Building code crackdown in Ranchos (Hawaiian Ocean View, Fern Forest: rentals, condo, houses)

[tpirsig]

Questions and comments about building permit enforcement have come up on this forum. All it takes is one upset neighbor...

2/14/2016

Multiple Ocean View homeowners turned in for building code violations | Hawaii Tribune-Herald

By BRET YAGER West Hawaii Today


County inspectors have been checking out homes, shops and shacks in Hawaiian Ocean View Ranchos for compliance with building codes.
It’s not unusual for the Public Works Building Division to receive a complaint about an individual residence — that’s what typically triggers an inspection.
But residents worry that the visits are just the beginning as word spreads that the county has received a map of the subdivision with 96 lots circled. Those are the homes that an unidentified complainant believes are out of line with county codes.
Mats Fogelvik got a visit from building, plumbing and electrical inspectors last week. He’s fairly certain a citation is coming, since he temporarily uses a large steel woodworking shop as his residence and also has an unpermitted shack on his property.
“It’s sad,” he said.
“I’m just trying to live my life. In Ocean View, everyone has something unpermitted on their property.”
Deputy Building Division Chief Jai Chong confirmed the site inspections and receipt of the map.
But the map alone isn’t actionable, because the county requires the complainant to provide a tax map key number and the specific code violation before it investigates. That information wasn’t supplied with the map, but 10 other complaint letters do contain the necessary information for as many properties, and the county is now acting on those complaints as required by law, building officials said. No citations had been issued as of Friday.
One resident, who has been visited by a trio of county inspectors, is worried that whoever wrote the letters won’t stop until they’ve placed successful complaints on all 96 properties.
The county can require that violations be corrected within a certain time frame and issue $1,000 fines.
“Evidently we have two people, maybe more, who thought it would be smart to turn people in,” said Jeff Barger, of Ranchos.
“I believe they will start a letter-writing campaign now. It’s really abhorrent.”
A half dozen residents interviewed for this article said they believe the complaints are linked to infighting at the subdivision’s community association, where residents have quarreled over the selection of officers, residency requirements and other matters.

But Bobbi Wood, a member of the community association board, said Ranchos residents were unhappy with shabby structures well before the ongoing dust-up over association leadership.
“We have pallet houses,” Wood said. “We have people driving onto a lot and setting up camp. We have people with no sanitation. There have been two home invasions in the last month. Those of us who are in permitted homes and follow the law are paying the price.”
Stretching back decades, the board would send out letters to homeowners, unsuccessfully trying to get them to come into compliance, she said.
“My guess is that someone just said enough is enough,” she said.
Whatever the root of the complaints, they’ve turned neighbor against neighbor, Fogelvik said.
“I do have some things I need to fix, but it’s not fun being turned in by your neighbor,” said Fogelvik, who is president of the Ranchos road maintenance corporation.
“I’m trying to take the high route and say it’s a blessing in disguise, that it’s something I need to get done.”
Another resident who asked not to be named was less philosophical.
“I’m completely unpermitted, so I’m going to get hammered,” he said.
“It’s gonna cost thousands of dollars and we can’t afford it. This is going to affect hundreds of people.”
The man said he and his wife aren’t living in an illegal 576-square foot cabin to flaunt the law, but out of necessity.
“We lost everything in the recession,” he said. “We moved in as soon as we got the roof on it.”
Email Bret Yager at byager@westhawaiitoday.com.

[Vaedrem]

That's really disgusting, some pathetic narc turning people in so that those already living in poverty will be reduced even further to shambles. And no, the real victims of island poverty are not the people with nice homes who are faced with the hardship of having to drive past people living in shacks. Imagine how bothered those with no other options are as they struggle to make it through the day only to be have some inspectors come and harass them.

[leilaniguy]

Whoever incited this just made at least 96, (maybe hundreds) of enemies and they will be found out. They better be ready to run.

[whtviper1]

Is anyone really surprised with rising property values??????

[terracore]

I have a neighbor living in an unpermitted structure and he drives a brand new $60k pickup truck. I live in a legal structure, pay my property taxes, and I've never owned a new car, nor will I likely ever be able to. For every destitute person living the unpermitted nightmare there is another person living the unpermitted dream.

I'm not condoning what this person did but maybe the motivation was to hand it to the county and let them sort it out rather than continuing to subsidize his neighbor's property tax. If they need financial assistance there are avenues for that. Purposely withholding property tax by circumventing the procedures that assess it is called tax evasion.

[boulder2015]

Originally Posted by Vaedrem

That's really disgusting, some pathetic narc turning people in so that those already living in poverty will be reduced even further to shambles. And no, the real victims of island poverty are not the people with nice homes who are faced with the hardship of having to drive past people living in shacks. Imagine how bothered those with no other options are as they struggle to make it through the day only to be have some inspectors come and harass them.

Yeah i bet youd be the first to flip your tune if you experienced a home invasion. That is how things go in my experience....

[Arktikos]

Interesting article.

I expected my sympathies would go with the nonconforming homeowners, but it's not that simple. Sounds like some of them have been ignoring the concerns of their neighbors for quite awhile.

Perhaps the following story about a solar power station, in which the road maintenance man is pictured, is tangentially related.
In any case, it can serve as a reminder that you'd better have your act together before complaining about someone else's building project.

The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs, Hawai`i Island

[Vaedrem]

Having an unpermitted structure on your property is very common here and doesn't have anything to do with robbing homes. Unlike the mainland, there's nowhere to push low-income people out too, there is no floating ghetto beyond the waves. There's a severe lack of permitted, low-income housing on this island, most of the housing stock is dedicated to expensive vacation rentals. People move to OV because it's affordable, and that necessarily involves being around other people who require affordability. So when people resent and attack their neighbors in this way, it's going to have pretty big consequences.

[Sherwoody]

It is not going to be pleasant to be a malahini...

[tpirsig]

In Ranchos the roads are good and the forest (where there is any) doesn't hide the buildings, making it easy for someone to drive by and observe code violations. The same thing would be a lot harder to do, say, in Fern Forest.