Council sizes up heftier fines for property cleanup scofflaws

City officials would be able to slap bigger fines on people who ignore repeated requests to clear weeds, garbage and other waste on their property, under a bill advanced by the City Council Zoning Committee on Thursday.

The maximum allowable fine would be raised to $5,000 a day from the current $1,000 a day.

Councilman Stanley Chang said Bill 3 (2013), which he introduced, "gives the city potentially a stronger weapon for dealing with enforcement" of existing laws. The city Department of Planning and Permitting helped draft the bill.

Chang stressed that the bill is not aimed at punishing those who may be a little behind in their yard maintenance. "But we think by increasing the upper limit, we’re going to be better able to address people across the island who perhaps are multiple offenders or who own multiple properties in a confined area," Chang told colleagues.

For example, the city has fined Japa­nese billionaire Gensiro Kawa­moto a total of $42,000 for violations on 21 Kahala properties he owns, including failing to clear overgrown weeds, garbage or other waste, a Planning Department spokes­man said. Kawa­moto has paid all but $3,000 of the fines, the city said.

While Kawamoto may be "a prominent example of chronic offenders who have a lot of overgrowth," Chang said, he said his office has received complaints from constituents throughout his East Hono­lulu district as well as elsewhere on Oahu.

An ordinance allows the city to order a property owner to "cut and remove weeds, garbage, trash and waste" on their property.

Jiro Sumada, acting planning and permitting director, said the city issues the maximum fine only after repeated and blatant disregard by the property owner to clean up a property. Initial fines are typically $50 to $100 a day.

The goal of the law is "to gain a correction of a violation," Sumada said. "It’s not like we’re trying to build up the bank account for the department or the city."

He said the $5,000 fines would be applied "only for the egregious violators that tend to ignore the notices that we give and fail to follow up with cleanup of their properties."