09-06-2009, 04:36 AM
Jake,
We own a lot in Waa Waa and will be moving and building there as soon as our house sells. We’ve spent a considerable amount of time there when clearing the lot of Strawberry Guava and cane grass. We’ve perhaps met 1/3 or more of the residents just when clearing our lot during the period of 10 or so days.
Waa Waa is a place unto its own. If you can establish an off grid home, you can live there without working a regular job or you can work like everyone else. Waa Waa offers very comfortable and flexible lifestyle choices. It’s up to you. This is the one thing that you will be hard pressed to find in any of the other subdivisions. So… keep that in mind first and foremost if you’re looking for something like that.
Many residents live in screen houses and theft is minimal although not unheard of (occurring sometimes when people leave on vacation) and probably less than most other areas. Less because everyone in the development knows one another and they know if you don’t belong. They also have no problem approaching strangers and clarifying why the stranger is there, people have been arrested who did not belong and the neighbors are tightly banded together to keep these would be intruders out. We were approached and questioned by every person who saw us at the front of our lot the first time around. The first time we went to check the lot out we hadn’t even got out of the Jeep before a person pulled up alongside us and questioned us about what we were doing there, it seemed that if we didn’t have a good reason for being there, we would have had a problem on our hands. Our lot is on Pakaka Rd. we’ve great neighbors too, all friendly and all transplants, so, once the people know you, you are in and then told exactly what goes on in the development. A couple folks are a little on the odd side but you’ll find that all over Puna. Many people in Waa Waa are into the arts, music, pottery, etc. There are several retired couples and several well to do.
House separation buffers are mandated by the county and as I recall 20' side setback is the maximum side set back in ag 1 and above, so if you build 20' from your lot line and live on 2000' acres, nothing can stop your neighbor from building on his 700 acres lot 40' from you. So the lot size is a rather mute point unless you're going to build dead center of your 2000' acre lot or something to that effect. Some people have secured 2 lots or more side by side to get a little more privacy, although, if you can’t get privacy with 150’ span by 1000’ and a jungle climate to promote growth, you’re doing something wrong. There are 20’ setback buffers along the sides of these lots, this leaves you with a 110’ buildable corridor and a guaranteed minimum of 40’ between you and your neighbor as will be with all ag1 lots or above (depending on your 1 acre width) or you could be 800’+ from your neighbors. Our house will be constructed near our neighbor’s house and neither of us have any issue with this as we’ve a giant Mango tree and other plants between our house locations. We will end up with far more than 40' buffer and we're side by side (same approximate frontal set backs for our houses) and it will be more like 100' if memory serves me, between our houses.
We have spent time at the lot in the middle of the night and our neighbor uses a generator to charge her battery bank. The sound from the generator is negligible when it comes on for short periods of time. We will be using a full Solar array to power nearly everything including our AC. The evening brings the intermittent sweeping beam from the Kapoho light house across the sky above (not your lot, not even if you build to maximum heights would you get hit by the light house).
As per the roads, you do not need 4 wheel drive. That said; you should not use a new BMW to be punished on the roads if you expect to make normal commute time in and out of the subdivision. A high clearance vehicle will do fine at a normal driving pace 25-30 mph, you could even buy a cheap normal clearance vehicle and give it some punishment at those speeds. We traded the BMW for a Land Rover but we went 4X4 extreme for other uses not because the Waa Waa roads warrant it as they certainly don’t.
Road maintenance and fees are strictly volunteer based. We’ve one resident who keeps the roads graded and in check, he will come around to collect money for the road work fuel/materials etc and this is usually only around $20 and you don’t have to pay it if you don’t want to. I for one would give him far more if we could get the road perfect BUT it isn’t necessary as the few pot holes provide natural speed bumps to keep vehicle speeds in check.
There’s a lot more to know about the subdivision and if you’re interested I will write a few neighbors and see if they are willing to talk with you via e-mail or you can drop me a line via my e-mail and I’ll fill you in on the other things (Waa Waa volunteer fire department and medical response team, etc). (Yes… most people there have wireless internet and use it). They are mostly intelligent and educated transplant off girders who respect nature, not crazy recluses that are high tech ignorant.
E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.
We own a lot in Waa Waa and will be moving and building there as soon as our house sells. We’ve spent a considerable amount of time there when clearing the lot of Strawberry Guava and cane grass. We’ve perhaps met 1/3 or more of the residents just when clearing our lot during the period of 10 or so days.
Waa Waa is a place unto its own. If you can establish an off grid home, you can live there without working a regular job or you can work like everyone else. Waa Waa offers very comfortable and flexible lifestyle choices. It’s up to you. This is the one thing that you will be hard pressed to find in any of the other subdivisions. So… keep that in mind first and foremost if you’re looking for something like that.
Many residents live in screen houses and theft is minimal although not unheard of (occurring sometimes when people leave on vacation) and probably less than most other areas. Less because everyone in the development knows one another and they know if you don’t belong. They also have no problem approaching strangers and clarifying why the stranger is there, people have been arrested who did not belong and the neighbors are tightly banded together to keep these would be intruders out. We were approached and questioned by every person who saw us at the front of our lot the first time around. The first time we went to check the lot out we hadn’t even got out of the Jeep before a person pulled up alongside us and questioned us about what we were doing there, it seemed that if we didn’t have a good reason for being there, we would have had a problem on our hands. Our lot is on Pakaka Rd. we’ve great neighbors too, all friendly and all transplants, so, once the people know you, you are in and then told exactly what goes on in the development. A couple folks are a little on the odd side but you’ll find that all over Puna. Many people in Waa Waa are into the arts, music, pottery, etc. There are several retired couples and several well to do.
House separation buffers are mandated by the county and as I recall 20' side setback is the maximum side set back in ag 1 and above, so if you build 20' from your lot line and live on 2000' acres, nothing can stop your neighbor from building on his 700 acres lot 40' from you. So the lot size is a rather mute point unless you're going to build dead center of your 2000' acre lot or something to that effect. Some people have secured 2 lots or more side by side to get a little more privacy, although, if you can’t get privacy with 150’ span by 1000’ and a jungle climate to promote growth, you’re doing something wrong. There are 20’ setback buffers along the sides of these lots, this leaves you with a 110’ buildable corridor and a guaranteed minimum of 40’ between you and your neighbor as will be with all ag1 lots or above (depending on your 1 acre width) or you could be 800’+ from your neighbors. Our house will be constructed near our neighbor’s house and neither of us have any issue with this as we’ve a giant Mango tree and other plants between our house locations. We will end up with far more than 40' buffer and we're side by side (same approximate frontal set backs for our houses) and it will be more like 100' if memory serves me, between our houses.
We have spent time at the lot in the middle of the night and our neighbor uses a generator to charge her battery bank. The sound from the generator is negligible when it comes on for short periods of time. We will be using a full Solar array to power nearly everything including our AC. The evening brings the intermittent sweeping beam from the Kapoho light house across the sky above (not your lot, not even if you build to maximum heights would you get hit by the light house).
As per the roads, you do not need 4 wheel drive. That said; you should not use a new BMW to be punished on the roads if you expect to make normal commute time in and out of the subdivision. A high clearance vehicle will do fine at a normal driving pace 25-30 mph, you could even buy a cheap normal clearance vehicle and give it some punishment at those speeds. We traded the BMW for a Land Rover but we went 4X4 extreme for other uses not because the Waa Waa roads warrant it as they certainly don’t.
Road maintenance and fees are strictly volunteer based. We’ve one resident who keeps the roads graded and in check, he will come around to collect money for the road work fuel/materials etc and this is usually only around $20 and you don’t have to pay it if you don’t want to. I for one would give him far more if we could get the road perfect BUT it isn’t necessary as the few pot holes provide natural speed bumps to keep vehicle speeds in check.
There’s a lot more to know about the subdivision and if you’re interested I will write a few neighbors and see if they are willing to talk with you via e-mail or you can drop me a line via my e-mail and I’ll fill you in on the other things (Waa Waa volunteer fire department and medical response team, etc). (Yes… most people there have wireless internet and use it). They are mostly intelligent and educated transplant off girders who respect nature, not crazy recluses that are high tech ignorant.
E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.