City could pay an
extra $2.l million
for park

Land the city traded to Castle
& Cooke had contaminated soil
that had to be cleaned up

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By Gordon Y.K. Pang
gpang@starbulletin.com

City taxpayers might have to pay $2.1 million more in costs associated with the city Central Oahu Regional Park scheduled to open tomorrow.

That's because the city is being asked to pick up $2.1 million in soil cleanup costs for two Waipahu properties along Managers Drive that it traded to Castle & Cooke for the park site.

The City Council is being asked by Mayor Jeremy Harris' administration to approve the additional cash payment.

"During the due-diligence phase of this exchange, the value of the Managers Drive parcels was diminished due to the cost to remediate contaminants discovered on the property," city Budget Director Caroll Takahashi wrote to the Council in a letter dated yesterday. "The cost of remediation as estimated by Castle & Cooke Homes Hawaii Inc. is between $2.2 million and $2.4 million."

The Takahashi memo said "there are remaining funds available for land acquisition in the amount of $2,137,500" from the original appropriation for land acquisition four years ago, but did not elaborate.

Neither city nor Castle & Cooke officials could be reached for comment late yesterday.

Councilman Steve Holmes said he was told the cleanup of Managers Drive has to do, in part, with abandoned vehicles that had been dumped on the vacant property.

Castle & Cooke announced last year it is putting up 230 homes on the Managers Drive site as part of its Renaissance subdivision.

In 1999 the city agreed to exchange the two Managers Drive parcels, about 37 acres, plus $4.5 million in cash to Castle & Cooke for the 270 acres of fallow pineapple fields along Kamehameha Highway between Waipio Uka Street and Ka Uka Boulevard.

At the time, the appraised value of the park property was $12.7 million, while the Managers Drive parcels were valued at $8.2 million.

The city, meanwhile, is opening the 100-acre first phase of the Central Oahu Regional Park in Waipio tomorrow.

By the time it is completed, it will contain more than a dozen fields for various sports, a tennis facility, aquatics center, dog training area, skateboard park, archery range and ballroom dancing/community arts center.

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City & County of Honolulu