A group of O'ahu residents have banded together to fight efforts to allow more bed-and-breakfasts and vacation rentals in neighborhoods and raise awareness about illegal operations.

Kailua resident Larry Bartley said he and others formed Save O'ahu's Neighborhoods a month ago after passage of a City Council resolution that would allow — for the first time since 1989 — more legal bed-and-breakfasts if certain conditions are met. Vacation rental operators and others also are pushing for the city to license more vacation homes, which, unlike B&Bs, are not occupied by the owner or operator.

"I started going to public hearings and I saw how well-organized the pro-legalization group was," said Bartley, who is heading the organization until it establishes a board of directors who will choose an executive director. "And so we decided — people that I met at the hearings — we decided that we needed to form an islandwide group to fight this."

Bartley and others opposed to legalizing more B&Bs and vacation rentals say they change the residential character of neighborhoods and threaten to turn communities into resort destinations, bring more noise and traffic in the area, and take away housing for local residents.

But supporters say such short-term rentals provide critical dollars for local businesses, can be regulated and coexist with residents in neighborhoods, and support the tourism industry by accommodating visitors who don't want to stay in Waikiki.

Save O'ahu's Neighborhoods, or SONHawai'i, has about 80 members from areas including Makaha, the North Shore, Kahalu'u, Kane'ohe, Waimanalo and Diamond Head, Bartley said. The group's plans include lobbying elected officials, working with neighborhood organizations to help enforcement, and educating the public about unlicensed vacation rentals and B&Bs through a Web site and other means. It has printed about 500 brochures and begun making presentations at neighborhood board meetings.

"We want vacationers to realize that when they're contacting these (illegal) B&Bs or travel agents that they're not actually going to legitimate dwellings," said member George Marantz of Kahalu'u.

Said Makaha resident Karen Veriato: "We just want everybody's voices to be heard on the issue. We want to go out there, educate the community, build support, put pressure on the City Council, the state. We need a big groundswell. This is becoming a problem."

The creation of SONHawai'i comes shortly after a group of vacation rental and bed-and-breakfast operators and others formed Kokua Coalition to voice their cause to the public and the City Council.

Spokeswoman Powell Berger said the coalition has about 800 people, including local business owners as well as landscapers and others who provide services to vacation rentals and bed-and-breakfast establishments. The coalition has hired lobbyists and a public relations firm.

"What we are really striving for is to find that middle ground that allows the neighborhood integrity to be preserved and also meets the needs of the visiting public and brings some licensing and structure and some regulation and rules into the process," said Berger, who manages vacation rentals. "We believe that if we can (establish) rules and regulations that everyone has to follow, many of those concerns will be addressed and mitigated."

Tonic Bille, president of the BB/TVU Association of O'ahu and part of the coalition, said the industry supports preserving neighborhoods like Kailua and keeping them low key.

"We are open to work with the opponents anytime, anyplace," she said. "We'd like to work out our differences."

There are 60 licensed bed-and-breakfasts and 942 vacation rentals on O'ahu, but it's generally acknowledged that there are many more operating illegally. Many say a 1989 law banning new permits for those operations is unenforceable, and city officials have said verifying illegal operations is difficult because an inspector must catch a vacation renter at the site.

City Councilwoman Barbara Marshall and Council Chairman Donovan Dela Cruz introduced the bed-and-breakfast proposal, as well as legislation that would require vacation rentals and bed-and-breakfasts to list license numbers on all advertising, including Internet postings, or face fines of as much as $5,000.

The resolutions received initial approval from the City Council in July and are now under review by the city Department of Planning and Permitting. The legislation will then be reviewed by the Planning Commission, followed by a series of council and council committee hearings.

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com.