permaculture

[John Schinnerer <John-Schinnerer@data-dimensions.com>]

Aloha,

Herewith a bit about what I've been up to with my land in Hawai'i...and
where and what it is, a bit of history, etc. etc.  I'm curious to know how
much others here are informed and affected in their designing by
local/regional culture, history of land and place and other such things
(maybe even sociology, politics, ... ;-).

I'll do this in several parts - first, some basic land info and history:

I have an acre of land, a 135' wide by about (do the math ;-) 323' deep
rectangle, in Puna district on Hawai'i Island (a.k.a. the Big Island).  For
anyone familiar with the area, it's in the Hawaiian Paradise Park (HPP)
subdivision, on La'i (15th), almost (but not quite - 19 lots in from
Paradise; 22 lots in from Maku'u) exactly halfway between Paradise and
Maku'u, on the mauka (mountainwards) side of 15th.    One possible map:

http://topozone.com/map.asp?lat=19.5798&lon=-154.9612&s=25&size=m

Elevation smack on the 140 ft. contour, average annual rainfall between the
120" and 160" contours according to the latest UH Press Atlas of Hawai'i -
but microclimactic differences abound in the area (and the island as a
whole) and my lot is, according to some, in the "drier" part of Paradise
Park.  The local rule of thumb is that in that subdivision, the more makai
(oceanwards) and Kapoho-side (south-east, roughly) the drier.  

Precipitation is on average distributed throughout the year - the atlas data
says it's a bit wetter in the winter and drier in the summer but I've
experienced the opposite when living in Hilo...  The rain sometimes comes as
near-daily (often evening/night/early morning) showers mixed with clearer
periods and sometimes as days or weeks of mostly rain separated by days or
weeks of mostly sun.  What can I say, it's a maritime climate on a huge
island in the middle of the Pacific ocean on the 20 degrees north line -
edge 'o the tropics...  I'm on the "wet" or windward side of the island.
Prevailing winds are the Pacific trades, coming in from the north-east, give
or take a few degrees.

It's in lava flow zone 3, the zones ranging from highest risk in zone 1 to
lowest risk in zone 6.  Yes, that's the risk of being overrun by a live lava
flow... :-o  The oldest (north) end of the island is all zone 6, and the
south-easterly areas (including of course where the currently active flow
is) are zones 1 and 2.

This is a subdivision of about 8000 lots (all one acre, except for some 1/2
acre and smaller on or in close proximity to the coast) between the
Kea'au-Pahoa highway (Hwy. 130) and the coast - one possible map:

http://topozone.com/map.asp?lat=19.5796&lon=-154.9611&s=100&size=m

This subdivision was created in the early 60's or thereabouts on land then
owned by H.C. Shipman corp., the local land baron ever since plantation
days.  They had tried "everything that was guaranteed to fail" (as my local
friend Pete says - and they still are, but that's another story) as far as
exploiting the land commercially, including trying to run cattle on it.  At
some point the best option apparently was to sell it to someone who made a
huge "substandard" subdivision, mostly to be sold sight unseen to (clueless
;-) haoles on the mainland - "buy an acre of paradise for cheap, blah blah
blah...," that sort of thing.  

All the lots in HPP are zoned A-1A, which is an Ag zoning where one dwelling
is allowed per acre and darn near anything else can be done with the land,
from basic rural-suburban house lot to plant nurseries to fighting cock
ranches (it's not illegal to raise roosters...but it sure is noisy...) to
auto wrecking yards.  The great majority of the built lots (only 25% of the
subdivision is built, so much of it feels rural) are singe-family dwellings,
mostly a bedroom community for people who work in the "big town" of Hilo or
near there.  The Ag zoning designation was part of the scam that was used to
get the subdivision approved (story goes it wouldn't have had a chance if
they'd up front said it was going to be a residential subdivision, but of
course everyone knew what was going on...).  There is also an "'ohana" law
('ohana can be translated as "family") that allows for a second dwelling on
such lots, for use by family members (in-law cottage, grandparents' or kids'
house, etc.).  This is consistent with the extended-family cultures of many
of the islands' ethnic groups, and is also much-abused by developers who
build two commercial rental houses on such lots.

The commonly used designation "substandard" for this private subdivision
(and a number of others mauka of the highway all the way up to Volcanoes
National Park) refers primarily to considerations such as:
a) all roads are privately maintained; only a few are paved - in HPP the
three roads from the highway down to the coast are paved and the crossroads
are not.
b) there is no municipal (county) water or sewer infrastructure.
c) power/phone grid infrastructure within the subdivision is not publicly
paid for - there is an assessment that must be paid by individual lot owners
for grid connection and some roads/lots do not have power/phone available.
d) there are no sidewalks, curbs, etc.
e) mail delivery is to centralized groups of mailboxes at a few locations on
the primary roads, by contract route carrier (thus addresses such as HC1,
Box 123 and the like).

To someone seeking simple near-rural self-sufficiency in water and power
sources, these are not necessarily disadvantages.  HPP is about the most
"developed" of all these "substandard" subdivisions, but there is still a
lot of empty space (it's pretty empty where my land is).  The loose zoning
allows creativity and innovation as readily as stupidity and degradation in
designing with one's land.  The most typical design implemented in the local
culture I call plan D-9 - bring in a D-9 with a ripper on the back, scrape
off the existing biomass, rip the lava underneath and flatten everything.
:-o

Questions & comments welcome - stay tuned for more...

John Schinnerer