Cleanup stalls transfer of Central O'ahu park
By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser City Hall Writer
The first part of the 269-acre Central O'ahu Regional Park opened Saturday with appreciative crowds enjoying softball, soccer and shave ice, but there's one glitch: The city does not yet own the land.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
Contamination issues that could require taxpayers to pay $2.1 million for the cleanup of a parcel that was part of a land exchange for the park have yet to be resolved, hanging up the closing of escrow.
Ceremonies at a youth baseball field opened the Central O'ahu Regional Park on Saturday. But Castle & Cooke, which gave the land to the city, will not transfer the deed until a cleanup issue is resolved.
"We don't have the deed to the property," City Managing Director Ben Lee said yesterday.
Lee has been meeting with Council members to discuss why the city doesn't yet have clear title to the park land at Waiola near Waipio-Gentry, and why the city will have to pay the $2.1 million.
The 1999 land exchange called for the city to pay Castle & Cooke Homes Hawai'i $4.5 million and to turn over a 37-acre parcel on Manager's Drive in Waipahu that is appraised at $8.2 million in exchange for the park parcel, appraised at $12.7 million.
But Lee said recent discovery of soil that had been contaminated with leaded gasoline sent Castle & Cooke back to the city, asking it to help pay for the cleanup. Lee said the city felt confident moving forward with spending $20.1 million for the first 100-acre phase of the park construction, which opened Saturday.
Castle & Cooke wants to complete the transaction, according to company president Harry Saunders.
"It's not a problem to the extent that the Council goes along and agrees with the administration position of paying the $2.1 million," he said.
The budget committee will discuss the cleanup cost Friday.
Seller typically pays
The city acquired the Waipahu parcel in February 1991 for free from Amfac/JMB Hawai'i as part of a deal in which the developer got the permits it needed to build the Waikele Golf Course. The deal was struck while Frank Fasi was mayor and Lee served as city planning director.
Lee said the unusual way the city first acquired the Waipahu land helps explain why the city didn't uncover chemical contamination on land it owned for a decade.
Saunders said it's common for a seller to pay to clean up a site. He said the consultant indicated that the cleanup can be completed by removing about six inches of soil from part of the property and digging down deeper in spots where contamination appears to sink down. He said disposing of the soil is a big chunk of the cost.
Lee said the contamination was not discovered earlier because the property was not identified for construction.
"And so we believe that once Council approves the increase in price, they can give us the deed to Waiola, we can give them the deed to Manager's Drive and everybody will be on their merry way, we hope," Lee said.
Lee said the delays were understandable in that Castle & Cooke had to hire a soil consultant to analyze the site. Saunders confirmed that his company has been working with the state Health Department to ensure that the cleanup leaves the property ready to build on. He said the company plans to build 229 single-family homes that would sell for $225,000 to $325,000.
"We're going forward with the assumption that it's all going to take place," Saunders said. He said the city got the Manager's Drive property for free in 1991 and now finds it is facing a "$2 million risk on it."
Since the property was appraised for $8.2 million before cleanup, Saunders still thinks the city benefited from the project. Saunders said the Council could reject the cleanup cost, pay his company the $12.7 million in cash that the park parcel was appraised for, clean up the Waipahu land itself, then try to sell it to a developer.
Details neglected
Former City Councilman Mufi Hannemann, who will run for mayor next year, said he thinks this is an example of what can happen when city officials are so eager to get projects into the community quickly that they neglect some details.
Hannemann battled with Mayor Jeremy Harris in the past and ran against him last year.
"They just have to cross their T's and dot their I's," Hannemann said. "There was always this rush mentality to get it out, get it out."
Lee said the cleanup will not cost more than $2 million because "Castle & Cooke is buying the insurance policy, so that if it does cost more than $2 million, the insurance policy kicks in."
