SPACE, Bellyacres problems

[kjlpahoa]

Who really is Graham Ellis? The coconut tree phone line is really active. Rumors are flying.

[birchl]

It's not Ellis that has changed. it's sea view. Whilst I understand that the process of gentrification does not allow for such things as circuses and farmers markets, is it really necessary to trash this mans name? Surely the 'legal' process of destroying it all should suffice?

#10048;

[kalakoa]

not in a subdivision where everyone else has to obey the subdivision covenants

Thanks for confirming that it's really a NIMBY problem -- which makes it abundantly clear that Seaview is becoming gentrified.

Hopefully the "unpermitted" residents of Seaview will take this as a warning, and get out before they're shut down.

DLNR does not enforce ... That is a COH Building ... and Planning Dept function.

County should be taken to task for their selective enforcement and/or failure to issue permits in the first place. Allowing the situation to fester is easily construed as "tacit approval" which implies a potential path to permitted status. This isn't fair to the people who build (only to have it taken away), nor to the people who come to rely on those services (only to have them shut down), and it's especially unfortunate for the rest of the taxpayers (who get to pay for the enforcement or lack thereof).

I hope residents of the newly gentrified Seaview enjoy driving to town for everything.

[Green]

Rumor has it that the first space traveler to be projected out of uncle Robert's spaceport will be Graham Ellis on a eco-voyage mission to the moon to look for prospective bungalow building sites.

[Rob Tucker]

Green, What is your basis for ridiculing someone you have most likely never met? I am fine with discussing the points of the Seaview/SPACE situation.... but I am not fine with character assassination.

Assume the best and ask questions.

Punaweb moderator

[kalakoa]

I almost forgot the most important piece of this entire episode.

EVERY resident of Seaview must now request that County RPT re-valuate their property.

If the "value" included being able to walk to a farmers' market which no longer exists, that property assessment should be lowered.

Alternately, if the property was de-valued due to its proximity to "noisy illegal hippies" which have been removed, that property assessment should be raised.

It's only fair that the community be measured by the sum of its parts, and it's only right that County be made to understand what makes communities valuable.

[Chunkster]

Just about everyone in this scenario has shown either bad faith, bad judgement, or a lack of attention to the law they are supposed to enforce. Ellis and associates have repeatedly been given second chances from the county which has extended the limits of his special use permits, only to have him exceed those limits yet again. How smart was that? Now SPACE has moved onto state owned land and illegally removed ohias in the course of building illegal buildings. How smart was that?

Of course, the county has never met its obligation to plan for and rezone land near communities like Seaview so that the useful functions provided by SPACE (and I do think there are some) can be allowed. Furthermore, the county allowed a lot of people to really work hard on a community development plan for Puna that they never had any intention of carrying out. The CDP has become a farce.

The only people in this whole mess I feel any sympathy for are the residents of Seaview who might have had a valuable asset if it had been better managed and regulated. And remember, it's easy to holler NIMBY if its somebody else's back yard.

[kalakoa]

plan for and rezone land near communities like Seaview

This is the plan: Pahoa is "near" Seaview; the current rezoning there is "pending completion of roundabout by State DOT".

PCDP: Puna Can Drive to Pahoa.

[lo-ka-hi]

Nobody I know in Seaview ever had a problem with the Haas school, the wonderful things that Hiccup Circus provides for youth or the Farmer's Market.
Because SPACE, though asked repeatedly, wouldn't post the amendment on their website then, as I understand it, Sequol was formed as an avenue of information for Seaview residents about the reality of SPACE's agenda which was to turn Seaview into a Las Vegas style entertainment Mecca. Therein lies the problem.
Take a serious look at their amended SUP application and add it all up.

There is no plot plan describing what goes where and their estimates about attendees, traffic impact and general disruption to their immediate community are unrealistic.
A couple of attempts by neighbors to talk about compromise and to seek the community health and harmony emphasized so much in the application were met with a defensive attitude and self entitlement not to mention their 2 lawyers present at the first meeting. Aloha?

Add to that application the plans they have for the 60 acres they hope to lease for their expansion plans. We are not Las Seaview or we would have moved to a city instead of a remote and rural location.

I suspect there are some of the original members of Bellyacres who are saddened by where their leadership representation has brought them. If all the money they have spent feeding lawyers and fighting their community and the county had been put into taking their performances to Hilo, Waimea, Kona, Ka'u etc…imagine the thrill of the circus coming to town!! A circus that actually cirques. Then imagine living with it full time next door.

I hope that the best part of HVC, the spirit in which it all started, somehow survives all this.

[RJHampton]

I received this email from Sean Crowne, a young man I do not know. This subject has gotten him so upset that he wrote this email on facebook to me. I thought you all might find his email and my response interesting. Sean wrote:

"Shame on you. This is the nicest politest I will be and the last word you will ever here from me. But I will not praise your name unless you change your ways. shame."

My response was...

Sean, do not praise me at all and I am not going to change my ways. Really the only one you should be praising is the Creator.

I can understand how you feel about me. I am hoping in the future you will have a change of opinion when all the facts are in.
I had nothing to do with SPACE market moving and neither did the Planning department nor the DLNR. In order for the county to close SPACE market it would require a public revocation hearing. As you may have noticed, there was no revocation hearing that means the County did not close the market.
The SPACE market moving was an internal decision, that I am assuming, was made by the board of the Village Green Society. You see Sean, the Village Green Society is a timeshare in the jungle. While the people are away their houses are being rented by the on site manager, Graham Ellis. Apparently, the SPACE market was calling attention to their real estate operations so the market has moved to Uncle Roberts.

I had everything to do with the DLNR complaint. I saw a map of the 60 acres behind the Village Green Society that looked like the forest of protected trees had gotten a severe haircut. A DLNR fly over, which requires the state spending money, verified the violations. Rentals on state land that were built from old growth OHIA in a conservation forest that were being rented for $400 a month is over the top when it comes to understanding. You have to do a lot of rationalizing for this to be okay.

Would you, Sean, cut down protected trees on State land to build rental units? Would that be alright with you? And here is the most important information that I want you to consider...It all started with SB 2274 the so called "sustainability" research bill authored by Graham Ellis and attorneys that would have facilitated Graham in covering up all of his illegal activities that he was doing in the conservation forest that is adjacent to Belly Acres in the name of "sustainability". In examining the bill and doing comparison studies, I realized this legislation was not about sustainability in reality it was about the worse kind of development and an attempt to cover up the wrong doings committed by Graham Ellis. Note: There really is no Graham Ellis just a tax exempt 501 ©3 nonprofit organization out of integrity that has given up its original mission statement.
In conclusion, as we begin to perhaps look at SB 2274 carefully you may see why this bill was killed.