Waipio developers
to seek regulation
exemption againLawmakers rebuffed
the Pacific Health Center
builders earlier
Despite being rebuffed by lawmakers this year, the developers of the proposed $300 million Pacific Health Center in Waipio plan to again seek an exemption from a state regulation they say should not apply to their development.
In the recently completed session, the state Legislature shelved a bill that would have exempted the center from the certificate-of-need process in which the developer would have to prove the hospital project is needed. The center is planned as a replacement for Wahiawa General Hospital and would include other medical facilities.
Rodney Sato, chairman of developer Pacific Health Community Inc., told a City Council committee yesterday that his group intends to continue to lobby lawmakers for the exemption.
"And so (House Bill) 551 is something that we have to look at again," Sato said. "We've gone through a lot of problems with this (certificate of need)."
Sato's comments came during a Zoning Committee meeting at which his project was dealt another blow. The committee deferred action for two months on the project's application for a plan use review permit that is needed for a health care facility.
City lawyers said state law prevents any permits from being issued until the State Health Planning & Development Agency issues a certificate-of-need permit.
The project is planned on 210 acres of former pineapple land adjacent to the H-2 freeway and across from the Costco store. The health complex is adjacent to Castle & Cooke's planned Koa Ridge housing development.
Agency Administrator Marilyn Matsunaga told the committee that the developers have not submitted an application to her agency.
"I'm not sure why they haven't filled out an application form yet," Matsunaga said. "But I do not think it's a fair statement to say that SHPDA is a problem to them."
Matsunaga said it takes an average of two months to complete the certificate-of-need process, which looks at several criteria including a project's need and accessibility, quality of care, finances and relationship to existing health care systems.
Sato said his group has not applied yet because it believes that a certificate was not needed to satisfy this particular city permit. He said there was also a belief that the project could have used Wahiawa General Hospital's certificate.
Pacific Health Center was controversial this past legislative session for two reasons.
First, conflict-of-interest allegations were raised because the project was being pushed at the Legislature by state Rep. Marcus Oshiro, a member of the Wahiawa Hospital Association board. Pacific Health Community Inc. is the for-profit arm of the nonprofit association.
And second, city officials like Council Zoning Committee Chairman Charles Djou, who supports the project, were not pleased that the health center's backers sought to bypass state and city regulations and approvals with another "fast-track" bill, which also died.