Posted on: Sunday, February 10, 2002

Meadow Gold farm remains unoccupied

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer

For weeks, the Meadow Gold Dairy farm in Waimanalo has sat idle. The cows are gone; so are the dairy workers.

For the community, all that remains is hope.

Decades of dairy farming at the 360-acre site ended quietly after negotiations that would have transferred the operation to the University of Hawai'i broke down in early December.

There are no other plans on the horizon, and there have been no new talks between UH and Meadow Gold.

Still, residents of this Windward community are optimistic that the university will pick up the property.

Joe Correa said the land is ideal for the university's farm programs and would give the community an opportunity to partner with the school.

"We do hope to see the University of Hawai'i go after it, and I'm pretty sure they will," he said.

Besides, Correa said, the site is ideal for an equestrian park. The hope is that UH would take over the property and allow the city to develop an equestrian park on 80 acres, linking trails from Makapu'u to Maunawili and beyond, said Correa, a businessman and vision team champion for the proposed project.

The university did include money in its budget request for planning for the Meadow Gold property as well as for Paradise Park in Manoa.

UH officials recently reached an agreement to buy the Manoa property, perhaps raising hopes a bit higher in Waimanalo.

Glenn Muranaka, Meadow Gold president and general manager, said there have been no discussions with the university since Dec. 13, when its Board of Regents postponed acceptance of the dairy property to check further into the company's studies regarding soil contamination.

Muranaka didn't want to comment on the reasons for his company's withdrawal but said there was more than one issue at stake.

During the regents' meeting, Maui regent Everett R. Dowling also had asked Meadow Gold to put an additional $1.5 million into escrow for cleanup. The company had offered $1.5 million as part of the deal.

Meadow Gold leases the property from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, and the company has submitted a closure plan to various government agencies for approval to complete the shutdown of the farm, Muranaka said.

"There are no more cows and no more milk production there, but technically the farm is not closed until the plan is approved," he said.

Although there no plans for the site, Muranaka said the company will not surrender the land to the DLNR. Its lease expires in 2013.