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Confirmed here.
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/201...-property/
County officials say no decision has been made, though Mayor Harry Kim, who lost a home in Kapoho, has said it is "very questionable" whether public dollars would be invested in that road again.
...
If it's ultimately decided not to rebuild certain infrastructure, the county could use the federal funds for alternative projects, said Diane Ley, Research and Development director. Those would likely be in the same area of the island, though they can be outside of it if they still serve people who were displaced, she said.
I predict that the "required" studies will be used to drag things out into election season, at which point the "alternative projects" will include the Keaau wastewater treatment plant, quietly approved just as Kim leaves office. The next Mayor will be left holding the bag; they will have no choice but to honor the WWTP contract and raise taxes to cover the mandatory raises for Kim's 93 new hires.
Rebuilding Leilani will be facilitated by County turning a blind eye to people's homemade roads and unpermitted structures. This way, future lava recovery aid requests can be summarily denied: "not a public road, no permits, you're lucky we don't fine you".
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the "alternative projects" will include the Keaau wastewater treatment plant,
The wastewater treatment plant will then handle sewer intake lines from pre-approved subdivisions on Shipman property. Like previous Puna lava land subdivisions, large landowners will always find government officials who willingly approve their investment schemes, presented to the general public as a benefit for the average guy as it will offer them property at an affordable price point.
Then, some decades in the future when the small property owners and their children start showing the effects of arsenic poisoning* (and who knows what else) from former sugar cane lands which are now their yards, schools, public parks, and shopping centers, taxpayers will once again be left holding the bag for a superfund cleanup. Former residents will be paid pennies on the dollar for their homes because they should have known better, and the little guy gets screwed once again.
* land development approved based on a 2019 study showing "safe" levels of arsenic ppm in the soil, invalidated by later studies
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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When you put it that way, it sounds like some kind of scam.
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Wouldn't that be fraud. Diverting federal funds for private projects.
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The waste water treatment plant is going to be built and paid for by Shipman.
"POTENTIAL IMPACTS AND MITIGATION MEASURES
No significant impacts are anticipated. In addition to approved individual wastewater systems, the
developer and/or the landowner will construct a private wastewater treatment and conveyance
system to adequately serve the Project and meet the requirements of the State Department of Health
and the County."
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The waste water treatment plant is going to be built and paid for by Shipman.
Yes, initially.
The developer will pay for the treatment plant, roads, etc so they may convert their low value ag land into high value residential properties. Lots in the subdivision will then be sold at a price which includes the cost of the water treatment plant, roads, etc, so in the end the average guy buying the property will pay for those improvements. They’ll pay for it twice in fact, because when s/he receive their tax bill the assessment will include the portion paid for a treatment plant, roads, etc. and they’ll be taxed accordingly.
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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"the assessment will include the portion paid for a treatment plant"
It will be taxed taking into consideration the value these improvements have added but the tax will not go directly to pay for installing them.
That's how infrastructure is built out all over the United States.
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you can expect to pay more.
Yes.
Or in Puna the homeowner can avoid paying those added costs if they live five miles down a rutted, washed out road under a blue tarp in the Acres. Who needs a stinkin’ expensive high tech waste treatment plant, when you can have a stinkin’ lava crack right on your own property? Or even better, on your absentee neighbor’s property?
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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I understand that Kim is pushing for construction of a new Civil Defense headquarters building (which we can all assume will be named for him...). Don't be surprised if a few million end up there too.
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If a new CD building is constructed, I suggest all the lower Puna refugee homeless consider it theirs and move into it. What a legacy!
