2010-11-17 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

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PROVALENKO: We have something like that currently in Kawaihae-- Kawaihae transitional housing, which is something similar to 120 or 150 square feet, which was started with the county and through private development. When Nansay Hawai `i was here, they partnered up with them. And so we do have a section of that that's already been established, but it never went any further. And part of the problem was the cesspool situation. LEONARD: Yeah, let me tell you a little bit of what my experience with that is. When we go out and we get a complaint, and the complaint is generally a whole list of things, and one of them is they're defecating in the forest. And so we go out there and we look for the obvious health signs, you see stuff on the ground, what's it smell like, and that sort of stuff. And so then you ask the people, well, where do you go to the bathroom? And then they say well, there's a five gallon bucket over there. That's where we go. Oh, okay. Well, if you call Department of Health and say well, you know they don't have a port -a- toilet or anything and they're going over there in that bucket, they'll come out and they'll confirm that and they'll say well, you're going in the bucket. What do you do with that? Well, we take it down to the transfer station. Okay, they throw it in the transfer station. Is that allowed? Yes, it's allowed. And then I think- -well, wait a minute. If we're talking about Type -II housing - -and years ago that was not approved because you had to have a septic system or a cesspool but then here the Department of Health allows you to go to the restroom in a fivegallon bucket and throw it into a transfer station. Why on the one hand are you telling people you have to have cesspools and septic systems, and then on the other hand allow people to use a fivegallon bucket? There's a disconnect there. And then when you know, or find out that in the state of Hawai `i composting toilets are approved for use, then why don't we promote that? Why don't we allow that? So there's certainly I think there's a lot of things that are allowed, we just need to coordinate better and work towards some clear solutions to these problems. CHAIR: You said that this was allowed in some rural areas of California? LEONARD: Right -- Sonoma, Mendocino County, Humboldt County I think as well. It's called Type K housing. CHAIR: So it's restricted to certain rural areas within the county, or the entire county? LEONARD: No, it's to rural areas. So I don't think you can come into city limits and build the Type K housing. But this is kind of for people that live out in the remote regions, kind of, and to give them CHAIR: - -So how do you envision that working here? What do you call a rural area versus a city, since our zoning's a little different than it is in California? LEONARD: Right, right. Well, typically what's happening right now I mean, you would say okay, places like Hawaiian Paradise Park or Hawaiian Shores, Hawaiian Acres would you allow that sort of thing to take place? Is it going to be a function of because those lots are fairly small - -is it going to be something that you'd allow on large acreage, agriculturally zoned properties? Those are things that we'll have to work out. It's not clear. But I can say this, is that what I have seen on several occasions is a person 15