*NEW* Orchidland road fee proposal

[kalakoa]

the good road became road 8 in Hawaiian acres

For some limited value of "good", perhaps.

and that alternate route is kinda out of the way

Not far enough that people don't use it as a "shortcut" around the Keaau Crawl.

[terracore]

quote:

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Originally posted by jerry

terracore,

FYI, the original road paving plan called for paving Ilima. Years back when a board tried to change that, using the same logic as you, the result was a lawsuit and the board was forced by the court to keep Ilima in the paving plan.

Jerry

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Thanks for the explanation!

[terracore]

quote:

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Originally posted by KeaauRich

Well, remember that before that badly worded rate increase vote was taken last year (which resulted in rates reverting to the rates in effect 5 years ago), we were paying $150 per lot for road fees, so $185 isn't a big increase at all.

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If the standard fee was $85 and it was increased to $150 to fund road paving, before getting voted back down to $85, was anything actually paved during the price increase, or did all that money just disappear into "administrative fees"?

[KeaauRich]

Well my understanding is that something like $200K is sitting in the bank, earmarked to repave lower Orchidland Drive, but some of the new Board members have held up that project for their own personal concerns. The Board membership has been a revolving door over the last year or so. If my count is right, we've had six presidents in the past two years. There is no list of the current Board members on the website, but my understanding is that there are 9 filled seats and 2 vacancies. Interim Board members can be voted in at any Board meeting by the Board members and any general members present. While I haven't done the research (largely because much of the necessary documentation isn't available on the Orchidland website...), I suspect that the majority of the current Board were never voted on by the membership as a whole, but rather are like-minded people nominating and voting in their friends. According to the Bylaws, these interim elections can only be held one month after the announcement of a vacancy at a regular Board meeting. However, unless you attended that first meeting, you wouldn't be aware of the election because the Board minutes aren't posted until after they are approved at the subsequent meeting (so the latest regular Board minutes online now are the September minutes). Without commenting on the qualifications of the current Board, I am troubled by the fact that the voting blocs on the Board can be manipulated so easily.

[ironyak]

http://orchidland.org/association-business/budget/

Near the bottom under Road Income, over the last 2 years there has been ~$225,000 deposited into the Chip Seal Maintenance Account. It is listed as a negative here so it comes from the MRMA income.

Is this separate or the same as the Paving Fund mentioned here?
http://orchidland.org/our-roads/
"A section of road is paved whenever enough money accumulates in the paving fund with each paving billing."

This is to be for the repair of lower Orchidland drive yes? (with the argument of course if paving over the chip seal is in violation of the Paving Plan or not)?

It feels like the general meeting should begin with an overview of the current funds, the ballot text used to approve them, and the obligations set out in the Paving Plan. Getting clarity on the current situation, before voting on changes seems necessary.

[kimo wires]

I think that the reason it reverted back to 85 is because all of a small amount is better than nothing of a large amount. The budget is not explained in enough detail to tell what's actually being spent where. I suppose we will get a more detailed explanation at the General Membership meeting? We will see. Until there's trust and transparency the status quo on both sides will probably remain.

[microage97]

I think I would rather spend the proposed 185 on 10 ton of crushed rock to fill any pukas.

[Punaperson]

Commenting on an earlier post:

KimoWires: ' Back in the early days the county wanted to use 40th as a route to install power lines. '

This is inaccurate on several counts:

The'early days' : At the time, Orchidland had been existence for over 30 years ( early middle age ? ), and had a congenial community association established, one that had held fundraisers, printed T-shirts and cookbooks, and had hibachi get-togethers when ever gravel or cinder was laid.

It wasn't the County, but HELCO that wanted to run transmission lines from the 'waiting to be built' geothermal plant to Hilo across 40th.

When residents asked HELCO if power would become available to homeowners along the proposed route, the answer was 'not necessarily', because what HELCO was planning on was installing large capacity transmission lines ( the ones now along HWY 130 ), not the type that was needed for household use. The HELCO reps said they could bring up and discuss residential power distribution, but it was a separate issue from the transmission lines. They would make no guarantees about how they would leave the roads after all their heavy equipment left. What was proposed would have been a great deal for HELCO, but questionable for Orchidland. The County was not involved. Some board of directors were in favor, some were not. When put to a vote, the majority of the community association membership voted no to the proposal.

KW: '...ruining any chance that the county will ever try to help again. '

The main reason 40th will not be used by the County as an alternate route to either HWY 130 or Rd. 8 in Hawaiian Acres is the huge volume of water that crosses near Pohaku when there is any substantial rain. Anyone can go to the Orchidland website, go to the FAQs, and look at the photos under ' flooding problems'. And those pictures don't even do justice to what it feels like to be standing by the huge, powerful torrents of water raging by.

[kalakoa]

The HELCO reps ... would make no guarantees about how they would leave the roads

Same old, same old.

reason 40th will not be used by the County as an alternate route to either HWY 130 or Rd. 8 in Hawaiian Acres is the huge volume of water that crosses near Pohaku when there is any substantial rain

...and yet County spent $2.1M "fixing" that problem upstream where it crosses Road 8.

[kimo wires]

I stand corrected.
But still I believe Helco and the county are holding hands.
The road would have been improved to service the lines and the flooding issue would have been addressed. A concrete bridge like the one on pohaku would work. The flood waters don't come that often. We have to have sustained hard rains for it to flood and when the rain stops the waters quickly recede.