KAPA‘A — The location has become an eyesore for many Kapa‘a residents, and those who drive by cannot help but notice the overgrown jungle right off of Kuhio Highway, one block north of the Kapa‘a Chevron station. “For almost a
KAPA‘A — The location has become an eyesore for many Kapa‘a residents, and those who drive by cannot help but notice the overgrown jungle right off of Kuhio Highway, one block north of the Kapa‘a Chevron station.
“For almost a year, nothing has been done, it’s been growing higher and higher,” said Jerome Freitas, a citizen watchdog who goes by the alias “The Shadow,” in an interview Wednesday afternoon as he stood in front of a seemingly vacant plot of land in Kapa‘a, reportedly abandoned by its owners, that has become filled with overgrown weeds and garbage. “This has been going on too long.”
Freitas said he has received several calls from concerned individuals in the neighborhood who have been unhappy about the situation for a while and have complained about several incidents such as rodent infestation and an accumulation of litter in the area. Freitas said the area poses a health hazard to the community and could potentially be a risk for fire in the coming summer months.
County Ordinance 303, Article 9, section 22-99.1 says the County Council has found “numerous vacant lots in the county that are overrun with weeds, grass, trash and litter … a continuing and recurring problem.” The purpose of the article is to “impose upon the owner or person in control of a vacant lot the duty to maintain the lot in such a condition as to prevent the lot from becoming a fire, health or sanitation nuisance.”
Ryan Nishikawa, chief of field operations and maintenance for the county, said there have been attempts to contact the Kapa‘a landowner over the past year and confirmed that Frietas officially filed a written complaint about the property in April 2008.
“I went out to check the property a few weeks later and confirmed the violation,” he said in a Thursday e-mail. “The next day, I sent an inspection report to the County Attorney’s office for action. The County Attorney’s (office) sent a letter to the owner about a month later informing him of the violation and what was required to correct the violation.”
The owner was notified that if they did not comply within 60 days, the complaint would be referred to the Prosecutor’s Office.
“A copy of this letter was sent to me. I laminated the letter and posted it on the property about a week later,” said Nishikawa. “Jerome called me again last fall and said that no action was taken and that property was still overgrown. I went to check the property about a week later and confirmed what Jerome had reported.”
Nishikawa said a memo was then sent to the County Attorney’s office requesting that the case be referred to the Prosecutor’s Office.
“In mid-December I received a call from the Prosecutor’s Office asking me for the files on this case,” he said, adding that just this week he received an e-mail from the Prosecutor’s Office asking for an update on the case.
Nonetheless, the property has remained in the same abandoned state for months, according to Freitas.
“There aren’t even signs to enforce people to keep away,” he said, adding that he once found someone sleeping in their truck, tucked away in the over-grown foliage.
“When the council passed the ordinance, it was for a reason; they are responsible to enforce the law,” said Freitas, who retired from the state four years ago and said he hopes someone will take action sooner rather than later. “Taxpayers pay a lot of money and I want to help keep the island safe and beautiful for them.”
