One of the companies responsible for disposing of sludge dredged from the Hawaii Kai Marina is apparently again looking at dumping the material on the site of a controversial and long-stalled cemetery in the back of nearby Kamilo Nui Valley.

The marina’s dredging project angered the public when sludge from there was spilled on the H-1 freeway Aug. 31 and was found on a private lot in Waianae in violation of city and possibly state and federal permits or regulations.

The Hawaii Kai cemetery site has come under scrutiny from East Honolulu residents who have argued for years that it has become a dumping ground for large-scale waste in the area and created environmental and traffic problems.

The issue is expected to be discussed by the Hawaii Kai Neighborhood Board at its meeting Tuesday night, board Chairman Greg Knudsen said.

The idea of trucking the waste to the cemetery site was first proposed publicly by William McCorriston, the attorney representing cemetery developer and landowner Hawaii Kai Memorial Park, at a community meeting attended primarily by residents of nearby Mariner’s Cove in August 2012.

But the idea was widely panned, and the dredging project proceeded with permits from various government agencies stating the sludge would be placed at five sites within lower Hawaii Kai.

Instead, at least a portion of the material ended up on agricultural land on Waianae Valley Road owned by Sandra Silva of SER Silva Equipment, the company hired by contractor American Marine Corp. for disposal. The city Department of Planning and Permitting slapped a notice of violation on Silva for grading and other work on the property without a permit, while both the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and state Department of Land and Natural Resources are investigating other possible violations made by the Hawaii Kai Marina Community Association.

McCorriston has not returned calls or emails left with him since Tuesday night.

Russell Pang, a spokesman for American Marine, said the contractor is working with the marina association to "find a solution" to the issue of where dredged material should go and that the cemetery site is one possibility.

"Alternative sites in the Hawaii Kai area to deposit the material are being evaluated, and the Hawaii Kai Memorial Park is one of the sites under review,"Pang said. "No material will be moved until (the marina association), as the permit holder, obtains all necessary state, city and federal approvals."

Officials with the Department of Planning and Permitting, Corps of Engineers and DLNRsaid Wednesday they had not received requests from either the marina association, American Marine or Silva that would allow for the material to be trucked to the cemetery site.

Gary Weller, a former Hawaii Kai Neighborhood Board member, has fought against the disposal of fill and other construction material at the Kamilo Nui site. He said the property owner has been slapped with numerous violations by the city for grubbing, stockpiling and building a road without permits.

Weller said he doesn’t know why work is allowed to continue at the site despite the violations. He said he doubts the landowners intend to develop a cemetery.

"They’re using it as a place to stockpile material," he said.

Beverly Liddle, a spokeswoman for the marina association, said her group’s position on the dredging is on the organization’s website and referred questions to American Marine.

The association’s online "Dredging Report" dated Oct. 18 said American Marine is "legally responsible for securing a trucking company and a disposal location that comply with all applicable laws, including regulations requiring appropriate permitting for transportation and disposal of the silt."

The report also said the silt originally was to be deposited on two islands within the marina "created for that purpose." But one island is "nearly filled" from past dredgings, while the second is filled with fertile silt previously deposited that makes it attractive to visits by an endangered bird species, a fact that led the DLNR to determine further silt could not be deposited there.

The website went on to say that American Marine, as project contractor, made the decision to select "upland disposal" of the silt and was responsible for ensuring proper permits were obtained and that its subcontractors complied with the law.

"Unfortunately, American Marine and the trucking company with which it subcontracted decided to dispose of the dredged silt at a private property site in Waianae which did not have the proper permits for upland disposal," the report said.

In related news the head of the state Health Department’s Solid and Hazardous Waste Branch told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that 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.

"Based on the numbers presented to us, we made the determination that this material could be used without any kind of restrictions," said Steven Chang, Solid and Hazardous Waste Branch chief. As a result, "we’re saying they didn’t need a permit from us because the material was basically clean material."

The dredged material was tested for heavy metals, petroleum hydrocarbons, pesticides and PCBs, said Janice Fujimoto, a Solid and Hazardous Waste Branch engineer.

The EKNAplan said a revised sampling and analysis plan was being submitted "in order to reuse … the dredged material as fill material for a 20-acre farm."

Chang noted, however, that a clearance of the material from his agency did not exempt the marina association or its contractors from the requirements of other regulatory bodies.