An Open Letter to Prospective Buyers

or people moving to Hawaiian Acres

Aloha kakou,

Today I met a couple from California who had purchased property here last year. They had contacted the HACA (Hawaiian Acres Community Association) office asking to talk with someone who could answer questions about “the acres” and their property. Laurie, our illustrious office secretary, called to ask if I would like to meet with them. They even offered to take me to breakfast. They were so grateful for the information that I provided them (from my experiences of living on the Island of Hawai'i for over 30 years) they inspired me to write this letter in an effort to assist others who may be like them looking to move to the Big Island, or recently moved, and looking into building on their lots some time in the future.

Their situation was unique (as are many here) since they had purchased their land sight unseen through a Realtor while they were still on the mainland. It had been disclosed to them that there was a waterway crossing the road but they were surprised to find that the road had been washed out a few hundred feet before their lots and the only access visible was by walking in or with a very high 4 WD vehicle. I had heard about this area so I went to look at the property before I met them in an attempt to assist them in finding their lots. They had mentioned that the lots had been recently surveyed. Having checked the lot numbers positions on the HACA map (located in the community center) I headed out thinking I would simply count the poles and find their lot using a little simple math in my head.

After turning off C Rd. onto 2 Rd. toward B Rd., I found that 2 Rd. was not unlike most of the roads in the “acres” full of pot holes small ponds and generally first gear all the way kind of driving. It was certainly accessible by car. Since I had a 2WD Nissan Pickup I had no problem traversing most of the 1 mile of distance that is the length of our numbered roads (in between the lettered cross roads). As I crept along counting the power poles and multiplying by two for the number of lots that I had passed, I noticed that there were numerous freshly bulldozed lots and a few new buildings being erected as well as a fair number of old driveways that housed likely some old timers from this rural lifestyle.

I noticed a van stopped in the road ahead and thinking it was someone talking story I slowed even more to give them time to finish up. The driver saw me in the mirror and pulled over to the side so I could pass. The van drew my attention away for a few seconds so it was after I passed them before realized there were no more poles. HELCO had not extended the electric poles any further. Hmmm? I thought, well I'll simply look for the stakes from the recent survey and hope that there weren't any other surveys nearby. A few hundred feet past that the road stopped. There was a dry riverbed in front of me that would require a high clearance 4WD vehicle to cross.

Anticipating no large volume of traffic in the area I grabbed my keys and began walking until I found the lot stakes and the access road at the end (Old Volcano Trail) that led down to 3 Rd. Seeing that there was a wall of waiawi (wild guava) trees in front of both of the lots and no path down the property line, I assumed that the surveyors either didn't find the back pins or they used the "cut line" to access where the pins were from behind.

When Hawaiian Acres was divided up into lots and the roads were first "cut" by bulldozers in the 1950's, rather than cut a trail down each property line they simply cleared another access road at the back of the 3 acre lots and put in the adjoining pins for the backs of both lots whose frontage was on i.e., 2 Rd and 3 Rd. This cut line has since grown over by a variety of underbrush, fast growing "weed" trees and the occasional young "ohi'a" that is the predominant native forest. If one is familiar with the flora of the area and not afraid to traverse the jungle it is obvious in most places where the demarcation of the cut is since the tree growth is so different along that well overgrown path.

When I finally met these folks, after inviting them over to view our house and lots as a contrast/comparison to theirs, I noticed that they had prudently brought a list of questions and tablet with which to write down answers. They were very grateful to have someone to answer their questions and give them even unsolicited answers to situations that they had in their heads that simply wouldn't work here. Our cups of tea in hand we began a discussion that after a while appeared to overwhelm them in the amount of "foreign" information.

Some of the subjects that we talked about I will discuss below in an effort to ward off hard times and painful problems to unknowing well intentioned folks:

(It is my intention to leave a glossary of Hawaiian or local words at the end in case I fail to define them as I go.)

Bulldozing is one way to create many problems while you think you are solving some.

First it is important to keep in mind that the folks who live here for a long time must like a lot of rain, lots of trees, the slow paced lifestyle, and the myriad of other unique aspects of the "acres" that exist nowhere else on this planet "that's correct " on the planet because that is what we have here. If you have a picture in your mind of how your land should look when you are all finished building your dream home in the acres, and it looks anything like where you came from, THINK AGAIN. Why are you moving to Hawaiian Acres? Could it be to get away from the fast paced, concrete jungle, stop lights and pavement everywhere, crowds of people, arid and "desolate of life" place that you came from? If any of this is accurate, please consider that you may not want to end up with something that is a lot like what you just left.

For those of us who have lived here a long time there is a sad story that repeats itself over and over when it comes to bulldozing. Almost never does it look like what you thought it was going to be when they are done doing the roll and grind on your lot with the BIG BIG D-9 dozer. Whether it is intentional, or perhaps they speak a different language, maybe they mislead or perhaps they simply lie, but bulldozer operators will tell you one thing and do another - with rare exception. If a bulldozer owner tells you that it will be cheaper to rip the entire lot than to do the planned small clearing for a house pad, garden, orchard, etc. and leave the rest of the forest, that you envisioned, don't believe him. Bulldozers work by the hour. The guy needs new batteries in his calculator or something. Perhaps he has a (im)moral imperative to destroy as many trees in his lifetime as possible, who knows? Not only does it take longer to rip the entire lot but it creates many problems that you will have to deal with that will cost you much much more in time, energy, money and grief if you remain on your land.

If you are planning to farm your acreage in its entirety and begin immediately then and only then may ripping the acreage be appropriate. Consider that if you plan to build a house and/or barn and work and live... it may be months or years before you get around to landscaping, planting an orchard, farming, etc. During this time the jungle keeps growing. Your freshly ripped earth will become a host for many invasive "fast growing " hard to get rid of trees, shrubs, and weeds. Not to mention that you will have destroyed the ecosystem of many endemic species, that will likely never live there again because they will be choked out by all the fast growers.

In addition you may likely change the flow of the natural waterways, causing someone else's lot downstream to become a pond, a stream, or a bog. Many of these streams are not apparent until the heavy rains come. You may walk your land during a dry spell and not be aware that you crossed a stream bed or a boggy area because the water has receded quickly because of the percolation through the lava. During our heavy rains the water table fills up to overflowing and rivers and streams are formed to get all of the water back down to the ocean.

If you have been told that you do not need a grubbing permit to bulldoze - that is not true. So many problems have come to light in recent years that the County of Hawaii has begun to scrutinize much more closely the changing of waterways and the problems created by bulldozing. You need to have your lot assessed for unique waterways. You also need a grubbing permit as part of your building process.

There are a few capable and well respected bulldozer operators around who do excellent work. Ask people in the Community Association for recommendations and then go look at some of the lots that they have bulldozed. Perhaps talk to other owners who have had tasteful jobs done.

It is very important that you walk your lot as much as possible and look for its unique characteristics. Mark the areas where you want the dozer to go with one color survey tape and mark the areas where he is not to go with another color tape. This is important. If it is not feasible for you to do this find an old timer in the neighborhood to work with you on this.

Water

It is difficult to imagine (if you have lived your entire life on the mainland) what 185 to 200 inches of rainfall per year really means. Until you have experienced the torrential rains for hours and days without stopping, the reality and the ramifications simply are not part of your way of thinking about the world. If you have a friend on the mainland who is an architect or a builder and you get a "great deal" on some plans for your house, etc. think again. That great deal may cause you years of grief and countless unseen expenses when you build a house that was designed for California or Pennsylvania, here in Hawaii. Here are a few examples of why:

If you build your house without taking into consideration the prevailing winds and the storm winds, you may find that your house is constantly mildewed inside because there is no air flow.

If the overhangs on your roof are 1 or 2 feet, you may find that you have nowhere to walk outside your house without getting wet more often than not.

If you have no lanai or decks on your house you may find that your lifestyle is very much like what you left - you are inside all the time when you shouldn't be.

If you don't have enough windows that bring natural light and ventilation, you may be wasting electricity because you can't see inside in the daytime.

Roads

If you look at the history of the Hawaiian Acres on the web - http://hawaiianacres.org/history.shtml

you will see in detail much of the "story" of "the acres" an even greater detail is found in the 1999 Master Plan http://hawaiianacres.org/archive/MasterPlan1999.pdf

The MasterPlan1999 is a bit outdated in some respects but full of very valuable information about our home here in Hawaiian Acres.

As for the roads, it is important to be aware that most subdivisions have either county or state roads that are maintained by the local governing infrastructure and taxes are levied to provide this maintenance or in the case of private roads a mandatory yearly fee is levied by covenants or rules of the subdivision to provide for regular maintenance. There are laws and ordinances most places to provide for this. Neither of these is true for Hawaiian Acres.

The 72 miles of roads are privately held as a contiguous lot by all lot owners and since the land was subdivided before Hawaii became a State, no provisions were put in place for mandatory road fees. If your plans include the assumption that the roads to your property will likely be fixed soon - think again. The Hawaiian Acres Road Corporation (HARC) was established by volunteers. It is run, just like HACA, by volunteers. It uses funds that are volunteered by lot owners to maintain the roads as best it can. Only a small proportion of the land owners or residents actually pay their road dues to HARC or HACA. And it is almost always those people who do not pay their road dues who complain the most and loudest about the poor condition of the roads. A general agreement has been made due to the lack of funds that only the lettered roads (A - G) will be maintained and the numbered roads will be given matching funds (if they are available) when requested by a lot owner or resident who has paid dues to HARC.

The best and most efficient way possible to see that the roads near your lot are improved or maintained is to volunteer to work with HARC to see what can be done and assist in its completion.

There may be many more reasons why that "great deal" really is not. It would be prudent for you to live in the subtropics for a while before you actually choose, design, or build your house. Remember this is a rural lifestyle. If you haven't lived it before it would be wise to find out what it is all about before you make a huge commitment like building your dream home.