Pahoa's History and Future

[Obie]

Perhaps you should speak to the descendants of those who built Pahoa

It was their town not yours !!!

[DaVinci]

The cry has gone out for "historic preservation." Who is crying out? Seriously. I just haven't been paying attention lately. Who wants to spend money on this historic preservation? And what money do they want to spend? County money? And then, finally, since "time and resources put to (preservation) will not be put to (sustainability)..." what was the specific expectation there? Again, I'm just out of the loop, but what the hell is "sustainability"? I thought, at best, it was a voluntary set of beliefs and behaviors, perhaps practiced by individuals, perhaps practiced by forward thinking private businesses. But if you have county money lined up for this preservation, what exactly did you plan to do with that money once you got the county historic preservation effort quashed? County mandated sustainability? How does that work? I don't see a zero sum game here at all. Please fill in some specific details.

[dmbwest]

The new "historic" wood walkways will be pressure treated lumber atop concrete piers which are formed over a concrete sidewalk ... ehm, drainage path under them. Every "x" amount of feet there will be the required ramp for folk less fortunate and of course there will be some kind of new-"old" stylized, code height and baby head proof, railing that does not match anything as per the history or 'face' of the town's past as it were.

[james weatherford]

The genuine responses are appreciated and provide food for thought. Thanks.

Da Vinci: well, at least before the lava came knocking late last year, there was quite a bit of hoopla (especially among people who have businesses/own property along Village Road) about "historic Pahoa" and the importance of preserving it as historic.

PM2: as I understand, the facades, boardwalks, buildings, etc are proposed as worthy of historic preservation. And, as I understand, historic preservation would mean exclusion of anything that does not look or function like that which was preserved.

Finally, ironyak, about historic preservation and sustainability being mutually exclusive, or not. A small kine idea does arise. More than a few of the buildings (mostly residential, but also commercial) are, to put it mildly, falling down of their own accord. These historic structures could be smashed, put in a dump truck, and hauled to the landfill (not preservation or sustainability). Or, they could be deconstructed, and the useful wood, glass, metal, etc re-used/re-purposed/re-cycled -- conserving the resource and preserving the history it represents all the while pushing sustainability by reducing demand for newly extracted resources.

[kalakoa]

I understand the "preservation" effort to be more of a regulatory overlay which defines specific aesthetic elements ("look and feel") that all new construction/remodeling would be required to follow.

Recycling "authentic vintage" materials is obviously a way to meet this goal, however, these materials could only be used for finish trim (would not meet current structural standards) and such "recovery" efforts are very expensive.

Preservation is a great idea, but given that Pahoa town has no sewage system, development standards seem a little premature -- especially with the whole "downslope of active lava flow" thing.

It's just not clear who would bother to build a reproduction plantation-style storefront under these conditions ... even less clear how it would be insured.

[PunaMauka2]

"as I understand, the facades, boardwalks, buildings, etc are proposed as worthy of historic preservation."

i would most definitely agree with the idea that the little old storefront strip and it's facades, boardwalks, buildings, etc is worthy of historic preservation. it exudes charming and unique old character and when it's gone, it's gone. the particulars of how and exactly what would be involved would need to be discussed and worked out.



"...as I understand, historic preservation would mean exclusion of anything that does not look or function like that which was preserved."

sounds to be referring to aesthetic requirements for any new construction within the boundaries of an established historic zone. here the devil really would be more in the details. it may be somewhat challenging at times to work through to a satisfactory balance between owner's discretion and some guidelines to determine limits of what will and what won't fit the historical character within the historic zone. something which could reasonably be worked out in my opinion ...similar to other zoning parameters.

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as for any structures "falling down of their own accord", that's a separate issue. if any structure is beyond saving, then sure, why not recycle? certainly can't see anything objectionable about that.

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i will emphatically say that any argument suggesting that historic preservation (in some exact form apparently as yet to be determined) should not occur because we should not be honoring the non-sustainable agricultural practices of that time-period does not hold any merit whatsoever.

[Tink]

As far as the preservation of the buildings and particularily the wooden sidewalks and if you have Google Earth, take a look at Old Sacramento in Cali for a look thru the sidewalk view to se what a Fed regulated ADA compliant intersection with ramps looks like to get an idea on a general plan. Not saying "do it like on the mainland", but rather what the Federal Handicap law says to follow. I visited it personally and found they worked a pretty good solution in keeping it as original as possible, but complying.

Community begins with Aloha

[james weatherford]

quote:

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Originally posted by PunaMauka2
i will emphatically say that any argument suggesting that historic preservation (in some exact form apparently as yet to be determined) should not occur because we should not be honoring the non-sustainable agricultural practices of that time-period does not hold any merit whatsoever.

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Thanks for sharing your opinion.
Certainly, our opinions on the past and the future are different, perhaps because we come to situation from different experiences.

[dmbwest]

Hi Tink,

I have not been there for 25+ years ... Has it changed since then ?

aloha,
pog

[Tink]

I believe the ramps at the intersections, along with a rather large one in the middle of town were added since then with the American Disabilities Act. As far as shops, big transition into every other one a t shirt/souvenir shop, uggghhh!!. And that was 5 years ago. I hope Pahoas General plan will prohibit it from turning into a Tourii block with nothing but junk being pedaled in restored and maintained buildings and if going that way at least be no more than two similar types of businesses be allowed to keep an interesting unique mix of merchandise intermixed with necessary businesses as the town evolves thru time.

Community begins with Aloha