HPP Owners’ Association Proposing Annual $500 Lot Assessment

The Hawaiian Paradise Park Owners’ Association is proposing a special $500 annual assessment for the next five years to be levied against all lot owners to cover the cost of paving all roads in the Kea`au subdivision.

The proposal will be discussed by the HPPOA Board of Directors at a general membership meeting Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the HPP Activity Center at 15-1570 Makuu Drive.

If passed by the board, the proposal will go to vote by mail among all HPP lot owners.  According to the association’s rules, out of 8,000 possible mail-in votes, a minimum of 600 are needed to decide the outcome of the proposal with the majority winning. That means if 600 votes are received and 301 votes are in favor of the proposal, then the assessment goes into effect.

It’s estimated that the proposed fee would raise $20 million, which would be used to pave all the roads in HPP over the next five years.

The special assessment fee is seen as a response to the Department of Health’s recent citing of the association for fugitive dust.

It is unclear if $20 million would cover the cost of paving all the roads within the large subdivision. HPPOA Board of Directors president June Conant did not return a call from Big Island Now seeking comment.

In January 2007, a referendum was mailed to all property owners proposing the paving of all roads in the subdivision. Only 1,201 people responded, with the majority in favor of the paving. At the time, HPPOA estimated that $12 million was needed to pave all the roads and that the project would be completed by the end of 2009.

A $12 million bond was issued. Bond payments were to be made from the road maintenance fees paid by lots owners. In 2007, property owners were told that their road fees would increase annually for five years.

Per HPPOA by-laws, the board can raise the annual road fees by a maximum of 10%. That is why the proposed road fee is being called a special assessment, since it is well above the allowed 10% annual increase.

Property owners in HPP who want to give their input on the proposed special assessment will have three minutes to speak during Wednesday’s meeting.

However, “owner input” is listed as the fourth agenda item and the “committee reports,” which includes the Finance Committee’s presentation on the special assessment, is the sixth item on the agenda. That means that people who want to speak about the proposed $500 annual assessment will have to do so before details about the assessment are given to the public.

According to agendas posted on the HPPOA website, in addition to the general meeting on Wednesday, the HPPOA board of directors is also meeting on Thursday, Aug. 16 at 6 p.m. to specifically discuss matters pertaining to dust mitigation. The meeting, which will be with the association’s legal council, Ivan Van Lear, will be in executive session and is not open to the public.