Hamakua

[BI-Curious]

Thanks everyone for the thoughtful responses. Lots of great info!

[Super8]

BI-Curious,

Does that stand for Big Island Curious? Have you not been before? Yes and no. As long as I was on the Big Island, where doesn't really matter. I do prefer country over city, but I can't say I prefer Hamakua over any other "country" setting on the Big Island. If I had no impediments, I'd live in the grassy fields of Kau. Is Hamakua where you are planning on setting up your nest?

[8]

[kohaladiver808]

I've lived several places in hamakua and north Hilo. it is very beautiful and very true what most have said above. however, if you are an ocean peerson it's not so good. I have swam/dive at Laupahoehoe and surfed honoli'i etc. but because of the cliffs no ocean access except Laupahoehoe and a few others, hakalau etc. or Hilo town but nothing like puna or the west side.

[Kapohocat]

I love it and especially Honomu town.

We had the choice of moving into Mom's house in Honomu when she passed away or selling it.

Hard choice as I love all my friends and adored all our neighbors in Honomu and I love the weather were we are. (And the COH controls stuff in Honomu not a HOA.)

The deciding factor was size - mom's lot is tiny and here we have 3/4 of an acre. (we'll probably regret that choice when we are 90! LOL)

[missydog1]

Honomu is such a cool village. []

Re what Cagary said, the Ag zoning tends to be Ag-20. The camp zoning is RS and can be really small. There are also Homestead areas and village ateas.

Something I just learned though is that if there was an existing kuleana it was grandfathered if it existed prior to zoning. Apparently zoning did not exist prior to Statehood?

My property for example is Ag-20 but it is 2 acres, and my neighbors have various parcel sizes all Ag-20 and all smaller than mine. All perfectly legal.

So there is a lot of variety.

[David M]

Love it, even if technically No. Hilo

David

Ninole Resident
Please visit vacation.ninolehawaii.com

[Hotzcatz]

It rather hard to compare the two zones since they are so different. I've lived in Puna, Hilo and Hamakua. Given the choice of all of the above: Hamakua. Mostly because of the different energy in Hamakua. It's mostly folks who grew up around here although there are a lot of newbies, too, but the majority is folks from around here so there is a history and stability that doesn't show up in most of Puna. Puna has improved leaps and bounds, though, in the past several decades.

The growing conditions are much better in Hamakua. If you want to do any sort of farming, it will probably be better in Hamakua although a lot of that may depend on which specific crop you're interested in growing. If you're ranching, then hands down Hamakua.

Access to the ocean is limited along the Hamakua coast, although the views are incredible. It's just getting to the water itself which is limited. It takes about forty five minutes to drive to a white sand beach. Dunno how long it takes in most areas of Puna.

There aren't many walk-able towns on this island, but Honokaa is one of them. Hilo is a bit spread out to actually be a good walk-able town. If you lived in Pahoa itself, it might be walkable. If you're in one of the big Puna subs, well, you're driving pretty much everywhere on limited roadways, too.

Hamakua has the same limited roadways but much less population density so less traffic. There are some areas of go around when the highway is blocked, but not all areas have detours. There is almost no lava threat, although if those eucalyptus trees ever catch fire we're in a world of hurt.

Hamakua ain't cheap, though. You can get a much larger place in Puna than you can get in Hamakua for the same amount.

A lot of Puna's troubles are from those big sub divisions that were platted out with nothing but residential ag lots for miles and miles. No infrastructure, required when they were "developed" either. But folks are working on that although it's gonna take awhile to get organized.

There are a lot of great areas in Puna. There are some not so nice areas. Same with Hamakua. Where exactly in each area you're looking at makes a huge difference, too! It's kinda like comparing cars to trucks, which is better? A Maserati versus a Isuzu 2WD pickup? A Hyundai versus a Peter Built?

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"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson

[BI-Curious]

Hi Super8,
Yes, BI-Curious stands for Big Island Curious. I thought I was being clever! I have been to the BI several times and am now considering buying there. My search area is huge right now:
South of Honokaa, North of Pahoa, East of Mountain View! I do realize that is a ridiculously large area to be considering. I'm coming over next week and plan to spend the whole trip driving and exploring. I like the "openness" of Hamakua/North Hilo, but like everyone is saying, there isn't much infrastructure up there. And it is more expensive than Puna. And there aren't a lot of beaches. And then there's the wind. But it sure is PRETTY!

[Carey]

That is very close to the area we were considering 9 years ago...putting on over 10K mi in the first few weeks...

We settled for a walkable town (Keaau) that has a daily farmers market... we moved thinking dream house acres with ocean view & ended up with accessible house on small lot and mountain view (so much for the master plan!)

Why the changes in a little time... well we rented near one area that we were sure was perfect, had great neighbors... Experienced first hand how much yard work & maintenance a place with land near the ocean involve... then one of the great older neighbors that built the dream house got seriously ill & we saw the impact giving up the dream house you have had for over a decade to trade for something more centrally located & accessible place...& decided to invest in the future...

[kalakoa]

quote:

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there isn't much infrastructure up there.

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If the HCDP is any indication, they plan to keep it that way. PCDP is progressive by comparison.