WAILUKU >> Maui County Mayor James Apana is trying to develop a deal that would allow the county and a number of private landowners to buy about 20,800 acres owned by C. Brewer & Co. on the Valley Isle. Maui mayor pushes
county land dealOfficials see potential in the purchase
to increase water supply and protect irrigationBy Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.comApana said the county wants to complete the deal within 60 days.
Brewer's asking price is about $100 million, and the deal would not include the 60-acre Maui Tropical Plantation, owned by a partnership that includes the company, a Brewer official said.
The Brewer land, held for the past 140 years, stretches along the West Maui Mountains from Maalaea to Camp Maluhia near Kahakuloa and includes several perennial streams.
Apana said the purchase is in the county's interest because about 13,000 acres of the land are in conservation and used as the major watershed. He said the purchase would also protect the system of ditches carrying water across the land and continue to serve agricultural interests.
Apana said the county's share of the purchase would be financed through general obligation bonds. Private landowners joining the county in the proposed purchase include Alexander & Baldwin Inc. and Maui Land & Pineapple Co., according to the mayor.
Apana said he felt the county could obtain a better deal if it was able to buy the 20,800 acres along with other landowners. Under the plan, private landowners would use an estimated 6,000 to 7,000 acres.
About 5,000 acres of Brewer land is in agriculture, including 1,100 acres leased to Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co., a subsidiary of A&B. About 1,500 acres are planted with macadamia nuts, but the fields are no longer being harvested by Brewer subsidiary Wailuku Agribusiness.
Avery Chumbley, president of Wailuku Agribusiness, said Brewer is willing to sell the land to the county and other private interests, but his firm is also talking to others about buying its land.
"We're not sitting back and waiting for them," Chumbley said. "We're selling property every day."
Brewer has been selling off subsidiaries of the company and land, including its 70,000 acres statewide, under instruction by its stockholders to liquidate its assets.
County Water Board Chairman Peter Rice said he and other board members are interested in the county obtaining the water on the land.
"It has a lot of potential, and I think we're all excited about moving forward with it," Rice said.
County water officials have been taking water from the Iao aquifer to serve Central and South Maui. But the Iao source has reached its withdrawal limit of 20 million gallons a day.
Rice said he did not know what portion of the surface water might be available for county use, and the amount would depend on previous water commitments made by Brewer. He said a water treatment plant would also be needed to treat the surface water.