Not sure what to make of it, but the Honolulu Department of Environmental Services is once against changing its tune on sewer capacity from Halawa to Pearl City.

Apparently, development is allowed there. What a reverse of fortunes.

A few months back the the department told the Honolulu City Council there was a “moratorium” in this area and that any new applications to hook into the system would be denied due to capacity issues.

Here’s our Inside Honolulu blog post about it along with the actual memo.

Then when Civil Beat decided to follow-up on the issue, Environmental Services Department Director Tim Steinberger told us that maybe moratorium wasn’t quite the word he was searching for when he wrote his initial memo.

In fact, he said to call the Halawa to Pearl City restriction a moratorium would be inaccurate.

Here’s our story on that little update.

Our most recent story on the moratorium (or whatever it’s called) came Thursday as part of a Civil Beat Fact Check that tested Honolulu mayoral candidate Ben Cayetano’s claim that these moratoriums are strict and in place elsewhere in the city.

To see the result of that Fact Check, click here.

That now brings us to today, and the most recent press release to come out of the city’s Department of Environmental Services.

According to that release, they’ve now found an “interim solution” to address the capacity issues around Halawa and Pearl City. This should allow a couple of developments — namely a senior living facility and the revamp of the Kam Drive-In — to proceed.

Take a read here if you want.

— Nick Grube