Commission
nixes construction
landfill proposal

Waianae Coast residents claimed victory yesterday as the city Planning Commission voted not to allow a construction and demolition landfill at a Maili quarry.

"I'm surprised and pleased," said Cynthia Rezentes, chairwoman of the Waianae Coast Neighborhood Board. "I thought we'd have to do battle again at the Land Use Commission."

Pacific Aggregate, the business name for landowner Sphere LLC, was seeking a special-use permit to fill its 50-foot-deep quarry pit with construction and demolition debris.

Had the company been successful, it would have made Oahu's second landfill for construction debris on the Waianae Coast, which also is home to the island's municipal landfill at Waimanalo Gulch.

---

Pacific Aggregate hoped to gain a share of the 200,000 tons a year of construction waste that currently goes to the privately run PVT Landfill in Nanakuli.

Last year, the Planning Commission approved Pacific Aggregate's request, but the state Land Use Commission sent the matter back to the city panel, asking that it address community concerns about noise, dust, polluted runoff, heavy truck traffic on local roads and effects on nearby Maili Elementary school and area farmers.

Yesterday, Pacific Aggregate consultant James Wyse told the Planning Commission his client would meet a list of new conditions that addressed those items.

But more than a dozen people -- including Maili Elementary student Davian Ugaitafa -- testified that despite the improved plan, they do not want another dump in their neighborhood.

"Why is Waianae so attractive for dump sites?" Maili resident Walterbea Aldeguer asked the Planning Commission. "It's like, anything that happens on this side, who cares? It's Waianae."

A five-member majority of the nine-member Planning Commission had to approve the proposal for it to be forwarded to the state Land Use Commission for additional approval.

Of the six Planning Commission members present at yesterday's meeting, outgoing Chairman Charlie Rodgers and members Rodney Kim, Edson Hoo and Karin Holma voted for the Pacific Aggregate proposal. Jeff Mikulina and Diane Peters-Nguyen voted against it.

"Just because you have a hole in the ground doesn't mean it has to be a landfill," Mikulina said.

Pacific Aggregate has a year to bring the matter back to the Planning Commission if it wishes to try again.