2,700 respond to surveys on possible Permanent Disposal Sites for Maui wildfire debris

More than 2,700 people over a two-week period participated in County of Maui surveys on proposed Permanent Disposal Sites (PDS) for Lahaina wildfire ash and debris. The results were presented at Wednesday night’s Weekly Disaster Recovery Community Update Meeting at Lahaina Civic Center.

• View survey results here.
• To view the meeting, visit our previous post here.

Surveys were conducted Jan. 31 through Feb. 15. County contractor Anthropology conducted a random-sample scientific survey via phone and email that verified identity and residency with 430 respondents. A county-facilitated online public survey that could not verify identity and residency had 2,327 respondents. 

In order for more than 12,000 Lahaina residents to return to their properties, about 400,000 cubic yards of wildfire ash and debris must be removed and transported out of Lahaina. A temporary debris storage site is being used at Olowalu until a permanent site is selected and built. 

From an original list of eight sites on island, the list has been narrowed to the following three potentially viable locations:

• Central Maui Landfill area adjacent to the current Puʻunēnē landfill in Central Maui.
• Wahikuli parcel mauka of Wahikuli neighborhood in West Maui.
• Crater Village area mauka of Wahikuli parcel and Lahaina Civic Center in West Maui.

County officials have set March 1 as the target date for selecting the Permanent Disposal Site.