Day care for seniors,
kids planned at Keehi

Plans are under way to build a $3 million, 8,000-square-foot senior and child day-care center at Keehi Lagoon Park.

Construction of the facility, which is expected to serve as many as 100 seniors, will start late this year and be completed within two years.

About one-third of the center's space will be dedicated to child day care, but planners do not yet know how many children they will be able to admit.

The Keehi Lagoon Memorial Management Committee wants to put in the center, Chairman Tommy Kakesako said recently, in hopes of better fulfilling the nonprofit's mission of providing for "the youth and the community of Hawaii."

The committee manages the 11-acre Kalihi park for the Hawaii chapter of the Disabled American Veterans, which has the park's lease from the state.

The management committee has already received $400,000 in federal Community Development Block Grants, which are allocated by the city, for the center's planning and design.

They also hope to build the facility with CDBG funds, and have submitted an application to the city. The grant has not yet been approved.

Cappy Fasi, the project's manager, said the nonprofit will launch a fund-raiser soon to help cover other costs.

She said because the park is used primarily for campers and weekend recreation, the committee envisions the center as encouraging the park's use during "the daylight hours."

She added: "One of the services needed by our aging society is day care for the elderly. And, of course, child care for the young has always been a problem in this state."

Construction costs include the demolition of the Tommy Kakesako Rehabilitation Center to make room for the new facility.

Fasi said about half of the center's space will be dedicated to senior day care.

It will target those with low to moderate incomes and serve the park's surrounding communities, she said.

Fasi has visited two neighborhood boards, and residents have given the facility positive reviews so far.

"I think it will be an asset to the community," said Lennard Pepper, vice chairman of the Aliamanu/Salt Lake/Foster Village Neighborhood Board. "You've got an aging population. You've got people at this point who have got to stay home" to take care of seniors.