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While the City Council toils on budget amendments, the mayor’s landfill site-selection committee is gathering for the fourth of seven meetings. Civil Beat is reporting from the inside.

Committee Member Eyes Kunia for Landfill

11:45 a.m.
Landfill site-selection committee member John Goody says the city should consider buying new land for a new landfill, rather than relying on what’s already city property.

Specifically, he has his eye on Kunia in West Oahu.

“It’s a dry area, it’s not anybody’s real backyard, and I just feel like we really need to look at that area,” Goody said. “We know there are some hydrological barriers there but we should take a look at it.”

Goody says he believes it is geologically suitable, and not hydrologically connected to Pearl Harbor.

“We would have to buy it, but I just don’t think we can keep chasing the same set of sites around the island,” Goody said. “We’re just not going to get anywhere if we’re just rearranging deck chairs.”

Don’t Want a Hotel? How About a Landfill Instead?

11:08 a.m.
Keeping an area free of development might mean the landfill site-selection committee will eye it for a new city landfill.

“You don’t want to interfere with a site where there’s development planned,” landfill site-selection committee member Tesha Mālama said. “We don’t know how long Waimanalo Gulch is going to last but if you’re looking at the next site, it should be one where you’re not supposed to have any development.”

Committee moderator DeeDee Letts joked that an area of Oahu that’s free from development attempts sounds like a “mythical site.”

Are Massage Schools Really Schools?

9:46 a.m.
Members of the city’s landfill site-selection committee are going through criteria they’ll weigh in ranking their location choice for a new city landfill. One criteria is “proximity to schools.” But the group’s moderator wondered if that was specific enough.

DeeDee Letts asked: Do massage schools count?

The group changed the criteria to read “proximity to an educational institution,” though it’s still not clear if that includes massage or other vocational schools.

Similarly, one member says, proximity to “a park” shouldn’t include a water park.

City Crews Respond to Sewer Overflow

9:20 a.m.
Water sampling is ongoing after a sanitary sewer overflow this morning, according to the city’s Environmental Services spokesman.

“Grease clogged a 6-inch terra cotta sewer pipe causing 1,360 gallons of untreated wastewater out a manhole and into Pauoa Stream, which leads to Nuuanu Stream and eventually to Honolulu Harbor,” wrote spokesman Markus Owens in a press release.

Owens said the city cleaned and disinfected the area, and notified the Department of Health.

Landfill Site-Selection Committee Passes Halfway Point

9:15 a.m.
Seven members of the mayor’s advisory committee on landfill site-selection are meeting in the mayor’s conference room at this hour.

The group — which has 10 total members, down from its original 12 — is tasked with finding a new site for a landfill once the city stops using Waimanalo Gulch. The state has set a 2012 deadline for the halt of municipal solid waste disposal there, but city environmental officials say they won’t be able to meet that deadline.

Here are some of the questions outlined in the minutes from the group’s March 10 meeting, and the answers provided by city officials and moderator DeeDee Letts at the time:

Q: What capacity are we seeking?
A: The City is looking for 15 years of capacity based on current waste disposal
projections. However, because the City wants to maximize the use of the site, the landfill
is planned to be operated longer if there is still capacity remaining.

Q: Is it feasible to backfill a site?
A: Yes, but it will depend on several factors.

Q: Selected sites should be considered even if they are mauka of the UIC line.
A: The City Council passed a Resolution that no sites mauka of the UIC should be
considered, however if there are such sites after the exclusionary criteria are applied we
can revisit that issue.

Q: Should we look at sites that were eliminated based on cost?
A: Cost was not an exclusionary criteria

Q: The City should consider the addition of the WGSL in this process given its capacity. If it doesn’t the City would be shooting itself in the foot. Why is it not being considered?
A: The WGSL was not included as a part of the Committee’s charge as it was evaluated
in the last process and the City is moving forward with its request for expansion – this
group is to rank sites in view of the need for a next landfill site.

On the agenda for today: A look at about 34 criteria the committee will use to rank possible sites for a new landfill.

Catch Up on This Month’s Inside Honolulu

March 30, 2011: Why Bombardier got disqualified; City Council grills administration on rail; A glimpse of Doug Chin, the prosecutor; Ernie Martin holds it down for aloha wear.

March 29, 2011: Laie hotel deferred, the real cost of the city’s contract rail with Ansaldo; A letter from Ann Kobayashi to Ray LaHood.

March 28, 2011: City Council advances bill to end recycling subsidy; City “getting robbed” by state; Tsunami plan “needs improvement.”

March 23, 2011: Gov. Neil Abercrombie makes a quick exit; Federal, state, city officials cheer rail project.

March 22, 2011: TAT grab deferred; Third boiler one year from completion; Furloughs still possible.

March 21, 2011: Honolulu awards two new rail contracts; All four mayors talk labor; Firefighters get boisterous at City Hall; City Council continues budget briefings.

March 17, 2011: City Council questions necessity of long-planned bond float for rail; Lengthy executive sessions moves rail talks behind closed doors; Aging bus fleet, city workers.

March 16, 2011: City Council tables transit resolution; City Council members slam administration’s proposed fuel hike.

March 15, 2011: City Council member Ann Kobayashi tips off rail opponents to try to change City Council member Ikaika Anderson‘s mind; Rail arguments to continue in court next week; City Council members get an extension on HART nominations.

March 15, 2011: Honolulu spends $900 million on booze; Santa Claus moves to Pearl City; Mayor Peter Carlisle takes a 15 percent pay cut.

March 10, 2011: Landfill site-selection committee meets for third time, loses two members; HECO provides generators to family center; Like Honolulu, other cities and state grapple with spending on rail.

March 9, 2011: City’s rail groundbreaking ceremony costs about $30,000, consistent with Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle‘s estimate.

March 8, 2011: HART seeks $21 million in first budgetl; City IT Director Gordon Bruce works out kinks on new budget website; City gives HPD 9,000 hours in legal defense in two years; City moves forward with compost facility in Waialua; Could Honolulu ask residents to pay-to-play?

March 7, 2011: Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle says he doesn’t want a raise; Salary Commission recommends bump in pay for vacant medical examiner job; Tom Berg‘s chief of staff blasts HECO.

March 4, 2011: Landfill channel not designed to handle rainfall equivalent to storm that caused near-catastrophe; Six City Council members out of town.

March 3, 2011: Line-by-line budget to go online in about a week; Five City Council members are D.C.-bound.

March 2, 2011: Mayor Peter Carlisle raises taxes, fees in first budget; More money for autopsies; Liquor commish nominee Wesley Fong talks commission image issues; TheBus turns 40; Ides of March deadline for City Council’s HART nominees.

March 1, 2011: City Council member Breene Harimoto worries about bandaid approach to homelessness; Planning Committee advances North Shore communities plan; Parks and Rec eyes new dog park; Tom Berg pitches Matson containers as possible living space.