The Ameron Hawaii quarry in Kailua was ranked the top site for the city’s new landfill Friday, the first step in what is expected to be a lengthy process that could take up to seven years before a landfill would be ready to open.
An environmental impact statement is expected to be done to review the site and its alternatives, members of Mayor Peter Carlisle’s Advisory Committee on Landfill Site Selection said. The ranking recommendations, completed at a meeting Friday, now go to Carlisle for further review.
Carlisle said a detailed analysis is expected to begin soon after the budget is adopted in June.
"After that the decision regarding a new landfill will still be up to the administration and City Council, with ample opportunity for public comment," Carlisle said.
He said selecting, acquiring, permitting and preparing a new landfill site could take at least seven years.
The advisory committee ranked 11 sites, including a site identified as "Upland Nanakuli 1" as second, and "Upland Kahuku I" as the third.
Ameron Hawaii division president Wade Wakayama said his firm was aware the site might be selected and was disappointed its quarry was on the list of potential landfills.
"It’s the lifeblood of our operation," he said.
He said the firm’s operation on Oahu, which employs 300 workers, was a vital part of the construction industry and had recently been picked to provide concrete and aggregate for the city’s rail project.
Committee member Tesha Malama said she thinks there are advantages to the Ameron site in Kapaa Quarry, including its size of more than 300 acres and its accessibility to various freeways.
Malama said the committee decided that the most important criteria included finding a site that had little residential impact and was away from educational institutions and facilities connected with health care and parks and recreation.
The mayor, she said, needs to look at how a landfill will affect the community.
City Councilman Ikaika Anderson, who represents the area, said Friday he would do "everything in my power to stop it" from being built at the Kapaa Quarry site.
Anderson said a number of factors should be considered going forward, including what he described as permitting and financial obstacles. In addition, Anderson said the location is too close to Kawainui Marsh, one of the state’s largest wetlands and home to endangered species.
"I am convinced that the site selection committee’s recommendation is not in the best interest of all of our taxpayers and I hope that the city administration will look at all other options, especially expanding the existing landfill site, before moving to waste taxpayer monies to construct a new facility," he said in a statement.
Committee members said they were instructed by the mayor’s office to take out the Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill in Waianae as a possible site for expansion.
The city is appealing in state court a decision by the state Land Use Commission to close the Waimanalo Gulch landfill by July 31.
In 2009 the city was allowed by the Land Use Commission to extend its use of the landfill for an additional three years, despite opposition by some Waianae residents.
Committee member John Goody said the selection process was complicated, and he was glad that there will be an environmental impact statement to examine the alternatives in detail.
Some members said they hoped a study would examine the impact of traffic and also the cost of purchasing and developing various sites.
The committee developed 19 criteria to weigh and rank the 11 sites.
Committee members agreed to place more weight on criteria such as the location of sites away from dense residential areas and educational facilities.
The committee put less weight on other criteria, such as the sites’ proximity to threatened or endangered species and wetlands.
Carlisle said he was grateful for the work of the site selection committee, whose members worked as volunteers and met 10 times to consider potential sites.
