A plan by community leaders for a $16 million-plus cultural and business center in Anahola – called by its chief promoter a model project for Native Hawaiian entrepreneurs – has moved closer to development with help from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The EPA recently awarded the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism a $200,000 grant for an environmental study on a 17-acre site in Anahola that the Anahola Homesteaders Council plans to transform into cultural-business center.
The funds also will be used for four other sites on O’ahu.
The award is part of the EPA’s Brownfields Economic Development Initiative, a nationwide project to revitalize properties with environmental contamination.
The Anahola site contains more than 300 junk cars and abandoned appliances, and may contain pesticides from private cane cultivation, metals and petroleum products.
The EPA study opens the way for the Homesteaders Council to tap into millions of dollars in grants or low-interest loans from federal agencies or organizations to clean up the site and to develop the center, dubbed Project Faith.
If developed, the project would be the first of its kind in the state, allowing Hawaiian homesteaders with the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands a chance to own and operate their own businesses, said Homesteads Council co-founder James Torio of Anahola.
“We think it could be a model for other Hawaiians in the state,” Torio said.
The project is aimed at creating jobs, furthering Hawaiian entrepreneurship and providing facilities for education and training, housing for kupuna (the elderly) healthcare, human services, recreation and businesses, according to Sam Okami, chairman of the Homesteaders Council.
“This is what is needed in the Hawaiian community, and we are going to do it,” Torio said. “It is a chance to improve the lives of my children and the children of everyone here.”
Project Faith is an attempt by Hawaiians to work in the American system to improve their lives, said Torio’s wife, Maria, a supporter of the project.
Planning for Project Faith started in 1998, with the Homesteaders Council anticipating the completion of the project by 2008.
The council is seeking a long-term lease from DHHL to develop the project.
The idea for the project came about with the formation of the council in 1994. The group looked for ways to keep Anahola a thriving community and to carry out plans that would enable the area to become “self-sustaining,” said council representative Julie Camacho.
The council developed the plan with input from residents and keeping them informed through surveys, radio talk shows, community events and meetings, Torio said.
Since 1998, the council has applied and received two grants from the Administration for Native Americans, a federal agency, totaling $716,464. Of that, $114,664 in matching funds came from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
The first grant, awarded in 1998, was used for preliminary planing and the design of an economic plan.
The second grant, awarded last year, will be used for site engineering and a cost analysis of the project.
The latest EPA award will be used to determine the extent of the contamination of the Anahola site, located on the mountain side of Kuhio Highway.
Of 117 potential sites in Hawai’i suspected of having contaminants, the Anahola parcel was the No. 1 site for the Brownfields project, Torio said.
The four sites on Oahu where EPA studies would be done are the Ala Wai Golf Course, Kuhio Park Terrace, Kalihi Kai base yards and the former Oahu Railway and Land site in Iwilei.
Torio said specialists in engineering, marketing, architecture and community development have contributed significantly to the success of Project Faith.
The project has drawn support from Hawai’i congressional delegates Sen. Daniel Akaka, Sen. Daniel Inouye and Rep. Patsy Mink, Torio said.
To move the project along after the completion of the EPA study, the Homesteaders Council can apply for funds from the U.S. departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, and Housing and Urban Development, plus the EPA and the U.S. Small Business Association.
Project Faith calls for:
– Commercial and public office space near the highway.
– A community center, also near the highway.
– Multi-family housing.
– Housing for kupuna, programs for assisted living, a therapeutic outdoor pool and spa and gardens for vegetables and ornamental flowers.
– A building for a charter school for Hawaiian language immersion programs and a childcare center. There also would be room for the expansion of the building and outside play areas.
– A multi-purpose commercial area.
– Access roads, bicycle paths and walking paths.
Each component would be revenue-generating, and, if necessary, provide financial subsidy to other components, according to Torio. The Homesteaders Council also foresees leasing space to Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian businesses.
“This is not just for Hawaiians. We are an open door for everybody,” Torio said.
A DHHL master plan for homestead and farm land in Anahola recommends the 17-acre site be uses such as Project Faith, according to Torio.
The center would be placed next to lands DHHL plans for future residential development, he said.
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
