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A contractor procured by the city is expected next week to begin clearing debris from a Pensacola Street property that has been a source of complaints for years. Read more

A contractor procured by the city is expected next week to begin clearing debris from a Pensacola Street property that has been a source of complaints for years.

Oahu Junk Removal was selected after submitting a $13,120 bid, the city Department of Planning and Permitting said Wednesday. Work at the 1421 Pensacola Street property, across the street from the Hawaiian Mission Academy campus, is expected to be completed in a week, DPP officials said.

The company will remove and dispose of trash, derelict vehicles and overgrowth, and exterminate rats, cockroaches and other vermin on the property, DPP said.

On July 5, a Circuit Court judge deemed the property unsafe and a public nuisance, and issued a court order authorizing the city and its contractors to enter the property and remove the litter.

The court order allows only for the cleaning up of the exterior of the property, and gives the city 20 business days from the granting of the order to complete the work. Work can only be done between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Under the court order, homeowner Rollin Yee is to pay for the cleanup. The city is expected to file a motion for reimbursement.

Neighbors have complained for years about the unsightliness of the property, DPP has issued notices of violations and notices of orders, and the property owner racked up $363,650 in unpaid fines as of Wednesday, city officials said.

A bill passed by the Honolulu City Council in 2014 and signed by Mayor Kirk Caldwell allows DPP to initiate judicial proceedings against a property owner to enter and clean a property if it poses a “public nuisance,” which is defined generally as any unsafe or unsanitary use or condition on real property that harms or threatens to harm the health, safety or welfare of the general public.”

The city used that bill, introduced by Honolulu City Councilwomen Carol Fukunaga and Ann Kobayashi, to remove junk from a dilapidated Kaimuki property on 2nd Avenue in July 2015.

Kobayashi, who represents the Makiki neighborhood where the Pensacola property is located, said she’s happy action is finally being taken. Noting that the property is surrounded by older, wooden houses or two-story walk-up apartments, she said neighbors were concerned the property posed a fire hazard.

The city first began legal proceedings against Yee in December 2016 but did not receive its courts order until last month.

Yee, who neighbors say no longer lives at the house, did not appear at any of the court hearings about the house.

A DPP spokesman said that besides the Yee property, the 2nd Avenue property is the only other case that the city has taken to court since the new law went into effect. There are no pending cases.