LIHUE — Officials from the state Department of Transportation said crews began cleaning up the Ninini Point Lighthouse area this week after determining they are responsible for areas where trash and abandoned cars have been collecting over the past few
LIHUE — Officials from the state Department of Transportation said crews began cleaning up the Ninini Point Lighthouse area this week after determining they are responsible for areas where trash and abandoned cars have been collecting over the past few months.
The Ninini Point Lighthouse, located at the end of Ninini Point Street, overlooks Nawiliwili Harbor and has been an area where discarded trash, including plastic containers and clothes, along with a pair of stripped, abandoned vehicles have accumulated over the past several months.
The van was being lived in for a time last year, with the people setting up several tarps for cover. The truck, which was brought in after the van, has been stripped of many parts.
“It is DOT’s jurisdiction under the airport division, so they’re going to start the trash clean up on Thursday by the airport’s maintenance crew,” DOT spokesman Derek Inoshita said on Wednesday. “The vehicles that you mentioned are going to be removed next Tuesday.”
DOT, he said, maintains certain areas around Ninini Point Street that runs along the restricted periphery of the Lihue Airport.
An abandoned vehicle notice, along with a parking citation, was taped to the windows of the cars on Tuesday night by Lihue Airport security personnel after The Garden Island reported on the mess.
Chief Seth Carter, officer in charge of the U.S. Coast Guard Station Kauai, said U.S. Coast Guard teams from Oahu service the light atop the Ninini Point Lighthouse but explained that the lighthouse itself is primarily used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“The aides to the navigation team are aware of the issue and are trying to come up with a resolution,” U.S. Coast Guard Waterways Information Specialist Christopher Toner wrote in an email.
