HomeMy WebLinkAboutGT 0008 - Enforcement by Planning DepartmentFrom: Heidi Jaworski <mskonasunshine@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 24, 2019 3:38 PM
To: Charter Commission
Subject: Regarding lack of enforcement by county planning dept.
Aloha Charter Commission,
I would like to address the lack of enforcement by Hawaii County Planning Department, in regard to the
overwhelming problem of junkyards, trashed properties, and un -permitted dwellings, (many without proper sanitary
waste disposal systems), in Ocean View.
In the case of junkyards and many trashed properties, it currently works like this: I see a property in my neighborhood
that is being used to dump junk cars, furniture and other trash on (as in at times, 50-100 vehicles) per acre, or I see a
property where there are numerous shacks, housing many, many people living communally within the shacks, trash,
RVs, or junk vehicles. There are obviously no provisions for sanitary waste disposal on these properties. I look up the
location number and owner of the property on the county property tax records, then fill out a complaint form, and
submit it to the County of Hawaii Planning Department. These folks send out an inspector to check on the property in
person, they then send a letter to the listed owner of the property, stating what the violations are, and what the steps
are for the owner to take, to get in compliance with the county zoning code. The letter also states the possible "Civil
Fines" and "Daily Fines" which will be assessed. There are a number of different outcomes that are possible in this
situation, that I've run into so far. #1 The owner lives off island, often on the mainland , #2 The owner has died, the
property is in "limbo" #3 The letter from the county comes back unopened, #4 The letter is ignored. At this point, it
seems, the process stops. As far as I can tell, there is no enforcement, nor any means available to enforce these empty
threats of fines. I've been told that the goal of the county in this exercise, is compliance, but without any means for
enforcement - compliance just doesn't happen. I have had more than one county employee tell me, over a number of
years, that there is no good answer to this problem. In the case of junkyards, no one wants to deal with these
properties, because they are too high of a financial liability to deal with. Off island owners who bought an acre lot for
$5,000 are not interested in paying many thousands of dollars more to have abandoned vehicles towed and recycled,
and have (literally) many truck loads of trash removed, to clean the properties up. The county does not want to take the
the properties from the property owners, for back taxes owed, for the same reason. There are no buyers who would
want to take (financial and other) responsibility for cleanup, so in the meantime the vehicles and the trash, along with
the environmental hazard they pose, continue to pile up in our subdivision. There are no consequences for the dumpers
or the property owners. There are only consequences for the rest of the community, that gets stuck having to live with
these trash heaps and the hazards that come along with them, including more trash and vehicles being dumped,
environmental and health hazards, and the criminals and unsavory people who are drawn to live and frequent such
places. Our community police officers acknowledge that many of these locations are where there first go to seek out
known criminals.
I think that it's important for us to have a County Planning Dept working for us, but the department also has to have
powers of enforcement, otherwise it's pointless. Please take this opportunity to make some kind of change in the county
charter to address this obvious oversight.
Mahalo,
Heidi Jaworski
Ocean View Neighborhood Watch Coordinator
PO Box 377251
Ocean View, Hawaii 96737
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GT -008