Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 16, Number 4, 1 April 1999 — High and dry in Waiʻanae? [ARTICLE]

High and dry in Waiʻanae?

Will the legislature help the homesteaders?

By Paula Durbin LEEWARD COAST homesteaders have until July 1 1 to hook up to the city and county sewer lines, and they are not happy about it, according to Ivan Laikupu, president of the Wai'anae Valley Homestead Association. The Department of Hawaiian Homelands' infrastructure built in Wai'anae back in 1977-78 did not include a sewer extension. So the first increments of homesteaders put in their own cesspools at a cost of $3000 to $3,600 eaeh, most financed as part of their 30-year mortgages. Laikupu said that in 1993, DHHL advised the homesteaders it was going to build extensions whieh would allow many homes to connect to the city sewer, but they would have the option of using their cesspools. "Then, Jan. 1 1, the city and county sends us a letter saying we had 90 days to comply," Laikupu said, referring to an ordinance requiring use of the city's sewer lines when they heeome available. The city also warned it would cut off cesspool pumping on the affected lots when the period lapsed, but it has since given the residents a 90-day extension. Homesteaders also received letters from DHHL confirming the requirement to hook up. DHHL is offering such cost-cutting devices as the use of prison labor to reduce the $3,000 to $7,000 per lot piiee of hooking up. Although most homesteaders

would only be out of pocket $550, they still object. "The bottom line is that we don't want to be charged. Families still paying their mortgages would be paying for a cesspool they no longer ean use," Laikupu explained. "The families here are only the lessees anyway. The land is owned by DHHL whieh should be putting in the infrastructure to hook us up," explained Laikupu. Homesteaders are also convinced their water bills will skyrocket onee they are on the sewer line. Wai'anae residents use a lot of water because their surroundings are so dry, and sewer fees are determined as a fixed proportion of the water volume. According to Doug Woo, an information specialist with the Department of Environmental Services, their fear is well foUnded. "We recognize that people who irrigate feel the present sewer fee formula is unfair," he said. "We are continuing to look at ways to address that eoneem." For Wai'anae homesteaders, the unfaimess extends beyond the sewer fee. "Homesteaders in Waimānalo and Nānākuli stood up strong and fought back," said Laikupu, "so DHHL has backed off." Only 131 Wai'anae lots must be brought into eomplianee; the rest not already connected are precluded by the laws of physics and are exempt. Laikupu said DHHL's strategy is to force this small number of homesteaders into eomplianee on the theory that onee Wai'anae submits, other areas will follow. Asked to comment, DHHL's spokesperson Ken Toguchi responded, "Absolutely not. It is not DHHL's policy to force hook-ups." He said DHHL hopes eventu-

ally to expand its assistance program ffom Wai'anae to Waimānalo and Nānākuli. According to Toguchi, only six homes, of 96 canvassed so fa,r refuse to hook up. Laipuku attributed this rate of success, if accurate, to "scare tactics." In puhlie meetings, homesteaders elaim, city representatives have threatened to cut off their water and force their eviction by DHHL. But Woo said the only consequence of noneomplianee would be the discontinuation of the. city's cesspool services. He added that Nānākuli homesteaders are held to the same standard of eomplianee as those in Wai'anae. "The city's position is to apply the ordinance equally to everyone," Woo maintained, adding his department would rather deal directly with DHHL than with homesteaders. Waimānalo faced a similar ulimatum from the city's Department of Puhlie Works in 1987, but then-Director Alfred Thiede seemed to retreat later that year. "The city will not be directing any of the Waimānalo Residence Lots lessees to comply with the eonneehon requirement of the Revised Ordinances of Honolulu. The requiring of the individual properties to be connected to the available sewer lines will be left to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands," Theide wrote to a Waimānalo kupuna who had contested the requirement. The kupuna alerted Ka Wai Ola to the letter conceding his point, but Woo still insists Thiede's conclusion is consistent with the department's current position: no hook-up, no services. The kupuna's cesspool has never required pumping. Sen. Colleen Hanabusa recently introduced legislation whieh would have appropriated $4,999,000 to finance the hook-up in Wai'anae. The bill is considered dead, but she is hoping the appropriation ean be made part of the state's capital improvements budget. "There is still hope," said her aide, adding that the suspense over the appropriation could continue through the session. ■

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