By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
KEA‘AU, Hawai‘i — Construction begins next month on a key water line that will provide a volunteer fire station with water in the fast-growing Hawaiian Paradise Park subdivision between Pahoa and Kea‘au.
It will also pave the way for the installation of 12 fire hydrants along Paradise Drive in the 8,800-lot residential development that has about 2,050 homes.
The development has been the scene of many fires over the past two years, including six last year that caused nearly $400,000 in damage. Two residences in the neighboring Orchidland Estates also were burned last year.
Puna has recorded more residential blazes than any of the island’s seven other districts in recent years.
"It will help us quite a bit in a number of ways, including insurance," said Donald Tinker, president of the Paradise Hui Hanalike, an association which includes property owners in the sprawling development.
Homeowner policies are projected to drop once the fire station has a dependable water supply. Work on the five-month project begins March 23 and is to finish Aug. 19. Homeowners along Paradise Drive then will be allowed to hook up to the water lines.
More than 250 lots will be able to tap the 12-inch pipeline for fees ranging from $1,763 per hookup.
The project was awarded to William C. Loeffler Construction Inc. of Hilo for $843,370 to build a pipeline from Highway 130 — known as the Kea‘au-Pahoa Highway — to 21st Street. Previous county bond sales will pay for the project.
Much of Paradise Park — built on former W.H. Shipman Ltd. land acquired by the late developer David Watumull in the 1960s — is without either standard roadways or running water.
Residents depend on roofline catchment or costly water hauling during drought periods for most of their domestic water. The community association is responsible for maintaining roadways from voluntary dues by homeowners.
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