LIHU‘E — Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. announced Friday he will no longer pursue Kalaheo as the host community for a much-needed new landfill site. Instead, Carvalho proposed an area known as Ma‘alo, located about 2.5 miles north of Lihu‘e and
LIHU‘E — Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. announced Friday he will no longer pursue Kalaheo as the host community for a much-needed new landfill site. Instead, Carvalho proposed an area known as Ma‘alo, located about 2.5 miles north of Lihu‘e and near Ma‘alo Road in Kapaia, which leads to Wailua Falls.
Carvalho said that within a month he will schedule a public meeting in Hanama‘ulu to discuss the plans in more detail.
“We will proceed with an environmental impact statement led by our consultant, AECOM,” Carvalho said at the Mo‘ikeha Building conference room in the Lihu‘e Civic Center.
Ma‘alo Road passes within a quarter-mile of the proposed landfill site. Wailua Falls is located just over a half-mile north of the proposed site.
“Siting a new landfill is one of the most difficult decisions any elected official can make,” said Carvalho, adding that a decision must be made now.
Even though the administration is working toward diverting as much material as possible from the Kekaha landfill, there will always be a need for a landfill, he said.
The Ma‘alo site is roughly 120 acres. It is owned by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, and is currently leased to ranchers as pasture land, said Carvalho, adding the “prospect of taking agricultural lands out of production for the purpose of a landfill is not a preferred alternative, but unfortunately it is our only alternative.
“However, at Ma‘alo, we believe that we can work with the state and with the adjacent landowner, Grove Farm, to not only mitigate the impacts on agriculture, but to actually expand agriculture eight-fold or more, with the siting of the landfill there,” Carvalho said.
Grove Farm was the only private landowner willing to work with the administration on the siting of a new landfill, the mayor said.
The mayor promised to work with Grove Farm to create a resource-recovery park on their land, in an area called Kalepa behind Kalepa Ridge in Hanama‘ulu, once considered a site for a new landfill which now will be in close proximity to the new landfill, Carvalho said.
“A materials-recovery facility, greenwaste processing, composting, and other diversion strategies can and will be pursued in connection with this siting process. As I envision it, this resource park is so innovative that it may even include a visitor and/or educational center,” he said.
Several stakeholders were contacted about working in partnership to restore a “stable storm-irrigation system” on those lands, which Carvalho said could open up as much as 1,000 additional acres for agriculture.
Another major benefit is that the central location would provide the opportunity to develop an interior roadway connecting Kuhio and Kaumuali‘i highways, said Carvalho, adding that Grove Farm has indicated a willingness to dedicate lands to build a bypass between Wailua and Puhi.
“I know that nearly 10 years ago a site very close to Ma‘alo was proposed, and the community of Hanama‘ulu was so strongly opposed that the effort was dropped,” Carvalho said. “I am certain that those same concerns will surface again, and I am prepared to work with the community.”
The project, Carvalho said, will create jobs and could be an economic stimulus for the neighboring community. He also promised to work with the Hanama‘ulu community to set up a host community benefits program, which offers funds for area projects in exchange for the community’s hosting of the landfill.
Such a program has provided the Kekaha community $810,000 to develop community projects.
Carvalho said the administration will also be reaching out to other stakeholders, such as current leaseholders on the state land at Ma‘alo and other leaders in business and agriculture.
“Getting to this point has been a long, arduous, sometimes-frustrating and challenging process. However, I feel confident that this course of action is the best avenue for us to take, and that the opportunities presented in this partnership between government, business and the community will put Kaua‘i “on the map” as a place that knows how to come together to find solutions to tough issues that are sustainable and beneficial to all,” he said.
Go to www.kauai.gov for the mayor’s entire speech. See www.thegardenisland.com for video of the press conference.
Go to the following link online for the full report:
http://www.kauai.gov/Government/Departments/PublicWorks/SolidWaste/NewLandfillSite/tabid/71/Default.aspx
