Animal shelter in limbo
Flood control work delays a
move by a Waimanalo charity
Flood control problems are delaying a no-kill animal shelter's move from the mountain area to the makai side of Waimanalo.
Flood control work is needed before 300 animals are moved to the new Sylvester Foundation site on Saddle City Road because the land is in a floodway, board member Bernice Bowers said.
Flood control work at the new 12-acre site will be the responsibility of the Sylvester Foundation, and "no state money would be used" to meet city and federal flood regulations, Bowers said.
However, mitigation work could take more than a year, and the foundation has already overstayed its current lease on 19 acres of state land in Waimanalo.
The foundation was to leave its current location by Aug. 31. New tenant Landscape Hawaii, which already paid part of its first year's rent, was to move in Sept. 1.
"They (Sylvester Foundation) are still on the property, but we know they're working hard to accomplish the move," said Dan Davidson, a deputy director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, which manages both pieces of state land.
"We've been happy with how responsive and hard-working they are on it. We'll continue to work together and see what we can accomplish," he said.
In the meantime, the shelter is seeking an interim location. The nonprofit agency had hoped to sign a short-term lease in Waimanalo yesterday, but the deal fell through because the landowner had concerns about his liability for the animals, said Douglas Crosier, an attorney helping the Sylvester Foundation at no charge.
The foundation still holds out hope that a better site than the state land on Saddle City Road will turn up, Crosier said.
Volunteers and veterinarians who work with the foundation are providing temporary homes for geese, chickens, exotic birds, pigs and horses, Bowers said. That leaves eight to 10 dogs and 200 cats that will need to be housed in some kind of temporary facility.
One option being explored is whether a portion of the state Animal Quarantine Station in Halawa could be used, Crosier said.
Bowers praised state and city officials, the Windward community and two of the shelter's neighbors-to-be on Saddle City Road -- the Honolulu Community Action Program and Weinberg Village-Waimanalo -- for efforts to keep the nonprofit shelter in business.
"We are building an ark, and it is inspiring to see that those with the least to give are giving the most," she said.
The foundation, which is named after the first cat rescued by its founder, Candy Lake, keeps animals until they are adopted or die. It has not accepted new animals since learning in June that the state would not allow the organization to stay on the parcel it has occupied for the last eight years.
