WASTEWATER SYSTEMS
NOTICE OF
VARIANCE APPLICATION NO. W W 217
DOCKET NO. 06 – V W W – 06

Pursuant to H.R.S., §342D-7(i), Hawaii Revised Statutes, the State Department of Health (DOH) seeks written comments from interested persons regarding the following. The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, State of Hawaii, has applied for a five (5) year variance from Hawaii Administrative Rules (HAR) Subchapter 1, Section 11-62-05 Critical Wastewater Disposal Areas, Section 11-62-05 General Requirements, Subchapter 2, Wastewater Treatment Works, and Subchapter 3, Individual Wastewater Systems, Section 11-62-31.1 (a)(2)(B) which states total development of an area shall not exceed 50 single-family residential lots or exceed fifty dwelling units.
Mr. Anson Maruyama, P.E., Chief Executive Officer, Community Planning & Engineering, Inc., 1100 Alakea Street, 6th Floor, Honolulu, Hawaii, is the individual authorized to act for the applicant. The applicant is requesting to install cesspools of 459 residential lots with minimum area of 10,000 square feet at the Lalamilo Residential Subdivision, Phase 2 at Waimea, South Kohala, Hawaii, TMK: (3) 6-6-001: 077.
The applicant has made the following comments.
1. The State of Hawaii, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) proposes to develop a subdivision of Hawaiian homestead lands in Lalamilo, Waimea, South Kohala, Island of Hawaii.
2. The project, Lalamilo Housing Subdivision, Phase 2, is located on the south side of Kawaihae Road approximately 8 miles east of the town of Kawaihae. The Lalamilo Housing Subdivision, Phase 1 (Tax Map Keys: 6-6-001: 054 and 6-6-004: 012-017) consisting of 37 house lots are located in contiguous properties but are separated by approximately 100 feet by Keanuiomano Stream which runs between the properties. The Phase 1 subdivision is currently under construction. The east property line borders the South Kohala Distribution Road. The development is situated just outside of Waimea Town and approximately 56 miles from Hilo.
3. Approximately 232 acres of DHHL lands will be subdivided for 459 residential lots with minimum of 10,000 square feet lots, a park site and roadways.
4. Waimea Town has no municipal wastewater collection and treatment systems. All of Waimea, including the project vicinity is on individual wastewater systems (IWS) consisting of cesspools or septic tank leachfield systems with the exception of the Parker Ranch 2020 expansion area. Parker Ranch owns and operates the only wastewater treatment plant located several miles south of Waimea Town and makai of Mamalahoa Highway.
5. The project is lcoated in Critical Wastewater Disposal Area (CWDA), Unit 3, with 5-acre exception as shown in Appendix E of HAR, Chapter 11-62.
6. The variance is being requested to allow the use of cesspools for the lots in a development of greater than 50 lots and less than 5 acres in size. The subdivided lots will be conveyed as residential lots to eligible native Hawaiians for one dollar ($1.00) per year. Other improvements include paved roadways, drainage, potable water, underground communications systems, above ground electric and lighting systems, park and road connections to South Kohala Distribution Road and Alaneo Place. The homesteader will be responsible for developing their individual lot dwellings and individual waste disposal systems.
7. The surrounding area is surrounded by low-density rural residential properties on the north and ranch land on the south.
8. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Services Survey, the ground underlying the site is classified as “Waimea very fine sandy loam, 6 to 12 percent slopes (WMC).” The soil is characterized as “…dark-brown and very dark-brown very fine sandy loam and loam. The subsoil is dark-brown silt loam about 25 inches thick. It is underlain by weathering, hard basalt bedrock at a depth of about 42 inches.”
9. The depth of underlying groundwater, based on the results of the USGS Test Well (No. 6141-01) would be 900 to 1,200 feet. Consequently, the impact on ground water would not be significant as further nutrient removal in the several years of downward travel through the unsaturated zone would occur.
10. The variance has been requested for the maximum of five (5) years.
Several other detailed attachments and plot maps (which can not be shown here) were included in this application but could not be included in this public notice. If you would like to review the full application, please call or write to the Wastewater Branch, 919 Ala Moana Boulevard, Room 309, Honolulu, Hawaii 96814-4920, telephone (808) 586-4294 or fax (808) 586-4300 to obtain a copy or facsimile.
DOH will consider all written comments received within thirty days of this notice. If warranted, DOH may hold a public hearing on the variance application, after a separate thirty day public notice. The final decision will be made on the basis of the application, related documents, written comments and the public hearing, if any.

CHIYOME L. FUKINO, M.D.
Director of Health (SB05522818 5/12/06)