Where can I find about the history of Puna? (Hawaiian Paradise Park: 2013, HOA)

[jlandmark]

When I say history, I mean who allowed these cheap "acres" subdivisions without any utilities to be built? Why are these roads STILL unpaved? Who are the people that buy lots here? When Leilani Estates was planned, was any "research" done related to the fact that it is on top of a rift zone...?

I tried to visit some of these subdivisions but there were people watching me all over. In Volcano, people were welcoming us. As soon as I crossed into Fern Forest, people in their front yards were giving me the stink eye. What is the deal with this? It boggles my mind how these two neighborhoods are so close together.

My mom is thinking about retiring in Volcano because she has found a community she can associate with (she does jewelry making) and I would also love to move their eventually. But I'm worried if I should let the close proximity to the poorer subdivisions turn me off.

I was surprised to learn about a subdivision that was COMPLETELY wiped out that I had not even known about. Kalapana Royal Gardens. Apparently the last house was wiped out in 2012.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk44...l=LeighHilbert
Has anyone lived or visited that subdivision before it was wiped out? Does anyone have pictures?

Were these subdivisions just "schemes" to collect property tax and is that why they have so many problems today? What else should I know?

[a7bi]

Lots of good questions, I by no means know the answers, but some can be found here:


https://www.civilbeat.org/2018/05/bi...-subdivisions/

[whtviper1]

Another thread exists on this topic -

The Cliff Notes:

Crawford Oil Company really started the selling scam of Puna targeting West Coast buyers to lots in Hawaiian Ocean View Estates in the 1950's - much like Midwest and East Coast buyers were being sold Florida swampland at the same time. These buyers of course did not know they were buying lots with mostly lave - no utilities - a lack of roads (at the time), etc. Many lots have not appreciated in value since they were sold in the 50's.

With that successful scam - others followed - such as Leilani Estates - which conveniently omitted the eruption of 1960 again targeted to West Coast buyers....

Essentially - much of it was a scam targeted to California that lasted many years......

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Just like the developers who draw lines on a piece of paper and call it a subdivision in southern Colorado. No utilities for miles, but people are attracted to cheap land and the ability to build and live-in unpermitted shacks. And, until recently, people weren't allowed to collect rain water like they do here in Hawaii. All has to do with water rights that most buyers are totally unaware of.

Where I live in Discovery Harbour, the subdivision was built in the 1970s and we have county water, paved streets, and streetlights. Although we can't prove it, we believe that there was a bunch of money that exchanged hands in order to get all that approved.

[terracore]

HPP is one of the largest subdivisions in Puna, and their HOA has a history page:

History of Hawaiian Paradise Park – Welcome to Hawaiian Paradise Park

One of the original settlers of Orchidland posted on here many years ago, maybe a search can find it.

[terracore]

I just realized that what I thought was a post about Orchidland was actually DMd to me. The user hasn't been active since 2013. I'm glad I can share this before it's forgotten:

"I used to know the guy who surveyed the subdivision originally. He said laws were broken, that the sub. is/was not done according to laws at the time. It was subdivided in 1958 (I belive that was the first increment, that there was another a few years later).

Properties originally went for $250 an acre. There was a model home built on the highway just Keaau side of Orchidland drive, that cost some ridiculously low amount to build. I can see a thousand dollars or so..

I first saw it in 1973. At that time, the roads were *beautiful* wide, smooth, and "paved" with grass. I remember once a month, like clockwork, a tractor with a hedge mower would go past my street keeping the bushes back. Imagine Orchidland drive, sixty feet wide, smooth, flat and green, with just a tiny bit of wear showing a red cinder roadbed.

By mid-74, that road was a riverbed.

The tractor stopped coming around about the same time we organized the community association. Go figure. I never did know who paid for that tractor, but it apparently kept one guy in a full time job. I think it might have been State Sen. Stanley Hara, one of the original developers. I asked locals who paid for it, and the only answer I could get was "the company". Which company? I don't know. They were long gone by the time I came around. Their name was Royal Pacific Development Corporation, fwiw.

Royal Pacific got the land from Shipman Ranch, which pretty much owned Keaau to Pahoa. They got it from Rudy Tong, who got it from King Kamehameha V.

I was one of the first 20 or so residents to settle there. I put the 4th mailbox on the highway.

The last look I had was from Google street view, which shows a very different Orchidland road. Nice that it's now paved, I guess. But dang, is it ever NARROW."

Edited to add: I did request more details, similar to the Rick Edwards history of HPP as above, and they acknowledged my request, but I never heard back from them.

[Grassyknoll]

I don't hear a lot of Volcano residents complaing too much about the types of opportunistic property crimes that seem to plague much of Puna.
There are some Facebook pages such as Big Island Thieves that you could join and ask, you might get some more insight.

[terracore]

Originally Posted by Grassyknoll

I don't hear a lot of Volcano residents complaing too much about the types of opportunistic property crimes that seem to plague much of Puna.
There are some Facebook pages such as Big Island Thieves that you could join and ask, you might get some more insight.

Volcano butts up against Fern Forest, the lawless "Ice Head Warzone" with 1,000 Walter Whites cooking meth using chemicals from the Philippines. I'm surprised it hasn't been stripped completely bare!

[Grassyknoll]

Originally Posted by terracore

Volcano butts up against Fern Forest, the lawless "Ice Head Warzone" with 1,000 Walter Whites cooking meth using chemicals from the Philippines. I'm surprised it hasn't been stripped completely bare!

If it bleeds over into Volcano, then they aren't very vocal about it. I am a member of a lot of Facebook groups where folks report various criminal activity and Volcano doesn't come up much.
Not saying your wrong by any measure, just anecdotally I don't hear much about it.

[hothulamaui]

My grandmother bought 3 acres in Orchidland in 1963 for $2000.