Cliff Sheds, Price Soars: A coastal house in Hilo had to be partly demolished a few years ago, when county inspectors deemed it unsafe. The house, perched atop a cliff near Honoliʻi, had begun to slide into the ocean. Debris in the water posed a hazard to surfers and others who regularly enjoyed the popular surf spot.
It was not the first time the land under the house had sloughed off into the ocean. Hawaiʻi County records show that as far back as the early 1990s, supports for the deck were failing. An effort to stabilize the cliff face with gunnite was attempted, to no avail. By 2017, the Department of Public Works declared the house unsafe for habitation.
Large parts of the deck were shorn off. A new, much smaller deck was built on footings drilled deep into the earth. A permit issued for the demolition by the Department of Public Works placed cost of the work at $70,000.
In 2021, the owner sold the property at a price reflecting its distressed condition: $266,000.
Now the three-bedroom, three-bath house, freshly painted and staged, but still served by a cesspool, is on the market once more, with an asking price of $995,000.
(The house was the subject of an article in the January 2018 edition of Environment Hawaiʻi.)
Water Deputy Approved: On January 24, the state Commission on Water Resource Management unanimously approved the reappointment of Kaleo Manuel as its deputy director.
Manuel, who served as deputy under former director Suzanne Case, garnered support from many who have been impressed by progress he and his staff have made in restoring long-diverted streams and protecting groundwater resources.
They included the heads or representatives of the Hui o Nā Wai ‘Eha, Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi, Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo, the PA’I Foundation, the Aha Moku councils, the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, and the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs.
Former commissioner Kamana Beamer and others praised Manuel as a gifted facilitator, especially with those who have long felt unheard. Jonathan Scheuer, former chair of the Land Use Commission who often consults for the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (Manuel’s former employer), testified that under Manuel’s leadership, local and Hawaiian communities and the Water Commission now have a connection that bodes “very well for the heavy, complex, and difficult work over the next four years.”
Retired commission senior hydrologist Charley Ice, however, submitted written testimony in opposition. Ice stated that although Manuel was a friend and respected colleague, “the Water Commission is not a place to learn how to administer a complex program, and he failed to understand a workable process for making transitions on policy and procedures. My own retirement came too early, after long months of struggling to get applications to move. People have a reasonable expectation to have action within 90 days, and I found that I could not get anything to budge for well over a year (if even now),” Ice wrote.
Manuel explained, “I have always come in working within the system, but always have questions about efficiencies,” and sometimes he and his staff disagree. With regard to the alleged backlog, Manuel suggested his commitment to quality may have played a part. “I take everything I put my signature on very, very seriously,” he said, adding that COVID-19 and staff retirements may have also slowed processing times.
Leave a Reply