Trash-strewn lot has city trying to get court order

The city is pursuing a court order to clear a Pensacola Street property littered with trash and derelict vehicles that building and fire officials say pose health and safety hazards.

According to city citations, the 5,000-square-foot lot at 1421 Pensacola St. is “littered with trash cans, trash bags, buckets, coolers, mattresses, lumber, furniture, household appliances, cages, bicycle tires, dried tree branches, window screens, three derelict vehicles and other miscellaneous items.”

In March the city gave Rollin Yee a second 30-day notice to clean up his property.

According to Curtis Lum, city Department of Planning and Permitting spokesman, Yee has already accrued more than $153,000 in fines since being issued his first housing code violation notice in 2007.

Yee was warned that unless the property was blight-free by April 6, the city would take action by cleaning it up and charging Yee for the work.

However, no work was done, and now Yee, as of Thursday, owes the city an additional $14,250. The fines will continue to accrue at $250 a day until the until the property is adequately cleaned, Lum said.

The city Planning Department has turned over the case to city attorneys for legal action under a year-old city ordinance that allows the city to seek a court order to enter private property and clean up what are determined to be health and safety hazards.

In July the city Building Department for the first time hired a private contractor to clean a home and property on 22nd Avenue in Kaimuki. The contractor spent six days removing 21.5 tons of waste and debris. The owner of the Kaimuki house, Laura Matsuzaki, has since reimbursed the city $14,700 for the full cost of cleaning the property.

Numerous housing and fire code violations have been found on the Pensacola Street property.

The city has flagged the owner’s driver’s license and motor vehicle registration so neither can be renewed until the housing fines are paid.