Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0180.001 2018-2020 P/Counc.il CORM. 180 LOWER KAP HO BASELINE SURVEY INITIATED ON A UARY 22, 2019 and COMPLETED A CH 22, 2019 Conducted by Kapoho Recovery Survey Team: Eileen O'Hara, Ph.D. (Principal Investigator), Janus Garramone, Susan Kim, and Smiley Burrow Survey conducted of property owners in Vacationland Farm & House Lots and Kapoho Beach Lots # of Lots in the Three Subdivision (from County RPT Office) = 516 # of Individual Owners in the Three Subdivisions (from County RPT Office) = 44� , # of Responses by Lot: 97 (19% of lots) # of Responses by Owner: 71 (16% of owners) v co-; Represents 90% Confidence Level w1 10% Margin of Error (required a minim m: -1152 59 responses from owners) =` -t-:a -1 Kapoho Beachlots — 18 = ., Vacationland Houselots - 50 Vacationland Farmlots - 25 Other 4* Other includes two responders who built on friend or family's properties within the 3 subdivisions, a response from Ko'a'e (Papaya Farms Rd) and another response from an isolated area towards the bottom of Hwy 132. Methodology: This survey was conducted via email over a two-month period. An initial list of nearly 100 email addresses were acquired from the membership of Vacationland and Beach lots. News of the survey spread via word of mouth and social media posts to local Puna Relief recovery pages. The survey was posted on the lmua Lower Puna website. The survey was sent to 156 email addresses in total with a response rate of 46%. The data has been collated using Google Survey software and verified using Excel. Contact information for each responder was collected along with address and TMK of the affected property, email & mailing addresses, and phone number. Comments are provided anonymously except where the respondent chose to sign his/her name. Instructions Provided: KumukahifHwy #137 Makai Area Access/Recovery Survey A group of residents from the Kumukahi /HWY#137 Makai Area are working together on eruption recovery planning. FEMA funds & Small Business Administration loans may be available to Homeowner Associations to re-establish roads. We are asking for your input to best serve the needs & desires of our community. Please complete this survey. Please distribute to community members you may know. 1 Comm. No. I ° ( Ref.To: PlcounClt Ref. Date MAR 2 7 2019 • RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS: #1) If highway/road access was re-established would you/family member return to your home/land? 71 ,espon,,,, • 'YeS No 81.7% \k, #1a) if Yes, are you interested in building a residence? 6S responses • yes • No 80 #lb) If No, would you support road recover to access your property for re-sale . 37 responses • YeS No• ,F6A4iihr: 2,14;;F,K-iMANNINA744 , szNM- 4,044iNE:::714A;F:;$11:3A*, #2) If there was no electric service would you/family member return to your home/land? 71 responses 4 Yes ssk No \ 3 iti,,N:0; \ W4,W*NQ • K==:,,,kktikniKt,,,,,4:,:hm41*: '''''Sfzi'ellt#70,401RAiggideptIOW lAttetZKONIOV *414k1INZAAV'' 3 #3) If there was no water service would you/family member return to your home/land? onsos , Yes • No 71 8' #4) Would you be willing to contribute financially to reestablish roads in the subdivision? .) ! responses • Yes •'e , No / 169% 83.1% "us' 4 #4a) If Yes, how much would you be willing to contribute to re-establish private roads? 51 responses • $100043000 per lot 17.6% • $400046000 per lot • $7,000-$9000 per lot '/ 15.7% 0 $10,000 per lot 64.7% 5 COMMENTS: (Anonymously provided except where respondent provided a name) Vacationland was my primary residence for over 22 years. I owned a double lot in House Lots,with a beautiful home for five years,sold that to build my home in Farms Lots. It was my home,my community and I am devastated by the loss of everything I worked for and all that I loved. The lava flow left me without any financial funds,due to not being able to afford homeowners insurance. Everything was paid for, I worked my entire life for this and it is all gone. If I had funds I would contribute to re-establish our roads. My prayers go out to my friends and neighbors,may we rise from this traumatic event,come together again,and give Kapoho the chance to live and thrive again. Sincerely Denise Jones If we had road access,we could live off-gridd. Mahalo! A major geological event has reshaped our land to itspresent and immense new raw landscape. For me it 9 9 P P is amazing and remains a special place in memory of what it was and visually what it has become. I am content in it's present state and am not interested in returning to something that is not there for me. Mahalos I build and owned a 240 sq/ft two story cabin. I invested aprox. $10,000 in materials (have receipts) and aprox. 600 labor hours. I was part of an off grid Big Island community named Pi'ilani. My cabin,named Pueo's, appeared on the cover of Hawaii Business's Nov. 2017 publication. Feel free to contact me for more information. Sincerely,Tyson Minck Not interested in building a residence because mine is still there-lucky. We have previously responded to this survey, not sure if we are supposed to do it again? I think the government is responsible for reestablishing the county roads&we should not have to pay for that. Before I would give$10,000 to re-establish private roads, I would need to see my lot;actually stand on my lot. If I think it's feasible to relocate there, I'd be willing to pay up to$10,000 Govt. should pay for the roads.They sure raked enough in. We really appreciate all the effort and research others have been doing and the community is what we would return for as much as the climate. The recovery cannot be haphazard. Strict adherence to community standards is needed,with the possibility of a micro-grid for power and sewage treatment. Houselots community layout should be re- designed to include beach access NOT through the middle of the community. Not sure how much but would contribute significantly. I still view my lot in Vacationland as an important asset, but really ONLY if I can recover vehicular access. I am anxious to use my farming expertise to once again turn a bunch of lava into beautiful and productive farmland and to do my part to help rectify the fact 6 that Hawaii is very far from food self-sufficient...AND because Kapoho has been my home for over 40 years and I love it there. The existing Homeowners association is not acceptable. The by-laws and the officers are extremely harmful and hard to deal with. I would not consider a new Vacationland with the old regime and rules. Everything appealing about the Vacationland Community has been destroyed and would take decades to restore. We would rather see a buyout that returns the land to public ownership, perhaps as a park. thank you! I care deeply for my Kapoho community. It is not feasible for me or my family to return for primary residency. I am supportive of neighbors who want to get back. I am willing to work towards regaining Hwys and road access. I am willing to contribute financially toward roads recovery. I am not in favor of spending one more dime to aid in road construction for Vacation Land. It's gone forever. Let it go. I and my wife were so against the spending of thousands of dollars to put in Wai Opea rd. It benefited the very few, not the many. Greed was my first thought. So let all those who benefited from the Wai Opea rd. donate to having roads cut back in.Vacation Land is gone. It will never be what it was. Never submit passwords through Google Forms I don't think it is advisable to rebuild a community in these areas. I think it is better to have the State or Federal governments effect a buyout,and then convert the land to recreational or preservation status. Mahalo for giving us hope! It would be great to get some more communication around what is needed. consolidated survey responses and how many people were reached vs. responded. I would like to be involved however, no one seems to announce when and where board meetings are despite my multiple requests to the VHCA board. Mahalo! For us it does not seem realistic to expect to return to WaiOpae with the idea of rebuilding nor to expect resale values to improve significantly in our lifetime. However, it remains our land,a place of precious memories.And for that reason we feel access should be re-established if only to return to see and feel what we once knew as home. I would prefer to get FEMA or other government funding to re-establish the roads. If that is not possible, I am not sure if I would pay to re-establish the roads. Basic requirement for$$$$-need to know plans I have responded to this questionnaire as best I honestly can,at this point. I am not fully comfortable with even these answers,the way that the questions are phrased.This explanation is intended to more fully explain my level of commitment. We are very keen to re-establish a home in Vacationland if we believe that there is a well thought out plan with significant Federal funding for infrastructure replacement and that plan leaves us feeling safe that our neighborhood will be a high quality neighborhood. The House Lots are 1/20 to 1/25th of the size of Farm Lots. Despite the small lot size,the community worked fairly well when it was ocean front and had the tide pools. While it was a long ways from 7 employment, part timers (like ourselves) could spend part of the year there and rent their house out the rest of the year while providing employment to individuals who lived locally(mostly in the subdivision). It was a safe environment during the past 10 years thanks to BOTH the quality of the people residing there (full time,part time and as vacation renters)AND the considerable positive efforts of people like Betty& Obie and Jim &Sheri. TODAY,the land will be unstable for perhaps centuries making it more difficult to maintain homes and roads than on land which has settled and there is not the draw of an ocean front location or the tide pools. The lots are way too small for a typical rural development and will only be suitable in the context of enough amenities to attract high quality owners. In my opinion,at minimum that needs to include: (a) smoothing the lots to where there are no grades more than something like 5%; (b) gated access to House Lots,particularly until the area is well populated;(c)centralized electric service so that we are not listening to each other's generators on cloudy days;(d)county water so that the small lots are not further encumbered by water tanks and (e)enough road paving to avoid dust issues. Ideally it would also include a pool or other community based amenities. We believe that a carefully planned community come-back is possible and desirable. We had wonderful neighbors that we would like to re-locate next to and our property is still within walking distance to the ocean. It will take considerable Federal grant funding,likely SBA loan funding and possibly some personal funding for infrastructure though the latter is fraught with the difficulty of collecting from all the owners who would benefit from recovery. It would take a Board that is focused on recovery and a cadre Of responsible,knowledgeable volunteers to support them-all operating on a respectful,consensual basis to do research,get bids,write grants,oversee re-construction work etc.The latter condition I believe may be the most difficult one to achieve. If we are not able or willing to take the time to reach consensus on important aspects, I believe the effort will fail. Successful restoration will be dependent upon the goodwill of numerous volunteers to make it happen. A haphazardly developed community will, in my view,be a dangerous place-attracting squatters and other low life settlers. Vacationland House Lots has a history of being a dangerous community to have a house in. The former owner of our home,George Hanohano regaled us with his stories of what it was like twenty or thirty years ago when he would come back to repeatedly find that his neighbors had removed his stairway to use for beach firewood and were growing marijuana on his property(putting him at legal risk) and using his windows for target practice. Such a community would neither be a desirable place to live in nor a safe place to invest in. I am willing to put significant time into the project in my area of expertise(finance) and I believe others will be too, under the right conditions. We have a lot of skill sets in the community, if everyone can work together well. I would also be willing to put money into infrastructure, provided that my investment was matched by other lot owners. Sincerely Jan Marshall We love Kapoho! I need to be able to access my property in order to assess the property's condition as well as the feasibility of reconstruction of my home. Not sure about contributing at this time.Thank you for all your efforts. Go to it 8 We need a road Mahalo nui loa When I wrote that we'd return to the land, I basically meant that I'd return and see what was there and perhaps plant some things. We cannot afford to build a new home there but I'd attempt to do something with the land. Might contribute more if this movement gained traction-mahalo for your efforts! I would have to know the details of committing to repaying a loan to rebuild infrastructure Return,building and financial contributions contingent on the ability to obtain homeowners insurance, assurance that the new delta formed is stable and will not collapse. Will current funds in VHCA's bank accounts be used first before asking property owners for additional funding? It would be best to have some utilities like power and water,cinder roads with gate would be acceptable. Could some monies be borrowed and paid off over time to pay for roads? If yes, I could increase contributions to roads,etc. Thank you for the work Solar and water catchment would be just fine for us. Mahalo The contribution would be for re-establishment of private roads in Vacationland Unit 1 where I own a lot. Please keep me informed of the status of road access to Vacationland. Thank you for all your efforts in the recovery endeavors Maybe....my husband is not well and I am not sure that I will be able to rebuild I have 2 lots that is side by side 9 Exhibit A: Survey Document (Provided both in Word and Google Doc Format) Kumukahi/Hwy #137 Makai Area Access/Recovery Survey A group of residents from the Kumukahi /HWY#137 Makai Area are working together on eruption recovery planning. FEMA funds & Small Business Administration loans may be available to Homeowner Associations to re-establish roads. We are asking for your input to best serve the needs & desires of our community. Please complete this survey. Copy & distribute to community members you may know. Return surveys via email to: RecoverKapoho(cr?,gmail.com Write: Kapoho Survey Response in Subject Line You will be added to our email database for survey results & future information distribution. Basic Information: Full Name: Date: Physical Address: Please indicate how many lots you own in each of the subdivisions listed below and/or Lower Kapoho: Kapoho Beachlots Vacationland Houselots Vacationland Farmlots Other_ Mailing Address: Email Address: TMK(s): 3-1-4 Phone Contact: Landline: Cell: Other: Please Circle or Check Answers Below: 1) If highway/road access was re-established would you/family member return to your home/land? Yes No If Yes,are you interested in building a residence? Yes No If No,would you support road recovery to access your property for re-sale? Yes No 2) If there was no electric service would you /family member return to your home/land? Yes No 3) If there was no water service would you /family member return to your home/land? Yes No 10 4) Would you be willing to contribute financially to reestablish roads in the subdivision? Yes No If Yes, how much would you be willing to contribute to re-establish private roads? $1,000-$3,000 per lot $4,000-$6,000 per lot $7,000-$9,000 per lot_$10,000 per lot Additional Comments: 1/22/19 11