Posted on: Saturday, September 18, 2004

Plan for Kapolei court in limbo

By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

The state is at risk of losing 13.5 acres of land in Kapolei where it wants to build a Family Court and a juvenile detention center if lawmakers do not provide money for the project in the upcoming legislative session, a court official says.

"It's crunch time," said Rick Keller, administrative director of the state judiciary.

Campbell Estate agreed to deed the land to the state nearly 10 years ago, provided a construction contract is signed by Dec. 31, 2006. The Kapolei Judiciary Complex project, however, has yet to be financed although a draft environmental assessment was completed in March 2001.

"If we don't get the money ... we'll forfeit the land and start over again," said Keller, adding there will not be enough time to bid the contract and finalize details if money is not approved in the 2005 session.

In a written report issued Thursday to the Waipahu Neighborhood Board, State Sen. Brian Kanno, D-19th (Kapolei, Makakilo, Waipahu), said he would request $90.85 million during the next legislative session to move the project forward. In the report, Kanno said $855,000 would be for design, $82 million for construction and $8 million for equipment cost.

"This is so clearly needed and it fits in with the whole concept of the city of Kapolei to bring jobs here," Kanno said yesterday.

Plans call for the Kapolei Judiciary Complex to be sited within the Kapolei civic center area at the intersection of Kamokila Boulevard and Kapolei Parkway, where the Kamokila Boulevard extension will connect with Roosevelt Boulevard, according to Kanno's report.

The project would include a 259,700-square-foot courthouse and 84-bed, 69,000-square-foot juvenile detention center.

Family Court operates out of the Circuit and District court buildings in downtown Honolulu. The new juvenile detention center would replace the Alder Street facility, which Keller described as "disintegrating."

Family Court is crowded and cases are heard in courtrooms not designed to separate victims from aggressors, he said. He estimates that 400 judiciary employees would move to Kapolei and provide some relief for crowding at Circuit and District courts.

The Alder Street facility is more than 50 years old, is difficult to maintain and not designed for program space, he said.

Reach Rod Ohira at 535-8181 or rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.