Orchidland road fees increase 235%

[terracore]

Thanks Kimo for sharing that.

I emailed them through the web site as the language in the web site is not clear. It states:

FEES & ASSESSMENTS
The $100/lot billing that you receive in July is the MRMA (Mandatory Road Maintenance Assessment). It is used primarily for the maintenance of the roads (grading, gravel, labor, etc.), and administration of the association.

Payment of road fees is not optional! Collection and mandatory payment was authorized by the State of Hawaii Court Summary Judgment dated April 3, 1992.

There is no mention of the special pavement assessment on the web site.

[Mimosa]

We own one lot in Orchidland Subdivision .
In the last 7 years on the road our lot is on,it has to date never had any grading or gravel placed upon the section we drive in and out of to access our lot .
We do pay our dues yearly and the $ 200.00 they are taxing us on now is not really an issue for us.
What we have done collectively as a tight knit neighborhood,is to hui our own funds to fill in all pot holes and lakes,and gravel on our own our own half mile section of road.
We hope that the BOD take note of our own work and do not pave our half mile section of road but we would like some grading once a year if at all possible .
We have written yearly to the BOD telling them,what we have done and to date,never a reply and never any work done on our section of graveled road .We have included photo copies of receipts from the different gravel haulers just to let the BOD know what we do and the costs of same.
Our 1/2 mile access to the main paved road is very smooth and well maintained,with mowing and weed eating bi - weekly .
The 200 dollar assessment is reasonable in our perspective.

Mrs.Mimosa

[terracore]

Let's say that you owned one car and had one house on a street in Orchidland and you really liked your privacy, so you purchased all 72 vacant lots (36 each side) on both sides of the street. Your road fees would be $14,400.00/year yet your house only has one car. Now compare that to my neighbor who has several households and vehicles on a single lot (including double axle vehicles with multiple tires on some axles). So in theory a single family home could owe $14,400.00 per year while a single lot doing tens of thousands times more damage to the roads owes only $200.

Of course, these figures are fanciful, but it illustrates the frustration multiple-lot-single-home-and-car owners face every year when they get these assessments. Today some arsehole was driving an ATV up and down our unpaved road repeatedly at what sounded like a hundred decibels and nearly 60 MPH.

I don't know what the solution is, but me paying $400/year isn't part of the solution.

[shockwave rider]

All of use who bought lots in subdivisions with various forms of road fees knew what the deal was when we bought. Absentee land owners don't drive on the roads at all, but I don't think they should be able to escape the fees. The whole system is mess, but it wasn't imposed on anyone after the fact. Different subdivisions have different mechanisms for levying and increasing the fees, but anyone who buys has to sign that they did their due diligence before they closed on the property.

[terracore]

"it wasn't imposed on anyone after the fact"

I would consider a 235% increase per year in road fees something that is imposed after the fact. Some of these lots in Orchidland were purchased before mandatory road fees were legal, and some of the lots were even purchased for only slightly less than what the annual road fees have ballooned to.

I'm actually not against road fees, but what I am against is a fee schedule that guarantees that many people won't (because they can't) pay.

"Absentee land owners don't drive on the roads at all, but I don't think they should be able to escape the fees."

I agree 100%. I guess they sort of counteract the non-land-owners who drive these "private" roads every day.

Here's an easier "comparison". Imagine your property taxes went up 235%/year, even though you thought you voted against that.

ETA: content

[Hapahaole]

Said by Leilanidude

hapahaole

[kalakoa]

Imagine your property taxes went up 235%/year

Imagine your vehicle registration has doubled in the last five years because the "highway fund" money was spent on something else.

[shockwave rider]

quote:

---

Originally posted by terracore

"it wasn't imposed on anyone after the fact"

I would consider a 235% increase per year in road fees something that is imposed after the fact. Some of these lots in Orchidland were purchased before mandatory road fees were legal, and some of the lots were even purchased for only slightly less than what the annual road fees have ballooned to.

I'm actually not against road fees, but what I am against is a fee schedule that guarantees that many people won't (because they can't) pay.

"Absentee land owners don't drive on the roads at all, but I don't think they should be able to escape the fees."

I agree 100%. I guess they sort of counteract the non-land-owners who drive these "private" roads every day.

Here's an easier "comparison". Imagine your property taxes went up 235%/year, even though you thought you voted against that.

ETA: content

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This is not a "tax" and that is a BS comparison. this is a road fee agreed to when you buy into a subdivision with "private" roads. You don't want to pay whatever your association charges, then buy a place on a public road. A 235% increase is big, I understand the sticker shock, but all this after the fact whining about the system being unfair because someone's neighbor has more people living on their land than they do is childish.

Do your due diligence, if the rules let them raise rates in big jumps then go to meetings or join your board, but don't act like it is some unfair surprise that you have to pay your fees per lot.

[kalakoa]

Do your due diligence, if the rules let them raise rates in big jumps then go to meetings or join your board, but don't act like it is some unfair surprise that you have to pay your fees per lot.

I believe the actual problem is "value for monies paid", not that the dues themselves are mandatory.

[pahoated]

These failed developments are each made up of a single large private plot, like HPP, HA, Fern Forest, Orchidland, Shores, Beaches, Leilani, so on. Back when they had individual owners of the entire development plot, there were subdivision plans that were made. Enough to say, some were good, most were bad. Draw a circle around each large plot, the residents within are responsible for their own infrastructure. Wonder if anybody has taken the width of their lot and got an estimate for that paved length? If everybody did that, then a road would gradually form. Course, it would take community, so that won't happen.

"Aloha also means goodbye. Aloha!"