12-29-2014, 02:39 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Rob Tucker
The road requirements stated road widths, road frequency, road beds and road surface. None of these requirements were enforced in 1959. In fact for many subdivisions the tract maps were approved and property offered for sale before even the most rudimentary paths were bulldozed.
all you say may well be true - but the subdivisions were approved by the county government - in the prevailing government culture at the time, that was acceptable. I don't think that makes those subdivisions illegal. You also have to remember that, at the time, there were few small, privately-held parcels that were available for fee simple ownership - nearly all the arable land was producing sugar and not available unless you were very wealthy.
In retrospect, it was a bad idea to subdivide those lands - but neither the government, nor anyone else, had the knowledge at the time that the volcanic risk is as high as we now know it is.
Bottom line, it's probably not a fruitful exercise to claim that current property owners on the island (aka the County government) is under an obligation to make Puna property owners whole for decisions that were made a half century ago. Those (Puna) owners reaped the benefit of a lower property cost and lower property taxes - knowingly or not, they took on the obligations of self-maintained (substandard) roads and minimal utility support as well as a higher risk for lava inundation and earthquake frequency.
I'd also note that the tradition of "tax mining" of off-island owners, continues unabated today - non-resident owners pay a higher rate than resident owners - not because they place a heavier governmental burden on the County, but simply because they aren't part of the voter base and the politicos can get away with it.