April 1 deadline sought for decision on new landfill site
By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
The City Council Public Works committee chairman and the city Department of Environmental Services want the committee to settle on the site for a new landfill by April 1 to assure the full council can approve a site by June 1.
If the council does not select a site by the deadline, the state Land Use Commission could revoke the permit allowing the city to keep its only landfill at Waimanalo Gulch operating until May 2008.
MARSHALL
But Councilwoman Barbara Marshall wants to know why the Land Use Commission ordered the council to make the decision in the first place, since the mayor has always selected the site in the past.
"I'd like to know how it is we wind up being here," she said. "I don't think they have any authority to tell us we have to do that."
It was unclear yesterday whether an Office of Information Practices opinion that the Mayor's Advisory Committee on Landfill Siting violated the Sunshine Law would have any bearing on the council's deliberations.
State Rep. Cynthia Thielen, R-50th (Kailua, Mokapu), who filed the complaint, noted it would be a waste of time for the task force to reconvene since nine of the 16-member committee supported the list of four sites that has been forwarded to the mayor.
The four sites recommended by the task force are Ameron Kapa'a Quarry in Kailua and three Leeward locations — Makaiwa Gulch, a site referred to as Nanakuli B and a quarry in Ma'ili.
Task force members Thielen and Kailua Neighborhood Chairwoman Kathy Bryant Hunter suggested the council go back to the list of recommendations from before the Sunshine Law violations occurred and consider expanding Waimanalo Gulch among the options.
Councilman Charles Djou said that the council is not bound by the task force's recommendations in any case and observed that the OIP opinion was irrelevant.
"It's not binding upon the City Council," he said.
Committee Chairman Rod Tam asked the members to refrain from deciding on a site until after a public hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.
"This is a very emotional issue and it can be very political at the same time, but we wish to operate very fairly and openly," he said.
Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
