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What will Hawaiian Homelands think or do? DHHL is corrupt and incompetent, so doing nothing might be the best we could hope for. The Makuu homesteads behind the market was described to me by a DHHL beneficiary as "just another failure" because it supposedly requires agricultural activity to maintain a leasehold. This has resulted in a low level of occupancy and a number of current residents planting three coconut trees and calling it "agriculture." I was shocked to see so many empty lots in there when people die of old waiting for a piece of land, so I started asking Hawaiians about it.
Meanwhile, Homelands leaders have resolutely opposed alternate routes passing through or near their lands, so they might not be keen for a new settlement of refugees in their backyard.
While I respect Ruderman's desire to help, I agree with others that helping lava home loss victims find similar lots in existing subdivisions would be more practical and fair than the extremely expensive prospect of developing yet another Puna subdivision when we can't properly manage the ones we have.
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quote:
Originally posted by leilanidude
The longer question is: did they collect enough property taxes to cover the cost of the lava emergency? Was it just more "tax farming" designed to attract FEMA bailout dollars?
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Over all this time - absolutely - multiple times over.
I hear this assertion many times, but do you have any numbers? I'm not making any assertions either pro or con - but I've never seen this claim made with actual numbers. I have seen similar claims that Kona property owners are paying a far larger share of the county tax burden than the Hilo/east side owners - again, without any clear, documented numbers on tax revenues generated vs tax revenues expended (per capita, per parcel, per acre, or whatever yardstick you care to use). Certainly those data exist....
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The shear numbers of lots alone times the minimum tax payment over 50 plus years, woth little to no money spent on infrastructure is what I base this upon.
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Not sure why we need two threads from different forums on the same topic, but here's my cross post:
As far as I know, most of the lots in upper Puna are still undeveloped. What is the point of making a new subdivision? There are plenty of lots for sale currently listed. More would be listed if there was any real market for them.
A more logical "land swap" would be something along the lines of: somebody displaced by lava buys undeveloped land and in exchange for deeding their old property to the county (or state, or whoever), they get a tax credit of some kind. Maybe it could be developed land, I don't know, that is above my pay grade.
It seems like Ruderman is trying to re-invent the real estate wheel, which is unnecessary with so many existing lots already available. Bringing in bulldozers, surveyors, water lines, yada yada yada is nonsense overkill when this can be handled with paperwork using existing real estate that is in abundance.
Once the existing properties are getting sold, it would prime the market for getting those bank-owned houses for sale. Adding subdivisions would have the opposite effect.
This just seems like common sense. If I'm off my rocker then feel free to point it out.
ETA: content/italics
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"If I'm off my rocker then feel free to point it out."
So, maybe my rocker's a few feet away but this was my take on what Ruderman was saying.
The goal is to relocate as many as possible from Lava Zone 1 & to assist those that may not have the adequate funds required to purchase a new home or to rebuild elsewhere on their own.
The goal is to exchange their lava zone 1 property for a low cost home alternative.
Land, already owned by the State could be made available via a land swap . Lava Zone 1 fee would be transferred to the Government. In return, the owner would receive a long term lease from the State for a parcel of the proposed land. (The State retains the land ownership and assists without cash outlay to taxpayers, the owner now has a build-able lot to utilize for the remainder of his life)
Habitat for Humanity could step in to assist in building the moderate homes. (They have a track record of keeping costs down)
Water and electricity is accessible. The area has the potential for expansion if necessary.
The other advantage that I could see is that water and electricity that would run thru the new subdivision would be closer to new farm parcels below Railroad. Railroad could be a graded alternate route (emergency only ?) connecting all the way from Hawaiian Beaches to HPP.
With a long term lease on county paved roads with county water & electricity, , I believe mortgage financing would be easily available for these new homes.
The cost of county standard roads, however, could prove to be a big stumbling block.
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No bank is going to give you a mortgage leased land. It's why few people can build on HHL even if they get a land grant
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quote:
Originally posted by terracore
Not sure why we need two threads from different forums on the same topic, but here's my cross post:
ETA: content/italics
didn't see the june 12 link, this is june 14 link, on I guess a updated video and news. So I assumed it was a new report.
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Seeb - No bank is going to give you a mortgage leased land.
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Not true. You can get a mortgage on leased land. In most cases though, the mortgage term must be less than the lease expiration date. For example, if your lease is 20 years, the mortgage cannot be a 30 year term.
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They do it with mobile homes all the time. Maybe that's what Puna needs- it's first mobile home park.
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Maybe that's what Puna needs- it's first mobile home park.
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Double wides with ocean view!
