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DHHL project is victim of sea rise panic
SA: … For decades, sea level rise (SLR) has been framed as an accelerating threat to coastal communities, with alarming projections influencing land use policies and development plans. Recently, a state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) project at Ewa Beach fell victim to these dire projections. How so? By accepting a consultant’s “Desktop Study” that SLR will be so great that homes shouldn’t be built some two blocks away from the ocean.
Following the consultant’s report, 47 of DHHL’s 80 acres become unsuitable for houses, effectively eliminating 240 desperately needed homes for Native Hawaiians.
Various government agencies and a task force are cited by the consultant for its recommended SLR projection, but ground zero is an outdated computer model from a 2015 United Nations report. This model, called RCP 8.5, assumes an improbable fivefold increase in coal use and CO2 emissions through 2100 — a scenario most experts now consider implausible due to the global shift to natural gas, renewable energy and electric vehicles. Incredibly, the model used in the DHHL report surpasses even the RCP 8.5 projection. From 2000 to 2100, the model used by the consultant predicts SLR of 5 feet, 10 inches — nearly 6 feet!
NOAA tide data for Honolulu since 1905 tells a very different story (see NOAA, Relative Sea Level Trend, Honolulu, Hawaii). Over the past 120 years, SLR has followed a gradual, linear trend — not accelerating — of about 6/10ths of one inch per decade. In NOAA’s own words, “equivalent to a change of 0.51 feet in 100 years.” Yes, 6 inches per century. A similar linear trend has been observed in many other locations worldwide.
Over the past 25 years, SLR for Honolulu has been about 1.5 inches, far less than the projected 6.9-inch increase in the model used by the DHHL consultant. Over the next 25-year period the consultant’s projection assumes that SLR will rapidly accelerate to a whopping and unbelievable 13.8 inches higher than the current sea level. To date, the SLR data for Honolulu doesn’t support anywhere near such an extreme projection….
Oct 21, 2024: DHHL Burns $90M Finding Excuses to Not Build 600 Homes
Mar 31, 2021: DHHL to Obtain Former Tsunami Warning Center Site from Feds
read … DHHL project is victim of sea rise panic
City’s proposed sewer fee increase hits roadblock in council
HNN: … Plans to raise sewer fees more than 100 percent over 10 years are hitting a wall at the Honolulu City Council.
A key committee voted Tuesday to limit the raise and force the city to find other sources of money.
Honolulu’s wastewater processing system needs billions in work, so the Blangiardi administration proposed 9% increases for several years, more than doubling sewer fees over the next decade.
Council Chair Tommy Waters told city Budget and Finance director Andrew Kawano the increase will have “a devastating impact.”
Waters and other members want to use other sources of money, like savings from vacant city jobs or other borrowing with bonds that can be paid from property taxes, to reduce the fee increase.
But Kawano said that could affect the city’s credit rating and potentially violate contracts with bonding companies.
(CLUE: He is lying.)
“We are going to pay more in debt service. The interest rates will increase,” he said, but Waters interrupted.
“That’s why I am saying we take general funds and pay down the debt,” Waters said. “I appreciate your opinion but I respectfully disagree.”
Council member Scott Nishimoto asked, “We cannot use GO bonds and we cannot use cash?”
Kawano responded, “I am not going to go so far as to say it cannot be used.”
Waters followed up.
“Just to be clear, shouldn’t and couldn’t are two different things, so we could do it correct?”
“You could do it, but I strongly don’t recommend doing it,” Kawano said.
(TRANSLATION: “I was lying. I have now changed my story.”)
The committee voted to reject the plan, instead proposing a 4% increase with the city needing to help find other sources of money to make up for the difference.
The other nine years would still need to be worked out with money from other sources….
HPR: Council identifies $25M in cuts to vacant positions to help fund sewer projects | Hawai'i Public Radio
HPR: Council suggests 4% sewer fee boost for Oʻahu instead of 10-year increase plan | Hawai'i Public Radio
read … City’s proposed sewer fee increase hits roadblock in council
HB371: Government reform bills move ahead at Hawaii Legislature
SA: … The latest version of House Bill 371 would make it illegal for state and county contractors — and their immediate family members — from making campaign contributions while their companies are under contract for county or state projects.
It also would require the names of any officers or their immediate family members to be disclosed in certain circumstances.
The state Senate Ways and Committee on Tuesday also passed out HB 370, which would increase the amount of so-called partial public campaign funding available to county and state candidates….
HB 69, which the Senate Ways and Means Committee also passed Tuesday, would require that campaign contributions over $100 from a single donor during any election cycle be returned or given to Hawaii’s election campaign fund.
Other so-called “clean government” bills that remain alive this legislative session include:
>> The latest version of HB 412, which would void state contracts if there are violations of state lobbying laws. It would also expand the definition of lobbying to include communications with “high-level government officials regarding procurement decisions.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee passed it out March 25.
>> Senate Bill 289 would create a uniform fine schedule for common violations of the state Ethics Code and Lobbyist Law, which the state Ethics Commission hopes will streamline and shorten the process of paying fines, similar to traffic fines.
It’s been sent to Gov. Josh Green for his possible signature, along with the latest version of HB 413, which would make it illegal for lobbyists to make campaign contributions during legislative sessions….
read … Government reform bills move ahead at Hawaii Legislature
Navy plans treatment plants to put fuel-contaminated Hawaii water back in service
SAS: … The interim treatment facility, which would filter the water using granular activated carbon, is already under construction and expected to be completed in 2026, the assessment states. No timeline was given for the subsequent completion of a permanent water treatment plant. Water from both treatment facilities would meet drinking water standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Hawaii Department of Health, the assessment states….
read … Navy plans treatment plants to put fuel-contaminated Hawaii water back in service | Stars and Stripes
More red light cameras could be on the way for Oahu
KITV: … Current red light cameras are found at ten Honolulu intersections, but under the bill, an additional 25 intersections around Oahu would get cameras.
That may include Fort Weaver Road, where 30 accidents happened last year at the intersection of Kolowaka Drive.
Or where the Likelike and Kahekili Highways meet in Windward Oahu, which had 29 crashes….
read … More red light cameras could be on the way for Oahu | Local | kitv.com
Milolii homeowner wins lawsuit against county
HTH: … A Kona judge ruled Friday that the Hawaii County Board of Appeals erred when it sided with the Department of Public Works, which revoked a 2020 renovation building permit that was in effect after a man bought a small Milolii Beach Lots house in a shoreline management area four years ago.
Third Circuit Chief Judge Wendy DeWeese ruled that Shahzaad Ausman, the sole member of 88-129 Kai LLC, “was entitled to rely on the 2020 permit” when he bought the property in 2021 from the prior owner, Douglas Peterson.
“I feel like a million bucks, right?” Ausman told the Tribune-Herald on Monday. “I’ve been fighting for so long, and at every corner there was something happening. And when I finally saw the decision and read it, I was in tears, just shaking in disbelief because this is potentially over. And I can go on with my life now and go on with my house now.”
Ausman, through his attorney, Patrick Wong, filed suit in 2023 against the BOA and former Public Works Director Stephen Pause, alleging the county’s Electronic Processing and Information Center system, known as EPIC, had trapped him in a permitting catch-22 that would allow him only to demolish his home, not to remodel or live in it ….
BACKGROUND:
read … Milolii homeowner wins lawsuit against county
Maui County Council Digs Into The Mayor's $1.5 Billion Spending Plan
CB: … The Maui County Council has begun scrutinizing Mayor Richard Bissen’s proposed $1.51 billion budget for next fiscal year, which begins July 1.
The number of county job vacancies has emerged as an early issue for some members, including Council Chair Alice Lee.
“I don’t see why we need a budget that high, because we have over 600 vacancies in the county,” she said during a budget hearing Tuesday. “The emphasis — and it wasn’t even mentioned — should be that we need to revolutionize our hiring practices, recruitment and retention. That needs to be top priority.”
The council will spend the next two weeks in a series of public meetings that dive into each department’s budget and provide an opportunity for members to question each director. Two public hearings will be held later this month to gather additional feedback on what action the council should take ….
read … Maui County Council Digs Into The Mayor's $1.5 Billion Spending Plan
City Plans To Finish Waiʻanae Police Station, But It May Not Mean More Cops
CB: … Nine years after opening the station, the city is working to finish construction. But Honolulu is short on police, so there won’t necessarily be more officers on patrol….
read … City Plans To Finish Waiʻanae Police Station, But It May Not Mean More Cops
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