Animal group targets
new Waimanalo spotThe land is not ideal, says the
foundation, but it's all it can afford
A nonprofit animal shelter in Waimanalo that must move by the end of August is considering a state parcel behind Waimanalo's Weinberg Village for its new home.
Like the 19 acres that the Sylvester Foundation has occupied for eight years, the new 12-acre plot is agricultural land, managed by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Deputy Director Dan Davidson will ask the state Board of Land and Natural Resources on Friday that it negotiate a 15-year lease with the foundation for "nominal rent."
"I've been working very hard and very closely with them (Sylvester Foundation) to identify this site and present it to the board," Davidson said yesterday.
The foundation "provides an animal sanctuary service to all people of Oahu that isn't replicated by anybody else," he said of the no-kill shelter, which currently keeps more than 300 cats, dogs, chickens, geese, rabbits and a pair of pot-bellied pigs.
"It's a classic example of a nonprofit foundation doing important publicly beneficial work," Davidson said.
The proposed site isn't ideal, because it has no utilities, no structures and is oddly shaped, going around several parcels of privately owned land, said Candy Lake, Sylvester Foundation's founder and executive director.
However, the foundation hasn't been able to find another piece of land that it can afford. "We don't have a choice right now," Lake said.
The Sylvester Foundation's lease at its current location in rural Waimanalo expires Aug. 9 and it must vacate the premises before Sept. 1, when the new renter, Landscape Hawaii, moves in, said DLNR spokeswoman Debbie Ward.Holly Holowach, program manager at Weinberg Village Waimanalo, said she believes the shelter would be a compatible neighbor for the complex of 30 transitional housing units for formerly homeless families.
Holowach said she can envision cooperative programs where children who live at the village could learn about the value of animals and taking care of them.
One condition of the proposed lease would require that a garden on the state land operated by the Honolulu Community Action Program be allowed to stay. The garden would actually provide a buffer between Weinberg Village and the shelter, Holowach noted.
If the Land Board approves the deal, the state would clear the land of junked vehicles for the Sylvester Foundation, as it would for any renter, Davidson said. Getting utilities installed and city building permits for animal shelters and a caretaker house would be the responsibility of the foundation, he said.
The last time the state leased the parcel was to Waimanalo Dairy Inc. in 1990, Ward said.
The Sylvester Foundation describes itself as dedicated to providing "a peaceful, permanent and loving environment for the homeless animals of Hawaii." It was named after the first stray cat that Lake took under her care.
Sylvester Foundation
www.sylvesteranimals.com
