I support funding for the Ma'alaea wastewater system!

Jeanne McJannet <fourtutu@msn.com>

I support funding for the Ma'alaea wastewater system!

Aloha,
Please include $9.5 million of funding for a new Ma'alaea Regional Wastewater Reclamation Facility in the 2023 budget
This would be a significant improvement to both the residents and the ocean: Injection wells are known to contaminate surrounding areas and must be eliminated

Mahalo,
Leslie Kim Pickett
30 Hauoli St, Wailuku, HI 96793

Maalaea regional plant

Please consider County Council to include $9.5 million on the County budget to build a Maalaea regional plant and fix the injection well problem

Rick Viebahn

50 Hau’oli Street
Apt 404
Wailuku HI 96793-9542
8088660016

Maalaea Regional Plant

I support the proposal to build a regional plant and fix the injection well problem, even if it will mean higher taxes, as this is very important to the health of the beaches and ocean. Thank you, Carole McMahon, llendar@comcast.net

Please support the Maalaea Regional Plant Injection Well Problem

I urge the Maui County Council to include $9.5 million in the County budget to build a Maalaea regional plant and fix the injection well problem. This is not a Maalaea issue but a County issue that needs to be resolved. We can’t expect a small community to pay for a regional problem.

Mahalo,

Rick Ruiz

Wastewater treatment

Council members,
Please support council member King’s budget amendment to the 2023 Maui County fiscal budget to include a 9.5 million for a wastewater treatment for Maalaea community.

Linda Alfonso
280 Hauoli St
Wailuku HI

County Commissioners:

In reviewing the proposed budget, I see that funding for the Ma’alaea Regional Wastewater Reclamation Facility has not been included. Kelley King has proposed an amendment to the budget that would fund the $9.5M cost of a long time top priority infrastructure project. This project is one that would result in bettering the health of our island. We have found that injection wells are concentrated in the Ma'alaea Bay area and are having a detrimental affect on the marine ecosystems. The recent Supreme Court decision has emphasized the high priority of eliminating these injection wells. The properties of Ma'alaea Bay have been trying to address this wastewater concern for a number of years, realizing that it is bigger than anyone of the properties alone can handle. I ask you to include the project in the 2023 budget not only for the benefit of Ma'alaea Bay and for the health of our island’s ecosystem, but also for all the Maui citizens and businesses that rely on the health of the waters we enjoy at the parks and beaches in this area.

Thank you for your consideration,

Elaine Owen Baker
1baker89703@sbcglobal.net

Dear Members of the county council,
As Hawaii strives to clean up its rivers, ocean, carbon usage and pollution it must not ignore its wastewater issues.
Maalaea is in great need of a wastewater treatment system. Many of condos on Hauoli St., have out dated sewage systems. Leakage from these systems affect our ocean water and henceforth our marine life.
I implore the County Council to include the 9.5 million dollar Maalaea Wastewater Treatment System in its new budget this year. Maalaea has waited long enough and the oceans have suffered more than enough.
Mahalo,
Karen Scott - Hono Kai complex, unit C5
Maalaea, HI 96793

Budget Testimony: Why Maui County is responsible for wastewater infrastructure in Maalaea

Why does Maui County have an obligation to build wastewater infrastructure in Maalaea?

The short answer is: The County created this problem and the County needs to fix it.

A little history is helpful in understanding.

In the 1970's, Maui Mayor Elmer Cravalho was promoting the development of tourism for Maui. The Kaanapali Resort, the first planned resort in the State of Hawaii, had just been completed by Amfac. And the concept of condominium ownership, now copied around the world, was literally being invented within Hawaii.

One may recall, Mayor Cravalho was famous for forcing developers to pay for infrastructure in order to secure permits to build. For example, if you want to build a hotel in Wailea, then you have to bring the fresh water pipes from the source to your property. If you want to build your hotel, then you also need to build a wastewater plant on your property.

But fifty years later, if the water pipe to the Wailea Resorts breaks, do the hotels have to fix it? No, the County owns it, the hotels pay property taxes, and the County fixes it.

How about Maalaea?

The original Maalaea community consisted of about a dozen homes and a store that were all connected to individual cesspools. Our family was one of the families living in Maalaea. There were also some vacant lots. In late 1970, Maui County changed the zoning in Maalaea to allow condominium resorts to be constructed. My parents, and the other homeowners in Maalaea, were all charged property taxes on their home as if they had a hotel on their property. The County of Maui, through this zoning change, forced the homeowners to either sell their homes or develop a condominium in Maalaea. That is what happened.

Developers soon took over the properties. Those who built the condominiums in Maalaea were required by Maui County to build an on-site wastewater plant that used 1970's injection well technology that processed the effluent and pumped it into the fresh water table. This proved to be a big mistake. The nutrients from these permitted plants, together with unmitigated pathogens, ended up in the ocean to feed the algae that eventually took over and killed the reef, the limu, the shells, the opai, and the fish spawning corals. These nutrients, and sedimentation from mauka, in 50 years, has ruined the ecology of Maalaea Bay. We are fishing and swimming in doo doo soup.

Similar zoning changes in Kihei and in the Lahaina area created the development of Condominiums and other projects that required on-site injection well wastewater systems for a permit. However the County later recognized the problem of having developed areas with hundreds of individual cesspools and injection well systems. Damage to the ocean and the water table was evolving into an ecological disaster. So the County did the right thing and built regional sewer systems and wastewater plants for both the Kihei and Lahaina communities. Only Maalaea, currently holding 11 of the remaining 14 Underground Injection Control permits on Maui, has not been cleaned up by the County. The County holds the other three permits for Kahului, Lahaina and Kihei.

Maui County created a situation where homeowners were forced to either sell to developers or develop their home lots into condominiums through County zoning changes and property taxes. The developers were required by Maui County to build an on-site wastewater plant with only primary treatment at every single condominium in Maalaea. The County permitted these wastewater systems. This was the County's plan. The County is responsible for setting up this wastewater scheme in the first place. So now the homeowners in Maalaea, fifty years later, still have these legacy wastewater systems intact and they are now being told to fix their failing injection well systems. Yet we know that, because of the Supreme Court Lahaina case, the injection wells will all need to go. Any money put into improving an injection well system today will be lost.

The County of Maui created this problem. The County of Maui required these injection well systems the be built. The County of Maui permitted these mistakes. The County of Maui is culpable and needs to fix this. Government is responsible for the water and wastewater infrastructure in Maalaea in the same way that they were in Kihei and in Lahaina. These are the last of the injection wells of Maui located next to the ocean. This project is long overdue and it will restore health to Maalaea Bay.

So where do we stand today? The reef is near dead. Maalaea Bay is designated a 303(d) impaired body of water by the EPA. Maalaea Bay is a negatively impacted economic engine affecting all of Maui. This is not just about the Maalaea Community. This is about all of us who live, work and play on Maui.

Individual homeowners bought into the condominiums and still find themselves in the wastewater business with inferior 1970's technology that needs to be condemned. Fifty years later, the developers are long gone, and the condominium owners in Maalaea have every right to say, "Maui County, you created this problem, and you need to fix it".

Please, Maui County Council members, provide veto-proof support for the amendment to the County budget that provides for a regional wastewater sewer system and treatment plant for Maalaea, for all of Maui, and for Maalaea Bay.

To do nothing is unacceptable.

Mahalo,

Peter W. Cannon

Petition for Maalaea Wastewater plant

Dear City Council,

We are owners of 300 Hauoli St, B4 in Maalaea, and we know there is a proposal on your dock for $9.5 million to build a Maalaea regional plant and fix the injection well problem.

To preserve a health environement in and around Maalaea, we strong encourage you to approve this proposal.

Thanks,

Jacob and Kimberly Christfort

Support Maalaea regional plant

Dear County Council,

Maalaea Bay is such a special part of Maui, but the current aging wastewater system is negatively impacting the community and the coastal ecosystem. Please include $9.5 million on the County budget to build a Maalaea regional plant and fix the injection well problem.

Thank you,
Kim

Kim Christfort
Deloitte Greenhouse®

Maalaea Sewage Treatment Plant

I have lived at the Makani A Kai condominium complex for the last 11 years. When I was able to do the books I was the treasurer for the home owners association.

I am very aware of the problems with the current sewage system and all the dead corals in the bay. It’s important for the health of our reefs that a waste disposal system be developed by the County of Maui for the Maalaea condominium community, stores and the Harbor.

Mahalo nui loa
Fred Shanaman

Please include $9.5 million on the County budget to build a Maalaea regional plant and fix the injection well problem

To the County Council,

Please include $9.5 million on the County budget to build a Maalaea regional plant and fix the injection well.

Thanks,

Makani A Kai

Wenji Sun

Maalaea Wastewater plant

To whom it may concern:

As an owner of a condominium in the Makani A Kai complex on Maalaea Bay, I am entirely in support of a county run regional wastewater plant. We have owned our condominium for over 20 years, and I hope to own it for at least that long still and it would be great knowing that we had a universal approach to ensuring the environmental impact we create was being held to a single, higher standard going forward. Please include $9.5 million on the County budget to build a Maalaea regional plant and fix the injection well problem.

Sincerely,

Patrick McIntyre

I support funding for the Ma'alaea wastewater system!

As an owner at Milowai Maalaea, 50 Hauoli Street #208, we support the elimination of the aging injection wells through the replacement using a new system that meets and exceeds current water standards.

We ask that the Maalaea Regional Wastewater Reclamation Facility included in the 2023 budget budget be approved for the betterment of the Community, Maui and its Ocean.

Thank you,

Bob & Tanci Mintz
907-242-1044

SUPPORT INCREASED BUDGET FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (918223A-5101 and 918223B-6132)

Dear Maui County Councilmembers,

On behalf of Pukalani Superette, I strongly support increasing the budget of the Department of Agriculture to support additional staff positions and funding for professional services. In order for the Department of Agriculture to be a successful department, it must have sufficient staff to start addressing the needs of the community efficiently.

In addition to the positions outlined in the bare-bones budget for the Department of Agriculture. I support including the addition of two Grant Writers, two Food Access Coordinator positions and a Waste and Resource Regeneration Specialist in the Department’s Budget as additions to provide the bare-bones capacity to meet the needs of this Department.

I ask also that the Department of Agriculture budget is increased to allow for professional services that will support the establishment of countywide emergency storage and food centers, emergency food banks in Lānaʻi, Molokai and Hāna, legal assessments of the current agricultural cross-sectors with Federal and State Agencies to negotiate and address agricultural issues, and the development of a streamlined County permitting process for the agricultural sector.

Even with funding the additional positional and professional service, including making changes to fringe benefits, equipment, travel and mileage to accommodate for the additional positions will still allow the total funding for the Department to be less than $3 million dollars. Which is .3% of the overall County budget and a very reasonable ask to support increasing food security and help our local agricultural sector.

I respectfully ask that you increase the budget of the Department of Agriculture to support the addition of these positions and professional services. This funding will be crucial to the success of the Department of Agriculture. An investment in this Department’s success is an investment in the success of Maui County’s farmers and ranchers. Please help us when we need it most.

Thank you,
Megan Nakashima | President

15 Makawao Avenue, Pukalani, HI 96768 | www.PukalaniSuperette.com
Phone: (808) 572-7616 | Fax: (808) 572-7733 | E-mail: megannakashima@pukalanisuperette.net

SUPPORT INCREASED BUDGET FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (918223A-5101 and 918223B-6132)

Aloha,

I strongly support increasing the budget of the Department of Agriculture to support additional staff positions and funding for professional services. In order for the Department of Agriculture to be a successful department, it must have sufficient staff to start addressing the needs of the community efficiently.

In addition to the positions outlined in the bare-bones budget for the Department of Agriculture. I support including the addition of two Grant Writers, two Food Access Coordinator positions and a Waste and Resource Regeneration Specialist in the Department’s Budget as additions to provide the bare-bones capacity to meet the needs of this Department.

I ask also that the Department of Agriculture budget is increased to allow for professional services that will support the establishment of countywide emergency storage and food centers, emergency food banks in Lānaʻi, Molokai and Hāna, legal assessments of the current agricultural cross-sectors with Federal and State Agencies to negotiate and address agricultural issues, and the development of a streamlined County permitting process for the agricultural sector.

Even with funding the additional positional and professional service, including making changes to fringe benefits, equipment, travel and mileage to accommodate for the additional positions will still allow the total funding for the Department to be less than $3 million dollars. Which is .003% of the overall County budget and a very reasonable ask to support increasing food security and help our local agricultural sector.

I respectfully ask that you increase the budget of the Department of Agriculture to support the addition of these positions and professional services. This funding will be crucial to the success of the Department of Agriculture.

An investment in this Department’s success is an investment in the success of Maui County’s farmers and ranchers.

Please help us when we need it most.

Mahalo,
Theresa Thompson
Thompson Ranch
Kula, Maui

SUPPORT INCREASED BUDGET FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (918223A-5101 and 918223B-6132)

Dear Maui County Councilmembers,

I strongly support increasing the budget of the Department of Agriculture to support additional staff
positions and funding for professional services. In order for the Department of Agriculture to be a
successful department, it must have sufficient staff to start addressing the needs of the
community efficiently.

In addition to the positions outlined in the budget for the Department of Agriculture. I
support including the addition of two Grant Writers, two Food Access Coordinator positions and a Waste
and Resource Regeneration Specialist in the Department’s Budget as additions to meet the needs of this Department.

I ask also that the Department of Agriculture budget is increased to allow for professional services that
will support the establishment of countywide emergency storage and food centers, emergency food
banks in Lānaʻi, Molokai and Hāna, legal assessments of the current agricultural cross-sectors with
Federal and State Agencies to negotiate and address agricultural issues, and the development of a
streamlined County permitting process for the agricultural sector.

Even with funding the additional positional and professional service, including making changes to fringe
benefits, equipment, travel and mileage to accommodate for the additional positions will still allow the
total funding for the Department to be less than $3 million dollars.

Please increase the budget of the Department of Agriculture to support the addition
of these positions and professional services. This funding will be crucial to the success of the Department
of Agriculture. An investment in this Department’s success is an investment in Maui
County’s farmers and ranchers.

Mahalo,
Skippy Hau
Retired Aquatic Biologist

40 Kapi Lane #104
Wailuku, HI. 96793

Telephone# (808) 383-4149

Replace 24 outdated injection wells in Ma'alaea

Ma’alaea has been under assault with toxins from the air and in the water for far too long.
The reef at Ma’alaea is nearly dead with only about 10% left alive…the reef is where baby fish are nursed…we are literally destroyed the hand that feeds us.

We are way overdue and we have an opportunity to attract federal dollars to help with the cost.
Please vote for this project to happen ASAP.

Sincerely,
Bill Greenleaf
Greenleaf Farm
Makawao

Replace 24 outdated injection wells in Ma'alaea

Dear Maui County Clerk,

I support replacing 24 outdated injection wells in Ma'alaea with new cleaner wastewater technology

This project which Councilwoman Kelly King proposes to begin funding, can be further funded by the Federal Infrastructure Bill. Maui Pono will provide land above and away from the ocean so that outdated polluting injection wells will be replaced by technology that will provide cost effective water quality exceeding standards.

Sincerely,
Stuart Karlan
2752 Kauhale St., Kihei HI 96753