The Kaua‘i representative to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs voiced opposition yesterday to Mayor Bryan Baptiste’s residential drug treatment center for youths in Hanapepe. At a Kaua‘i County Council meeting at the Historic County Building, Don Cataluna said even if
The Kaua‘i representative to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs voiced opposition yesterday to Mayor Bryan Baptiste’s residential drug treatment center for youths in Hanapepe.
At a Kaua‘i County Council meeting at the Historic County Building, Don Cataluna said even if the county implements mitigation measures, the risk of runoff from the project could cause irreparable harm to the Salt Ponds beds — a rare and prized Hawaiian cultural site.
The salt beds, where salt is made naturally through the evaporation of ocean water, are located near the facility.
“The mayor’s plan for Salt Ponds is dead,” Cataluna said, while Baptiste sat in the audience. “I will fight that facility if it is the last thing I do with my life.”
Cataluna said he has received support from four of the nine Office of Hawaiian Affairs board members, and he said he anticipates support from the other four in the future. The board will be taking an official position on the matter soon, he said.
As a last resort, Hawaiian Affairs will take the county to court if it decides to resume the work, Cataluna said.
The county’s conversion of the old Kaua‘i Humane Society complex into the treatment facility has been held up 10 months due to Hawaiian Affairs’ concerns about possible environmental damage to the ponds.
Baptiste said he is in no mood to go to war with the agency and has focused his attention on mitigating environmental impacts that he felt were at the core of the controversy.
But the discussion yesterday led him to believe otherwise.
“My understanding is that we are going to mitigate environmental impacts on the salt beds, and we looked at that,” Baptiste said. “If it is social or cultural, then that is a different discussion altogether.”
Baptiste has pushed for the project because it will allow Kaua‘i youth to remain on the island for treatment for the first time. Because family members will be able to visit them, their rehabilitation time should be accelerated, Baptiste has said.
“This is a potential win-win situation because the children being treated at the center can go to the ponds, help out and learn,” he said.
The county issued to Kaua‘i Builder, the contractor, a notice to proceed in October 2006, but work was stopped two weeks later due to Hawaiian Affairs’ concerns.
In a letter sent to Baptiste in November 2006, the agency posed a slew of questions about the project, according to county documents.
Among them, Hawaiian Affairs asked pointedly why the facility could not be relocated to another part of the island.
Trustees also noted that they couldn’t support the project until the county agreed to meet with salt makers from Hanapepe; Hawaiian Affairs also asked for notification when projects are proposed by the salt beds.
Councilwoman Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho said Bapiste’s pledge to meet the salt makers has yet to become a reality.
Government watchdog and Kaua‘i resident Glenn Mickens said the failure is inexcusable, as salt makers are eager for answers on the issues.
County officials have maintained, however, that they followed proper procedures in initially notifying Hanapepe residents about the project. With regard to resuming work on the facility, officials said they intend to talk with Hawaiian Affairs and community members before making any decisions.
But Cataluna said the project should be abandoned out of respect for the Hawaiian culture.
The salt pans were first used by Hawaiians, or kanaka, the indigenous people of Hawai‘i in 1000 A.D., he said.
Salt Ponds was known as Waimaka O Hi‘iaka, essentially meaning tears from Hi‘iaka, the sister to Pele, the goddess of fire, lighting, dance, volcanoes and violence in Hawaiian mythology.
West Kaua‘i resident Frank Santos, whose daughter Ku‘ulei Santos makes salt in the salt beds, said if the county has failed to properly maintain a 40-year-old road by the salt ponds, how can it offer assurances the project will not harm the salt beds.
“This is environmental, and the county looks away,” he said. “The county cannot help us protect this cultural site.”
County Planning Director Ian Costa, who was on hand for the meeting, said if critics are concerned about potential runoff from the project onto the salt pans, they should be equally concerned about runoff from the cane fields and dirt from vehicles passing by the beds.
The county will be able to control sewage seepage through a septic system that has been designed for the new substance abuse treatment center, Costa also said.
Baptiste noted that the project should continue because the county has spent $500,000 on work to date.
But Cataluna countered that the loss is small when compared with the historical value of the ponds.
• Lester Chang, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or lchang@kauaipubco.com.
