{"id":13452,"date":"2021-04-01T00:05:55","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T00:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.environment-hawaii.org\/?p=13452"},"modified":"2021-04-01T19:16:11","modified_gmt":"2021-04-01T19:16:11","slug":"planning-commission-confronts-challenges-of-cesspool-conversion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/?p=13452","title":{"rendered":"Planning Commission Confronts Challenges of Cesspool Conversion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

(This article has been changed to correct the spelling of John Pipan’s name.<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which has the greater value? Keeping a private swimming pool, to be used by a handful of guests at an exclusive Kona bed-and-breakfast that sits practically on the shore?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or converting a cesspool that receives the sewage generated by those guests into a septic system that would provide at least some treatment of the waste before it enters the ocean?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question arose last month as the Hawai\u02bbi County Leeward Planning Commission considered what upgrades should be placed as conditions on a permit to allow homeowner Arthur H. Arejian, a high-powered real estate broker in Southern California, to rent out four of the five bedrooms in the 2,000-square-foot house fronting Kahalu\u02bbu Bay to as many as 10 guests a night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The public would surely benefit more from the cesspool, but removing the pool to allow installation of a septic system \u2013 well, \u201cthat\u2019s a big ask\u201d of the homeowner, said Arejian\u2019s agent, John Pipan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not even certain that removing the pool that lies between the house and Kona\u2019s Ali\u02bbi Drive would be possible, given required setbacks and leach fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commission chair Michael Vitousek recognized the problems that shoreline cesspools pose to water quality. \u201cFor a cesspool on a lot at the shore, the time for the sewage to reach the ocean is basically zero,\u201d he said. As part of $150,000 in upgrades to the house planned in connection with the B&B, \u201cmaybe now is the time to request this. It would at least slow the leach of cesspool material into the ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the application, the house sits on a 14,530-square-foot lot, with the house itself just outside a 20-foot setback from the shoreline, last certified some 36 years ago. That lot size of roughly a third of an acre, however, refers to the property line set when the lot was first subdivided decades ago by then-landowner Bishop Estate. For decades, much of that theoretical property has been submerged. At the time shoreline certifications were made in 1979 and again in 1985, the ocean had claimed more than half of the lot. Aerial photos today show the house sitting atop unvegetated rocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Were a shoreline survey to be done today, it is unlikely to show any distance at all between house and sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pipan pointed out this \u201cadditional wrinkle\u201d in obtaining approvals for a septic system. \u201cTo design and actually install a septic system there is going to be a little tricky, given the space constraints,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we plan to put in a septic system, this is going to instigate another round of Special Management Area permitting. The Planning Department will likely look at that certified shoreline from the 1980s and request that it be updated. A new shoreline may be closer to the dwelling and could put the backside of the dwelling within the 40-foot mandatory shoreline setback. And then we\u2019d be in the position where state law prohibits us from putting in a septic system because it\u2019s too close to the shoreline. So what do we do in that situation? We would have to a) prepare an environmental assessment and b) seek a shoreline setback variance\u2026. So it\u2019s not that we\u2019re averse to doing this. It\u2019s a good idea. It\u2019s just that there are complicating factors, namely the shoreline setback.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bryan Lindsey, the architect designing the improvements to the house, told the commission, \u201cThere is no area, obviously, on the ocean side for installing anything.\u201d On the Ali\u02bbi Drive side of the property, \u201cthere\u2019s not much room\u2026 The feasibility doesn\u2019t look great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alex Roy, the Planning Department staffer who presented the department\u2019s recommendation for approval to the commission, noted that the cantilevered lanai of the house was already up against the 20-foot setback in 1985. \u201cA 40-foot setback,\u201d what is now required, \u201cwould bring us somewhere just under the house structure, possibly even further,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, \u201cby converting from a cesspool to more of a drainfield structure, there seems to be some confusion that getting rid of the cesspool and putting in a new drainfield system would somehow alleviate material going into the water. That\u2019s not the case. It still would be leaching in, just in a much broader area,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Extending the sewer service \u201cis the best way to deal with septic issues,\u201d he said. But the county\u2019s sewer line, connecting to the Kealakehe wastewater treatment plant, ends some 1,200 feet to the north along Ali\u02bbi Drive. The line connecting to the private Keauhou sewage treatment plant is about the same distance to the south.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deputy planning director April Surprenant was asked about the county\u2019s plans to extend the public sewer to this area. \u201cWe are considering some things in the next round of the general plan,\u201d she said, but \u201cwe\u2019re not ready to reveal that or discuss all of that quite yet. But those are part of the considerations going into our long-range plans as a whole. For now all we can go by is the direction and codes, laws, and rules as provided by the Department of Health.\u201d The state requires all cesspools, including the 49,000 in Hawai\u02bbi County, to be eliminated by 2050.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roy spoke against the idea of requiring Arejian to upgrade the home\u2019s cesspool. \u201cTo put the burden on the applicant, when they have very little room, may lead to future problems that would take a lot more engineering to resolve,\u201d Roy said. \u201cThere\u2019s just not the space to do something. If they have to deconstruct the house to put a septic system under it, the impacts from that process alone could be more detrimental.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re pretty much banking on the possibility of connecting to one of the two sewers, north or south, in the future,\u201d commissioner Nancy Carr Smith said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot necessarily,\u201d Pipan replied. \u201cLike I said, we\u2019re not opposed to converting to a septic system. The trick is, not having complete knowledge of where the certified shoreline lies right now would make that incredibly difficult, if even possible. A condition could be written such that if sufficient space, after a certified shoreline survey is conducted, is available to accommodate a septic system, then it would be installed given a timeline\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cObviously a sewer system is ideal. There are dozens and dozens of homes along this stretch of Ali\u02bbi Drive that have no improved wastewater system. Many of those homes are million dollar homes. It makes sense for the county to have an improvement district, a contribution from each owner. These things are probably beyond scope of this permit, but I think there could be some condition that should an improvement district be established, the applicant would contribute his fair share to extend the sewer to his property.\u201d
Carr Smith then asked if Pipan and his client had considered using the pool area for a septic system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t spoken to an engineer,\u201d Pipan said. This is going to be a much bigger impact on the Special Management Area, decommissioning the cesspool, digging up the driveway in the parking area. We would have to rely on Mr. Arejian to see if he were amenable to losing the pool. I don\u2019t know, that\u2019s a pretty big ask. We can defer to him.\u201d Arejian, who was present on the Zoom screen, did not weigh in on this question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commissioner Mark Van Pernis objected to the idea of not requiring immediate upgrades of the cesspool, noting that Arejian could be expected to have income of $20,000 to $30,000 a month, so \u201che should be able to handle the cost.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to concerns about the cesspool, Pipan suggested that the permit include a condition requiring installation of an upgraded system only if it were determined to be feasible. \u201cI would not like to put the applicant in a tough situation by agreeing to upgrade the system but have him not be able to do so due to the shoreline,\u201d Pipan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commission chair Vitousek elaborated on the matter of feasibility. It would not include asking the homeowner to tear down anything, he said. Rather, feasibility would include using just the area \u201coutside of the space of the existing home and improvements,\u201d and pursuing \u201cvariances of setbacks if needed to allow the conversion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As approved by the commission, the permit requires Arejian to make a fair-share contribution to a sewer district \u201cif and when one is formed\u201d near his property. In the meantime, he is to upgrade to a septic system within five years, \u201cif determined feasible within the space provided.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Kona Cesspools<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Along almost all of Ali\u02bbi Drive in Kona, residential cesspools discharge human waste to the sea with virtually no treatment. However, those make up just a small part of the 6,500 cesspools in the Kona area that release some 4 million gallons of wastewater to the ocean each day. That represents about 1,210 pounds of nitrogen and some 600 pounds of phosphorus that go into the nearshore waters, to say nothing of pathogens and pharmaceuticals carried in human waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those figures come from a Department of Health report in 2017 that identified Kailua-Kona as a priority area for cesspool conversion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, there has been no push by the county or the state to require homeowners to upgrade to septic systems that would treat the sewage, at least minimally. Nor has municipal sewer service been extended in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Yellow dots show cesspools in the Kona area. Blue dots represent drinking-water wells. (DOH)<\/sub><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

— Patricia Tummons<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(This article has been changed to correct the spelling of John Pipan’s name.) Which has the greater value? Keeping a private swimming pool, to be used by a handful of guests at an exclusive Kona bed-and-breakfast that sits practically on … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[482],"tags":[7],"class_list":["post-13452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-april-2021","tag-patricia-tummons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}