Emphasizing safety concerns, Kapahi Homestead Community Association members recently convinced the Kaua‘i County Planning Commission to reject a proposal to open a residential alcohol-and-drug recovery center in Kapahi Homesteads. Property owners went home happy they had kept at bay plans
Emphasizing safety concerns, Kapahi Homestead Community Association members recently convinced the Kaua‘i County Planning Commission to reject a proposal to open a residential alcohol-and-drug recovery center in Kapahi Homesteads.
Property owners went home happy they had kept at bay plans to turn the former Wong’s Care home at the end of Kawaihau Road into the HanaMana Healing Center.
Now, the 63-member Kapahi association, whose members include Jessie Fukushima, a retired member of the Kaua‘i County Council, is gearing up for another fight.
Association members have invited state legislators and residents to attend a meeting at 6 p.m. on June 23 at the Kapa‘a Neighborhood Center to discuss ways to amend HB 2003.
Association Interim President Bob Offley said the recently-passed state law has taken the power away from county planning commissions statewide to decide whether to grant permits or not grant permits to projects like the proposed HanaMana Healing Center.
Offley said the law now solely empowers the Department of Health to decide whether projects can be put in residential neighborhoods in Hawai‘i.
“This (law) took everybody by surprise,” Offley said in an interview with The Garden Island. “It is a bad deal all the way around, as far as I can see.”
Offley contended the bill is “not spelled out clearly, and we don’t want these drug rehabilitation centers (in residential areas).”
Kaua‘i Sen. Gary Hooser and House Reps. Ezra Kanaho, Hermina Morita and Bertha Kawakami have been invited to the meeting to discuss the matter and to meet with group members and the public.
The bill was vetoed by Gov. Lingle, but her veto was overridden by the Legislature, Offley said.
Offley said he is hoping to enlist the aide of the Kaua‘i legislators to help amend the law.
“What do we expect from the meeting?” Offley asked. “We want to spread the word to the public about the law, and to have it amended, to come up with solutions, an alternative or alternatives.”
Offley said the law has to be changed because it will adversely affect every county in the state.
Offley said facilities like the proposed HanaMana Center are needed on Kaua‘i, as has been advocated by Mayor Bryan Baptiste.
But he said residential neighborhoods like his own are not suitable places for such centers. Offley said it was his impression the Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waimea or Samuel Mahelona Hospital in Kapa‘a were better options, because of the resources of the faculties.
“In essence, we are saying ‘no’ to the implementation of drug rehabilitation facilities in neighborhoods,” Offley said. Critics of the proposed HanaMana Center argued the placement of the center in a neighborhood posed safety concerns for area residents.
Critics also voiced concerns about patients who could run away from such a center.
But supporters of the proposed project said such fears were unfounded, and that security concerns would be addressed appropriately.
Lester Chang, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225), or lchang@pulitzer.net
