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KEALAKEKUA, Hawaii -- Four Kona residents who use the waters north of Kealakekua Bay for recreation and fishing have filed suit to revoke permits for the Hokuli'a luxury residential development. Runoff from Hokuli‘a
construction pollutes
ocean, suit claimsBy Rod Thompson
Star-BulletinThe plaintiffs say Hokuli'a developer, Oceanside 1250, violated its water pollution control permit when the company failed to stop a large mass of dirt and other debris from washing into the sea Sept. 8.
The suit suggests it could recur.
Oceanside 1250 president Rick Humphreys said yesterday that he hadn't seen the suit, but that his company has followed all laws.
A hearing on a temporary restraining order to stop the company from importing more dirt to the site is set for Friday in Kona Circuit Court. Hearings on preliminary and permanent injunctions will come later.
Attorney Robert Kim filed the suit on behalf of Walter Kelly, Charles Flaherty Jr., Patrick Cunningham, and Michele Wilkins.
Kim said the waters in the area are pristine, classified by the state as AA, and there is "zero tolerance" for sediment runoff.
In a declaration attached to the suit, Kelly said he regularly paddles to the area near Red Hill, about two miles north of Kealakekua Bay.
On Sept. 8, he received a report of a "significant soil runoff" in the area due to heavy rain. On a visit to the site Sept. 9, Kelly said he found the usually clear waters to be "muddy chocolate brown" in an area a quarter mile wide and a quarter mile long. Underwater visibility was limited to a foot, he said.
Wilkins, a diver, also visited the site on Sept. 9 and estimated the area of mud-polluted water to be a mile long. She said silt still covered large patches of the ocean bottom two weeks later.
Swimmer and kayaker Flaherty said he lives next to the road used to bring soil to the project. In the week following the runoff, he said he saw a "significant increase" in the number of trucks bringing soil to the project.
Kim said Cunningham is a commercial fisherman who will file a declaration soon.
Hokuli'a is intended to consist of 730 house lots, an 80-unit lodge, and a golf course. Kim said he didn't know if construction would be possible without the pollution control permit.