Council approves next step for Hawaii landfill expansion

The Maui County Council has authorized eminent domain proceedings to gain legal access to land planned for the expansion of the Central Maui Landfill, Maui Now reports.

The land includes a nearly 20-acre former quarry site and will be used for the permanent disposal of toxic ash and debris from the Lahaina wildfire. Since at least 2017, the county has tried to acquire 19.66 acres of land, known as Lot 1B of the Central Maui Sanitary Landfill Subdivision, for landfill expansion from Komar Maui Properties, which bought the property in December 2015.

The county is now authorized to obtain the property at an estimated price of $830,000, according to the report.

Council introduced the resolution March 7 and passed it March 22. The resolution will be sent to the Government, Relations, Ethics and Transparency Committee for further review.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been clearing Lahaina properties of debris and hauling it temporarily to Olowalu.

Councilmember Tamara Paltin calls the approval a “big relief” for the residents of Lahaina, the Maui County Council and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

At the meeting, Mark Wingate, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Debris Task Force manager, reassured the council on its commitment to hauling the debris from Olowalu to Central Maui.

“We remain completely committed to hauling the debris from the existing temporary debris storage site to the permanent disposal site,” Wingate says. “We continue to appreciate the county, state and federal partnerships that have been forged in this collaborative process, as well as the opportunity to continue moving the debris from Lahaina, an uncontrolled environment, to a controlled and managed environment.”