The city will be allowed to keep O'ahu's only municipal landfill open the next three years but was told sternly by state Land Use Commission members that it won't be given any more extensions.

The commission voted 5-3 yesterday to grant the extension and expansion of the Leeward Coast's Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill until July 31, 2012.

It was the second time in as many years that the commission granted an expansion to the city. In May 2008, it gave the city until Nov. 1 — 15 months — to seek alternatives to the much-maligned landfill.

The city had sought a 15-year extension and an expansion from the current 107.5 acres to 200.5 acres in the back end of the gulch.

Commissioner Reuben Wong, who proposed the shorter extension, called it a reasonable compromise, pointing out that 2012 is when the city expects to open a third boiler at the H-Power waste-to-energy plant. That move is expected to handle an additional 300,000 tons of trash annually.

The city would be allowed to keep the landfill open beyond 2012, but only for the ash and residue left over after the H-Power process.

The permit also calls for the city to hold public hearings every three months to provide updates on what it is doing to meet requirements.

City Environmental Services Director Tim Steinberger said the city will do what it can to follow the commission's order. He noted that the process of opening a landfill elsewhere would take five to seven years.

Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, who represented the Ko Olina Community Association in opposing the permit, said she will look into an appeal.

Land Use Commission members, including those supporting the expansion, said they're frustrated with the lack of progress on the city's part. Commission member Kyle Chock called it "environmental injustice" and "geographic racism" that the landfill is allowed to continue for any amount of time.

BROKEN PROMISE

Opponents continually pointed out that former Mayor Jeremy Harris promised in 2003 that the landfill would be shut down by 2008.

Commission member Normand Lezy clashed with city Deputy Corporation Counsel Gary Takeuchi over the commission's intent when it granted the city its current extension. Takeuchi said the city has stated all along that it intended to ask for a longer-term extension.

Lezy pointed to the language in the decision that says "the 200-acre (p)roperty shall be restricted from accepting any additional waste material ... and be closed" on Nov. 1 or whenever it reaches capacity.

"I simply can't support another broken promise, another blow to the commission's integrity," Lezy said.

But commission members Thomas Contrades and Duane Kanuha said the situation dictated that some kind of extension be granted.

The administration of Mayor Mufi Hannemann repeatedly had stated that it would not operate a landfill without a permit, leaving open the possibility that O'ahu households would be stuck with trash in their bins starting Nov. 1.

"I haven't heard anybody tell me, if today is the day (the landfill) closes, where does it go," Kanuha said.

Contrades said, "Something has to be done."

MAKING PROGRESS

The city Planning Commission had recommended that the city be given the expansion it wanted without any time limit. Abbey Mayer, the state's director of planning, said the city should have its feet "held to the fire."

Takeuchi said that the city has been progressing with a comprehensive waste disposal plan to reduce the amount going to the landfill. He said the city expects to have curbside recycling available islandwide by next year and has provided funding for a third boiler at H-Power.

The boiler would increase the amount of O'ahu's trash being converted into sellable energy from 600,000 tons a year to 900,000 tons.

Takeuchi also pointed out that, starting next week, the city is to begin a contract that sells 100,000 tons of municipal waste a year to Hawaiian Waste Systems, a trash hauler that will bale and ship the waste to Washington state.

But City Council Chairman Todd Apo, who represents the Wai'anae Coast, said during his testimony that it was the council that put in money for the H-Power expansion and that Hawaiian Waste Systems had to seek an appeal before being granted a contract from the administration.

After the meeting, Steinberger expressed some worry.

"Obviously, we're going to have to look to see, if the 2012 is a firm date, how we're going to fund taking care of our (municipal solid waste) beyond that time," he said.

The city already is scheduled to begin looking for another site late next year.

Hanabusa also was unhappy with the decision by the Land Use Commission.

"To make that decision to actually shut something down and to find a new site is something that the city is not willing to do," she said. "And the commissioners are not willing to hold (the city) responsible."

Hanabusa expects that the city will be back in three years to discuss an expansion.

"It is unfortunate when government is not required to keep its promises," she said.