Landowner sued after mudslide near Kaua'i estate

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau

LIHU'E, Kaua'i — The County Council has asked prosecutor Michael Soong to look into possible criminal charges against retired O'ahu auto dealer Jimmy Pflueger over extensive grading without permits on his Pila'a land.

County Council members recently went to the site and found subsequent rains continued the runoff. The Marvin family and neighbors have filed suit against Pflueger for damages in the case.

Pflueger attorney Max Graham said his client admits the grading work was done without permits, and said that he is trying to obtain after-the-fact permits.

"We intend to cooperate with all the government agencies" involved, Graham said. He said Pflueger was not available for comment.

Several government agencies are also involved. The county Planning Department has written Pflueger that he is in violation of Shoreline Management Area regulations, the state Attorney General's office has instructed him to seek a state Department of Health Clean Water Branch permit for his discharges into the ocean, and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources has warned that it could require the land be restored to its previous condition.

"Our preliminary information indicates that the unauthorized work was substantial and of a serious nature and may have resulted in damages to state land," said a letter from the land department.

The County Council on Thursday voted to ask the prosecuting attorney's office to investigate and possibly prosecute Pflueger in the case.

Pflueger, in his late 70s, likes to describe himself as a simple yardman with a big yard. He has used heavy equipment to convert fields covered with weeds and alien trees into manicured pastures. He told The Advertiser on a visit in 1998 that he was in a hurry to get the job done, and frustrated with government permit delays.

"I said to these guys, 'I can't wait for a permit. I gotta act now.' Should I wait another year for a permit? I'm not young enough. I'll be dead before they give it to me," Pflueger said.

Pflueger controls about 2,500 acres between Moloa'a and Kilauea, as a trustee of family estates and in his own name.

Pflueger last year was granted preliminary approval to subdivide a 378-acre parcel of family land at Pila'a, between Moloa'a and Kilauea bays on the northeast side of the island. The agricultural subdivision would have created 19 lots.

Conditions of the preliminary subdivision approval required Pflueger to establish public access to the beach, which does not now exist. It required that he get a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit for any discharge into the ocean, that he work with the county Planning Department to minimize effects on streams, that a flood study be performed, and other requirements.

The County Planning Department, state Department of Land and Natural Resources, state Department of Health and other agencies that have inspected the site since the Nov. 26 event found that more than 30 acres were graded, a roadway was cut across a stream bed, and that steep slopes were left bare.

The Marvin family complained that dirt had been pushed over the edge of the bluff above their home, and that in the rains of Nov. 26, the mud slid down the mountainside into their home, surrounding it in mud several feet thick and inundating their vehicles. Neighboring homes were also affected.

A Department of Health team found that a culvert installed under the access road was dumping muddy water directly onto the beach.

This month, more than six months after the slide, County Council members walked in the shallow water fronting the Pila'a Beach and found mud. Councilman Kaipo Asing brought into the Council Chambers a clod of mud he pulled from the nearshore waters. He said he is concerned that further rains will make matters worse unless contractors immediately move to deal with the issue.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.