05-24-2023, 04:57 AM
(05-23-2023, 11:37 PM)MyManao Wrote:(05-23-2023, 10:10 PM)AaronM Wrote: PGV should expand and take over LE. About 60 more wells ought to cover it!
Hopefully the county agrees with you.. and will see the wisdom in leasing all the buyouts to Ormat for that purpose. Seems like a no-brainer to me.
The County will end up leasing a subdivision to Ormat but it will not be LE. It will be the little subdivision that is being quietly swept under the rug - Lanipuna Gardens. Directly Makai of PGV down the Pohoiki side, Lanipuna Gardens was an idyllic neighborhood of ag lots that were originally planned to continue the length of Pohoiki Road but the project collapsed after the second phase due to the Japanese economic crash of 1989 and the property occupied by Puna Girl Farms ended up being roughly the end of the line.
However the true death nell was when COH, in the person of Douglas Le, decided in 2021 that the subdivisions roads barely totaling 4 miles worth were not going to be rebuilt despite a veritable cornucopia of funding. Anybody know a seasoned takings attorney?
As much as the County may regret it now, they platted the land, they sold the building permits and they took the property tax payments. For decades. For them to unceremoniously roll up the streets and say that our neighborhood is now closed is tantamount to theft. Beyond regret, I suspect that greed is the true motivator here because by choosing to not restore the roads, the County placed a heavy thumb on the scales of those who decided whether or not to take the HUD buyout. With no road, taking the buyout was a no brainer for most people because without access your lot is essentially worthless.
So by squeezing people into the proverbial corner, almost every Lanipuna landowner took the buyout thereby paving the way for Ormat's expansion and the County's future largesse. Personally, I am looking forward to negotiating with Ormat directly...
KALIANNA - Check out the thing called the Puna Geothermal Relocation Fund that was a slush fund for so-called injured parties to have their properties purchased at a premium price if they could show that their tinfoil hat was tied on too tightly. Seriously - with no medical proof you could claim PGV had injured you or your family and your lot was then purchased at a price higher than the open market would ever pay. Fun fact: several fund recipients simply moved elsewhere in Puna Makai. One in particular merely moved a few miles directly downwind!