road is reopened." Until then, it stays free from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily for beachgoers and for employees and customers of businesses near the Kamaʻole Shopping District.
The road reopened sooner than expected. The County's Department of Public Works announced that South Kīhei Road near Kamaʻole II would reopen on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026, ahead of its original fall estimate. The damaged section was about 150 feet long. P.B. Sullivan Construction Inc. did the repairs under an emergency purchase order issued in May, after federal emergency funding commitments were secured. The work covered drainage, slope stabilization, the waterline, curb, gutter and sidewalk, paving, and restoration of the park area next to the road.
That reopening met the County's stated condition for adding the ABC Store lot. Still, as of early October, no County release or Park Maui update has announced that either the dirt lot or Kamaʻole II has joined the program. The newest post on the Park Maui updates page is still the July 9 launch announcement. The beach page still describes the program as covering the paved lots at Kamaʻole I and III.
This changes the math for the smaller lot. The Park Maui listing for Kamaʻole I mentions "additional parking across the street." For now, that extra parking is free to anyone and not covered by the resident-only rule. If it joins Park Maui as promised, Kamaʻole I gains a lot of capacity under the program's rules. Until the County announces a date, the lot signs and pay stations are the most reliable guide on any given weekend.
Where the program might go next
Before launch, a December 2025 Maui Now report said the County might expand to other South Maui County beaches after reviewing the first phase, possibly later in 2026 or in 2027. It didn't name a specific South Maui beach. The same report quoted a resident, who said there was "not much street parking" and that earlier access would make beach visits easier for local families.
Ulua and Mokapu, the shared beach lot in Wailea, already appear in the Park Maui site navigation. The program's own page for that location describes it only as a proposed opportunity "optimal for a streamlined PARK MAUI implementation process." Its nonresident pricing is listed as "coming soon," and no start date is given. For now, Kamaʻole I and III are the program's only beach lots. Elsewhere on the island, it runs the Wailuku Garage.
The early morning around the lots
The resident-only window runs from the 7 a.m. lot opening to 10 a.m. A few places on the same stretch of South Kīhei Road are open for much of that time.
- Beach Street, in Rainbow Mall at 2439 South Kīhei Road, lists hours of 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. It serves coffee, açaí and shave ice, and it closes on some holidays and on very rainy days. Its menu says breakfast is served until 11 a.m.
- Kihei Caffe, at 1945 South Kīhei Road, lists breakfast hours of 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Its site also mentions a 5 a.m. opening, so check the hours directly before an early start.
- 808 Deli, also in Rainbow Mall at 2439 South Kīhei Road, opens at 8 a.m. and closes at 5 p.m. daily, with breakfast on the menu. That opening time fits the second half of the window better than the first.
Residents park free all day, so the end of the resident-only hours doesn't change the cost for them, only how full the lot gets. The lots stay open until 8 p.m. On Friday evenings, Coconuts Fish Cafe at its Kamaʻole location now holds Community Fundraiser Nights. One local group per Friday receives 20 percent of food orders from supporters who mention it, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Park Maui hasn't published usage numbers, citation counts or other results since the launch. Its beach page includes an image labeled as an August 2026 occupancy map, but the page text gives no figures. Until the County reports on the first phase, the stall counts are the clearest measure. Kamaʻole III holds 84 of the program's 102 general beach spaces. Kamaʻole II and the ABC Store lot are next in line under the County's own announcement, and neither has an activation date.
When your plans include Kīhei's beach parks, it helps to know which lots fall under which rules. If you're weighing a South Maui home and want a local read on how the Kamaʻole strip works day to day, Riette Jenkins is happy to share what she sees from decades on the South Shore. Contact Riette for a private consultation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
