End in sight for Hawaiian sugar mills.
The future doesn’t look sweet for Kekaha and Lihu‘e sugar mills. The asbestos-laden ghosts of a bygone plantation era are slated for destruction, more than a decade after the end of their productive lives.
“After extensive study and costly efforts to preserve the structures, consultants found many of these structures are severely compromised due to corrosion,” the mills’ co-owner Lynn McCrory, president of PAHIO Development, wrote in a letter to the community. The letter concludes that the deterioration of the structures combined with asbestos-removal requirements “leave no alternative to their demolition.”
Following asbestos removal by NCM Contracting Group, deconstruction of the mills will begin 10 days after the county approves land use and demolition permits.
The group expects to file the permit requests “shortly,” according to the letter, which was distributed at community outreach meetings last week.
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