Two weeks after enduring ferocious opposition at a community meeting in Hanapepe, Mayor Bryan Baptiste’s proposed drug treatment facility for youths at Burns Field drew support from most speakers at yesterday’s County Council meeting. Of the more than 15 speakers,
Two weeks after enduring ferocious opposition at a community meeting in Hanapepe, Mayor Bryan Baptiste’s proposed drug treatment facility for youths at Burns Field drew support from most speakers at yesterday’s County Council meeting.
Of the more than 15 speakers, Nani Hill offered the stiffest opposition, asking the council to either relocate the facility or tear down the existing structures and build new ones. Plans call for the renovation of buildings that were once part of the old Kauai Humane Society.
The contrasting views surfaced as the council reviewed Baptiste’s request for another $600,000 to cover higher reconstruction costs. The council scheduled a public hearing on the request for Oct. 11.
During a meeting last month at Hanapepe Neighborhood Center, county officials drew flak from most of the 60 or so attendees for allegedly not properly informing the public about the project.
Had they been made aware of the project, residents said they would have voiced strong opposition to it.
County officials countered, saying they properly informed residents within a 500-foot radius of the site, in compliance with county Planning Department rules. County officials also said they notified the public through public meetings during the planning stages. The Planning Commission has since issued permits for the project.
Lorraine Rapozo said Kaua‘i desperately needs a fully functional facility to keep Kaua‘i youths seeking residential treatment on-island.
Baptiste and other supporters say the ability for a troubled youth to stay near his or her family will facilitate rehabilitation, and the situation now is dire.
“It is not something to joke about,” Rapozo said. “Our kids and our families deserve to be here.”
The last such facility on Kaua‘i was operated by Serenity House years ago, said Rapozo, who was a one-time house manager and an assistant to counselors for the Kapa‘a-area project.
Merrily Worrell, who once worked with troubled Kaua‘i High students and is now a member of the drug treatment program Hina Mauka, said the project will send the right message to island youths.
“So they can continue to feel as a member of the community rather than, ‘They don’t want us, they are getting rid of us,’” Worrell said.
Diane Zachary said the drug treatment facility has been a cornerstone of a four-pronged plan advanced by Baptiste to stem drug use on Kaua’i. Her organization, Kauai Planning and Action Alliance, helped develop the four-year plan.
Kaua‘i resident Sandi Sterker said the council should wholeheartedly support the monetary request.
“$600,000,” she said. “Saving one teen from a life of addiction, priceless.”
Hill said she too wants to see such a facility up and running, but has deep concerns about the current location of the facility.
“My initial reaction and to many others, when the site was announced as a possible location, was one of complete disapproval,” said Hill, a one-time member of the planning commission.
She said the Hanapepe complex — where animals were kept and euthanized — shows disrespect to youths, its proximity to Salt Pond, which has its own issues with drug abuse, doesn’t make sense. The area, Hill said, is also culturally and recreationally significant.
Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura agreed that the public should be kept abreast of any developments.
Baptiste is scheduled to meet with Westside residents at the United Church of Christ in Hanapepe at 6 p.m. on Sept. 27 to give more details about the facility’s operator, Maui Youth and Family Services, and its plans for the area.
Baptiste said resistance to the project could fade “once information gets out on how the operation is going to be run.”
The council’s decision will not decide the fate of the complex, however. County anti-drug coordinator Roy Nishida said not having the $600,000 could only compromise the quality of service for a time.
Though the start of construction hinges upon approval from all regulating government agencies, the facility is scheduled to open in early 2007.
The project calls for the renovation of existing buildings at the site and the relocation of two portable county buildings from Lihu‘e.
Kaua‘i Builders secured a county contract for Phase 1, which includes renovating existing buildings and the relocation.
The project is being developed with $1.1 million in federal, state and county funds.
