Kaua‘i County pauses Puhi land purchase over contamination concerns

A proposed $5 million Puhi land purchase was put on hold after county leaders learned the 5.5-acre parcel sits on a former industrial site with contamination history that could turn a routine real-estate deal into a public liability.

The parcel at 3-1480 Kaumuali‘i Highway was being eyed for a county vehicle-repair shop and storage space for the Kaua‘i County Transportation Agency. Instead, the Kaua‘i County Council stopped to ask a harder question: what happens if the county buys first and investigates later? In that scenario, taxpayers could be left paying not just for the land, but for soil testing, cleanup, asbestos removal, building demolition and any long-term restrictions needed before the site could safely be used.

State Department of Health files identify the property as the former Brewer Chemical and C. Brewer site in Puhi. Those records show the land was used from the mid-1940s through December 2002 as a bulk fertilizer and agrichemical storage and wholesale distribution facility, and that the site was placed in the state’s contamination database with a status of no further action with institutional controls. The same files flag concerns involving pentachlorophenol, petroleum hydrocarbons and dioxin, with earlier screening material also pointing to hazardous substances handled on site over several decades.

That history is why the county’s due diligence became so central. State correspondence says dioxin characterization is expensive enough that investigators recommended a tiered approach, and county officials said no site-specific environmental assessment had been done because the owner had only recently been willing to sell. Council Chair Mel Rapozo also said his own review suggested asbestos in the structures on site, raising the possibility that the county would face costly remediation or even a full teardown and replacement before the Transportation Agency could move in.

The land proposal was part of a much larger $138 million capital-improvement budget bill moving through the FY2026 cycle, including bridge replacements and playground work, but the Puhi purchase drew the sharpest scrutiny because it could carry hidden cleanup exposure. County records show the issue surfaced during the May 20, 2026 public hearing on Bills No. 2993-2996 and the council’s budget deliberations. Before any purchase can advance, the council now wants the contamination timeline, the responsible state and county review steps, and the full cost of remediation on the table first.