Junked cars constant pain for landowners
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Staff Writer
Junk cars are piling up anew on private property in the vicinity of Marconi Road in Kahuku, creating an eyesore for the community and headaches for landowners.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
It's a perennial problem in the area, one that forces The Estate of James Campbell to remove 80 to 90 abandoned cars each year from its land nearby.
Stripped vehicles sit on Marconi Road, a privately owned thoroughfare that divides land owned by The Estate of James Campbell and the Turtle Bay Resort. The cost to remove derelict cars can run as high as $200 apiece, and several cars seem to end up on the road every weekend.
The latest junkpile — six stripped cars parked side by side along the side of the road — is in a new spot, according to Ko'olauloa Neighborhood Board member Don Hurlbut, and this time another landowner — Turtle Bay Resort — must deal with the problem.
Both landowners have to remove junk from their Kahuku property regularly, at a cost as high as $200 per vehicle, said Elizabeth Fitzgerald, director of special events and public relations for Turtle Bay Resort.
"Every weekend, there's five to 10 cars that are abandoned on our property," Fitzgerald said. "It's a weekly concern."
No one knows where the vehicles come from, but many are stripped of usable parts and any identification, making it impossible to determine an owner.
The city has been on a crusade to keep the North Shore free of abandoned vehicles, and will haul away derelict and abandoned vehicles left on public property. But it is not allowed to remove cars from private property, and Marconi is a privately owned street.
The city said it had cited Turtle Bay Resort over the cars in November.
After a notice of violation, a property owner has 30 days to correct the violation, said Carol Costa, director of the city's Department of Customer Service. This owner was given extra time after it assured the city it would take care of the problem.
"If they do so, and the vehicles come back again, they will be subject to citation again," Costa said.
Because of the citation, Turtle Bay Resort must now obtain a contract with a towing company to remove the vehicles, post signs about illegal dumping and prove whether the vehicles are stolen or not, Fitzgerald said.
"Then it's $200 to remove each car, and that includes eliminating the fluids and dangerous material before the cars are towed away," she said.
"It's too bad they were cited for it, because they're not doing it," said Bert Hatton, manager of agriculture and natural resources for Campbell estate. "They don't want the cars there anymore than the city" does.
Neither Hatton nor Fitzgerald had a solution, but both said they would continue having vehicles removed. Fitzgerald, who lives in Kahuku, said the vehicles are unpleasant and it's disturbing to see trash of that magnitude left on the highway.
"It's costly for us, but we're not going to let it sit there," she said.
Marconi is the boundary between land owned by The Estate of James Campbell and Turtle Bay Resort.
The road, which leads to an old abandoned airfield, splits acres of agriculture land.
Usually cars show up across the street from Marconi, where the city is quick to pick them up once someone reports them, Hurlbut said.
The city had just cleaned up other vehicles in the area two months ago when people started dumping derelicts at Marconi, he said.
The dumping always happens at night, he said. And the abandoned wrecks are like magnets. As soon as one is there, another is sure to follow.
"If the menehune were smart, they would pull their cars out on the road and call the police," Hurlbut said.
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
