Councilman takes swing at odors from golf course

City Councilman Joey Manahan has met with officials at the Honolulu Country Club in an effort to address concerns by Salt Lake residents about foul odors emanating from the waters around the club.

While city officials say they are making strides to address the problem, Manahan has pledged to work with the private club to push for proper maintenance.

Manahan said he recently met with Honolulu Country Club Executive Vice President Gary Brown, who told him that the country club recently purchased a dredging machine for about $100,000. Manahan said he plans to meet with the city and the state Department of Health next month to determine whether the machine would resolve the problem. He added that the country club had previously not responded to his invitations to attend meetings and hearings on the matter.

“It seems that these maintenance issues, at least from what I’m seeing now, seems to happen every 10 years,” Manahan said. “We’ll see what happens with this machine.”

Brown did not respond to multiple requests from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser seeking comment.

Manahan, who represents the area, said he has also been working with the city Department of Facility Maintenance to draft a bill that clarifies a property owner’s responsibility to maintain, dredge and clear a private stream. He had introduced a separate resolution, which was adopted by the Council earlier this month, urging the country club to maintain its water features.

But he said he has held off introducing a bill to see whether the city can come to an agreement with the country club.

Several residents have expressed frustration with the ongoing problem and urged the city to push for ways to resolve it.

“People have fallen ill and must keep their windows closed when the odor reaches its peak,” said Rick Gray, general manager of the Country Club Village phase 1 condominiums, who along with several residents submitted written testimony to the Council over the past two months.

Amy Farias, a Country Club Village resident for more than 20 years, described the inlets along the condominiums as “regularly covered with a greenish, motley colored blanket of pollutants,” adding that “the permeating stench is inescapable for the residents who live nearby.”

Country Club Village is near the stream that connects ponds on the country club grounds, including the largest, Salt Lake.

Since the 1970s, residents have asked that the waterway be dredged. The club did dredging through the mid-1990s until federal wildlife officials warned that the dredging was encroaching on the habitats of endangered species. When the restrictions were relaxed, the dredging equipment was no longer operable, and budget constraints reduced the club’s ability to handle regular maintenance.

Thick vegetation has sprouted, and debris from storm drains has accumulated.

As part of a city-led effort completed in 2005, the waterway was cleared. At that time, the city and HCC signed an agreement that the country club “shall be responsible for maintenance of the stream banks and waterways.”

Ross Sasamura, city Facility Maintenance director, said in a statement that an ordinance needs to be amended to clarify a private owner’s responsibility to maintain, dredge and clear a private stream. He said city crews cleared the area fronting the waterway in February, which resulted in the removal of four dump truck loads of debris and two dump truck loads of green waste. He said his department has not received additional complaints about odors since then.

He said the city also plans to install metal screens at more than 100 catch basin inlets along several streets in the area, which is slated for completion next summer. Sasamura added that the city is on track to build, at a cost of $2 million, two basins to capture some sediment, debris and rocks that come from the edges of Aliamanu Crater before they enter the waterway. That project is slated to break ground in 2018.

Bonnie Lau, a 20-year resident of Country Club Village condominiums, said in written testimony to the Council that the view overlooking HCC’s grounds was “not just a treat, but a treasure, at the beginning.”

“(But) over the years, the golf course view disappeared into a deep dark forest because of the over-grown vegetation, and the waterway has been covered by green ‘monster’ algae,” Lau said.