definition of "lower Puna"

[terracore]

Volcano was original a bedroom community to Hilo where people would go to escape the heat before air conditioning was common.

"I trust you meant the other way around, 11 being upper and 130 being lower Puna". precisely.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Volcano was originally a bedroom community to Hilo 

Which makes Keaau & Pahoa what exactly?  The water heater storage room for Hilo?  

[Durian Fiend]

Description I've heard is:

Parts of Puna accessible via highway 11 = lower Puna.

Parts of Puna accessible via highway 130 = upper Puna.

Outlier is Orchidland Estates because it can be accessed by both.

I trust you meant the other way around, 11 being upper and 130 being lower Puna. But that is rather different from dobanian's suggestion that lower Puna starts after Pahoa, this still then belonging to upper Puna, so it sounds like there's no consensus on this so far. And kalakoa, I'm not sure what you mean by D4/D5, please explain.

What do people who live in Pahoa, and e.g., HPP, think--are you in upper Puna, or lower Puna?

He wrote it correctly and somehow you swapped them in your quote.
Accessing Orchidland from 11 is kind of a PITA for person doing it and also other motorists getting stuck behind a left hand turner below Kurtistown.

[Obie]

"There's also "follow the money", consider the large-scale "worthless land" subdivisions relative to the rest of the district."

You lost me here ?

[TomK]

Upper Puna is the bit that starts going uphill south of Keaau, lower Puna is all the rest that is lower than the uphill part. That's how I've always pictured it. Anything left is just Puna.

[ScottEF]

He wrote it correctly and somehow you swapped them in your quote.

Actually, as he conceded, he originally wrote it incorrectly; he later went back and corrected it. All is good.

[ScottEF]

Volcano area to be Upper Puna

Volcano should be part of Hilo, not Puna or Ka'u.

While "lower" and "upper" may be a matter of opinion, I think the boundaries of Puna itself are more precisely defined as it is a government district; the map here https://web.archive.org/web/201107080808.../map01.htm shows it extending just west of Volcano and ending at the Chain of Craters Road and Pu'u oo trail, past which is Ka'u or a sliver of the "North Hilo" district on the slopes of Mauna Loa. Volcano may have historically been used by Hilo residents in various ways, but is not part of the Hilo district itself.

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"There's also "follow the money", consider the large-scale "worthless land" subdivisions relative to the rest of the district."

You lost me here ?

I'm guessing he meant that "lower" Puna is considered, or has the connotation of being, that land which is also "lower" in economic value. Though there are certainly many outliers, e.g. Kapoho Bay before 2018.


Actually I've also just now noticed that, at least according to google's terrain map, 130 actually starts out pretty level south of Keaau and then goes uphill as you go to Pahoa (as someone else noted earlier), then further up on the way to Leilani, only dropping past the steam vents. So if the terms refer to elevation, there's a case for Keaau being in "lower" Puna after all, despite its being "above" it on a north-up map. OTOH, perhaps lower and upper are generalities, as most of the land around Pahoa is lower, and most of the northern half of Puna, around Keaau, is higher--since most of it is high land just west thereof--exceptions notwithstanding. And for that matter, the same thing could be said about economic value. So maybe it is about economics (and/or urban density) after all, and proximity to the relative "heights" of Hilo's scores on these factors. And on further reflection, My2cent's suggestion above that it's really about the division between LZ3 and LZ1&2, which obviously explains a large part of the land value difference, sounds very plausible.

[terracore]

Is it possible that upper and lower Puna date back to haole interpretations of makai and mauka?

If so there wouldn't really be a definitive answer or something you could find on a map because it could be relative to the conversation but would give some origin to the 11 / 130 theory since roads have a makai and mauka side.

[sistersue]

I've always thought that if you turn to the left at the Kea'au intersection, you're going to "lower Puna" and if you drive to the right of Kea'au intersection, you're going to "upper Puna".  I think of it in terms of elevation, though I don't know what the separation number would be.  600ft. 700ft?  

[leilanidude]

Lower Puna is that area which the County wants to remove people from...