diff --git a/src/pages/Maps.jsx b/src/pages/Maps.jsx
index 1634165..c2c2165 100644
--- a/src/pages/Maps.jsx
+++ b/src/pages/Maps.jsx
@@ -231,8 +231,8 @@ function Maps() {
 
     // 2. Click Empty Map (Create New)
     const handleMapCreate = async (latlng) => {
-        // Only Field Agents (employees) can create
-        if (user?.role !== 'FIELD_AGENT' && user?.role !== 'ADMIN') return;
+        // Field Agents, Admins, and Owners can create new map entries
+        if (!['FIELD_AGENT', 'ADMIN', 'OWNER'].includes(user?.role)) return;
 
         setSelectedPropertyId(null);
         setNewPropertyLocation({ lat: latlng.lat, lng: latlng.lng, address: '' });
diff --git a/vite.config.js b/vite.config.js
index 1820849..b220fb8 100644
--- a/vite.config.js
+++ b/vite.config.js
@@ -1,8 +1,40 @@
 import { defineConfig } from 'vite'
 import react from '@vitejs/plugin-react'
 
+/**
+ * Dev-only stub for /api/* requests.
+ *
+ * The files in /api are Vercel serverless functions — they run only on Vercel,
+ * not in the local Vite dev server. When the frontend polls an endpoint like
+ * /api/hail-status during local dev, Vite would otherwise resolve that URL to
+ * the on-disk api/*.js file and push it through its module-transform pipeline,
+ * which crashes on server-only imports such as `@vercel/kv`.
+ *
+ * This middleware intercepts /api/* before Vite transforms anything and returns
+ * a 503. Every frontend hook that hits these endpoints already degrades
+ * gracefully on a failed fetch (falls back to mock data / inactive storm state),
+ * so the app behaves correctly in local dev — just without the live API.
+ */
+const devApiStub = {
+  name: 'dev-api-stub',
+  apply: 'serve',
+  configureServer(server) {
+    server.middlewares.use((req, res, next) => {
+      if (req.url && req.url.startsWith('/api/')) {
+        res.statusCode = 503
+        res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json')
+        res.end(JSON.stringify({
+          error: 'API routes run only on Vercel and are unavailable in local dev.',
+        }))
+        return
+      }
+      next()
+    })
+  },
+}
+
 export default defineConfig({
-  plugins: [react()],
+  plugins: [react(), devApiStub],
   server: {
     // Don't watch or serve /api — those are Vercel serverless functions, not frontend code
     watch: { ignored: ['**/api/**'] },