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Chapter 1 – Introduction <br /> This report covers the Kapoho Beach Lots and Kapoho Vacationland Hawaii <br />subdivisions (Figure 1-1). The Kapoho Beach Lots subdivision was approved on <br />July 21, 1952. The Kapoho Vacationland Hawaii subdivision was approved on May, <br />19, 1962. Both subdivisions are zoned RS-10, which allows for single family <br />residential development on lots at least 10,000 square feet. At the time that these <br />areas in Puna were being developed, there was little concern for the lack of <br />infrastructure in place, and the surrounding geological risks such as earthquakes, <br />1 <br />flooding, lava or subsidence. <br /> These geological risks are directly or indirectly <br />related. <br /> During the 1975 earthquake in Kalapana, the subject area is reported to have <br />subsided .8 ft (from USGS – Hawaii Volcano Observatory, 1995). Since then there <br />have been numerous reports of monthly inundation of properties, difficulty in <br />determining the shoreline and complications with administering the Special <br />Management Area because of the frequent inundation. <br />Figure 1-1 – Study area <br />includes the Kapoho <br />Vacationland Hawaii and <br />Kapoho Beach Lots <br />subdivisions in the Puna <br />District of Hawaii. <br />1 <br />For insight into the subdivision process for the Puna area at that time, the reader is referred to Chapter 8 of the book <br />Land and Power. In the book, there is history of the post World War II land development process in the Puna area. It <br />is reported that may units in the area were bought by out of state investors, site unseen. In particular light is shed on the <br />Royal Gardens Subdivision, which in 1983, lava flows entered the development and destroyed 22 homes. <br />5 <br /> <br />