Lot in Nanawale Agricultural?

[jono]

I purchased a lot in Nanawale and in the closing documents the lot is listed as classified agricultural. Is that a mistake? On http://www.hawaiipropertytax.com when I look it up with the TMK number it also shows up as agricultural.

The reason I'm wondering is that when I was reading through the Hawaii County Building Code I noticed that on agricultural zoned land you can have up to a 600sq ft un-permited storage shed. It's only 120sq ft for residential zoned land.

I know Nanawale has their own rules and restrictions, but in terms of what the county laws are, it seems like I could have up to a 600sq ft un-permited structure on my lot for storage. Does anyone have an experience building un-permited structures for storage in Nanawale?

Thanks!
Jono

[rainyjim]

Hi Jono, first off have you actually walked/driven/seen Nanawale yet?

To answer your questions I would begin here: http://www.nanawale.com/documents.html

Specifically in the CCRs section.

There is a fine line, especially here in Hawaii, about what you can and cannot do in reality and what is technically legal or illegal.

That said from what I have seen of nanawale I really can't imagine anyone getting mad about whatever structure you plan on building - there are many questionably safe / unpermitted structures.

Cheers

rainyjim

[jono]

Thanks for the reply rainyjim!

Yeah I've spent a fair bit of time in Nanawale (prob about a year total over the past 3 years if you added it all up) and I've seen all the sketchy buildings around there. I see why they are opposed to it and why their CRC's have specific rules about what you can and can't do. Reading their monthly minutes, they seem to take it pretty seriously too (even though it doesn't look that way driving around...)

My plan right now is to build a small shed on the land when I have enough cash on hand to do it. The CRC's allow you to have an un-permitted shed which you can use to live and for storage while you are building your main house for up to a year. I won't be building a main house for years, but I'll have the shed for storage of building materials and hopefully I'll be able to crash there whenever I'm on the island as well, which won't be very often. It's stretching their rules a bit, but I feel like I can probably get away with it.

But the county regulations say you can have up to a 120sq ft shed without a permit in a residential zone, but up to 600sq ft in an agricultural zone. I think I'd like to do something between 120 and 200sq ft... so if I can get away with that based on the land showing up as agricultural, that'd be awesome. The lot is obviously not agricultural though, it's only 9000sq ft. Do you think that will be a problem?

Thanks!
Jono

[riverwolf]

Welcome to Nanawale. It's a great place to live.
enjoy.

riverwolf

[shave_ice]

Hmm if its agricultural that's the first I've heard of it. I live in Nanawale and the CCRs are pretty strict. Seeing as a house must be 880 sq feet (I think that's the figure), it seems unlikely that a 600 sq foot unpermitted shed would be allowed. You could probably ask the office manager of the community association, Robert Berry, and he could give you a definite answer. Robert Berry - 808-965-8080

[jono]

Thanks!
I think I'm being a bit confusing. I'm pretty sure you're right on about the 880sq ft minimum for a residence as per the CCR's in Nanawale. But as a storage shed, under the county building code, you can have either a max of 120sq ft or 600sq ft without a building permit depending on whether the land is zoned residential or agricultural. Nanawale doesn't seem to have any bylaw concerning the size of a storage shed. According to the county tax website, my lot is listed as agricultural. Which doesn't make sense to me, seems like it should be residential since it's in a subdivision... and the CCR's don't allow for any agricultural activity anyway. So it seems like I should be able to build a shed larger than 120sq ft without a building permit. I guess Robert Berry could clear it up for me, was just wondering if anyone here had an experience with this sort of thing. Thanks again for the responses!
Jono

[Rene Siracusa]

The best place to direct your questions are at the Nanawale office. You want to be sure to follow their CC&Rs because they have gone after violators and put liens on those parcels.

[kalakoa]

As far as zoning, the technicalities for Nanavale are:

Most lots are technically A-1-a (agricultural, 1 acre minimum lot size) with the current size grandfathered as "legal nonconforming" because the subdivision was created post-State but pre-County.

Some of the front lots are actually zoned R (residential) and have county water.

In either case, the strict CC&Rs attempt to force "residential" behavior; I'm not sure how effective this actually is, there are plenty of violations, but seems like only one has escalated all the way to legal action.

Note also that the nearby "Nanavale Farm Lots" are not part of the "Estates", these are acutal ag-zoned acreage.

[kalakoa]

and yes: the Nanavale CC&Rs require a larger house than County code.

[jono]

Interesting. I knew some of the lots near the entrance had city water... didn't know that history of the subdivision though.

Thanks for the feedback from everyone. I'm going to get in touch with the Nanawale office as soon as I have cell phone reception again. I guess I want to make sure that I can build a storage shed without any immediate plans to build a house. I know I could get a shipping container and leave it on the lot, but I'd prefer something that isn't hideous and would like to have on the property long term after I have a house there. Seems like it shouldn't be an issue as long as I'm not trying to live in it.

Anyway, thanks again for all the feedback!

Jono