Sierra Club blasts A conservation group said Friday that a House bill letting the planned $300 million Pacific Health Center in Waipio bypass all city regulations "is an outrageous subversion of our land use process."
hospital plan
A House bill exempts the Waipio
project from land use rulesBy Bruce Dunford
Associated Press
"This attempt to evade the law is an insult to citizens in Central Oahu and will have lasting impacts on Hawaii's environment," said Jeff Mikulina, director of the Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter.
Legislature Directory
Legislature Bills & Hawaii Revised Statutes
The PHC project, on 210 acres of former pineapple land adjacent to the H-2 freeway and across from the Costco store, is the subject of a turf war between legislators backing the development and city officials.
The "fast-track" bill (HB 550) for the development of the complex of medical-related facilities, including a replacement hospital for Wahiawa General Hospital, is being pushed by Rep. Marcus Oshiro (D, Wahiawa-Poamoho), a member of the Wahiawa Hospital Association.
Pacific Health Community Inc., the developer, is a for-profit arm of the nonprofit Wahiawa Hospital Association and is headed by Rodney Sato, who said the state legislation was sought when it appeared certain City Council members were balking at approving the project.
Mikulina said the bill up for final approval in the House this week deals with land development and, contrary to legislative rules, was not referred to the Committee on Water, Land Use and Hawaiian Affairs or the Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection.
"This measure is another attempt by developers to avoid public and environmental scrutiny for their sprawling project on agriculture lands in Central Oahu," he said.
The Sierra Club has challenged in state court the state Land Use Commission's reclassification of the Castle & Cooke Homes' Koa Ridge property from agriculture to urban, including the 210 acres Castle & Cooke has agreed to sell to PHC.
The Sierra Club contends the Land Use Commission acted without completion of a required environmental assessment of the project.
The bill says the PHC project will be exempt from "all statutes, ordinances, charter provisions and rules of any governmental agency relating to planning, zoning, construction standards for subdivisions, development and improvement of land."
That could make Sierra Club's legal challenge moot.
"It appears that developers would rather do away with our laws than comply with them," Mikulina said.
If the measure passes the House, it would go to an uncertain future in the Senate.
