Federal Funding Secured for Hawaii Island Power Grid

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Plenty Puna folk have 4ft+ rock walls and fences within, but immediately along, the property lines so...

Yes, you can build a wall 4 feet high, up to six feet without a permit, but it must be 10 feet away from the roadway.

[Obie]

My wall is about 6 inches inside my property line which is 8 feet from the edge of the road.
The road isn't in the middle of the right of way. It wanders back where it belongs about 2 properties down the street.
Many of the dead end roads are not in the middle of the right of way.

[ironyak]

HereOnThePrimalEdge - ...but it must be 10 feet away from the roadway.
According to whom exactly? The information online around this stuff is such a mess, so just trying to untangle the sources.

HPPOA says on their FAQ:
"Are there Covenants and Restrictions in HPP?

No. The building restrictions in HPP are those of the Hawaii County Planning Department. Whatever you build or plant must be within your property lines. No driveways are to be built out onto a main roadway."

So, does the County say that the rock walls have to be 10 ft from a road, because I can't find anything to that effect? Sounds like Obie got his wall right up to the line (but he seems a bit blurry on the whole property line thing when convenient so... ;)

[Obie]

This is the President's report from the last Board meeting in August.

"Easement Encroachment: Easements should be kept clear of personal property, plantings, trees, and
permanent structures (i.e. Rock Walls)"

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

So, does the County say that the rock walls have to be 10 ft from a road, because I can't find anything to that effect?

I first tried to contact the county surveyor, as I have found that it’s better to approach the county, HPPOA, or HECO if you have the correct information about setback distances, easements, and which agency or owner is responsible for the area in question.

Apparently there is currently no county surveyor.  HPPOA has private roads, and as Obie pointed out they’re not always where they should be.  The information I received from the HPPOA office is correct as far as I can tell, 10 foot setback, in a world where roads are properly sited.  If a lot owner had their property surveyed when purchased, any variation should have been discovered.

[ironyak]

But HPPOA's directive to have a 10ft setback from the road's edge can't dictate what you can build inside of your property lines? That is, the failure of there being a 10ft setback is on HPPOA's road design, not the property owner, right? You no have corner pins over there or what, that would lead you to use the wandering road edge as some sort of reference point?

It's like that whole recent SNAFU down there about "No driveways are to be built out onto a main roadway" - HPP has no Covenants or Restrictions so they can't really use the law to enforce that (although they can apparently move some concrete structures into the roadside easement to make a property's side gate out onto the main road not very useful. ;)

Maybe the feds can provide some funds so some of these questions can be clearly answered once and for all.¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Obie]

My neighbor and I found our corner pin and also the one across the road. We put white PVC pipe over the pins for visibility. They measure 40 feet across but the measurement from the road edge is 12 feet across the road. and 8 feet on my side.The road is 20 ft with another 20 for the easements.
Maybe some day about 20 or 30 years from now, HPPOA will pave the road and put it back where it belongs.
In the meantime I'm pretty certain they can't make me tear down my wall because it is on my property.

[My 2 cents]

HPPOA has absolutely no authority over anything you do within your property lines, including setbacks.  Nothing, period.  The best that they can do is report you to the proper county authority, and THAT authority will (probably) enforce THEIR rules.  They will not enforce any rules made up by HPPOA.

Therefore, you should be getting your information from the county and ignoring the bs from HPPOA.  They have already lied to Edge about this and cost a considerable amount of time.  Don’t waste any more on them.

[Punatang]

They have already lied to Edge about this and cost a considerable amount of time. 


Probably not that much time, other than his own. We are pretty used to it and take most of his reporting with a healthy dose of skepticism. 

Inadvertently collecting lies from sources that sound sufficiently authoritative, and then perpetuating them on PW, is what we have come to expect.  

If you are correct M2C, an alliance with Patricia might have prevented him from being duped again, and broadcasting this particular misinformation on Punaweb.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

The best that they can do is report you to the proper county authority, and THAT authority will (probably) enforce THEIR rules.

In my time trying to locate the county surveyor, in speaking with multiple county officials, everyone of them told me HPPOA roads are private and the county has no authority or control over them.  They all told me I should discuss the matter directly with HPPOA.

HPPOA has absolutely no authority over anything you do within your property lines, including setbacks.  Nothing, period.

Please post a link to this information.

Inadvertently collecting lies from sources that sound sufficiently authoritative, and then perpetuating them on PW, is what we have come to expect. 

Please post links providing your information that shows my comments are incorrect.  If you know my comments are “collecting lies” then you must have a source for the real legal authority and their regulations?  This will be helpful for all homeowners and lot owners in HPP.