After taking into consideration more than 2,700 survey responses from the community, Mayor Richard Bissen and the County of Maui Department of Environmental Management announced that the Central Maui Landfill will be the location of the Permanent Disposal Site (PDS) for Lahaina ash and debris from the August wildfire.

“Mahalo to our community and partners for their voice and feedback in guiding this critical decision. This is another vital step in returning Lahaina survivors to their property and we look forward to continued partnership as we navigate recovery efforts together,” said Mayor Bissen. “I’d also like to recognize the important work of our County, State and Federal partners in securing Central Maui Landfill as the Permanent Disposal Site.”

The selection was announced at the County Disaster Recovery Community Update meeting Wednesday evening at the Lahaina Civic Center.

An initial eight locations were narrowed down to three, then one based on criteria including: time to acquire land; proximity to Lahaina (traffic congestion, public safety); access into and out of the site (alternative access, turn movements); constructability; surface water management; adjacent property impacts; distance to drinking water; distance to residential areas, schools, hospitals; natural and environmental concerns; and cultural resource impacts. Public input was another important factor in the decision-making.

Surveys conducted by the County through its contractor Anthology generated 2,757 responses from the community from Jan. 31 to Feb. 15.

At the meeting Wednesday, Shayne Agawa, Director of the County Department of Environmental Management (DEM), offered a presentation on how the results of the PDS Community Survey factored into the re-evaluation and scoring of the criteria for the final three sites. The mean scores from the community survey were averaged by category and multiplied by DEM scores for their corresponding criteria to determine the final ranking of the three sites. The criteria categories included Proximity with the highest importance based on the results of the community survey, Consultation with a medium importance, and Logistics with a lower level of importance. Wahikuli area in Lahaina scored the lowest, Crater Village in Lahaina scored second and Central Maui Landfill in Puʻunēnē, which is adjacent to Pūlehu Road, scored the highest to be selected as the final Permanent Disposal Site. To view the full presentation from the Feb. 28 community meeting, visit the County of Maui Facebook page; no account is needed to view the meeting.

“I am happy to say that our team worked very hard and we are bringing you the results here tonight,” ahead of the County’s March 1 target date to select the final site, Agawa said.

Now that a final site has been chosen, the Department of Environmental Management’s next steps include finalizing the land acquisition process for Central Maui Landfill expansion; designing and permitting of the Permanent Disposal Site; continuing to work with federal and state partners to mitigate traffic concerns and roadway safety issues during the transportation of debris from the TDS to the PDS; and continuing to work on funding sources for the development of the PDS.

For more information on the Permanent Disposal Site or the Temporary Debris Storage site, visit mauirecovers.org/debriscontainment

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