The city will clear the homeless from three additional sections of Kakaako next week, Mayor Kirk Caldwell announced Thursday.
On Tuesday the sidewalk nuisance and stored property ordinances will be enforced on the block bordered by Ala Moana Boulevard and Koula, Ilalo and Ohe streets.
On Thursday city crews will clear the block bordered by Ala Moana Boulevard and Ohe, Ilalo and Ahui streets.
On Oct. 2 the sweep will clear the block bordered by Ala Moana Boulevard, Ahui Street and Ward Avenue.
The actions are the fifth, sixth and seventh phases of the block-by-block sweeps that began Sept. 8.
The densest concentration of homeless is located on both sides of Ohe Street, makai of Ilalo Street. The city has not announced exactly when it intends to clear that area, but said it will happen in the coming weeks.
Two days ago a federal judge denied a temporary restraining order seeking to stop the city’s enforcement of the sidewalk nuisance and stored property ordinances. The request was made by the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, which is continuing its lawsuit challenging the city’s enforcement procedures of those laws.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Maui settles over releases
Maui County has reached a settlement with environmental groups over penalties for releasing partially treated wastewater into injection wells close to Lahaina’s coast.
The settlement filed Thursday in federal court in Honolulu requires Maui County to come up with safer ways to dispose of wastewater at its Lahaina Wastewater Reclamation Facility, said Earthjustice attorney David Henkin.
Earthjustice filed a lawsuit in 2012 on behalf of Hawaii Wildlife Fund, the Sierra Club and other organizations concerned about the water’s high levels of nitrogen and phosphorous triggering invasive algae outbreaks that are killing coral off Kahekili Beach Park.
Under the settlement, Maui would pay a $100,000 penalty and invest $2.5 million in projects to divert and reuse treated wastewater for golf courses, commercial landscaping and other irrigation needs in West Maui, Henkin said. The county must also get a Clean Water Act permit for its injection wells.
Maui officials didn’t immediately comment on the settlement.
The county is reserving its right to appeal previous federal court rulings that found that discharges from all four Lahaina injection wells — without the required permit — violate the federal Clean Water Act. If the county chooses to appeal, the penalty payment would be delayed until the appeal is decided, Henkin said.
The Lahaina facility disposes of 3 million to 5 million gallons of treated wastewater daily through four injection wells that send fluid deep underground.
