$95M sought for courts

The state Judiciary is seeking $95 million from the Legislature to build its long-awaited Kapolei Court Complex on 13.6 acres of Campbell Estate land.

Star-Bulletin Legislature Database Star-Bulletin Legislature Guide (PDF, 1.9 MB) State Legislature: Bills & Hawaii Revised Statutes

Chief Justice Ronald Moon called on legislators to support this project in his State of the Judiciary address yesterday before a joint session of the Legislature.

The future of the Kapolei project is at a "critical crossroad, and this legislative session is the last opportunity to fund this much-needed project," Moon said, calling the complex a "one-stop shop" for family court services as envisioned by the former Chief Justice Herman Lum in the late 1980s.

Campbell Estate is providing the land within the growing Kapolei civic center area at no cost to taxpayers. But for the project to move forward, the Judiciary must have a signed construction contract by Dec. 31, 2006, or forfeit the free option on the land, Moon said.

Leeward communities have been trying to bring court services to Kapolei for the past six to eight years and wholeheartedly welcome the project, said Maeda Timson, chairwoman of the Makakilo/Kapolei/Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board.

"It's another way of bringing services to the community," she said, echoing Lum's vision of a "one-stop shop."

She said it would be stupid to "kick a gift horse in the mouth" by not taking advantage of Campbell Estate's generous offer before it disappears. "We're doing a good thing for the future" by bringing the court complex to Kapolei, she said.

All Oahu Family Court functions at Kaahumanu Hale -- the 27-courtroom Circuit Court building on Punchbowl Street -- will be relocated to the Kapolei complex, making it more convenient for people who live in Kapolei as well as the neighboring Ewa, Waianae, North Shore and Central Oahu districts, he said. The Judiciary spends half a million dollars in annual rent to hold family court matters at other locations.

At the new complex, residents in Leeward and Central Oahu will be able to obtain traffic abstracts, pay traffic fines, resolve divorce and child custody and support matters, file restraining orders and take care of juvenile matters, all without having to drive to downtown Honolulu. The new site will also have a positive effect by relieving the H-1 traffic commute and ease overcrowding at Circuit Court, Moon said.

Currently, some judges are sharing courtrooms at Circuit Court, and four Circuit Court judges are using courtrooms at Honolulu District Court on Alakea Street, taking away needed space.

Family Court rooms at Circuit Court also are too small for hearings and do not provide enough space to separate the parties in these often emotionally charged proceedings, Moon said. Overcrowded waiting rooms, offices and support services and little room for records storage have hampered the efficient operations at Family Court, he said.

The Kapolei Court Center would consist of a multilevel court building that would house 20 courtrooms and support offices and a juvenile detention facility to take the place of Hale Ho'omalu, the deteriorating World War II building on Alder Street.

Also relocating to the Kapolei complex would be all District Court functions at the cramped Waianae Courthouse.