LIHU‘E — A $1.8 million contract with a consulting firm — which includes the environmental consequences of a new landfill and a feasibility study on a mega-recycling center piggy-backing on the landfill —allows for only two informational meetings with the
LIHU‘E — A $1.8 million contract with a consulting firm — which includes the environmental consequences of a new landfill and a feasibility study on a mega-recycling center piggy-backing on the landfill —allows for only two informational meetings with the Kaua‘i County Council.
But lingering questions left the council wanting more time with the consultants — and Chair Jay Furfaro already said he does — which could potentially cost more to taxpayers.
AECOM consultants on Wednesday gave the council a broad view of their progress on a draft feasibility study for a Resource Recovery Park and also a preview on an upcoming environmental impact statement for the island’s next landfill.
Prior to meeting with the council, AECOM met with the community twice earlier last week — Monday in Kekaha and Tuesday in Hanama‘ulu — to lay out the progress on the RRP study and gather some public input. Less than 35 community members showed up at those two meetings combined, and none of the council members attended the meetings.
This week, the consultants will hold two additional public meetings — Tuesday in Hanama‘ulu and Wednesday in Kekaha — this time to tell the public about the EIS for the RRP and for the new landfill, likely to be sited at Ma‘alo, above Hanama‘ulu.
“This is the only willing landowner that we were able to find, and that includes 13 years of efforts,” AECOM Senior Engineer Frank Cioffi told the council Wednesday. The RRP, he said, could be co-located with the new landfill in state lands or sited on a nearby private parcel.
Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura wanted to find out from Cioffi if he had a comparison between a single RRP in the middle of the island and smaller, spread out facilities. Questions about impacts on consumer, commercial and government traffic in and out of a centralized facility received no answers.
She also wanted to know the cost difference between having an RRP far from the harbor and one near it.
County Engineer Larry Dill said the charge to the consultant was the feasibility study of the RRP in one location. Responding to Yukimura’s concerns of not having alternatives laid out, Dill said what the council approved was the centralized study.
Yukimura also had problems with the consultant preparing a feasibility study parallel to an EIS: How could the EIS concentrate on specific impacts of an RRP facility if the consultant was still soliciting input for the facility’s feasibility study, she asked.
Councilman Mel Rapozo asked Dill if everything goes well, “which it won’t,” how long would it take for the new landfill to be ready.
Dill said that it would be in approximately eight years, in 2021.
“Do you believe that?” Rapozo said.
“I just said that,” Dill said.
Still, Rapozo wasn’t convinced. He said he didn’t believe the new landfill would be running before Kekaha Landfill, the island’s only landfill, reaches capacity.
“We got to have a contingency plan,” Rapozo said.
Yukimura said there could be missed opportunities, that it was not good planning to not look at other possibilities.
Workshop
Part of the contract with AECOM was for two updates to the council. The next planned meeting will be in the summer.
On Wednesday, the consultants gave council members a shortened version of their presentations during the two previous nights, and a rushed presentation of what’s to come next week.
But to the council, it wasn’t enough.
Council Chair Jay Furfaro said he would have liked to have a more detailed presentation, and he was not afraid of being bored by such, as Cioffi alluded. Furfaro would’ve kept the AECOM consultants on the floor longer, but the agenda for the day didn’t allow for that.
Deputy County Attorney Mauna Kea Trask said under the current contract it may cost more to request a four-hour workshop, and if Furfaro wanted, they could go into executive session to discuss the contract.
“I appreciate your interpretation, and let me set a message to the two gentlemen,” Furfaro told Trask, and then addressed Cioffi and AECOM waste services manager Larry Fedec. “We would appreciate that you take care of us as clients, and consider our request to have a workshop.”
Furfaro asked if his request was feasible, but asked for no answer right away — he would send a request in writing.
AECOM is taking input until Feb. 12 on the draft feasibility study for the RRP.
Visit www.kauai.gov/newlandfillsite to download the draft. Comments can be emailed to kauai-rrp@aecom.com or sent to Kaua‘i RRP, 1001 Bishop Street, # 160, Honolulu, HI 96813.
