The Hawaii County Council Wednesday signed off on a bill that’ll help private property owners rid their land of abandoned or derelict vehicles.
Bill 200, which still needs Mayor Mitch Roth’s signature, establishes under the Department of Environmental Management a program to dispose of such vehicles from private property at the request of the land owner.
The measure also changes Hawaii County Code to clarify that a notice placed on a suspected abandoned or derelict vehicle left on a public road must state that the vehicle be moved beyond a radius of 1 mile within 24 hours to no longer be considered abandoned.
The measure was passed 8-0 on second reading following no discussion by council members. Hawaii County spokesman Cyrus Johnasen was unable to provide a tentative timeline for the launch of the program as of press-time.
Environmental Management Director Ramzi Mansour previously described the proposed program as an “additional flexible tool” in managing abandoned vehicles in Hawaii County.
Funding for the program has already been identified. According to Mansour, the department receives about $2.4 million annually to manage abandoned and derelict vehicles, of which about $700,000 has been carried over to the next fiscal year for the past three years.
He estimated the program could fund the removal of 500 to 1,000 vehicles per year, noting that figure considered inflation and is based on the cost of towing and disposal of a car being around $600.