Hualalai assisted living, skilled nursing center slated to open in 2018

HILO — Developers of Hualalai Kai, a senior housing project planned for Hualalai Road, are asking for a pass on a long list of permit fees and concurrency requirements to help keep their project affordable.

The County Council Committee on Human Services and Social Services, meeting at 11 a.m. Wednesday, will take another look at Hualalai Health LLC’s request after the project was stalled twice, first because of a lawsuit and more recently, because of committee questions about whether the project will use local union labor.

The meeting will be held at the West Hawaii Civic Center, with video conferencing available from the Hilo council chambers, Waimea council office, Old Kohala courthouse, Naalehu state office building and the Pahoa neighborhood facility.

Developers are seeking exemptions from building code permit fees, grading, grubbing and excavation permit fees, inspection fees, fair share fees and any future impact fees, should an impact fee ordinance pass.

“They’re asking for an exemption from the fees, but they still have to comply with getting the permits, doing the work and when they’re through, having the work inspected,” Planning Director Duane Kanuha said Thursday.

Developers are, however, also asking for exemptions from having to get a use permit, and a zoning exemption from RM 2.5 to RM 2.0 to increase the allowable density. They also want an exemption from concurrency requirements and the waiver of a county requirement for a left-turn pocket lane onto the property.

The approximately $70 million project on 9.2 acres on Hualalai Road includes a 160-bed, long-term care, skilled nursing facility, along with 96 assisted living residences and apartments for 35 employees. Of those, 91 housing units — 54 percent — will be considered affordable under state law.

If all goes as planned, the facility will be up and running in 2018.

Hualalai Health, based in Edmonds, Washington, has also constructed assisted living facilities on Maui and Oahu.

County Housing Officer Alan Rudo praised the developer for listening to neighbors who had concern about the new development. Major changes were made in response to their concerns, he said. Residents of the adjacent Pines condominium complex especially voiced concerns about their proposed new neighbor.

“Hualalai has gone the extra length to actually meet all their requirements,” Rudo said. “It’s been re-positioned on the lot, they’ve added a landscaping buffer. … Most of the way it’s laid out is based on the exact feedback of the neighbors.”

North Kona Councilwoman Karen Eoff said she’s supporting it because she can see a “direct community benefit.”

“More and more, we’re going to need this type of facility,” said Eoff. “I feel like this is a much-needed project.”

A market study completed in December found Hawaii Island has an unmet demand for 500 skilled-nursing beds and 273 assisted-living beds, according to a report from Integra Realty Resources Inc.

Hamakua Councilwoman Valerie Poindexter, at a June 2 meeting on the issue, asked whether the facility would benefit locals or only the wealthy.

“We keep developing and building things and bringing people in and then our elders are being pushed out into other areas because they can no longer afford to live there,” Poindexter said.

“I’m concerned with those aging in place,” she added. “Because the ones with money can live where they want to live and die with dignity and not be uprooted into some place and taken out of their social environment in the last few years of their life. I’m just sad to hear that the assisted living that we so desperately need has to come with private pay.”

Officials have said the project will bring more than 350 full-time skilled and semi-skilled jobs to West Hawaii. It will be operated by Presbyterian Retirement Communities Northwest, a faith-based nonprofit organization operating four facilities in Washington.

But several east side council members sought a delay at the June 2 meeting because they feared the developer hadn’t met with the electrical or carpenter’s unions. They wanted assurances the project would be built and operated with local union labor. The developers are expected to come back with information at Wednesday’s meeting.

West Hawaii Health Managing Partner Bruce Beard, the project developer, said Thursday that construction managers have been meeting with the unions for quite a while, and in fact, have made modifications on the project based on their advice.

“It’s certainly our intention to use 100 percent local labor,” Beard said.

That assumes, of course, that the local labor is available, he added. It’s also possible experienced trainers will be brought in at the beginning to train staff, he said.

Council Chairman Dru Kanuha, of Kona, didn’t see a reason for delay.

“This has gone through the process a really long time and been vetted pretty thoroughly by the departments,” Kanuha said. “This isn’t easy to give exemptions out to just anybody. This is certainly a worthy project. “