Plan facilitates new sewer hookups

The city has lifted a moratorium on new sewer connections from Halawa to Pearl City, saying an interim solution should allow new sewer hookups while major work to upgrade the system is conducted.

The interim solution involves installing new valves and separating sewage flows through pipes from the Pearl City and Wai­pahu pump stations, Tim Steinberger, director of the Department of Environmental Services, said Friday.

New valves should be in place by the end of 2013 or early 2014. Although he did not have a precise estimate of the cost, Steinberger said it is expected to be less than $1 million.

The changes "will maximize existing capacity in a pipe from the Pearl City Pump Station by separating it from flows originating in Mililani and Wai­pahu, which will be directed through a pipe from the Wai­pahu Pump Station. Flows from Mililani and Wai­pahu currently enter both pipes during certain peak periods," according to a city news release.

"I’m certainly relieved," Steinberger said. "To me it’s a good story going from restrictions on large development to ‘We’ve got an answer and you don’t have to wait.’"

The city imposed the moratorium in April. According to a memo from Steinberger, the Pearl City pump station had reached its limit of 28.4 million gallons of wastewater per day. Any additional flow would put it over capacity and at greater risk of sewage spills. The Pearl City station shares transmission pipes with the Wai­­pahu pump station.

Under a federal consent decree, a major new sewer pipe from the Wai­pahu Pump Station is being installed to relieve the situation. The $60 million project is expected to be completed in 2018.

The city previously said no sewer connections that increased the amount of flow into the system were to be allowed from Halawa to Pearl City. But further evaluation of the system indicated that connections with projected flows under 2,000 gallons per day — roughly the amount produced from five single-family homes on a piece of property — would be allowable.

The city will continue processing applications for those new sewer connections. Applications for new connections greater than 2,000 gallons per day will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

"We’ll go back to those people and say, ‘We want to see your (development) schedule,’" Steinberger said. "If the schedule meets when we get our valves in place and everything operational, then those will be processed."

The city said the interim solution should allow for timely connections of larger proposed construction projects, including The Plaza assisted-living development project in Pearl City and the planned redevelopment of the old Kam Drive-In site, as well as smaller projects and individual home connections.

The Kam Drive-In project is in the environmental impact study phase and still a few years away from applying for a sewer permit.

MW Group is planning to build its fourth senior living center under The Plaza brand at Pearl Highlands on a vacant 2-acre lot. But the developer’s sewer permit application was denied just a few weeks before the city’s memorandum was issued.

Steve Metter, chief executive officer of MW Group, said the developer has reached a tentative agreement with the city to revise the project’s two phases and make other off-site improvements.

The proj­ect originally planned for a five-story, 100-unit building for assisted living in Phase I and a two-story, 34-unit structure for memory care in Phase II.

The new project will be slightly larger, with a 158-unit building in Phase I and a 60-unit facility for Phase II. MW Group also has agreed to build an off-site sewer connection to improve overall sewer capacity in the area, Metter said.

"We are currently evaluating the cost associated with the city’s requirement," Metter said. "We’re going to work with the city to try to minimize the impact."

Steinberger said the first phase is not expected to be connected until 2014, after the new valves are installed, "so we should have everything ready to go by the time they go live."