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| The Bishop Building is at the center of a dispute that could affect the future of Windward Community College and the Hawaii State Hospital. |
The
Kaneohe Neighborhood Board has voted to support Windward Community College
in a disagreement over the location of a proposed mental health facility next
to its campus.
The Board approved a resolution
calling on the State Department of Health to negotiate a land exchange that
would move the proposed facility to a larger parcel nearby. The land exchange
would protect the historic Bishop Building, which the college would like to use
for a charter school but is to be torn down to make way for the new facility.
The vote during the Board's February 18 meeting was 9-2, with two abstentions.
The vote came after a statement by Gov.
David Ige’s chief of staff, Mike McCartney, supporting the Hospital’s plan and
noting that the work needs to be done to fix problems related to serious
overcrowding.
Proposed Facility Would Give Geriatric Care
The proposed facility would provide
psychiatric and nursing care for up to 50 State Hospital patients needing
geriatric services. The patients would be discharged from the Hospital and
transferred to the new facility, which would be financed, built and operated by
privately owned Avalon Health Care Group. The transfers would free up beds to
serve an expanding population of potentially violent patients.
Hospital Administrator William J. May told
the Board that the Hospital is 90 patients over its 170-patient capacity and
growing. Mr. May said a land swap would set back development of the long-term
care facility by five to six years.
College Chancellor Defends Land Swap
College Chancellor Doug Dykstra told the
Board that the Hospital can’t begin work on a key part of the project because
it lacks state permission to demolish the Bishop Building. He also said past
claims by the Health Department that it was ready to start work on the
long-term care facility have not proved true. And he noted that the land swap
would not affect plans to build a separate, expanded Hospital facility to
handle potentially violent patients.
The resolution, which was introduced by
Board Vice Chair Bill Sager, says the Health Department did not consider the
possibility of a land exchange, which the college has offered on four occasions
in the past five years.
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| Mahealani Cypher |
Neighborhood Board member Mahealani Cypher
said she believed that a land swap would raise costs for the State Hospital but
that the costs could have been averted if the Hospital officials had talked
with community members sooner. She said relocating the long-term care facility
elsewhere was a better solution.
Learn More
More information about the issue is available from the sources listed below. Click on the highlighted text to access the information:
The hospital’s 2015 Master Plan Update.
A report from the Board’s Hawaii State Hospital Master Plan Review Permitted Interaction Group.
Comments on this blog are welcomed. To add
a comment, please click on the link below or contact Board members directly
using our Member Directory. Also, please like us on Facebook and comment there.
2 comments:
Hawaii State Hospital Master Plan
Summarize current status Of the master plan
Gov. Lingle held a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the long-term care facility in 2010.
I have been a member of the Hawaii State Hospital Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) for six years. During that time the Board held quarterly meetings until Dr. May was pointed administrator. We have not had a formal meeting since his appointment.
During those six years, the master plan has never been discussed at a CAB meeting.
The first the Kaneohe Neighborhood Board became aware of the state hospital master plan was in May 2015 when the hospital presented the master plan to the Board. It was at that time that the Kaneohe Neighborhood Board became aware of the disagreement between the Department of Health and the University of Hawaii about building on the Great Lawn.
The Department of Health wants to build a long-term care facility across the end of the Great Lawn. The Great Lawn is a major architectural feature of the Windward Community College campus. The College has proposed a land exchange which will enable construction of the long-term care facility at the enterance to the College Campus. The Windward Community College proposal will preserve the great lawn and the Bishop building.
The Department of Health has declined to discuss the land exchange. Their consistent responses been, “a land exchange is not in the best interest of the Department of Health.” In developing their master plan I believe they have done what is easiest for the Department of Health and not considered what is best for Kaneohe community or Windward Community College.
The Hawaii State Hospital master plan has been presented to us as a finished document. The Kaneohe Community has not had an opportunity to participate in the planning process. A master plan is a document which should be presented to the stakeholders for comment and recommendations before detailed architectural drawings are developed. This process ensures that all stakeholder concerns are considered before proceeding with the expense of developing the working documents necessary to implementation of the project.
This project has not moved forward in six years. It has suddenly become urgent because of the impending loss of certification. Dr. May told me last August that the historic documentation required for demolition on any state property older than 60 years had been completed and they were ready to start construction of the long-term care facility. I checked in January with the Division of Historic Preservation and was told that the Department of Health had not submitted the necessary documents to have their requests considered.
I recognize the urgency of implementing the Master Plan. Changing the location of the long-term care facility will not affect any other aspect of the master plan. I do not believe the Department of Health claim that entering into a land exchange will delay the construction of the long-term care facility by five years. The governor can transfer State property between agencies by executive order. If the Governor is given the authority to by-pass the procurement procedures, a new public private contract should be able to be negotiated within a relatively short time.
I am concerned about the land swap. To put a facility that is going to house 150 long term care residents in an area that is already congested, would be more problematic than the proposed site. Windward Comp Center already houses several different offices of DOH and have more than 10 employees on any given day, making parking difficult for staff as well as visitors to the complex. When WCC has their Ho'olaulea, residents are already parking in Hokulele Parking. Is it possible that maybe Avalon can go back to the drawing board and build a facility in the Bishop site that is not two story that will not block the views? Maybe a traffic pattern can be developed to also make the proposed facility users not use the road as Chancellor Dykstra pointed out as a concern. As for the Great Lawn, isn't that between Hale Akoakoa and Hale Kuhina, making this sort of a moot point since Bishop Building is across from it? I also walk the grounds of WCC and wonder why WCC cannot develop the area with the charter school on the backside where a boarded up building is? Or develop the area near the present location of the charter school is. I believe it is also worth mentioning that our elderly usually want quiet, less stimulus which means putting a facility next to a BUSY neighborhood park not practical. You have soccer games, flag football games, softball practices, tennis, etc. on any given day at this park not to mention that the park lights sometimes remain on until 1030pm (which Ko'olau Village residents have complained about in the past) which again is not helpful to the possible residents that would live in a long term facility. I live on Kahuhipa Street and know how busy this park gets as well as how busy the comp center gets.
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