Council panel seeks
delay of landfill date
The Honolulu City Council might ask the state for a six-month extension to its June 1 deadline for finding a new Oahu landfill site.
The Council's Public Works and Economic Development Committee voted 3-2 yesterday to ask the city administration to seek the extension.
Committee members Rod Tam, Ann Kobayashi and Romy Cachola voted for the extra time, while Charles Djou and Mike Gabbard voted against it.
The full Council now must vote on the request.
A year ago, when city officials got permission from the state Land Use Commission to use the current Waimanalo Gulch Landfill on the Leeward Coast for five more years, they promised to name a new landfill location by June 1.
A committee appointed by Mayor Jeremy Harris narrowed dozens of possible sites to four, which it recommended to the Council in December.
Three of the landfill sites recommended by the Mayor's Advisory Committee on Landfill Siting are on the Leeward side, at Maili, Makaiwa Gulch and Nanakuli. The fourth site is at Ameron Quarry in Kailua.
Some members, including Tam, want to consider a potential 20-year expansion of Waimanalo Gulch Landfill. However, city officials have promised to close it.
The committee will hold public information meetings on the landfill location decision at:
>> 7 p.m. March 29 at Kapolei Hale.
>> 7 p.m. March 30 at Kailua Recreation Center.