LIHUE — There was a bit of trash talk exchanged between county and state officials during a state Board of Agriculture meeting held Tuesday. However, it did not include heated or off-the-cuff remarks. Instead, the discussion focused on how county
LIHUE — There was a bit of trash talk exchanged between county and state officials during a state Board of Agriculture meeting held Tuesday.
However, it did not include heated or off-the-cuff remarks.
Instead, the discussion focused on how county officials are seeking to address the island’s disposal needs for the next several decades as space in the county’s landfill in Kekaha gradually shrinks.
“We have a timeline on our current landfill that is expiring soon, so we have to move in a very responsible and environmentally safe way,” Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. told the 10-member board Tuesday, “but I think there’s a good partnership that can help all of us.”
Plans for a new county landfill date back to 2001, when a county-contracted study identified seven potential sites throughout the island, including a 177-acre location near Kumukumu Beach, also known as Donkey Beach, in Kealia; a 127-acre area, known as the Umi site, in Kalaheo; and a 146-acre patch of land in Kipu.
An eighth location in Kapaia, known as the Kalepa site, was added to the list in 2002.
One by one, all of the potential sites were judged on 19 environmental, technical, social and cultural criteria until the Kalepa site, located less than one mile from Hanamaulu, made it to the top of the county’s list, Dill said.
But strong community opposition to the site’s close proximity to Hanamaulu and potential environmental justice issues related to the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative’s Kapaia power station later ruled out that option.
A county advisory group convened by Carvalho and charged with selecting a new landfill site then suggested that officials consider the Umi site in 2009 based on more than two dozen community, social and cultural criteria.
Plans, however, fell through quickly that year after the property’s landowner rejected the county’s proposal and had the land classified as important agricultural lands, which receive protection under the state Department of Agriculture.
The state Board of Agriculture, in turn, requested that county officials reconsider the selection of the Umi site based on the land’s newly protected status in late 2009.
County officials, Dill said, learned a few lessons from those unsuccessful attempts.
Among them, he said, was the need to locate potential sites within a reasonable distance from nearby communities, mitigate agricultural impacts, identify central locations and find an agreeable landowner.
Another important piece, Dill said, is incorporating a resource recovery park into the county’s future landfill plans.
This proposal, according to current plans, includes composting facilities, areas to dispose of construction debris or hard-to-recycle materials and an education center.
“This has been a very emotional process, so we’re trying our very best to take care of these emotions up front rather than waiting till later,” Carvalho said. “Nobody wants to site a landfill, right? But the resource recovery park, we felt, would really help us along by making it into a sort of Disneyland of waste, meaning that it would be an educational experience.”
The 159-acre site along Maalo Road in Kapaia now being considered by county officials as a potential landfill site meets most of these areas, Dill said.
County officials say the proposed site, which is owned by Agribusiness Development Corporation, an agency attached to the state Department of Agriculture, would be a long-term solution for the island’s recycling and waste needs.
The county landfill in Kekaha, he said, has enough vertical and lateral capacity to meet the island’s projected needs until at least 2028.
The Maalo Road facility, meanwhile, has enough vertical and horizontal space to accommodate the island’s disposal needs for at least 250 years, Dill said.
“We’re looking at this as the last landfill that we’ll ever have on Kauai,” Dill said.
Some residents who attended community meetings earlier this year, however, said they were concerned about the landfill’s proximity to Hanamaulu, potential traffic issues and a lack of communication between county officials and nearby residents.
A final environmental impact statement on the Maalo Road site, according to current county projections, should be completed by October 2016. If state and county officials approve all of the necessary permits on schedule, construction could begin in January 2025.
For more information, visit www.kauai.gov/newlandfillsite or call the county’s Solid Waste Division at 241-4837.
• Darin Moriki, county government reporter, can be reached at 245-0428 or dmoriki@thegardenisland.com. Follow him on Twitter at @darinmoriki.
