KB Annual President's Report 2025

The HOA's main priorities in 2025 concerned fire prevention and repairing the Retention Basin fence along the PCC.

FIRE PREVENTION:

Recently, the Fire Prevention Bureau adopted new fire codes that require large landowners and Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) owners to clear wildfire fuel or be subject to $2500 per day fines. Haole Koa is considered one of the world's worst invasive species, and on Maui it is judged as one of the worst fire hazards with its prolific seed pods. I have been working for the past 5 years and Tom Atkins for the past 3 years removing HK from the Retention Basin. I am happy to announce that on Nov 4th/25 we removed the last HK from the RB! Of course there will be years of pulling out keikis as the seeds sprout, but that will be so much easier.

The Holomua Rd fire (Sept 23-Oct 1) scared KB residents so much that the Fire Prevention Bureau was asked to pressure Parks into clearing the HK out of the Park Retention Basin. This clearing started Nov 12th. DPW is using an excavator-mounted tunneler that grinds and mulches the trees. While I am hoping for the best, I think the HK will be re-sprouting before the clearing is finished. Tom & I were allowed by Parks (after signing a waiver) to work inside that basin to remove trash before it got shredded. It was alarming to discover how many homeless people had been living in there over the years. We also gathered and piled up thousands of rocks so the equipment would not break down so often. There are still some large Haole Koas along the fence close to the KB houses that need to be removed which cannot be done by the mulching machine. After the AGM, I'll discuss this with Parks.

RETENTION BASIN FENCE:

As you may be aware, Tom & I have had to spend an immense amount of time trying to get the Parks Department to let us repair the security fence along the Paia Community Center. We could find no fence company willing to work on that steep slope until I asked Kulolio Ranch who built their cattle fence. Thank god for Miranda Fencing. Their machine can sit on the flat area at the top of the hill and pound the posts into the ground on the slope. Unfortunately, the top of the hill is owned by Parks because A&B had to give KB's Lot 25 to the County in 1995 in order to get approval for the subdivision.

The Retention Basin fence is by far the most expensive asset which the HOA must maintain. Every Board since 1996 has always imagined that one day we would have to replace the entire 1020 feet of fencing at once. The Reserve Fund we have in the bank is almost entirely to cover this expense. In 2004 the replacement cost was estimated at $25,000 assuming that only the chain link fabric would have to be replaced onto the existing posts. What we have learned over time is that some sections of the fence are still in good shape while others have fallen apart. Some areas have been damaged by trees growing through the chain link, some areas have rusted, and ALL the posts along the PCC have corroded at the base and have to be replaced. The corrosion was caused by the Department of Public Works bulldozing dirt toward the basin and burying the posts. Not one post on any of the other 3 sides is corroded. Nevertheless, the County refuses to accept any responsibility. We resigned ourselves to the HOA paying 100% years ago but Parks have been withholding the Right Of Entry Permit for 8 months already. They won't allow the fencers' truck to drive into the public parking lot (KB's Lot 25) even though Miranda has 3rd party insurance. On Sept 30/25 Parks sent me a Licensing Agreement. It was an offer so bad I had to refuse. They accepted my counter-offer so we hope to complete the fence in January 2026.

The original fence is 11 gauge green-vinyl-coated steel. We are replacing the 11 gauge with 9 gauge (thicker than 11 gauge) hot-dip zinc-coated galvanized steel. This will be much stronger and last longer.

Tom & I have been running a race since Covid to protect KB from fire by removing HK before the Fire Marshall could fine the HOA for harboring wildfire fuel. We ask each owner to please check your property for any Haole Koa trees as our goal is to have KB 100% free of Haole Koa. I look forward to being able to spend more time on the front gardens now that the Haole Koa is no longer a crisis situation. I'll be installing new solar spotlights for the Kuau Bayview sign soon. Thank you for your patience. a