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A City Council committee Tuesday gave a preliminary OK for the city to use condemnation powers to get land for a 3-mile route of the $175 million Kaneohe-Kailua Sewer Tunnel despite objections by property owners of the Aikahi Gardens townhouse complex.
The Executive Matters and Legislative Affairs Committee unanimously approved Resolution 14-24, pointing out that the city could face hefty fines if it does not complete about $300 million in Windward sewer work by mid-2018 as mandated by a federal consent decree settling a water pollution case.
In addition to the $175 million "gravity" tunnel project, the city is required to finish a $120 million pump station, which will take the sewage from the tunnel to the treatment plant, by June 30, 2018. To do that, tunnel work on private properties needs to begin at the end of this year, city officials said.
The owners of the 148-unit Aikahi Gardens townhouse complex, which is across from the Kailua Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant, said they don’t see why the resolution needs be to pushed through when negotiations with property owners have not been completed.
Trissa Walter, speaking on behalf of the board of directors for the complex’s homeowners association, said the city has yet to respond to the group’s request for safeguards in return for agreeing to the city’s offer of $1 for the easement. Walter said owners want written assurances from the city that it will take responsibility for any damage to land, buildings or residents due to the work. "We just need time," she said, noting that many residents first found out about the plans in January.
Walter said the association board expects to take a vote on whether to accept the terms of the city’s offer at its meeting at the end of the month.
Elizabeth Pestana said she and other Aikahi property owners "feel we’re being railroaded."
Pestana pointed out that city officials say tentative agreements have nearly been reached with owners of 14 of the 16 properties, or easements. She said the city officials didn’t expect to use condemnation against the Aikahi Gardens association.
"If 14 of the 16 owners are close to consent, and we’re No. 15, we feel that maybe (city officials) should stop threatening to condemn all 16 properties and change the resolution and go after the one that’s the problem. We’re trying to work with them."
Association members said the initial offer was given to a board member who no longer owns property at Aikahi Gardens.
Guy Inouye, assistant Wastewater Division chief for the city Department of Design and Construction, said city officials have been working with Aikahi Gardens since they were invited to be part of a working group to address the consent decree issues in 2010 and have had multiple meetings with townhouse owners.
In 2011 the city decided on building the tunnel — rather than the initial plan to build a secondary force main in the area — because the tunnel is cost-effective and its construction would be less intrusive on the property owners, Inouye said.
The homeowners association asked the city to consider a realignment of the tunnel away from Aikahi Gardens. But a lengthy review concluded that alternative was not financially viable, Inouye said. It would also undermine existing wastewater plant facilities and cause delays in tunnel construction that could result in contract delays and failure to meet its consent decree deadlines, he said. Officials with both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Health indicated they would likely not grant a time extension to the city, he said.
Inouye said experts have concluded the project would not have temporary or long-term impacts on the private properties.
Inouye told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that $1 has been offered to Aikahi Gardens. While the offer is nominal, it was calculated by a professional appraisal.
"It is my understanding that it is nominal because the use of the land is not affected," Inouye said in an email. "For Aikahi, the subsurface easement is beneath a road and the function and use of the road is not affected at all."
The tunnel section to be placed under the road is about 400 feet long, about the length of the property, and 30 feet wide. All the easements being sought from the affected properties are "technically subsurface," Inouye said.
Frustrated Council committee members said their hands are tied due to the potential fines but noted that there still is time for the Aikahi Gardens homeowners and the city to reach an agreement.
Committee Chairman Ron Menor said the Council would not take a final vote until its May meeting that and city officials would not begin condemnation proceedings earlier than July, giving the homeowners time to work with city officials on a settlement.
"If we do not stay according to the timetable the administration has proposed, there could be significant financial consequences to the city in failing to take appropriate, timely action," Menor said. "There’s still going to be plenty of time, several months, for the representatives of the department and the (landowners) to continue the dialogue … and try to resolve the concerns."
Councilman Ikaika Anderson, who represents the Windward region, said city officials are not to blame for the hurried timetable. "It’s a time frame that’s being forced upon us by the sewage consent decree that’s being forced down our throats by our federal government, by those plaintiffs who sued the city, resulting in a multibillion-dollar sewage consent decree that every taxpayer of this city is going to be saddled with."
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