Before he left office, Gov. David Ige released $6.9 million in capital improvement funds for the Waiakea Research Station on Stainback Highway, on the southern outskirts of Hilo.
The funds will be used for “major repairs and/or demolition to existing structures” at the 196-acre agricultural research facility operated by the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources.
State Sen. Lorraine Inouye, a Hilo Democrat representing District 1, said in a recent statement the project “aims to restore the functionality and safety of the station.”
”The Waiakea Research Station serves as an important site for conducting research on agricultural and floriculture production in Hawaii. However, most of the buildings were built in the mid-1960s and mid-1970s, and the station infrastructure is in serious need of renovation to restore its functionality,” Inouye said.
The buildings, according to CTAHR’s website, include a barn with 10 acres of pasture, four greenhouses, three fiberglass greenhouses, a smaller greenhouse, three polypropylene shade houses, a garage/workshop, an equipment garage, a supply room/break room and a cottage.
Activities at the station include research on: termites, Hawaiian endemic trees, anthuriums, dendrobiums, various tropical fruit and vegetable crops, macadamia, ginger, taro, nursery crops, and post-harvest quarantine, plus treatment for ornamental plants.
In addition, the station maintains an arboretum of tropical fruits, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Tropical Plant Genetic Resource Management Unit also maintains tropical fruit orchards on site.
Michael Shintaku, CTAHR’s Hawaii County administrator, said he and his colleagues are “very thankful” to the former governor and the Big Island’s legislators for making the funding happen.
“I took some legislators on tour of different stations last year. And that station, in particular — it looks run-down, and it kind of is. And they wanted to see the place function better,” Shintaku said.
Shintaku said the university did a due diligence study in 2019 where it took a critical look at the facility.
“This study was pretty detailed. They went over every building. They wrote down what the problems were and the estimate for fixing those problems were,” he said.
Shintaku said he prioritized the buildings “that are under the most use” in the due diligence study for the legislators, so they could decide where whatever funding they could provide would be best spent.
“They said the whole thing was funded — you know, enough money to fix all of the buildings. Which is terrific,” Shintaku said. “Some of the buildings that they recommended demolishing are being used daily. So, we’ve got to make some changes. And that’s what we’re in the process of doing now.”
Shintaku said he’s currently in discussion with UH’s Office of Project Delivery about how best to proceed on the project.
“They’re the ones with the engineering and architectural expertise … and we’re trying to make decisions about which buildings will be demolished and which buildings will be renovated,” he said.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.