After being labeled an “environmental and safety hazard,” an illegal dumpsite on private land in Waikapu was cleaned by the combined efforts of the community and Maui County officials.

Earlier this month, five abandoned vehicles with environmentally harmful fluids, more than a dozen tires and batteries and other rubbish were removed from a Waikapu drainage culvert, located off Waiale Road near the intersection of Kuikahi Drive.

The culvert is used as a drainage basin for Kehalani LLC.

“The partnership in this situation stemmed from the recognition of the environmental benefit of removing the vehicles from the area,” said Brian Perry, Maui County spokesman. “For the benefit of the general public, county assistance was necessary to remove the vehicles as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

The county has a system in place to deal with abandoned vehicles, “which allowed for timely removal once the vehicles were accessible,” but this wasn’t the typical abandoned vehicle situation.

“The county doesn’t usually handle abandoned vehicles in this matter, but this was a coordinated effort to address what was determined to be an environmental hazard,” Perry said.

To try and expedite the process, Waikapu Community Association President Travis Polido, who became aware of the illegal dumping incident from a fellow board member on Dec. 2, made contact with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources Maui office, state Rep. Troy Hashimoto, Mayor Michael Victorino and the Maui County Council, including Council Member Yuki Lei Sugimura.

“With all these people and powers I got in contact with, (clean up) could’ve of happened in 24 hours, but it took them at least a whole week, so it was frustrating on my end,” Polido said. “I understand that you have to go through the system and everything, but Waikapu is conservation land, so it was becoming a health and safety hazard, an environmental hazard.”

According to the County Code, if a vehicle is abandoned on private property, it is the responsibility of the property owner to remove the vehicles, making it a bit more challenging to resolve a dumping issue. Only vehicles abandoned on public property and tagged by the Maui Police Department may be removed by the county.

Also coming into play in this situation was county responsibility per Hawaii Revised Statutes for the maintenance of all channels, streambeds, streambanks and drainage areas “unless those are privately owned or owned by the state,” Perry said.

Registered or legal vehicle owners are typically fined for such abandonment, and required to pay fees for removing and disposing of the vehicle. Polido expressed frustration that there were no repercussions in this case for the illegal dumping.

Polido said that on Dec. 4, Kehalani LLC paid for forklifts to transfer the cars and motorcycle from the culvert on their property onto public land so that the county could remove the abandoned vehicles the following day, which took about three trips to Hammerhead Metals Island Recycling.

Private landowners could install additional barriers around property entry points to prevent further dumping, Perry suggested.

“I’m glad that it happened, because I want to bring awareness to other communities, not just Waikapu, but all of Maui County,” Polido said. “Maybe someone can say what steps we can take as citizens to address this type of problem and what we should do to approach this situation. Maybe have some sort of a more direct hotline.”

Polido also mentioned that other dumping incidents have occurred before in the Waikapu area, citing a property that had “a fence and no trespassing signs” where the property owners were “unfairly burdened” with the fees and the responsibility of removing the material.

“As the president of the association, I didn’t think it was right that they trespassed and dumped their vehicles and old equipment,” he said.

For now, suspected abandoned vehicles located on a public road or public property can be reported to the Maui police nonemergency number at 244-6400. The caller should have the following information available: location of the vehicle; how long the vehicle has been at the location; make, type and color of the vehicle; and the license plate number, if available.

As a reminder, residents can dispose of one vehicle per year for free under the Junk Vehicle Disposal Act. The Department of Environmental Management can be reached at 270-8230.

* Staff Writer Lee Imada contributed to this report. Dakota Grossman can be reached at dgrossman@mauinews.com.