City bills would raise penalties for dumping

Three bills designed to significantly increase penalties and stiffen other language against illegal dumping, stockpiling and grading have been introduced by West Oahu City Councilwoman Kymberly Pine to stem a growing environmental problem along the Leeward Coast.

West Oahu residents  say illegal stockpiling and dumping have been rampant in their area for years. Those concerns became magnified in August when the accidental dumping of silt material on H-1 freeway was later determined to be material dredged from the Hawaii Kai Marina headed to an illegal dump site on Waianae Valley Road.

“It’s simply unacceptable for commercial enterprises and individuals to continue to use the Leeward Coast as their dumping ground,” Pine said in a statement. “New enforcement tools will help the city hold willful and repeat violators accountable to the community.”

Her proposals are expected to get their first airing at the City Council’s meeting Wednesday.

>> Bill 35 would bar a property owner or developer from stockpiling on agriculturally zoned lands any material containing contaminants, construction debris and other substances harmful to the agricultural productivity of soils.

>> Bill 36 would increase the civil fines for violating the city’s grading, grubbing and stockpiling laws to a maximum of $5,000 a day, up from $1,000 a day, and require any land affected by a violation to be restored to its original condition. In a case of a recurring violation within a 12-month period, a fine could be doubled to $10,000 a day. And in a case of a recurring violation within a 12-month period at the same location, the city would be required to seek criminal prosecution that could result in a sentence of up to a year in jail.

>> Bill 37 would bar a property owner or developer who fails to willfully obtain a grading permit from getting one after the fact, and instead require the party to restore the property to its original condition.

Sandra Silva, owner of SER Silva Equipment, was slapped with a notice of violation last fall for grading and other work on her Wai­anae agricultural property without a permit. Silva paid the initial $150 fine for the violation but has not corrected the action, according to Curtis Lum, a spokesman for the city Department of Planning and Permitting.

As a result, she has accrued daily fines that, as of April 9, totaled $16,950, Lum said.

Department officials said they were told by Silva that her company was hired by contractor American Marine Corp. to dispose of material that had been removed from the Hawaii Kai Marina dredging project. The Hawaii Kai Marina Community Association, which owns the marina, said it was up to American Marine to determine where the material was to go. 

A spokesman for American Marine said the company was working with the community association to resolve the issue.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources also began looking into possible violations. A maintenance dredging permit that the Army Corps issued to American Marine called for the material to be placed at five locations in Hawaii Kai.

The state Health Department’s Solid and Hazardous Waste Branch said the results of a sampling and analysis plan for the dredging project — prepared by Honolulu-based environmental firm EKNAServices for American Marine — show the silt is neither hazardous nor waste.