Wai'anae YMCA nearing reality
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Leeward O'ahu Writer
In the past six months the YMCA of Honolulu has raised $9 million toward its goal of $33 million to expand the association's presence in underserved communities in Leeward O'ahu.
YMCA
One major benefactor of the scheme is Wai'anae, which has never had a Y but could surely use one, according to Patty Teruya, chairwoman of the planning and zoning committee of the Wai'anae Coast Neighborhood Board.
The YMCA of Honolulu's expansion plan includes a new facility in Wai'anae, as shown in this artist's rendering.
"I'm going to be the first in line to get a membership," said Teruya, who plans to discuss the facility at the next board meeting. "We need this. We don't have anything like this in Wai'anae. We're all waiting. I see a facility where fellowship is going to begin."
This month, plans for building the $5.6 million Wai'anae facility moved closer to becoming a reality when the city Department of Community Services issued a request for public comment on the Draft Environmental Assessment First Notice.
The goal of building the YMCA facility will be to increase the agency's programs and services to the residents of Wai'anae, and to "positively enhance the social fabric and well-being of the community ... " said a notice for the Office of Environmental Quality Control.
Don Anderson, president of YMCA of Honolulu, said he had no timetable for when construction could begin. That depends on how soon the money is collected, he said. About $1 million is earmarked for the Wai'anae facility, said Anderson. But he has no doubt that the project will be completed within several years.
"This is a community that really needs something like this for the families," said Anderson. "For so long they feel they have been shortchanged in the amenities that so many communities have. And I think they're right; they have been.
"They really have a different reaction than most places where I have been and talked about a nice Y built in their community. It goes beyond excitement. There's more of an emotionally deep feeling that I get out there."
Plans for the Wai'anae YMCA call for a 16,500-square-foot building that will include a group exercise studio, wellness center and computer lab as well as meeting rooms and administrative offices.
The project will create 48 permanent jobs after construction.
Anderson said the agency surveyed about 400 heads of households in Wai'anae and changed its mind about not including a swimming pool in the facility. The survey showed that a pool was so important to folks in Wai'anae that plans were changed to install not one, but two pools.
"We're going to put in a regular 25-meter laned pool, and we're also putting in a children's pool with the slides and swings so that families can go on weekends," Anderson said.
The overall YMCA fund-raising project includes plans to build facilities at Kapolei, Kalihi and Waipahu on Leeward O'ahu, and renovate facilities elsewhere on the island.
Anderson said the Wai'anae survey also showed that 75 percent of the respondents said they would join the Y as families. Those families will find one of the largest YMCA grounds in the state, he said.
"We've got 23 acres on Leihoku Street in Wai'anae, of which six or seven are flat and usable. The rest is hillside and preservation land. But that makes a beautiful backdrop that's really part of the setting. It's right across the street from the Wai'anae Mall Shopping Center."
Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8038.
